CJSW’s Hive Mind brings productive, marginalized anger to Tuesday airwaves
By Rachel Woodward, February 7 2017
Every Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., CJSW 90.9 FM plays music that might not be the most pleasant to listen to. Diana Baescu, who hosts Hive Mind on CJSW, is hoping this dissonance will spark a conversation between listeners and make them question their surroundings.
“The name Hive Mind is quite a paradox for what the show actually means,” Baescu says. “It is very much about freedom of thought and speech and bringing people together under the same idea of standing up for what you personally believe in — so questioning everything.”
The show is deeply rooted in the LGBTQ community. Baescu feels radio is an important outlet for those who feel like they haven’t found their own community yet.
“Hive Mind is very much playing music that isn’t necessarily pleasant. I’m looking at music from movements that existed in the dark crevices of society,” Baescu says. “We’re looking at deep techno, hardcore techno — things that were really heavily derived from the queer community around the world. Lots of experimental noise, power electronics — this is angry music. Anger is a very intense emotion and I want to harness that in a way that is productive for humans.”
Baescu views Hive Mind as a social movement where they use radio as a voice through music. Sometimes they speak over tracks in order to communicate a message or use speeches from social justice movements to highlight different voices.
Baescu says CJSW uniquely highlights marginalized voices.
“The thing that I’m doing here in radio and the songs that I’m playing — there’s no other station in Calgary that does that. I’m one of the only queer radio shows in Canada,” Baescu says. “There’s only a handful of shows that [are] heavily invested in the queer community or identify with that or [have] a queer DJ.”
While radio is often seen as a one-dinensional method of entertainment, Baescu hopes listeners will talk back to what they are hearing during the two-hour show. Baescu says feedback is important so listeners can ask questions about what they are hearing and how they view the world around them.
“I’ll play shows that are just high, aggressive frequencies and often times I’ll get people giving me heat,” Baescu says. “They’ll call me saying ‘this is garbage, you need to get off the radio.’ But that’s the point. It’s not always about being pleasant. I’m not afraid to stir up the storm. I’m here to make people question why they like things in the first place.”
Hive Mind airs on CJSW 90.9 FM every Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
For more information, visit cjsw.com