My name is Gavin O'Neill, and I am a junior at Laguna Beach High School. I was incredibly fortunate to attend a summer "Radio Camp" at KXFM (at that time KX 93.5) back in 2016, and absolutely fell in love with the station. After finishing off the camp, I was invited to a Portugal. The Man concert with the station's staff and the rest is history. A little less than one year later, in July 2017 I had taken over School's Out, every Wednesday from 3:30-5:00 PM.
The show has evolved and grown up with me in so many different ways; when I first started out, I remember texting show schedules to the previous music director, which included music, game shows, and giveaways. Below is the first schedule I have been able to locate, dated Sun, Oct 8, 2017, 12:42 PM:
When I began, I was just sitting in the studio talking into the mic and watching how the soundboard and system worked. Not much later, however, I was running the entire show myself, operating the mics, music levels, and playlist creation without needing to send emails. As time went on, I was able to do more and more with the show and shifted towards the creation of Spotify playlists, most of which can be found on the Playlist Archive page.
I have loved music my entire life, and the station has really allowed me to further my understanding of the industry as a whole. I was absolutely hooked on live music after my first experience in 2016, and have since made festivals and concerts a huge priority. The show not only provided me with a way to get free tickets (thank you Erica), but a unique opportunity to connect with artists in a way I never had before. At a small warehouse festival in early 2022, I had the opportunity to meet several local artists, eventually bringing quite a few onto the show for interviews. Through these connections, I was able to meet (and reach out to via social media) an outstanding amount of people, bringing them in to learn about their stories and musical journey, some of which can be listened to on the Interview Archive page. Unfortunately, I did not record some of my earlier interviews but have amazing memories of my first few with Jonah Roy and members of Illusion Hills, both of whom I met at the warehouse.
I had been meaning to create an archive page to share all of what I have created with the show, and finally sat down and got to work on it. I will continue to update this website with my future interviews and playlists, and hope that whoever is reading this enjoys the show and what has come of it!