Based in Los Angeles, T-Kay is a DJ, radio host and archivist whose lifelong relationship with music began long before she ever stepped into a studio. Growing up in a household untouched by commercial music, T-Kay discovered a vast world of sound through the radio and spent countless hours with her Walkman tuned to anything that sparked her curiosity.
That restless exploration eventually led T-Kay to KSPC, the Claremont Colleges’ fiercely independent station. There, she honed her skills as both a presenter and station manager. Later, T-Kay found a creative home at dublab, the groundbreaking Los Angeles internet radio station she has been part of for nearly two decades. She’s been curating shows that champion underrepresented voices, global sounds, and deep musical storytelling.
We spoke to T-Kay about her journey through radio, travels to Brazil and her hopes for terrestrial radio to make a comeback.
Tell us about your journey with music and why you wanted to become a radio host?
T-Kay: I grew up in a family that didn’t listen to commercial or popular music so radio became my portal to a universe of sounds. When I was in junior high, my older cousin gifted a Walkman to me for my birthday and it subsequently became permanently attached to my ears. I didn’t really have disposable income for cassettes, so radio is what I primarily listened to and how I learned about music.
I initially listened to a lot of Top 40, but later dived into Alternative and Grunge Rock after changing schools. With the Rap-Rock era of the late 1990s, I got bored of commercial Rock radio. So I started moving all around the radio dial in order to find something that piqued my ears. I came across the Ambient and Post-Rock show ‘Sleepytime with Drew’ on college radio station KSPC. I was just drawn in by sounds I’d never heard before. Tristeza, Ulan Bator, Sigur Rós.
I emailed Drew Eastman, Music Director of KSPC at the time, and he became like a big brother to me. I was also getting into riot grrrl and Indie Rock at the time so he introduced me to femme DJs at the radio station who played that type of music and they also took me under their wing. They would pick me up from high school and take me to the radio station and teach me how to produce a radio show.
These experiences were highly influential and ultimately led me to apply to the Claremont Colleges, home of KSPC Radio. I started hosting a radio show my first semester of college and became General Manager the summer after my first year. KSPC had a staunchly independent policy that we could only play music off indie labels that were held in the KSPC library. Every album was reviewed by a station member and I learned so much about music across genres and geographies.
I began as more of a Punk and Rock head. But I started loving Electronic music, Hip-Hop and sounds from around the world. My musical palate broadened exponentially and I’d say that’s still a signature aspect of my current selections. I always loved making mixtapes in high school and radio was the opportunity to do it live for others.
What was it about radio that really attracted you to it?
I love the freedom of non-commercial radio. It’s a privilege to play for a live audience. There’s nothing like the visual and immediate reaction from a crowd and the dynamic you build together. But radio offers the freedom of not worrying about the immediacy of a crowd reaction. It’s getting to explore moods publicly that you might not have the opportunity to in physical public spaces. I love that you can play some tripped out Ambient music, obscure field recordings and Fela Kuti songs in their glorious twenty minute entirety!
Radio also offers the possibility to connect with people across geographies that you might not otherwise. At KSPC, I became friends with a listener who became a show buddy and we met up in Thailand. I also had the opportunity to meet up with a listener in Orlando, Florida. They took me record digging! These IRL connections are so special and meaningful and make working in radio that much more fulfilling.
How did you get your radio show at dublab?
After graduating from KSPC, I started working an office job for a popular Los Angeles music venue. I really missed radio and doing a regular program so I would tune in to dublab all day. It always made me wonder who’s behind this mysterious station that plays dope music but never talks.
I reached out to them to see if they needed any volunteers and Frosty asked if I could help with dublab’s seven-year anniversary party. Soon after, he invited me to do a show. My first show was called ‘The Afternoon Love In’ (after the Prefuse 73 song). I maintained my dublab show even when I moved to Austin, Texas from 2009-2015 and co-hosted ‘Hip Hop Hooray,’ a popular weekly Hip-Hop show on community station KOOP. After I moved back to LA, I renamed my show to its current name, ‘The Archive of Feelings’ (after the Ann Cvetkovich book).
What are some of the guiding principles of your dublab show?
KSPC’s indie ethos really engrained itself to me. It also aligns with my professional ethos as an archivist. That is to highlight and preserve voices and histories that have been marginalized from the historical record. This translates to my musical selections in that I try to play lesser known sounds, especially from the Global South.
How do you prepare for your show?
As a librarian, it’s very easy for me to go down a research rabbit hole in general. However, my radio show tends to be more mood based than research based. So the show is more of an organic journey that builds in energy as it progresses. I do a Saturday morning show so I’m often easing myself into the journey as well as the listener. There are exceptions, of course, for themed shows or interviews. Then I’ll go down a research rabbit hole and read as much as possible about the person or subject. Such as with the Vinícius de Moraes special or my recent interview with Oliver Wang. I’m always listening to music and filing away tracks in different thematic or mood playlists for when the occasion arises.
