Alternative Famous Firsts
Alex Mac
Evening Host
WWDC (DC101)/Washington, D.C.
I started as an intern at WRXL in Richmond, VA knowing nothing about radio - just a huge music fan. I worked under Dustin (the artist formerly known as “Fletcher”) Matthews, and look what happened! The band is back together at DC101.
I remember seeing ZZ Top with my dad when I was super young, but the show that I saved up for with my first job, ice cream scooping money was My Chemical Romance with MUSE as the opening act at William & Mary in 2007 - which totally tracks.
I bought Led Zeppelin III on cassette at a flea market because I thought the cover was cool. I remember playing it in my mom's minivan just being blown away hearing the “Immigrant Song” for the first time.
Oof it was Glass Animals at the National in Richmond, VA. I was only a month or two into my first gig doing nights on WRXL, and let's just say it was not my best work... Nice guys though!
Most recently, I turned the board over for my first live shift on DC101, and the station went off IMMEDIATELY. Dustin, Tamo, if you're reading this - I swear it wasn't my fault!
Marci Wiser (Marci’s Playground)
Mornings 6am-10am
KITS (Live 105)/San Francisco
Overnights on KISN in UT (unless you want to count my college radio days)
Def Leppard with The Kingsmen (because I refuse to admit it was Vanilla Ice)
Depeche Mode- Speak & Spell
It’s all a blur, but I know one of my firsts was Will Smith. He was late to the interview so he brought my morning show partner and I pizza. *Fun fact* We were in NYC so the pizza was superb, as was the company.
I miscalculated the length of my bathroom song and the effect the 7-Eleven nachos would have on me. 😬
Ian Camfield
Presenter
KVIL (ALT 103.7)/Dallas, KQMT (99.5 The Mountain)/Denver, WDZH (ALT 98.7)/Detroit, KBZT (ALT 94.7)/San Diego, KNDD (107.7 The End)/Seattle
Virgin Megastores Radio in UK, but if we're talking actually on the radio, that would be Country 1035. I was 16 and playing Dolly Parton on a London Country station, at 3am, on AM!
Rolling Stones at Wembley Stadium. Many people have an embarrassing answer to this question. I'm grateful to Mum & Dad for taking my Sister and I when we were little kids, so my first gig was a great one. My parents had seen The Stones a few times in the 60s & 70s, and wanted to go to the Steel Wheels Tour, because they thought it was likely to be the final one. This was in 1989!
If You Want Blood You Got It by AC/DC. My Aunt's boyfriend at the time left some cassettes at our house one day. A couple were by AC/DC, and listening to those made me want to go to the record store and find more. I was seven. The cover has Angus with the guitar through his chest, covered in blood. That caught my attention.
On Xfm I started a Metal show, my first interview was Robb Flynn from Machine Head. Who had a difficult reputation. So much so, the label warned me beforehand, knowing I was young and inexperienced. But he was great, we became friends and I still go see Machine Head and text Robb to this day.
Back in the VMR / Country 1035 days I was doing three shifts across the two stations, between Saturday and Sunday morning. Plus going to college five days a week. There was one time I nodded off in the studio during Luka by Suzanne Vega in the early hours of Sunday morning. This was a time when you had to start the next song, so the silence woke me!
