Radio X: Meet the DJs

By Sofie Daiberl •

Radio X [now Mako Radio] is NSU’s student-run radio station, which airs on channel 88.5 daily from 6 p.m. to midnight. Students deejay, play (often non-mainstream) music of their choice, interact with audiences, give away concert tickets and interview artists. Radio X currently has three staff DJs who host these evening shows, and they welcome volunteer DJs to host their own shows throughout the week.

DJ Flackie

JoMari Chao, Radio X station manager and senior double major in international studies and legal studies, interviews people in the booth during College Radio Day in 2021. PHOTO BY FRANK NATALE.

JoMari Chao, Radio X station manager and senior double major in international studies and legal studies, first discovered Radio X through a pamphlet circulating campus when she was a freshman. She thought it was interesting, and so she explored it. Fast-forward to now, and she is “the sole bearer of all information and all things surrounding Radio X.” Her DJ name, DJ Flackie, is a play on words, derived from the Spanish word “flaca,” meaning skinny.

“My aunt calls me Flackie as a term of endearment, so that’s where my DJ name comes from,” Chao said.

During her evening shows, she likes to play modern Latin music, such as reggaeton.

DJ Sirena

Alex Hernandez, sophomore double major in inter-national studies and national security, is the assistant station manager at Radio X. Her responsibilities include playing music, curating playlists, going on air, performing interviews and attending concerts. She first discovered her love for Radio X while walking around campus and noticing a DJ dancing to their own music, which she later found out was a Radio X employee doing a remote. Soon enough, she found herself in Rosenthal Student Center, where Radio X is located, signing up to be a volunteer DJ. Her DJ name also comes from a Spanish word.

“My DJ name is DJ Sirena, which means mermaid in Spanish,” she said. “It was inspired by my love for mermaids and the water, and it just fi t perfectly with NSU.”

The theme for her show is international music (she describes herself as “the DJ of the seven seas”). She plays many genres, including K-pop, J-pop, Latino music and German indie rock, on her evening shows.

DJ Blossom

Denisia Martimbor, com-munity program director at Radio X and first-year graduate student pursuing an MBA in management, is the anchor and producer of Radio X’s weekly Wednesday show, The Lunch Rush. As the host of The Lunch Rush, she oversees all the different segments, like news, sports and artist interviews. She also manages the social media and coordinates collaborations with organizations and clubs. She said that her intense passion for music brought her to Radio X initially and that her DJ name, DJ Blossom, comes from her Caribbean background.

“I used to sing back home and my singing name was Blossom, so I made it into my DJ name,” Martimbor said.

Martimbor expresses her background through the Carib-bean music, such as Soca, reggae and danzón, that she plays during her evening shows.