Off The Mic
Kayci Lineberger
DJ Name: N/A
DJ Shifts: Jazz in the Morning on Thursday 6-9AM, Local Block on Friday 6-7PM, and Now Playing on Fridays at 7-8PM
Exec Position: Music Director
Year: Senior
Major: English
Minor: German
Favorite Color: Olive Green
Hobbies: Listens to music, claims to be a mediocre bedroom musician, an avid reader, cooks, hikes
Mason Kilpatrick: How did you hear about KJHK?
Kayci Lineberger: I listened. I used to be a delivery driver.
MK: Oh, where at?
KL: Tad’s.
MK: Sick!
KL: I spent a lot of time listening. I knew most of everyone here before I met them because I would listen to their voices all the time. I would get tired of CDs and I needed something else.
MK: Did we meet your expectations that were created by our voice personalities?
KL: Oh, yeah. Your real life characters greatly outweigh your radio characters.
MK: Why do you enjoy what you do at KJHK?
KL: I enjoy that none of us actually have ourselves together. But we are all incredibly self-aware and supportive of it. We are a very honest community of people and that is why I stayed at KJHK after my first experience here. I had really high expectations this summer, and I was very scared (to work at KJHK). I was pretty intimidated by everyone but now it is completely opposite.
MK: It crumbled!
KL: It crumbled in the best possible way. The community is enticing and comfortable. That is why we’re so avid about wanting everyone and their mom to join KJHK.
MK: Why do you think that is? A lot of people say we are caring. What has KJHK done to make it such a caring community?
KL: It goes back to what we are putting out into the world. Lots of music is about love or a strong emotion. And we are all connected to that art form. Even if you are Content Director and make content or are a Sports Director and do sports, we are all still here for a similar reason with artistic basis. We are compatible emotionally because of reasons that brought us here. I spend a lot of time in this office, listening to that emotional outpouring, and sharing it with the people of KJHK. That base is what makes this community strong.
MK: We are currently sitting in the music office of KJHK. This is the heart of KJHK, in a way.
KL: This is the home base.
MK: Outside of where the DJs are DJing, this office is a place for anyone in KJHK to sit and talk to someone. People can do more work here and or just chill and talk. This couch has seen a lot, I am sure.
KL: A lot of people have taken intentional and unintentional naps on this couch, for sure. Myself included.
MK: You mentioned music and its relation to love. What is your opinion on art’s relationship with love? How close are those two elements?
KL: Love is the most basic human emotion. Love is what we create when we find a mate. The first thing we do after surviving is finding a mate, if you look at it from an evolutionary standpoint. I love looking at the most intense human emotions in an ape way. That feeling is something that is always going to be there. And art, self expression, that’s another one of the most innate human desires. So we really have no choice but to create things that come out of that emotion. It comes through music a lot.
MK: So do you have experience with expressing love for various people, ideas or objects?
KL: I do, actually. I am a very empathetic, compared to most people. And it is not glorifying, like,” I care more.” It is just who I am.
MK: Sometimes I think it is a trap to be highly empathetic. I am a highly empathetic human being and I feel that way a lot.
KL: It is. It is a double-edged sword. It is very easy to get really wrapped up in it and to not look out for yourself. I have spent a lot of time trying to learn how to love myself, really.
MK: That is important.
KL: I am happy to say that I am working on it. It has been an interesting semester in terms of self-love.
MK: How does it feel when you hit that moment of self-love? And when you realize it?
KL: It feels so good. So good. I am a person who spent a lot of time in self-doubt and I have been working out of that for some time. Joining KJHK has coincided with the healthiest I have ever been.
MK: I was actually about to ask, how has KJHK helped you with your focus on self-love?
KL: It has helped tremendously. I was terrified of the executive meetings in the summer. I was hired and I was thinking to myself, “They don’t know who they just hired. This is a mistake.” It was close to Outsider’s Principle, which basically refers to how people can feel when they think they are not worthy of what they have just received and feel intimidated by those around them. I felt that way with intensity. That perception was torn apart though as I worked here, week by week. That feeling going away was really nice. I felt that I did deserve to be here and the people who hired me here were intentional about it. They still want me here, and I want them here. I have so much respect for every exec, and every staffer, that I get to work with. There’s so much passion at KJHK that it’s become my norm, and normal just doesn’t cut it anymore. It motivates me everyday to get the heck out of bed and go create with all these beautiful people.
MK: I find that interesting because I would feel that way for every position I had here. At KJHK, you can’t really do one position every year. You are required to leave that position after an academic year (with an exception for Technology Director). So people are feeling that way every year if they stick around multiple years with multiple positions.
KL: That so true. It is really enjoyable and pays off though. You could have multiple intense years in multiple fields of work. There is sports, multimedia, music, arts and culture. I tell Brendan (FM Sports Director) that I am doing sports next year and I am going to learn everything about sports by the late spring for Exec applications, and we just laugh. Because I talk more about how I despise sports than actual sports.
MK: So you are not a sports fan?
KL: I am not a sports fan.
MK: If you had to be a paid sports athlete in any field, what athlete would you be?
KL: Golf. Definitely golf. I was varsity golfer in high school. I would be a professional golfer… but only if I could be barefoot the entire time.