Today we’d like to introduce you to Colette Ford.
Hi Colette, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Also known as Dot Matrix on the radio. I live in South Austin with my husband, our son, and our dogs Dig Dug and Pooka.
I grew up in Sandy, Utah and moved to Austin in 2009. My career as a UX designer ultimately brought me here after taking me to Alabama and West Virginia. I’ve always been artistically creative and was grateful to have a career in design, beginning with print, moving to packaging, and ultimately to the web. However, in 2011 after 13 years of moving around, coupled with the pressures of working in a deadline-driven environment, I hit a wall with a severe case of burnout. Shortly after that, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness. With the unwavering support of my husband, I resigned from my job and left my career behind to focus on my mental and physical health. Free from the intensity of my work life, I still wanted something to do and be accountable for. Recalling an experience I had in the early 90s as a volunteer for KRCL 90.9 FM community radio in SLC, I decided to check the community radio station here in Austin, KOOP 91.7 FM, to see if they offered volunteer opportunities. I was already a listener and have long been a devotee of community radio. I believe the most original, most interesting content is always heard on the low end of the dial.
Being a true community radio station, there are indeed opportunities to get involved so I attended a volunteer orientation. I figured I’d just stuff envelopes or sort CDs a couple of days a week, but as I got more involved with KOOP, I learned that as part of their mission to educate, they offer training to anyone interested in learning how to produce and broadcast a radio show. Around that time, I also discovered I was pregnant, which was an unexpected but joyful surprise. I continued volunteering throughout my pregnancy and completed an apprenticeship with a program called ReMIX where I learned not only the art of broadcasting but audio recording and editing as well. About a year after our son was born, I came up with an idea for a radio show, recorded a demo, filled out an application, and The Girlie Show with Dot Matrix was born.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Having no experience in radio was challenging in the beginning, but other volunteers who were willing to share their knowledge and experience with me made all the difference. At KOOP, I felt that my fellow volunteers truly wanted me to succeed.
Still, I occasionally deal with impostor syndrome. Many of the things I end up being really good at in life I sort of stumbled into: Design work, DJing, even motherhood! I feel like I’ve never set out with a plan and followed the correct steps and crossed an official finish line, and that can make me feel like I haven’t actually deserved something in spite of working hard for it. When that happens, I check in with my 14 years old self for a confidence boost. She’s proud of me and thinks it’s cool that she is still making playlists and playing records at the ancient age of 47.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The Girlie Show is an hour-long, weekly music show consisting of all-female vocals that has been running for nearly seven years. While not the first radio show of its kind, there was nothing like it on KOOP’s schedule at the time. Another element of KOOP’s mission is serving the underserved. Radio has historically been male-dominated, both with on-air talent and the artists that are played. Growing up, my radio heroes were all men: Shadoe Stevens, Casey Kasem, Dr. Demento, Art Bell, and John Peel (via Peel Sessions recordings in a pre-internet world). Even as recently as last year, some radio stations have had policies against playing two female artists back-to-back. I felt that a guaranteed hour of nothing but female-identifying vocalists once a week would be not only fun but important. I also wanted to curate a weekly celebration of unabashed femininity, which I feel is a subjective, complex, and beautiful expression of self that should not be constrained by traditional definitions or expectations. Finally, I wanted to provide a space for underground and emerging artists who otherwise might never get airplay.
In the earliest days of The Girlie Show, I tried to make the show as eclectic as possible, genre-wise. My deep and lifelong obsession with music spans many genres and styles. However, I found myself gravitating toward playing what felt like most authentically embodied the concept of The Girlie Show and my on-air alias, Dot Matrix: Escapist, hedonistic dance music. Specifically, new wave, pop, disco, house, and techno, often with a quirky or deconstructionist leftfield bent. I love the weird fringes of electronic music and I find that I feel most engaged with myself and my listeners when my playlists reflect that.
Austin has a vibrant dance and electronic music scene, and it’s a priority of mine to feature as much local music as I possibly can that fits within The Girlie Show’s format. Thankfully, that is not a challenge. I find that independent and underground musicians here in Austin are more experimental and more open to loose stylistic interpretations of their art than in other local scenes I’ve experienced. This makes following their journeys exciting and integrating their music into playlists alongside established, international acts seamless. We have world-class musicians here, and it’s vital to support and promote them.
Occasionally, I DJ live. While I use my laptop and DJ software to create my weekly radio show, I play live sets with vinyl records. Before we got married, my husband and I were both record collectors, so between us we share a massive collection. I draw most of the music for live sets from artists and genres I play on The Girlie Show and maintain my Dot Matrix persona. However, I can curate sets from a wide variety of genres and styles. The live gigs I’ve played have primarily been for events held by KOOP, which provided opportunities to play in some unique venues one might not associate with a live DJ such as other area nonprofits like Austin Film Society and The Thinkery. Independently, I have played both bars and lounges and coffee shops and cafés. The most remarkable thing about my path to live DJing is that I learned everything I know about spinning records from other women. It’s hard to believe my luck sometimes, being able to do this thing I would never have dreamed of but have always wanted to do, and learning from other women in a positive, inclusive, encouraging setting. Shout out to Ms. 45s, Arlini Martini, and DJ Lady Wonder who helped me find my confidence and shared knowledge and opportunities with me– we held some fun events pre-pandemic. My main focus remains The Girlie Show, but if the right opportunities arise, I’m energized by the thought of live events again.
What makes you happy?
My greatest joy comes from my family. Raising our son and watching him discover his world for the first time is a tremendous source of happiness (and anxiety!) for me. Relative to that, I find happiness in discovery. Music has always been a deep and focused interest of mine. As a teenager that meant hours in front of the radio, reading magazines like Rolling Stone, Smash Hits, and Sassy, and spending time in mall record stores looking at literally every record in the bins. As an adult, it has meant never losing the curiosity and enthusiasm those times listening to the radio or getting lost in the record store afforded me. There is no limit to the amount of discovery we can do in our lifetimes. Isn’t that amazing? Having a weekly radio show provides happiness in the form of curating a playlist, matching the energy, timing, and feeling of each song to the next, writing it down by hand in a notebook, highlighting facts I find interesting, and sharing this out to anyone who just so happens to be hearing me at that moment. I love the anonymity radio provides me while giving me the opportunity to connect with other people. Connection with others is crucial to happiness when those connections are made on our own terms. Exploration, discovery, and connection. Those things bring me joy.
Contact Info:
- Email: koopgirlie@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlieshowradio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girlieshowradio
- Other: https://www.mixcloud.com/girlieshowradio/
