Welcome to the “Wabi-Sabi Sleepy Cast,” where DJ Jake Matz takes you on a journey intent on lulling you to sound sleep and sweet dreams – in the best way possible, of course. Join him from 9 PM to midnight on Friday nights to have your dreams interpreted, engage in conversation, and listen to smooth, relaxing soundscapes. Despite Jake’s technical background as a sophomore Computer Science major here at UTD, he’s passionate about music, radio, and everything in between. When asked about the inspiration behind his first full-fledged show, Jake explained that he used podcasts to battle insomnia in high school. He hoped his show “could be something like that, where I can just yap and people will listen, get tired, and go to bed.” The “Wabi-Sabi Sleepy Cast” thrives on listener interaction, and features a Google Form on the show’s home page to submit stories, dreams, and more. 

“Wabi-Sabi Sleepy Cast” is Jake’s first full-fledged show, and has a distinct soundscape of jazz, citypop, and slower, chill songs. This is a sharp turn from the part-time trainee show Jake did before this one, named “Epinephrine and Horse Tranquilizers,” which aptly featured metal and other stimulating music. “I named it [that] because they got you amped and chilled you out,” he laughed. Aside from DJing, Jake is also involved in volunteer work at Radio and is often found at events around campus such as Comet Con, the UTD Health Fair, and most recently, the Eclipse Festival, where he played music to a variety of listeners from all across the Dallas area. As for future events, Jake wants listeners to stay tuned for DJ Fest, where anyone can go through training and host their own 30 minute DJ set. 

Jake’s idea for the show comes from his experience with music, as does his love for DJing and radio itself. His interest in music began as a child growing up in the Austin area, where freedom of expression and love for UT Austin’s college radio station was ingrained into the culture. One of Jake’s biggest musical influences growing up was an iPod that his uncle gave to him as a child. Finding himself unable to work the iPod, however, Jake resorted to listening to the pre-installed albums that came with it, which included Green Day and The Beatles. In addition to this, Jake reminisced about Pandora, which was an online radio station that he would use the school chromebooks to listen to. “I hate Pandora, there are much better options now,” he laughed. 

As a high school student, he was a volunteer at 91.7 FM KOOP Radio for six months and worked to help others with their shows. KOOP was a special experience for Jake as both a volunteer and a listener, as it was a place where he could tune in and listen to everyday people speak. “With a podcast, [it’s] people that were already famous… but [with radio,] you’re just tuning in to listen to some person that’s going to talk about their day… and that’s really special,” Jake reminisced. “That makes me appreciate people like us.”

Along with a love for radio, Jake also appreciates many different kinds of music. As a self-proclaimed “sponge,” he loves listening to everything. “I try to pick up artists and musicians I get to interview or talk to, and I tend to like smaller artists,” Jake explained. Two of his favorite artists, TANUKICHAN and Julie, both recommended a band called Bar Italia, who Jake insisted he wouldn’t have heard about on his own. “That was a really good privilege,” he said, “because I feel like people that are musicians usually know good music.” International music is another one of Jake’s passions, and he reserved an hour of his show last semester to playing Japanese music and honoring it with interesting tidbits about the songs. 

As for RadioUTD itself, nothing is more special to Jake than the people he’s met there: “I think that a big thing that got me into Radio was just the community, because I love everyone in Radio.” One of these people is Zahra, who was his mentor when he was a trainee, and who Jakes quotes as his favorite person at RadioUTD. “[Zahra] has a lot of trainees, but is special to me,” he said. But of course, one cannot mention Jake’s love for RadioUTD without mentioning the love he has for his listeners. “I’ve had a lot of really sweet listeners, and one weird listener who sent us an anonymous comment last semester that was like, ‘My family’s listening and we love you, we hope you can be part of our family soon’,” Jake laughed, “but I’m trying to interpret it as something sweet. Shoutout to whoever said that.” This show is a testament to DJ Jake Matz’s love for music, radio, people, and all the experiences he’s had. As Jake said it best, “let’s appreciate the little things before we go eepy, and listen to some music in between.”