Microtone

Name: Microtone
Address: University of, Berkeley, CA, 94720, US
Telephone: +15106425259

Microtone Arranger of music and music-like audio on KALX 90.7 FM Berkeley since 2010

02/18/2025

In ~2014 I was just starting to purchase more local music releases, inspired in part by everything I was exposed to in the library. We got this fantastic compilation from Records that tickled my eardrums and made me curious for more. I went to the label’s bandcamp and bought the Horaflora/Trumpet Trumpet Synthesizer record. To my surprise, Raub and Dianne showed up at my doorstep to personally deliver the record to my address! I was pretty shy about revealing my off-air identity back then, but this was a turning point, seeing the very real connections that radio can make with artists in our community.

I was going to pull the KALX library copy of that record I bought, but realized we don’t have it! Instead we have another Horaflora split based on a live recording done at KALX in 2009. Excited to check out this recording and other audio oddities on my show this Tuesday afternoon, noon to 3pm.

Tune in 90.7 FM Berkeley and streaming live online at KALX.Berkeley.edu 🔊

02/07/2025

Moments after I posted my selfie announcement for my recent Tuesday afternoon show, I was told that Mike Burma, a long-time fellow KALX DJ, was dying. Then minutes before airtime, I learned that he had already died that morning.

Once again, someone great is gone without a proper goodbye.

Radioing is a full body workout for me lately. I tighten my core, balance live on thin wire while dangling over emotional snake pits. Grief oozes horizontally, perpetually throwing my balance. But I’ve already gone down deep and haven’t found the bottom yet, so I’m moving around in different directions.

Human bodies and hearts aren’t well designed for pain, but institutions like can endure in part due to stalwarts like Mike Burma who emplaced structures in our past to secure the vitality of our future. KALX has lost an essential person whom we will mourn, and miss, and celebrate. The beauty of his legacy is that he left what we need to get through this — with time, with community, with work, and with love.

As I was refiling records after my show on Tuesday, a fluorescent light in the KALX library flickered overhead just as I paused at a spot underneath. I felt Mike Burma in that moment. ✨ Though his physical form may be gone, his luminescence and contributions to our community will always remain.

Rest in peace, Mike BURMA! Burma! Burma…And thank you. Thank you for having chosen to spend so much of your precious, limited time on this earth with us. We are all better off for having had you here.

02/04/2025

I wriggled my way onto the KALX schedule for a couple of Tuesday afternoons in February. Today 2/4 is one of them. On at noon until 3pm, now previewinv some gentle music to smooth these sleepless eye bags and soothe some ruffled minds.

90.7 FM Berkeley
KALX.berkeley.edu

01/28/2025

I just finished reading Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield. It’s about his wife Renée who died young and quite unexpectedly, in the 1990s. Their story really resonates with the story I’m living now, from to formative identities shaped by alternative music and other details which I’m still processing and are a little too much for me to share here. Y’all don’t really come to IG to read my essays anyway.

But I can share some of what I’ve been feeling through my playlists. I came to radio by way of trading zines and mixtapes in the ‘90s, and you can trace a long arc of listening histories, personal discovery, and love through every mix I’ve packaged and every radio show I’ve sent forth into the ether, especially our annual KALX Best of (previous year’s) retrospectives. The Best of 2024 show I did last Monday is still available to replay on our website until 2/3/2025. Please check the link below or in my bio.

Best of 2024 lists are up on the website as well.

Stay tuned for more, as I prepare to return to occasional programming in February, hoping to build my way back to new regularity — one song, one album, one live show at a time.

💌🎶📡📻👂🥰

https://widgets.spinitron.com/KALX/pl/20105008/Best-of-2024

01/19/2025

First, an announcement — is doing ✨BEST OF week this Jan 20-26th⚡️and I’ll be on air this MONDAY 1/20, noon to 3 PM Pacific Time to turn our attentions to positive, good things for at least those few hours. A few other DJs have been dropping Best of programs already, so be sure to check out the schedule and replayable archives online at KALX.Berkeley.edu. Best of 2024 lists are being posted there as well. I expect to have mine up shortly. This annual exercise of reflection feels extra necessary to get ready before engaging with a tough year ahead.

