Ross Senack should write a book about multitasking.
As he adjusts the setting on his soundboard, writes seven instant messages in a chat room with 32 people, changes two CDs, speaks into a microphone and interviews The Early November (a punk band), he also answers questions from The Eagle. It is in this hectic atmosphere that SOC senior Senack (also known as DJ Rossstar) plays two hours of punk music every Wednesday night from 6 to 8 p.m.
For the past 18 months, Senack has broadcast his unique radio program, "DJ Rossstar's Punk Rock Show" across the airwaves. Today, a year and a half after he first donned a mic and headphones, he is the general manager of WVAU.
"Ever since I was 12 years old and into Green Day, I always wanted to do my own punk rock show," said Senack, a Long Island, N.Y., native.
Unfortunately for him, punk rock doesn't have nearly the same popularity as Top 40 or oldies, so he had to look for punk music in other places, such as the Warped Tour and Hot Topic, an alternative clothing store. This all changed though, when he came to college.
In May of 2002, Senack decided to fulfill his life's aspiration and become a pop-punk DJ. So between May and September, he put up fliers, took his tape recorder to shows and did his best to promote himself. By the time his show started appearing on WVAU and the Internet, he already had a collection of interviews with some of his favorite bands such as pop-punk favorites like Mest, Goldfinger and New Found Glory.
His show has a unique, interactive format that combines recorded interviews, live bands, instant messages and a surprising degree of communication between Senack, his fans and the bands that play or interview.
Over the past 18 months, Senack interviewed Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Jimmy Eat World and even film director Barry Levinson ("Rain Man"), an AU alumnus.
"[Levinson] was in the ATV office and I asked him if he wanted to come on and he said, 'Sure,'" Senack said. "So I interviewed Barry Levinson."
However, radio is not the only place to hear DJ Rossstar. He's hosted two festivals, the Flipside Festival in Falls Church, Va. and a Radio Disney festival in Virginia Beach, Va.
Senack promotes his show in a variety of ways, from posting on message boards to flyering to the best form of promotion - getting a band to wear his T-shirt. Whenever bands appear on to his show he gives them a custom-made DJ Rossstar T-shirt, which the Suicide Machines and the All-American Rejects have worn on tour.
"I've actually gotten more buyers and listeners from fans who see bands wear my shirt," Senack said.
On any given show, Senack said that he'll get 400 to 600 listeners. Although there's no way to accurately gauge that, one way Senack measures his listeners is by looking at the counter on his Web site before and after a show. Currently, he has 40,845 page views; prior to the interview, the number was 40,040.
Another reason it's difficult to determine how many fans his show has is because it's broadcast on the Internet. As a result of this, his fans are scattered all over the world, with some all the way in Belgium and Argentina.
Senack says his fans do a lot of promotion for him by making their own fliers and handing them out at shows. This sort of do-it-yourself attitude is a trademark of Senack's show and could explain why he's interviewed over 100 bands, has a mailing list with more than 400 subscribers and the hallmark of every legitimate radio star: hate mail and Web sites with X's over his face.
"My ultimate goal is to be the next Matt Pinfield - but for pop punk," Senack said, referring to MTV's music Buddha. "This job is my dream. I just want to be everywhere, from MTV to festivals to giving people the finger."
After hearing about the last two years of his life, you might believe that one day you'll turn on MTV and see him at a music festival, giving you the finger.
DJ Rossstar's Punk Rock Show airs on WVAU on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. To hear a live stream of the show or for more information, visit www.djrossstar.com.
