It’s the end of another semester here at Auburn, and that means a whole new batch of graduates entering the world beyond university. Many such students happen to be departing from WEGL this year, and for that we mourn. Today we mourn the loss of the one, the only, JP Williams, or, Real DJP. (Please save your applause for the end). Serving four years at WEGL, JP wore many hats, including marketing director, and his current position, program director. During his time with WEGL, JP touched the hearts and souls of many a student, and I’m sure he will continue to do so with his future endeavors. So read along as JP and I discuss BestBuy TVs, future plans, the philosophy behind DJP, and much more.
What all shows did you as a part of WEGL?
“I’ve done a lot of different shows. Woodstock Hour has been the only that stuck throughout my four years here. I did a thing called The New Music Hour here for a while. That as my music director show, so I would literally showcase new music. It was a lot of Drake when Dark Lane Demo Tapes came out, when ‘Eteranl Atake’ dropped. Just kind of newer stuff, more underground. Not exactly underground, I would play stuff that was popular from the labels. When I say popular, I’m talking when The Slow Rush dropped, Tame Impala album, you know it’s only one guy by the one. I had some Khruangbin, Leon Bridges, I tried to introduce him to this station, I thought I kind of had an impact there. I also did live with DJP for a while so that was kind of my alternative show to the Woodstock hour. Id interview friends, family, just kind of anyone who wanted to stand on the platform of WEGL, I would just give them the microphone and just interview and talk about whatever. So the three shows I’d say I’ve done is new music hour Woodstock hour and live with DJP and for a very brief stint we did the infinite insight show.”
Do you have any favorite musicians or artist?
“The first one that popped up into my head is of course Stevie Ray Vaughan. I call him the Bruce Lee of the guitar. He and Jimmy Page both just kind of knew how to do it in every kind of way shape and form. Favorite band, well just go with Pink Floyd. Marshal Tucker Band is another one of my favorites. Sturgill Simpson, you know me, I love Sturgill Simpson.”
What is your favorite part of being in WEGL?
“My show, of course, is one of them. Getting to teach and watch people know what to do because it’s something I feel like I taught them how to do. I remember I taught Logan how to make playlists, and then I got a text a couple weeks after and it was from another member and he said, ‘just watched logan put someone’s playlist in for him, doing all the steps. That really put a smile on my face knowing that something I did left an 9impact. That and that studio is one of my favorite things about WEGL. It’s a studio, and it wasn’t really a home. I feel like I turned it into a home by decorating the room and, not to give myself all that credit, I had help from other people in WEGL to help turn it into the place it is now. The music, the people, the learning, the experience, all of it is just my favorite thing in the world. I don’t know where I’d be without WEGL.”
What is the whackiest / funniest memory from being in WEGL?
“I had my friend Seth come in twice for the like with DJP show, that and my friend Jake. My friend jake and I started talking about best buy TV and how they’re just different TVs from anything else you can buy in that store. It’s just like a moth to a flame when I walk into best buy. Like I walk into Best Buy and I can see it when I walk in and I’m attracted to the tv, I have to go back and look at it. The goofiest moment of senior year, one of the goofiest moments of all time, was actually Tuesday April 12, I was on the Why So Serious show, and we started arguing on whether rush as a good band or not. I love rush, the why so serious hosts will root and Thomas root, yah I’m calling them out, they don’t like rush and it has sparked an argument for the past like two days.”
What are your future plans for after graduation?
“I’m actually interning in Nashville, TN this summer with WSM 640 AM, the short version of me saying that is, the Grand Ole Opry station. It’s one of the oldest stations in America, one of the oldest stations in the world, they’re almost a hundred years old now, which is pretty crazy. I want to eventually start doing my Live With DJP: show again and do Live With DJP on the road. I want to eventually invest in a nice fifth wheel pull behind trailer that I can have my own studio in to interview bands around the country I want to start my own media company at some point I know it’s sort of a pipe dream but you know dream big or don’t dream at all that’s kind of the way I see it. I know that I’m gonna have to put my nose to the grindstone and work a corporate job and do something I’m not gonna like for a while, and not that I won’t like it, I just know that there’s things that I’d rather be doing but at the end of the day you have to work hard to make your work easy so you kind of have to climb the hill before you can coast down and do the fun stuff.”
Do you have any personal mantras that you live by?
“I like to ask myself a question a good bit, and that question is, ‘Do you have what it takes?’ And that can be used in any context. Sometimes I don’t think I have what it takes, but a lot of the times I’m like ‘Ya I have what it takes.’ I don’t like to think I’m the main character but if I’m not the main character, then who is? That and ‘try to live life with no regrets. Because if you live a life with a regret, it’s just gonna bog you down, you’re gonna think about it for too long, you’re gonna think of that when you could be living in the moment.”
Any fun facts?
“I like to juggle, and I like to play golf. I worked at golf courses, and you’re surrounded by thousands of golf balls every day, so I would spend my downtime, I would just juggle if there was nothing go on.”
What’s your golf handicap?
“I’m a bogey golfer, so my handicap is somewhere between 18-20. I can talk enough smack that I know I can beat some people if I really try to focus, but my attention span is so bad that I won’t really focus. Cuz I’m not super competitive, I like to be outside and have a good time while I’m out there. If I’m playing golf and I’m loose then I’m on it, but ill kind of stress myself out a lot… It’s a game of inches, that’s the distance from one ear to the next with your brain right in the middle.”
What is the most recent book you’ve read?
“I read Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, but a book I would recommend is Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights. It’s not really a coming of age book, and it’s not a book about advice, it’s more of a book about him telling a story and you can take notes from it however which way you wanna see it. That book’s awesome, it really inspired me to just be a better version of myself, go out and do more because nothings gonna come to you, if you wanna do something you have to go out and get it. People don’t change, your habits change. So if you want something, you can’t just sit and stay in your same habits; you have to change your habits and better yourself if you really want to achieve a goal. Set small goals to achieve medium goals, and your medium goals will turn into larger goals.”
What movie encapsulates your vibe?
“I’m Sebastian from La La Land. ‘When did you ever care about being liked?’, that quote and how he wanted to open a restaurant, the jazz bar. I’ve always kind of wanted to open up my own restaurant but Sebastian from that movie, he’s more relatable to me than any other [character].”
