In the confines of his 15th Avenue apartment, Kreg Marable hosts an array of social gatherings. Behind the dim-lighting arrangements, strategic posts of black lights and stereo speakers, he boasts one of the most common places for friends to come and engage in a party atmosphere.
Beyond the shrieking cry from an electric-ink needle, guests may find a local tattoo artist completing an enthusiast's dream of personal body art during Marable's annual tattoo party.
On Sundays, however, the tone set in his dwelling is of a different nature. After the microphones are tested, his podcast signal is intact and the evening's line-up of music is cued, Marable and co-host Dez Scales, are ready for another episode of their talk-radio show, the "Kreg and Dez Show: No Bulls--- Radio."
Broadcasting live from Marable's living room.
"We came up with the concept of having our own radio show back in 2003 when we both met at Central State University," said Marable, a junior in human development and family studies. "Back then, we started an organization called 'The Gentlemen's Club' to assist black men with their spiritual, health and career growth."
With the lack of resources available to students venturing into their own projects, Kreg called upon his uncles, hosts of the talk-radio "Brothers At Play" podcast, to assist in their efforts.
"They helped out with everything," Marable said. "All we had to do was watch, learn and talk while they did all the work behind the scenes. I told (my uncle) that we wanted to start our own show in two weeks; he helped us and the rest is history."
The "Kreg and Dez Show" is a fresh perspective into the collegiate experience of many black students - through the eyes of a knowledgeable duo of black males.
Rachel Cotton, a senior in health sciences, said the show includes a variety of music, controversial topics and opinions and Kreg and Dez will always find a way to combat views toward particular issues.
"I like the show because they will have different guests come on and discuss topics that relate to them," Cotton said. "Once they had a show discussing the effects of gays on campus and managed to get a gay student to dispute both sides of the argument on the show."
Marable said he wanted to create something new by broadening the clichéd outlook of society. There are many different cultures on campus and the views of blacks are often misconstrued because of how they are portrayed.
"We want to be the voice to everybody out there," Marable said. "Not all black men are football players or greeks on campus. That is not all we care about. I want to show that we can uplift people through recorded conversation on social awareness. Nobody is really putting it out there in this way. This is my art and how I express my talent to debate; this is what I do."
Marable said he did not create the show to overlook the extensive problems in the world and focus on what is only occurring in African-American affairs. He felt that adding subject-related guests to his show would be of unbiased importance, which would refrain from misinterpreting stereotypical viewpoints towards controversy on the show.
He also said his role is "about leading by example - always for the growth of individuals. Whether they are black, white, whatever ... I want to see growth in everybody."
Scales, the completing voice of the duo-hosting show, is a junior in early-childhood development at Columbus State University.
John Burton, a junior in human ecology at Ohio State, is a frequent special-guest host on the "Kreg and Dez Show." He is also Kreg's roommate.
"(The show) is coming from young, black male students from the lower levels of our economy," Burton said. "It is not expected from this group of males to be successful. They have actually used their resources to set a trend for the younger generation."
Although the show is geared towards the black culture, Marable said, each week brings a new variety of listeners by way of the podcast system.
A podcast is a media file that is distributed though the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. By using this system, the "Kreg and Dez Show" is available to whoever wants to tune in, whether it be national or international.
"The location of listeners was pretty local at first but by our sixth show we had people actually tuning in from Japan and Europe," Marable said.
Now, with 17 episodes under their belt, the "Kreg and Dez" crew looks toward the future. With the ability to be "Googled" under the show's title, Marable said his dream of an arrayed-listening population would grow.
"If it goes globally, then (It is )good," said Marable, laughing while mocking himself in his already-obtained international status.
"If not, I already know I've helped someone. We have fun (on the show), but we're serious. One week we may talk on relationships and the next we're talking about global warming," he said.
When asked about his goals with taking the show to the mainstream media in hopes to sell his idea, he said he was not concerned with making money off the show's success.
"If what I'm doing can do something that changes someone's views, or their lifestyle, that's enough for me" Marable said. "That right there is worth a million bucks."
Lawrence Jackson can be reached at jackson.928@osu.edu.
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