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On the Air

On The Air: Discorder Radio

Interview by James Olson


DJ CJ and Wade | | photo by Laurel Borrowman

Over the past three issues, in honour of Discorder’s impending thirtieth birthday, we’ve recalled stories of bands and events from the magazine and CiTR 101.9 in Discorder Revisited. This month, we combine that column with On The Air. This month, we part with print memories and head for the airwaves with Discorder Radio. Jordan Wade and Chirag Mahajan – CiTR, the next generation, if you will – are the current hosts of Discorder Radio, the much-younger on-air sibling (it just turned two!) to the monthly mag you’re reading now. Sitting down in CiTR’s lounge, the pair brim with knowledge of the show’s history, their plans for Discorder’s upcoming anniversary, and their ambitions for the future of the show.

Discorder: What is Discorder Radio about?
Wade: Basically [Discorder Radio] is the audio representation of what you will see and read in the magazine each month. We try to break it down so we give a fair and equal amount of airplay to the features, the reviews, and RLAs [concert reviews].

CJ: The show is a way to push Discorder on to another medium, since we are based out of a radio station. This is the logical step to take the magazine in.

How did the show come to be?

Wade: It was the brainchild of Raien Naraghi and former program manager Spencer Lindsay. They started the show in October 2010 and ran it together until June 2011. They did the show together for nine months at which point they both got busy with other things. Raine got busy with his own show Sounds of the City. He handed it off to a girl named Ana Garza.

How did you get involved?

Wade: Ana ran the show from June 2011 and then sent out an email in December looking for an assistant. I replied saying I would totally be into doing this. I always wanted to get more into independent radio. I liked the fact that this station and this show is helping to harness young local talent. Back in March she asked if I wanted to take it over, and I was like, “Sold!” I did a couple of shows on my own and I needed help with the console and luckily CJ was around. We had a good chat about [working together], exchanged some great on-air banter and the rest is history.

What sort of music did you grow up listening to?

Wade: My favorite music growing up was alternative rock but I also liked a lot of house, trance, and a lot of the oldies. Bands like the Offspring, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the Tragically Hip. I listened to [Toronto indie/alternative rock station] The Edge religiously.

CJ: My musical history is kind of weird. I only started listening to rock and electronic music when I moved to Vancouver in 2007. Before that, most of the stuff I listened to were CDs that my parents had, which was basically jazz, classical, and Bollywood music. When I came to Vancouver in 2007, I found out about the enormity of the Internet. That was the year I first heard “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin.

How do you feel the radio station complements the magazine?

CJ: I think the radio station is like a collective consciousness. People who come in and out of this station are filled with stories about bands. So many people know so many different things about music in Vancouver. The show is not just an extension of the magazine but of what people are talking about around the station.

What is your favorite radio show besides your own?

Wade: I’ve been listening to The City which is right after us. I’m interested in a lot of urban planning issues. [Particularly] the fact that [the] show deals with things that are near and dear to me about Vancouver.

CJ: I love electronic music so I religiously listen to Trancendance on Sunday nights at 10 p.m. They’ve been [running the show] for about 12 years.

Discorder magazine is celebrating its 30th anniversary in February. What plans does the show have to celebrate?

CJ: I would like to talk to past writers, contributors, and photographers to get their sense of where they want the magazine to go and where they want the show to go. Ultimately it’s a collective thing that we’re working on. The stuff we do is nothing without the [material] the writers write. I want to delve deeper into [how] it was and where it will go.

Wade: Respect the history of the past talent that owes a debt of gratitude to Discorder. Potentially reaching out to [previous cover artists] and catching up with them, and finding out what a feature article or album review did for their careers. I would like to use the anniversary as an excuse to take the show to the next level.

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Discorder Radio airs every Tuesday from 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.