Garcia makes a difference on the hip-hop airwaves

By Wyatt Phillips
Guest Writer

Jose Garcia may seem to be a man of few words in public, but put him behind a microphone, and it's a different story.

"When I get on the radio, it is another world," Garcia said. "I can be me."  Garcia is a junior mass communications major concentrating in broadcasting.  He is employed at WCCG-FM, "Hot 104.5," a Fayetteville hip-hop/R&B station.  Garcia likes the impact that the mass media have on people.

Photo by Carol Franch Jose Garcia, a UNCP student, is a radio DJ for Hot 104.5, a Hip-hop radio station out of Fayetteville.

"[I] like how broadcasts reach a lot of people," said Garcia.  "[I] like how [my] work is seen by many individuals." 

Garcia is totally absorbed in the broadcasting realm; he is fascinated by radio.

In the future, Garcia wants to use his degree in broadcasting to help the less fortunate.  Garcia said that he believes that since broadcasting has such an enormous influence, it should use that influence to help people. 

"[I want to] use what I've learned to apply it to benefit other people," Garcia said.

Since Garcia is already a 'mass communicator' in a sense by being on the radio, he is already using that influence to help people. 

"Since it is a hip-hop station [that I am employed with], I don't have to be formal," said Garcia. 

Garcia said that he feels that by speaking plain language on-the-air to people, it helps the media to break a boundary between the corporate world and the public.  That helps the media make a difference in people's lives.

"If it [the media] benefits them [the people], it's good; if it doesn't, it's not," Garcia said.