Junior Jock (n.) – student radio disc jockey; one who introduces songs on the radio and entertains listeners with interesting conversations on music and pop culture.
If you listen to local radio, the term “Junior Jock” is definitely not new to you. Saturday afternoons may have given you the chance to tune in to Magic 89.9’s Junior Jock show, where students from different universities get the chance to experience being DJs themselves. Perhaps you’re looking for the faces to match those enthusiastic voices on-air, and since they seldom use their real names, you really had no way of knowing—until now. Some of your friendly neighborhood Junior Jocks are closer than you think, possibly even at a table next to yours in the caf. Tommy Boy, Michelle, Finch, and Reese are all junior jocks—and they’re all Ateneans off the airwaves.
BIBO REYES
It’s always surprisingly uncanny when art starts to imitate life. While on radio, he’s JJ (Junior Jock) Tommy Boy—and outside the airwaves, he’s Information Design junior Bibo Reyes, your average Ateneo student—but once, he was also Tank, Heartsville High’s flamboyant and dutiful DJ.
The Blue Repertory member admits that his theater background helped him get the job as a junior jock for Magic 89.9. “When they saw that in my resume they said, ‘Okay, so just do a random skit for us,’ and I did,” he says. It also helped that his fellow JJs had an inkling of who he was—based on a memorable, and pink-induced fiesta role a semester ago. “They knew me as the guy from Zanna, Don’t!—who kissed a guy so that’s basically been my reputation!” he says.
With all that he’s got on his plate, Bibo says that his key to balancing school with other endeavors is focus. “I guess there are just periods where this is what I’m focusing on,” he says, “then for this next month, I’m focusing on that.”
While the biggest perk of the job is the spontaneity of talking to no end, another factor is his relationship with his fellow JJs. “They’re just a bunch of crazy people, and whenever we’re out in the mall we’re all noisy and stuff.”
Bibo hopes to make this DJ stint his first foray into the real world. “I hope I get to start with something I already have and just branch out with that.”
KAT SANCHEZ
“I’m not really the type of person who would just sit down, open a book, and study,” Kat blatantly stated as I eagerly waited for a rather profound response to her “dreams” of becoming Junior Jock Reese. “I just wanted to do something different,” she clarifies.
Despite the silly DJ archetype—over-the-top headphones while religiously sifting through the latest issue of Rolling Stone—Kat was dressed in a simple turquoise round-neck tee, skinny jeans, white sneaks, and with nothing on her hands save for her mobile phone. Her appearance screamed anything but stereotypical.
“Unlike all the other jocks who are Comm majors,” Kat backs up, “I’m in the business course, so [it was kind of] weird, but then I feel like your interaction with people, your customers, and your clients is very important. And those skills, you get to hone in programs like the Junior Jock Show.”
True to form, she proved her point as she amusingly endorsed her stall in JSEC known as “Roma Manila” which mirrors her plans of starting a business in the near future.
When asked about Balancing 101, she couldn’t have made it clearer that her schoolwork comes first. “It’s a student program, and at the end of the day, you’re still a student,” Junior Jock Reese, in that signature cadence that’s become so familiar to radio enthusiasts.
MIGI DOMINGO
Migi is one step ahead of the rest. He sees his stint in radio as a stepping-stone to becoming an influential person in Philippine media.
“I’m into a lot of things. Being a DJ, it’s pretty cool, but I also could be a filmmaker, anything media-related,” he says. Migi, a Communication sophomore, seems to have his future figured out, starting with his job in Magic.
His resemblance to a character from a notorious movie franchise gave him his on-air alias: DJ Finch. “[DJ] CJ thinks I look like Finch from American Pie, so he decided to dub me JJ Finch—even if I don’t think I look anything like him!”
It’s the exposure to mainstream music that makes working in the station so fun, according to him. “It’s really fun seeing the differences and similarities in music. When you get into it, you get to really distinguish one artist from the other,” he says. This isn’t a strange answer, since Migi prides himself in being a musician as well.
If you want to stalk this junior jock, it’s easy to do so. “I’ve gotta say, you know when it’s getting cold in December, it’s nice to hang out in SEC Walk—sitting there in the morning. Super nice and breezy.”
When asked what keeps him going, Migi says his personal motto is “Believe in yourself, it’ll get you places.” JJ Finch appears to be ready for anything. With his upbeat and confident personality, it is inevitable that this stepping-stone turns into a great leap.
