DJ Spotlight: The Bootlegger
“I am a self proclaimed music addict, and the radio show gives me the perfect place to exercise that addiction. That’s probably a harsh term to use, but it’s the best way that I can describe it.”
Hence is the tale of Ross Mickel, self proclaimed music addict and The Bootlegger himself behind the titular show “Bootleggers Beware” on Big Heavy’s the Radiator. At first glance you’d probably think that it’s just a catchy name with an alliterative title, designed to encompass a theme or genre of music. That’s what I thought, at least, but it was enough that I simply had to know the rest of the story behind it. And I’m glad I did, because not only is The Bootlegger just a cool and slightly ominous name to have for a DJ, but it’s what he straight up does.
“It’s a name that I’ve used for radio shows since I was back in college,” Ross told me during our traditional interview about his show. “The term Bootleggers comes from folks who go to shows and record a concert without permission. And that’s part of what I do. I do live tracks, everything either from live albums, officially released, or bootlegged live stuff. So I just like live tracks more than anything. And the rest of it just kinda fell in where it seemed like it worked.”
I have to respect the honesty in his name. It feels almost comedic and self-incriminating in a way to pronounce oneself as “The Bootlegger” and then actually play ‘bootlegged’ live music on air. His radio career, as stated above, began all the way back at Castleton University in Vermont, where Ross gained his pseudonym and his love for DJing on air at the station of WIUV. In the ever so far-feeling yet relatively recent year of 2002, he began college in search of of a career as a music producer. However, his calling for live music brought him swiftly over to radio and mass media. Answering the call, Ross spent a semester working at the aforementioned radio station and, in his words: “fell in love.” In recent years, when he found himself between jobs and needing something to fill his time, he returning to that calling with The Radiator, and subsequently resurrected his title of Bootlegger and went right back at it.
Ross in the Vermont Music Archive at Big Heavy World. Photo by Ryan Boyd.
“I wanted to get back into radio, cut my teeth on it a little bit, and commercial radio in this area is a tough thing to get into. But the Radiator gave me the perfect space to do it on my own terms. It gives me the freedom to do exactly what I want. I can play long tracks, short tracks, I can mix tracks, I can do all the things that commercial radio kind of tells you you shouldn’t do. And I like it that way, and I stuck to my guns on that. And I’m pretty happy with the way things have gone.”
The music in question, in terms of genres, revolves primarily around, as Ross puts it: “jam bands, blues bands, rock and roll, but I have gone everywhere from the Almond Brothers, Grateful Dead, Zeppelin, Frank Sinatra, the Rat Pack, Metallica, etcetera. There’s very little I’ve played that I’ve ejected from rotation. It’s pretty wide open.”
But the music is only half of the Bootlegger’s Beware equation. Because anyone can listen to music. And any radio station, commercial or not, can play said music. But not every radio station can foster the kind of community that Ross’ does. And it’s that community, in addition to his addiction and love for the craft, that Ross claims is what keeps him coming back for more. Week after week, time and time again. As he spoke on his show and the groups of listeners he has accumulated as a result, it was hard not to notice the sliver of a grin part through his burly beard, clear enough that I can picture it even as I write this, weeks after our interview concluded.
“The community that has developed around my show is the thing that keeps me coming back,” he said. “simply because having regular listeners makes it more than just playing music. It becomes something more. It becomes a community where I’m doing it for other people. And I’ve had a lot of people tell me over the years, and especially now during quarantine, that people want that sense of community. And I’m sort of the host of my own little corner of the world community where we hang out, listen to music and talk to each other online for a three hours. And then we all go off into our own corners of the world, and then the next week we all come back to do it again. It’s so much fun for me. And I just hope to share that fun with everyone who tunes in.”
Words by Thomas Shimmield. Photo at top by James Lockridge.