What is one radio show from your archive that defines you?
‘The Archive of Feelings: Brasiliana Vol. 1’ is pretty iconic. At grad school I received a fellowship to study in Brazil and that’s when I started collecting Brazilian records. I ended up becoming the Librarian for Brazilian Studies at the University of Texas. I would often go to Brazil for work and go record digging in my off-hours. So, unsurprisingly, Brazil is a country you’ll hear in most of my sets. This program rounds up a bunch of favorites.
What are some of your proudest radio moments so far?
I’m really proud of being a part of dublab for the past nineteen years. In my experience, dublab is a space that has always been welcoming and never gatekeep-y. Even when its earlier years were very male dominated. Shoutouts to founding director Frosty and former director Ale for leading the organization in a way that always prioritized DJs’ artistic freedom. Now it’s wild to realize you’re somewhat of an old head,. But it’s also exciting to build with new generations of DJs.
I love how dublab finds ways to bring its sounds and creative vision from the airwaves into physical spaces. Especially where people may be exposed to dublab for the first time. It was an honor to curate mixes for Tonalism at Bonnaroo, Grand Central Market and ‘Celebration Spectrum,’ a public art installation in Los Angeles’s Grand Park. Another highlight was when dublab invited me to curate sound for various installations at its afterhours Sleepless event during ‘Cuba: Antes/Ahora,’ a three-day event that was part of the Getty Museum’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA initiative.
During a work trip to Cuba, I visited various markets in Havana and did field recordings that were part of the event’s soundscape. I also curated two phone booth listening experiences which featured live freestyling with members of Cuban Hip-Hop group Obsesion. As well as archival recordings of Cuban radio programs held at UCLA Library that I had helped to digitize. I also did a DJ set of Cuban records I had found in Cuba. A version of this Cuban 45 set was later recorded at dublab Barcelona.
What have been the most satisfying parts of building the community around you?
I love when I can find bridges between my music, radio, library and archive worlds. As Human Rights Archivist for the University of Texas, I traveled to Rwanda to work with the Genocide Archive of Rwanda. Many of the people we worked with were genocide survivors. As you can imagine, memory work around genocide can be very heavy and emotionally taxing.
Radio was an unexpected way to connect with one of the folks we were working with. I commented on a Rwandan Hip-Hop song we heard on the radio and asked where I could find the track to play on my radio show. Murenzi, one of the archival staff members, told me he also hosted a radio program which he invited me to guest on. He played his favorite US Hip-Hop tracks, I played my favorite African Hip-Hop tracks and we had listeners calling in from Rwanda and Tanzania. It was both a powerful and fun way to connect and break down some of the cultural barriers and power dynamics in the work.
More recently I had the opportunity to collaborate with fellow dublab DJs from Preference and The Village Records to curate the exhibition, The Ark and The Archive: Exploring the Legacy of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. It featured archival materials from members’ personal archives as well as from the Horace Tapscott Papers held at UCLA Library, where I currently work. The exhibition celebrated the 60-year legacy of the Ark and its impact on Black music in LA as well as Spiritual Jazz more broadly. dublab has a history of working with the Ark so this collaboration built on that energy and this exhibition was partially funded by my fellowship through the Rare Book School with support from dublab.
I’m also proud of playing a small part in the genesis of dublab Brasil. Back in 2007, I met Geraldo (RIP irmão) through the internet on last.fm due to our shared listening habits of Brazilian Hip-Hop. We ended up meeting IRL in 2010 when I was in Brazil for a work trip. Fast forward to 2018, he asked if dublab might want to do a project in Brazil. After a lot of hard work, dublab Brasil was launched in 2019 which we got to celebrate with some of the founding members at our twenty year celebration in LA. That was the last time I saw Geraldo before he passed away unexpectedly this year. He was a very sweet brother and his legacy lives on through dublab Brasil.
“Radio is my refuge and playing music in the studio is a meditation.”
What are your top tips for presenting and putting together a radio show?
Dedicate a lot of time to both passive and active listening. I know it can be intimidating to talk on the air, so don’t be afraid of scripting things out and recording yourself saying things out loud ahead of time. This can help you feel and sound more at ease on the air when the time comes. Also, don’t be afraid to go back and re-listen to your show. Take notes on what you like and what you would do differently.
What do you think the future of radio looks like?
I really hope the future includes terrestrial radio! It’s still one of the most accessible technologies for listeners. It offers the potential for hyperlocal programming, which can get lost in globalized algorithmic content and platforms. Terrestrial radio reminds us of the importance of physical space and offline presence.
What do you think you’ve learned about yourself through your radio show?
I love getting to play in front of live audiences. But radio is my refuge and playing music in the studio is a meditation. It’s the place where I feel at home to explore an archive of feelings.
Follow T-Kay on Mixcloud.
Lead photo credit: Elvin Estela