COURTESY PHOTO/WPCR.ORG
There’s a fuzzy, slow-moving mammal hanging around the radio station, and his name is Tristan Sherrell, a.k.a. DJ Sloth. “I’m just kind of a low energy person,” Sherrell said about his nickname. He hosts a weekly show on WPCR called Branching Out with the Sloth, which airs Sunday nights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Sherrell plays all sorts of music on his show except for two things: the Top 40, and modern country (although Johnny Cash is fair game). “I’ll go from folk to hip hop, to punk or something,” said Sherrell. He looks through his iTunes library and plays what he feels in the moment, occasionally breaking out a vinyl record to play on the station’s turntable. It ends up creating a pretty unique show. “I don’t think anyone else is going to play what I do,” said Sherrell.
Sherrell joined the radio his first semester, after he saw a Facebook post about the club. He always loved music, and he played in three bands when he was in high school. “I just wanted to keep the music going in my academic career,” he said.
Sherrell is a sophomore Management major with a concentration in small business and entrepreneurship. “My dream would be to open up my own business, hopefully a record store,” said Sherrell. Sherrell has never been to the West Coast, but he imagines his store to be someplace like Seattle. He has this abstract idea that “The West Coast is the place to be if you have a record store,” although he’s not getting his hopes too high. He knows it’s challenging to start a business.
This year, he was elected onto the executive board as Music Director. As part of the exec board, Sherrell is responsible for training new members. Newbies come in while he’s doing his show, and he can explain the ropes. “Some kids do get it on their first shot, but a lot of them don’t,” said Sherrell. Sherrell was involved in training 11 people this semester.
As Music Director, Sherrell talks to artists and labels and asks them to send their music. In the future, he hopes to bring live musicians into the station. He hopes WPCR will organize more live concerts like their Festivus show, an annual event that celebrates the secular December holiday.
Sherrell is already trying to get artists on his show. He recently contacted the folk punk musician Byrdman about a possible phone interview. For now, listeners can enjoy guest appearance by Sherrell’s roommate Eric Halin, who usually joins Sherrell for the last hour of the show.
Branching out with the Sloth airs Sun. from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. at at 91.7 WPCR, or tune in online at www. wpcr.org.
WPCR holds meetings Wednesdays in Memoral 103 at 9 p.m.