KISL’s Meet the Voice

We had intended to profile the Radio Free Catalina Show, but the ring leader Steve Shawer has been in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy and is not feeling up to the pressure of a hard-questioning KISL interview. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Steve, please send along your well wishes.

Take a lunch break of Jay Jay con Queso y Alex Sundays at noon and find yourself filled with the riviting rambles of rambunctious radio regals, and always hungry for more.

We had intended to profile the Radio Free Catalina Show, but the ring leader Steve Shawer has been in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy and is not feeling up to the pressure of a hard-questioning KISL interview. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Steve, please send along your well wishes.

Take a lunch break of Jay Jay con Queso y Alex Sundays at noon and find yourself filled with the riviting rambles of rambunctious radio regals, and always hungry for more.

It wasn’t too hard getting the three characters behind the voices of Jay Jay, Queso and Alex to sit down with us and discuss what it is like being Jordan Williams, Mason Sanchez and Alex Morand and having your very own radio show.

KISL: Who is Jay Jay, Queso and Alex, and how did the show name come about?
Mason: I am the Queso.
Jordan: I am the Jay Jay.
Alex: And I guess I’m the Alex, ‘cuz that is the last one left, so that’s all there is to choose from. I wasn’t here for the birth of the nicknames.
Mason: We were going to call it 2 Hour Parking but then we decided to use the nicknames. People called me “Sancheese.”
Jordan: So I decided to call him “Queso,” becuase that is Spanish for cheese, and I’ve been called Jay Jay since I was two.
Alex: I’ve been called Alex since I was born.

KISL: What happens during your show, both on and off the air?
Mason: On air, awkwardness. Off air, non-awkwardness.
Jordan: We have great conversations off air, then we go on air and we have run out of the things to say on air.
Alex: But when we do have conversations they are usually about dinosaurs.
Jordan: And movies.
Alex: Dinosaur movies sometimes.
Mason: Whatever pops into our mind.
Alex: It is very improv based radio. Sometimes we have props, that we don’t bring up so listeners wouldn’t know we have them. Like a rubber chicken, or the Darth Vader mask, no one does the voice, so no one would know we have it on.
Jordan: We like to talk to the people in the park as they walk by. They usually come over and stare at Mason at the mixing board.
Mason: …
Jordan: And then he makes that face he is making right now.

KISL: Do you prefer to talk or play music?
Mason: A little of both.
Jordan: It depends on the mood we’re in. If we just want to sit back and listen or sometimes we get on a conversation roll.
Alex: I like to talk during the music, and sometimes Mason will catch me and turn my mic on.

KISL: Is hosting your own radio show something accessable to other students in town?
Jordan: We got started because our music teacher Mr. Markowitz taught a disc jockey class and then after that it was “OK, you have your own show!”
Mason: The mixing board looks complicated but it is easy to manage. It can be fun, when you don’t make mistakes.
Jordan: Playing the wrong version of a song, that is a common mistake.
Alex: I am just a permanent guest, I have no responsibilities on the show.

KISL: What advice would you give to someone considering doing a group show?
Jordan: Go for it. We have so much fun. We have definitely gotten a lot closer, we laugh all the time. We laugh more than we talk, it’s a great experience.
Mason: Pick people that you feel comfortable to open yourself up to, and who you can stay in a room with for more than two hours.
Alex: Just because a song you know sounds really nice and pretty doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a few curse words, so be cautious.

KISL: Since you are in school and studying, does radio fit into with what you might like to do?
Jordan: Radio has really helped me gain self confidence, so I can take that into whatever I do. As I am looking into colleges to apply to I’m looking to see if they have a radio program, where kids love being heard and have something to say.
Alex: I’ve always loved theater and film, and radio has become another great outlet to entertain.
Mason: *Mason showed his heritage and answered the question as a Freakdog would; he answered some other question that was not asked.

KISL: What are your plans for the immediate future?
Alex: I plan on attending Emerson College in Boston, so I am planning on making a tape of me saying different things so Mason and Jordan can use that.
Jordan: Right now I’m working on applying for colleges on the East Coast. Schools with integrative medicine. So if anyone knows of any, call the show!
Mason: Same thing as Jordan, not the pre-med part, just the applying. I want to study zoology specializing in infant care.

KISL: What are your plans for the show?
Jordan: We are currently trying to figure out if we should find a new permanent guest.
Alex: This is news to me.
Mason: Oops, I meant to tell you at the end of the school year.
Jordan: I don’t think anyone can replace you, Alex.
Mason: We just need someone to fill the hole.

KISL: Have you been involved with the TV Club sponsored by KISL through the High School?
Alex: Mason and I were in TV Club, this was its first year. We ended up filming a bunch of sketches Ariella Markowitz and Mason scripted, and then we improvised in the studio and made some TV episodes.
Mason: We would come up with an idea, talk about it, change some things, finalize the script, film, edit, produce and publish it on YouTube on the IslandVarityShow channel. No one was sure how to spell variety.

KISL: If you could have any guest…
Alex: Denzel Washington
Jordan: Johnny Depp

KISL: …in the studio, who would you like to pull a prank on?

Alex: Denzel Washington because to have a serious actor like that to be pranked on a show like this…
Mason: But Denzel Washington seems like too much of a star.
Jordan: Who would you like to prank, Mason?
Mason: I don’t know, someone who is not Denzel Washington. Jacob Bowker would be a great person.
Jordan: A great person to prank.
KISL: *This is your official invitation to the studio Mr. Bowker.*

KISL: (Question we ask everyone-courtesy of Sarah L.): If you were in a white room with no windows or doors, and the walls were of an infinite hight what song would you listen to to lift you out of the room?
…long thinking session…
Jordan: 5 Years Time by Noah and the Whale.
Mason: Light and Day by Polyphonic Spree.
Alex: I Woke Up Today by Port O’Brien.

To keep in touch with the gang and to find out their latest thoughts follow them on Twitter @JJconqueso_show or tune in every Sunday afternoon noon to 2 p.m., or simply walk by in the park and they will play a tune just for you.

To get involved with KISL or to learn more about getting your own show on the air, call 424-226-2837 (HAHA-BOATER) or contact Jordan Monroe the Community Outreach Director- jordanmonroe@kislavalon.com