While most freshmen may have felt intimidated by WSBU The Buzz’s position on top, Nick Coyne and Mike Paasch saw it as all the more reason to join the successful radio station.

The two freshmen, along with two other friends, snagged a show on the station last semester, called themselves “Sonic Boom” and became familiar with the way a radio station works.

Spring semester brought a new crowd of shows, including Coyne and Paasch, this time adding fellow freshman Eric Hostetter to the mix. The show, called “The Rolling Jones” isn’t necessarily genre-specific. They like to switch it up.

“We try to infuse pretty much everything,” said Coyne, known as D.J. Yonkson on the show. “Everything” ranges anywhere from indie rock to alternative rock, with some hip-hop as well.

“We try to play as much hip-hop as possible without delving into heavier rap,” he said.

Though The Rolling Jones is not a genre-specific show, they still stick to guidelines with what is played during their timeslot. Though different, genres played on the show share common elements.

“We try to incorporate any kind of hip-hop that has natural rock instruments in it,” said Coyne (Hostetter can’t seem to get a word in edgewise, and Mike Paasch was M.I.A.). With that, “been there, done that” topics on songs are taboo to this group – no song will feature common themes like dying.

“All music influences other music,” said Hostetter (D.J. Hos), finally. “It’s all interconnected.”

When it comes to indie rock, influences of hip-hop are essential, and vice versa. No connection? No play on the show.

One hip-hop/rap group that occasionally can be heard on The Rolling Jones’s playlist is Atmosphere. The piano parts in some of the songs appeal to what the group looks to put out there to listeners.

A Tribe Called Quest is another band on the playlist. “They were the first hip-hop group to use natural instruments,” said Coyne. “They’re like The Beatles of rap.”

Another requirement for The Rolling Jones: artificial sounds are a no-no. Plenty of hip-hop groups rely on computers to create the background music, but The Rolling Jones will have none of that. By natural instruments, Coyne means the instruments have to be recorded manually instead of on a computer to create a sound or replace an instrument.

In the indie rock world, The Rolling Jones puts out music from Dear and the Headlights and Kevin Devine. We’re back to the natural aspect of the show with these two groups.

“Kevin Devine relied on the natural, acoustic sound in his first couple albums,” Coyne explained. “And Dear and the Headlights (has a) Modest Mouse-like feeling.” (It can be assumed Modest Mouse would make the cut as well, then.)

They’re not being sexist by barely including females in the playlists; it’s just “not something we relate to,” Coyne said.

Each D.J. in The Rolling Jones contributes something to make the whirlwind of requirements and songs played possible.

“Hos is more in-tune with the rap part and Paasch knows what’s happening with indie music,” said Coyne. “I meet them somewhere in the middle.”

And no wonder Coyne has more to say than Hostetter: Coyne’s iPod hosts over 14,000 songs to Hostetter’s 2,400. It doesn’t matter, though. People like The Rolling Jones’s show and Coyne gets to fulfill his dream of hosting a radio show.

Tune in on Tuesdays from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. to enjoy an array of carefully arranged music from different genres.

“It looks good on a resumé,” Hostetter said simply.

Originally published in The Buzzworthy (3/29/12).