I started my time at KTRU in late 2006 and was a DJ until I left Houston in August of 2009. After “paying my dues” with an awesome graveyard shift (a time frame that introduced me to music like Maserati, Telefon Tel Aviv, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Mono, and 65daysofstatic), I found myself joining MK Ultra, hosting alongside Scott Novich and Asif Hassan for a semester before taking the reins myself for more than a year.

During my stint on that Friday night 9-12 slot, we featured guest DJs from some of Houston’s most forward-thinking clubs and parties, conducted interviews with some of the most exciting and ground-breaking producers (Axwell, 2020 Soundsystem, Tim Xavier, Charles Feelgood, Kraddy, others), and promoted home-grown tracks, recent mixes, and events that were happening in the Houston area. We gave away tickets at regular intervals; the vast majority were snapped up within seconds of announcing their availability over the air. We received letters and correspondence from avid listeners (including a few from behind bars…very interesting stuff there, and I am assuming that they were listening over the airwaves and not the internet). I always felt like we had a substantial underground following in addition to the myriad of enthusiastic callers who would request track names, Myspace pages of guest DJs, or party information almost every week.

MK Ultra introduced me to styles of electronic music that I had never heard before, including dubstep, glitch-hop, and minimal – just being in the studio when tracks or edits were debuted was a tremendous experience. I made connections with the music community that I never dreamed of, including big-name local DJ crews like Gritsy, Texas Dub, Crossroads, and DIRB!, promoters and club owners from venues such as Rich’s, Dean’s, The Flat, the now-defunct La Strada, and Bar-Rio, and booking agents/managers from major record labels like Om Recordings and Moist Music.

MK Ultra was one of my most rewarding, defining, and challenging undergraduate experiences. It took up a lot of my time along the way, but was a part of my life that I will never forget. It saddens me to think that a forward-thinking station like KTRU and its hard-working DJs have been treated in such cruel and clinical fashion by the current Rice administration.

Paul Thompson
Baker (HELL YEAH) College
Class of 2009