Ian Camfield
Since launching “Camfield Mornings” on Alt AZ 93.3 on April 20, British DJ Ian Camfield has regaled listeners with odd news, interesting interviews and, of course, copious indie rock. We caught up with him between songs.
You’ve been a radio DJ in the U.K. and in New York. How does being on-air in Arizona compare?
The listeners in Arizona are way nicer. I think the sunshine helps people’s temperament. New Yorkers also took to my show, but not so quickly. It took a couple of months to win over the guys in Jersey, who would call in saying "Who’s the limey?!!”
What do you miss most about England?
About 10 people and cheese! The cheese is better in England! It’s a bit rubbery here in comparison!
Do you have any favorite local bands here yet?
We did a great session at the Graduate Hotel with Kongos a couple of weeks ago. They’re local and I really like them. Funnily enough, they also spent some time living in London, although not much, ‘cause they don’t sound anything like me. But they’ve been in the Valley a long time and call Phoenix home.
If you could pick a morning show partner, anyone from any time in history, who would be some of your candidates?
I would really like to host something with Craig Ferguson. I love James
Corden on The Late Late Show, but I was a big fan of Craig. He was never a
big deal in the U.K., but came to America, loved it and really cracked it over here.
You’ve played a range of music genres for different stations, from country to adult contemporary to alternative rock. What are your own favorite music genres?
I think alternative is in a great place right now, and that is proved by the resurgence of the format. Ten years ago, stations were flipping out of alternative; since Alt AZ signed on in Phoenix there has been a number of other markets flip to alternative. The popularity of acts like Florence + The Machine, Royal Blood, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Fitz and the Tantrums, etc. have reinvigorated the genre. I also like a lot of hard rock – some of my favorite bands are groups like Motörhead, Five Finger Death Punch and Iron Maiden.
Your show starts at 5:30 a.m. What time do you usually get up and what is your morning ritual like?
Alarm goes off at 4:20, I shower, check emails in case something important has happened overnight, then get in the car by 4:45. I get to the station just after 5. I plan most of the show the day before, so when I get into the building I’ll go through the plan with my producer and get any audio clips ready. Then we hit the air at 5:30.
How do you find so many different and amusing things to talk about in the mornings?
Show prep is the key! I have a number of resources I use. But I can’t tell you what they are, ‘cause then all the morning shows would be using them, and I need everyone to listen to me. Otherwise I’ll have to go back to England, and I don’t want that! I’ve got too used to the free coffee refills here!
By Mike O'Neil
Probable Cause
Another mass shooting. The initial reactions were as predictable as they were speculative. Was the cause terrorism? Homophobia? Mental illness? The ready availability of assault weapons? Before the blood dried in Orlando, every group had a ready explanation.
I thought to the gist of a radio interview I had just conducted with renowned Arizona State University physicist Lawrence Krauss on the nature of scientific proof. Science dictates that we should first collect data, test hypotheses and search exhaustively for alternative explanations, and only then offer an explanatory theory. Our public discourse does just the opposite: We start with ideological frameworks that tell us which “explanations” are “right.” Guess what? These always fit our pre-existing world view. It’s the precise reversal of the scientific approach.
What do the known facts suggest? The shooter had anger control issues that were evident as early as grade school. Spouse abuser. Obsessed with gays. Evidence that he was at least “gay curious.” If he harbored such feelings, his Muslim upbringing could have created intense internal conflict.
C0uld ISIS have provided an ideological outlet for his conflict? He wasn’t just a deeply-closeted gay man violently “proving” his heterosexuality. Nah, he was a jihadist! Who just happened to pick a gay nightclub instead of nearby Walt Disney World, which would have terrified American parents to their core.
I remember a colleague who was studying prisoner behavior in the 1960s. He observed that black inmates who might have been pimps or drug dealers on the outside, all identified as Black Revolutionaries once imprisoned. Redefining themselves (Black Revolutionary, ISIS jihadist, Aryan Brotherhood) provides a more self-aggrandizing definition of self than the unwanted truth (street thug, gay Muslim, racist trash).
And to this mix, we add the ready availability of massively lethal weaponry. Without this, the attack would not have produced anywhere near the same level of carnage.
This explanation seems the best fit to the known facts at this writing. But with more facts I’d be prepared to revise this assessment.
Mike O’Neil is a sociologist and pollster who hosts the public affairs program The Think Tank on KTAR-FM 92.3.
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