One of the usual definitions on a freshman history teacher’s midterm review guide is the Renaissance Man: a person with many talents or areas of knowledge. For years, maybe not dating back quite far as the Renaissance, Mr. Reed has filled that definition himself with his varied interests. With interests in cars to Dolphins shirts to his ties matching his lesson of the day, his real love lies in music and dance.
Mr. Reed used to dance Lindy Hop, which is a type of swing music.
“I realized if I wanted to keep dancing, someone needed to play the music,” Mr. Reed said. Soon enough, his friend Mike Trynosky (who has his own show called “Not Exactly Nashville”) was asking him why he didn’t make a radio show himself. Mr. Reed created his own show called House Rent Party with the help of Trynosky and it’s been history from there.
Mr. Reed plays his show on WCNI, which can be listened to through 90.9FM and also on WCNIradio.org. He plays swing, jazz, and blues from the 1930s-’40s music Thursdays from 3-6. He said that sometimes, it’s hard to pick which music to play next.
“I organize my show by birthdays,” said Reed. He explains that each DJ has a different style and personality, so he picks out music based on the artist’s birthday (for ex: Nina Simone’s birthday was Feb. 21, so he played her music the week of her birthday). He explains that this helps him to keep organized.
Mr. Reed calls his show House Rent Party because in the 1930s when people weren’t able to afford their rent, they would open up their house and make a “bunch of spaghetti, buy some booze, and charge people at the door to come in.” He explains many musicians would play for free food, therefore you could hopefully afford to pay your rent.
Part of the time, Mr. Reed volunteers to host the radio show for training people who want to learn how to DJ. Mr. Reed explains the love he has for his show due to the music he plays, but what he loves so much about his time from 3-6 on Thursdays is that his radio show is his own escape.
