DJ N-I-K rocks the Logan airwaves
It’s 7 p.m., and if the radio dial is turned to 94.5 VFX, it’s DJ N-I-K, an energetic radio personality playing the Top 40 hits. Add a “C” to N-I-K and you’ve got the name of the friendly 21-year-old making a living at what he loves to do.
Nick is a Logan native who works at 94.5 VFX, the Logan radio station that plays music from a contemporary hit radio/Top 40 format.
“A lot of people look at what I want to do as pipe dreams,” Nick said.
From the secretaries, music directors, DJs and advertising representatives who pass by in the hallway, everyone seems to know this blond guy in a gray sweater and light blue jeans torn here and there. Nick points out the six different radio stations in the building and production studios for each.
After passing the conference room, we entered the radio studio. It’s just big enough for a computer to cut and mix music, a CD player, phone machines for listeners to call in and Nick himself, behind a microphone and audio board, broadcasting to listeners across the valley.
Nick is one of five on-air personalities for 94.5 VFX who broadcast from the Cache Valley Group building on 810 W. and 200 North. The building, which has been there for more than 20 years, is the hub for six local radio stations: Q92 (92.9 FM), KIX 96 (96.7 FM), KLZX 95.9 FM, KLGN 1390 AM and KVNU 610 AM.
For the past eight years Nick has been pursuing his dream in radio. He started off with a portable CD player, advertising his own talent. He would go to a high school dance with three speakers, portable lights and a crowd of 500 people and DJ the party.
Not only did his talent emerge from high school, so did his catchy name DJ N-I-K. The name originated from his doodling in high school. He merged the letters N and K together and it sounded catchy. The radio personality DJ N-I-K was born.
Nick got his start when 94.5 switched from a classic rock format to popular hits a year and half ago. When the new party-style format came to the station, it could be traced back to Nick. The first show he helmed and is still running is the Stereo-X show, which airs on Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Most familiar is the show he runs from 7 p.m. to midnight Mondays through Fridays. On this show, Nick becomes the on-air personality DJ N-I-K, bringing an on-air party format to local stereos across Logan for the past year.
Mixing and re-mixing music, a combination found in Stereo-X, is what Nick enjoys doing most. Nick makes combinations of songs on the computer, incorporating his own style to mixing music by combining the top hits from the ’70s or ’80s, with the Top 40 Hits on the charts today.
For example, he explained, mixing DMX, a rap artist, with Barry Manilow. Put the two bi-polar artists together and it sounds like “Bah bah, zah, BAH,” he said.
“He took a lot of his own stuff and incorporated it into his own style. Being on every day has helped him improve,” said Shauntelle Richardson, music director at the radio station.
His production duties include cutting commercials, voicing them, putting images to them and doing promotion deals for both himself and the station, said Aaron Steele, program director.
The weekend show is what Nick enjoys the most about his job because it incorporates mixing and his on-air radio personality.
Before working at VFX, he worked in Salt Lake City for about a month at U92 (92.1 FM) filling in nights and weekends.
“It’s a party on the radio,” he said.
When he’s not working at the radio station, he does his own gigs at clubs and parties. Volunteer work has also been a part of his weekend schedule. On Nov. 20, he helped out with the music at Utah State University’s Special Olympics.
“He’s done the mobile DJ thing for awhile. He is still learning,” Steele said.
He is the most expensive DJ in Logan, and lets people know he’s the most expensive. He starts charging $250 a night and goes up from there, he said. The price can reach up to $700 if he is doing a show in Park City.
“Nobody else can do what I do, as far as my knowledge and resources. I put 100 percent of my time and effort into this. I know I have it in me to do what I want to do,” Nick said.
“Once you’re in it, it opens doors in the industry.”
The entertainment industry is where Nick plans to continue in his endeavors, which include making commercials, concert promoting or being a radio producer. Collages of CD covers have become wallpaper for Nick’s very own production studio in his two-room apartment. Autographs and vintage records are also part of the decor contributing to an atmosphere where he can mix music and plan his next show. His studio is equipped with two computers, three CD players, tape decks, a record player and a couple of mixers.
Since he works night and day in the radio business, Nick, a sophomore in college, is taking a break from school so he can put his wife, Amy, through college. The two were married Aug. 5 after what Amy calls a modern-day fairytale courtship.
Amy was working for the VFX morning show. The morning show decided to set her up on a blind date for the show. The blind date (pre-set up) turned out to be with Nick. She had seen him working as a DJ before, and he came in while she was on the morning show.
For their blind date, Nick picked Amy up at 6 a.m. for breakfast at Village Inn. Even though blind dates are often awkward enough, Amy and Nick had to bring a cell phone on the blind date so the radio show could keep tabs on the two and broadcast their date to listeners.
The biggest challenge facing Nick is where to take his talent.
His number one priority is the relationship he has with his wife. On Dec. 6, he turned down a job offer in Jackson, Miss.
Other offers he is considering are with radio stations in California and India. Doors are opening and he said his mind has been going crazy trying to decide the next best job move.
Until the major decision is made, Nick, his wife and Logan’s listeners will just have to wait and see what happens next.