1.  What time does your show air and what types of dance music is featured?

My show is on Magic 95.9 every Saturday night from 7pm till midnight. I only play from 7pm until 10pm. From 10pm - midnight, we have a live broadcast from The Eagles Nest with Keith "Chop-Chop" Fisher and DJ Sisco T. While I am on, I play disco, funk, ol' skool go-go, house, 80's & 90's R&B and Baltimore skate music.

The live broadcast is now @ Silver Shadows in Columbia...

2.  Who chooses the music for the show?

Well, lets start from the beginning. Before I started doing the show, the Saturday Night Flashback Dance Party was DJ Spen's baby. He is the one who actually started this show back in 1991. He brought me under his wing around 1995 and we were doing the show together for about a year. Shortly after that, he left radio to move on to bigger and better things. Spen really taught me a lot about radio and the type of music to incorporate in the show. I'm talking funk, disco, garage, house and 80's R&B. He chose majority of the music played on the show, but the listeners were a big influence on what was played too. Even now, I just continue to play a lot of the music we were playing back then along with the music that is requested from many listeners.

3.  We already know what a misguided Program Dir/Station mgmr can do to any popular show (Underground Experience cancellation), do you encounter any problems playing certain types of House music?

I've encountered problems playing certain kind of music in general. Although my show is considered a "Flashback Party", I don't feel as though I am playing everything that I know is considered "flashback". Let me just put it this way, then I'll get back to the your question at hand. The 80's had a huge musical impact on me. I was introduced to music by artist like Jimmy Spicer, Sugar Hill Gang, Spoonie G, Sequence, Fab 5 Freddie, Sanny X and Perez, Tina B., Kurtis Blow, Treacherous Three, Count Coolout, Whodini, Newcleus, Soul Sonic Force, Pumpkin, Jonzun Crew, Dimples D., Debbie Deb, Boogie Boys, etc. I don't even want to get into the garage or the 80's electronic sound like Yaz, Stopp, Alexander Robotinik, Masarra, C-Bank, Jenny Burton, Alisha, Orbit, Doctor's Cat, Egyptian Lover, Klein & MBO, Yello, Kraftwerk, Serge Ponsar, Information Society etc. Unfortunately, a lot of this music that I tried to incorporate in the show caused me to encounter a few problems due to the fact that some of these songs were not recognizable to some ears. I'm not talking about the dedicated listeners, because surprising enough, many of them are the ones asking for these type of classics. But, I will leave it at that. So to keep the waters calm, I focus on the mainstream classics like Flashlight, One Nation Under a Groove, Good Times, Dreamer, Let's Start the Dance, etc. Now to address your question, I personally love house music ever since I first stepped foot in Club Fantasy in 1988. I know that there are various types of house music now, but the house that I feel I can utilize most on the show is house music that are renditions of familiar classics or house music featuring artists that many people are familiar with. For example, BeBe Winans, George Benson, Jocelyn Brown, Stevie Wonder, EW&F just to name a few.

4.  Every now and then you have guest dj's on the show, do you usually choose what dj's come on?

5.  House music has somehow had a small resurgence since the cancellation of Morgan's Underground Experience.  Have you noticed any pickup in the type of listeners of your show over the last year?

To be honest, I have noticed a pickup of listeners, but I cannot pinpoint what type. Majority of the listeners are very passive and it has always been that way. They have never been known to "blow-up" the phone lines just to be calling the station, but if you have a contest or mention calling the request line for whatever reason, the phones light up! That reassures me that their ears are on!

6.  How satisfied are you with the show and do you have any features that you would like to incorporate more into the show, like extended hours?

I would love to have my five hours back (that's another story), but I am grateful to still get at least three hours. I am very satisfied with the show and I can't describe in words how much the show means to me. I have met a lot of people visually and verbally during my time on the air. It's so amazing how you can distinguish people you have never seen just by their voice. I have people who have been calling me on the request lines ever since I first started on the air and they still support me and call on a regular basis every week I am on. I can just call them by name as soon as they say hello. They really get a kick out of knowing that you know who they are without them having to tell you. Anyway, before I jump off track any further, I am the type of dj who doesn't like to "repeat" music. I believe that there is so much music out there, you shouldn't have to repeat anything twice in one night. Sometimes, I won't repeat a record for weeks. That's just me. Believe me, a lot of people who listen appreciate when you offer a variety of music and not playing the same songs (especially in the same order) every week. This was actually told directly to me from listeners, so I know its true. When I was playing from 7pm till midnight, I had a structure where I would play a certain style of music for each hour. For instance, 7pm, I would play funk (James Brown, Bootsy, etc). At 8pm I would play some 80's R&B (SOS Band, Yarborough & Peoples, Cherelle, Sybil, etc). At 9pm, I would get into the 80's electronic sound (Kraftwerk, C-Bank, John Rocca, Freeze, etc). At 10pm, I would get into the 80's dance music ( D-Train, Strikers, Colonel Abrams, Chic, etc). And at 11pm, I would get into disco (Sylvester, First Choice, Inner Life, etc). Now that I only have three hours, I had to reformat my show. So, at 7pm it will vary from 80's R&B to 80's dance music. At 8pm, I have incorporated a new addition to the show called the "8 O'Clock All Skate". During this hour, I play SOME of the music popular in the local skating rinks in MD. I have been doing this for a few months now, and the response has been great! The music is a little different from the norm, but what so interesting about it, is the fact that the artists are well known, but some of the songs are not well known songs that you would hear on the radio. Im talking about artists and songs like Barry White "Love So Good I Can Taste It, Love Unlimited Orchestra "If You Want Me, Say It", George Duke "Starting Again", War "Life Is So Strange", etc. These songs are what some call "B side" cuts. These are cuts where the A side of the record is a song that was a big hit record for that artist. The B side of that record would only be heard by people who actually bought this record in the store for the big hit song, and just so happened to flip the record over to hear what was on the other side. Believe me, I have received so many calls from people saying I recognize that artist, but I never heard that song before! Where can I get it? Once I tell them what album that particular song is on, they would say, "Hey, I have that album but I never listened to the entire album because I only bought it for a particular song". That's what really differentiates skating music from the music we hear on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong, some songs played in the skating rinks are played on the radio, but most of the songs played in rinks had never hit radio airwaves. Anyway, 9pm I will play house music, 80's dance or disco.

7.  Where can people hear you play in clubs or get in touch with you if they want to book you for events?

I can be heard at "Good Vibrations" which is an event that is given by DJ Biskit and his wife Tracy along with the assistance of a few other loyal friends. This is an All HOUSE MUSIC event given once or twice a month. For more info check the Good Vibrations link for updates on these parties.

Check out this classic club Fantasy mix from KW Griff....

Since this interview originally ran KW Griff has dedicated his 9pm hour to House including the latest hits.....