At the end of a long week of classes, the last thing you’ll want to do is head into the weekend with more work. Luckily, Small Moments DJ Marco Frescas has something to replace homework in your Friday night schedule: three hours of musical celebration in a variety of styles and genres. In tune with Radio UTD’s anti-Top 40s policy, Frescas’ show focuses on tracks that shy away from the spotlight of commercial radio- which, in fact, is what enticed this DJ to create the show in the first place.

“My taste in music was so outdated in comparison to the rest of the world,” Frescas said. “I saw an opportunity to play and share my taste in music, and I took advantage of that as fast as I humanly could.”

Frescas releases mixes and music as “Name-Searcher”, an alias chosen to reflect his literal search for a catchy artist name. In his pursuit of a snappy title, Frescas also wanted a way to showcase his varied, often obscure music taste, thus Small Moments. 

“I like to make the show a little unique by creating some sort of progression in the tracks I play every month,” Frescas said. “These are all tracks that I usually listen to when driving around at night pondering whether or not the chicken came before the egg.”

Each month of the show depicts subgenres of electronic music, starting out with what Frescas describes as a “sampler” episode with calm tracks and then building up to faster, entrancing pieces. The moods of these songs are generated by their tempo, with tracks played towards the end of the episode reaching up to 136-140 BPM. After allowing listeners to get an overall glimpse of what the show has to offer, week two begins Frescas’ deep dive into the subgenres, kicking off with downtempo, deep house, and melodic techno tracks.

The show continues its subgenre exploration in week three, which is dedicated to mainstage music. Frescas describes this episode as the one with tracks usually heard at raves and festivals, playing the songs that are exciting enough to encourage him to host a party of one. Finally, week four focuses on music from recent decades, showcasing trance music from 10-20 years ago. For Frescas, this episode is an opportunity to look into what club-goers of the 2000s would have enjoyed on their nights out.

“I’ve always loved to take a look back in time and hearing what music people used to listen to,” Frescas said. “It gives the show a nice touch of variety.”

Small Moments allows Frescas to build on the vision he had when touring UTD as a high schooler. The radio station immediately caught his eye as a place to present his favorite music styles that contrasted so heavily from what was constantly playing around him. Frescas applied as a DJ during his first semester at UTD and had a trainee show at the time. Now, as a sophomore, Frescas says he has become laser-focused on hosting Small Moments during every semester possible, even over the summer.

“I’ve been able to dive deeper into genres I was already listening to,” Frescas said. “I can’t remember the last time there was a show dedicated to playing music from so many different subgenres of electronic music.”

Aside from continuing to connect his listeners to these unsung subgenres, Frescas hopes that the future of the show will allow him to showcase his mixing and DJ skills more often. As a personal goal, Frescas also plans to work his way up to produce and play music on larger festival scales, such as with the Group Therapy Milestone festival, an event hosted globally by the electronic music band Above & Beyond known for its extremely talented headlining acts. For now, though, Frescas continues to give his all towards Small Moments and encourages the UTD community to tune in on Radio UTD’s website every Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. to join his musical exploration.

“It’s mostly a show for people who aren’t allowed to go to the club, but still want to feel like they’re at the club,” Frescas said. “I’d like to think that my taste in music brings a new perspective to Radio.”