DJ Swift, Founder of Wild 1 Radio, Keeping the DJ Alive in Hip Hop @Wild1_Radio

Any true Hip Hop head knows how cru­cial the DJ is to Hip Hop and music over­all! Here for a remind­er course from LA is DJ Swift, founder of Wild 1 Radio!

MJ:  For all our glob­al read­ers tell us about LA’s hit sta­tion Wild 1 Radio.

DJ Swift: Wild1 Radio is the Num­ber 1 DJs sta­tion! We have 45 real dee­jays work­ing 247 to bring you some real mixes and the best of Hip Hop, Elec­tron­ic, and Dance.

MJ:  For you it has been a mis­sion to bring radio and the DJ back to its roots.  Take us on that jour­ney of yours.

DJ Swift: Yes, indeed! Actu­ally I missed the old time of the radio. I really like all the new plat­form like Pan­dora and Spo­ti­fy, but you rarely dis­cov­er new music with those plat­forms. The play list is most of the time pre­dict­able because you actu­ally choose it. So I wanted to go back to the time where you got sur­prised by what you heard on the radio. That’s also a good way to dis­cov­er new music.

MJ:  Unlike oth­er sta­tions you broad­cast sim­ul­tan­eously from LA, Hong Kong, and Lon­don. How did that evolve? I know the Hip Hop scene in all cit­ies are incred­ibly strong and thriving.

DJ Swift: Yes, Wild1 Radio is the first world­wide sta­tion. All shows are broad­cas­ted 3 times a day to match Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and Lon­don. So for examples a show that’s sched­uled at 8pm on Tues­day in LA, will be also played at 8pm in Lon­don and at 8pm in Hong Kong on the same day! So wherever you are in the world, you tune in at 8pm and you have the same show. Wild1 is not only Hip Hop. Every­day we have a dif­fer­ent vibe with a vari­ety of music. Hip Hop days are Tues­days and Wed­nes­days. And yes we have shows in Bel­gi­um, UK, and France!  I actu­ally really want to find a Ger­man DJ to do a Hip Hop show on the sta­tion, stay tuned…

MJ:  Wild 1 Radio has sev­er­al DJ’s.  Talk about that rela­tion­ship and how it strengthens the sta­tion as a whole.

DJ Swift: I really wanted to cre­ate a fam­ily, and we have really suc­ceeded with that! Every­body is really involved in the suc­cess of the sta­tion and each oth­ers shows. We all share show info, music, and guests.

MJ:  Break Wild 1 Radio down for those who are not famil­i­ar.  Let us know air­ing times, types of shows, hosts, etc.

DJ Swift: We have dif­fer­ent types of music every day. Monday is an open format.  Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s are ded­ic­ated to Hip Hop.  Thursday is Hip Hop, Reg­gae, and Reg­gae world. Friday’s and Saturday’s are straight EDM or dance floor music. Sunday is more of a cool vibe. If you want more inform­a­tion about the pro­grams, please vis­it our web­site http://www.wild1radio.com

Dj swift

MJ:  Talk about your listen­ers and fans.  Is there a dif­fer­ence of loy­alty in the United States than in oth­er countries?

DJ Swift: We have listen­ers from more than 30 coun­tries! Most of our listen­ers are in USA, France, and UK.

MJ:  Give us some his­tory on the evolve­ment of DJ Swift.  How did it all begin for you?

DJ Swift: I star­ted as a battle DJ in Europe.  I was dee­jay­ing DMC and loc­al battles. I’ve worked with a lot of Hip Hop Artists and joined a fam­ous rock band, Sil­mar­ils (known as the French Beast­ie Boys). We toured almost all over the world. At the same time, I was doing a lot of extreme sports events. I also star­ted doing some radio show and some pro­duc­tion. In 2008 I left France for Los Angeles. There, I star­ted work­ing for a couple of artists from the Wu-tang Clan (Prod­ig­al Sunn, Sunz of Man, Kil­larmy) and I hos­ted a show on Wu-tang radio for 5 years.  I also star­ted teach­ing at the Scratch DJ Academy in LA. Because of my back­ground and all the dee­jays, I knew, I decided to cre­ate my own radio sta­tion, and the rest is history.

MJ:   I’m curi­ous to learn who is in your per­son­al playl­ist?  Are there DJ’s of past or cur­rent gen­er­a­tions that have inspired you?

DJ Swift: As a DJ I can play everything. I mostly play Clas­sic Hip Hop, Rock, mashups and Elec­tro. As a music lov­er I’m a huge Beatles and Beach Boys fan.

MJ:  Music plat­forms have drastic­ally changed through­out the eras.  As a DJ what are your thoughts of stream­ing music, and count­less listen­ing apps?

DJ Swift: As a DJ I hate it.  As I men­tioned earli­er, with those apps you nev­er dis­cov­er new music. A real DJ needs to dis­cov­er new music all the time.

MJ:  As we wrap up is there any­thing else you would like the world to know about your­self and Wild 1 Radio?

DJ Swift: If you like real DJs and real music, come listen to us on our offi­cial web­site, on Tun­eIn and oth­er radio websites.

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MJ Savino

MJ is Hip Hop Blog­ger, Pub­li­cist, Book­ing Agent, Act­iv­ist, but fan first and fore­most. “Hip Hop saved my life, it is only right I give back to the culture”!

About MJ Savino

MJ is Hip Hop Blogger, Publicist, Booking Agent, Activist, but fan first and foremost. "Hip Hop saved my life, it is only right I give back to the culture"!