Tex Clark ’95 is among those featured in a New York Times article, “Community Radio Fights to Stay Live (and Weird) Despite Coronavirus.”

Tex is a federal public defense attorney in Portland, OR, and is the host of the weekly radio show “Circa Rad” on XRAY.fm (KXRY 107.1 and 91.1 FM). “I credit Antioch with my radio start at the one-watt station called Anti-Watt that operated in 90s from the 2nd floor of the community center,” says Tex.

The following is excerpted from the article by Brett Sokol:

Was her airing of Mudhoney’s fuzzed-out 1988 singalong “Touch Me, I’m Sick” in poor taste?

“Good taste is overrated,” she quipped. Turning earnest, Clark explained that she actually derives as much benefit from doing her radio show as any of her listeners. After years of religiously listening to deafening bands perform into the wee hours, she was diagnosed in 2012 with multiple sclerosis, ending her late-night club-hopping. “Becoming a D.J. at XRAY, being able to take my love of music and my love of being social with people and transfer it all into radio, has become a really important part of my life,” she said.

The emergence of the coronavirus immediately posed a problem for her. “Being on the radio is a very tactile thing: Your face is right up against the mic, you’re touching all the buttons. I’m immuno-compromised. I’m someone without a lot of margin for risk,” she said. So she went online and gave herself a crash course in audio production, quickly buying some relatively affordable gear. The result isn’t quite a home studio, “more like a chair in my bedroom with the mic propped up on the armrest,” she laughed. “But it sounds all right!” Now pre-recording her weekly show, she’s still reaching her regular audience.

Read “Community Radio Fights to Stay Live (and Weird) Despite Coronavirus” on NYTimes.com.

Photo credit: Anna Campbell