A neighbor on my local buy nothing group asked for a radio-enabled device for her kids, who’d just discovered the world of broadcast news, sports, and music. 💓 I dug up this FM-only CD player from Michael’s boxes of belongings, preset to 90.7 FM 📻 of course, and enclosed a couple of KALX stickers and postcard. Always happy to hear when younger generations realize that there’s a whole spectrum of unexpected sounds emanating from unseen, off-screen sources, LIVE and alive and changing all the time when you scan up and down the dial - or tap up and down the numbers, as is the case on this device. And maybe if her kids decide they want to explore that oh-so “retro” medium of CDs as well, they’re now equipped to do so, and there will be at least one neighbor ready to share some sweet tunes on tangible discs. 💿📀🎶

and

01/10/2025

My first show of 2025 was the biggest event I’ve ever helped produce — a celebration of life for Michael Henning , known on as DJ Megasoup, and in our vast music community as a beloved friend, collaborator, listener, explorer, mentor, connector. Known to me as my partner, my love, my everydayperson whose presence will linger forever like all our favorite songs. 🎶🎵

It’s been days since the memorial and I’m still too dazed to process everything from this transcendent night. I didn’t take many pictures, leaving audiovisual documentation to others’ eyes and ears as I soaked in all I could in the moment.

Credits shared with so many who made this perfect evening possible: .weasel .e.r.o.c.h.a.r.i.s.m.a and others who are not on IG or do not allow themselves to be tagged.

And thank YOU, all who were there in body and in spirit. I felt the strength and compassion of our community, and embrace renewed faith in the restorative power of music. ❤️‍🩹💗💙🩵🩶🤍

p.s. Lovely commemorative keepsake postcards sent by mail to any who DM w/ your mailing address 💌

12/22/2024

I’m nervous and totally not ready for my next live KALX show on Tuesday, 24 Dec 2024 from 9:30 AM to Noon, Pacific Time. After 15 weeks away, 13 weeks since Michael passed, it’s going to take me a bit to feel my way back around the board.

Three months feels like a stretch to be off air, but it’s a blip relative to the lifetime it may take to process grief. Like most of my other radio shows, I’m going to be figuring it out on the fly. In that sense, this next show and probably all my shows hereafter are Megasoup tributes in my own way — freeform explorations that showcase the art of the playlist, and the DJ as archivist, curator, exhibitor, sonic docent, dose administrator of most precisely measured musical medicine.

First pic: Soft Landing at the Alembic last night to pull me through Solstice ruminations.
Second and third pic: Just a small fraction of Michael’s musical legacy I’ve been sorting and processing, including taped airchecks from his first stints at and — college radio lifer to the end. 📻📡🌌

10/21/2024

In Chinese, a 知音 is an intimate friend, a soul mate, one who listens closely to your tones and resonates in perfect harmony. Michael Henning, a.k.a. DJ Megasoup on , was that friend for so many of us. I am honored to have been his partner, riding tandem on the same wavelength for ten beautiful years.

Michael first made an impression on me at , when he approached me in the world music section. That was often my haven after crappy days in grad school and maybe he sensed my need for random kindness. We met more properly via mutual friend in 2014, and a few months later, I heard him DJ as and something magical was sparked that eve…

Back then, I was on KALX as the Native Disinformant and serving as DJ training co-director. Before pre-recorded archives, we had to schedule reluctant trainees in graveyard shifts, or cover those shifts ourselves. Between my own scheduled shows and unfilled training shifts, I ended up doing 89 radio shifts that year. Michael was actually the DJ at the board, with me in sleepy but rapt attendance, for about a dozen of those shifts. If he wasn’t in the studio with me, he was out there listening live to nearly every single one of my shows. We never stopped wooing each other by playlists, which, y’know, happened to sound awesome when broadcast for all to share. 💓

In 2017, I became Microtone, and he re-joined KALX as Megasoup, bringing a wealth of experience from his years at Amoeba, as a musician, a sonic traveler and curator, a chattering archive of knowledge. Michael taught me to love with open heart and mind, to engage in community, to listen to the tones between the tones - in music, in sound, in emotional expression and spaces internal. We both came to KALX having done freeform college radio as undergrads, adamant in championing diversity, experimentation, and exploration. He really pushed me to hone the art of DJing, and also supported so many efforts to make our radio station and music communities better.

Michael leaves a legacy that we’ll be processing for generations to come. Please keep your ears open and stay tuned — we will not hear the last of Megasoup for a long, long time.

09/13/2024

EAST COAST - I’m headed your way! I’m packing my bags and getting ready to travel to the DC area and southern Maryland for my first cross-state DJ gig! Professor Krystyn Moon (History & American Studies, U of ) and I will be reprising a talk and musical set we did in SF Chinatown during the pandemic — but this time in person at St. Mary’s College of Maryland for a 🌕 Moon Festival 🪩 event presented by the college’s Asian Studies Series.

We’d love to see you in the audience next Thursday 9/19, 4:45 to 6:30 PM Eastern Time!

Never would I have imagined that college radio and my seemingly esoteric interests through undergrad and graduate studies would have led to gigs like this. I’m just thrilled for this opportunity to expand horizons, for the audience and for myself, in this fun and festive way. Looking forward to new meets, eats, and beats! 🎑🥮💃🏻

09/10/2024

About to do my LAST SHOW… before going on break for a couple months. Taking over at 9:30 AM Pacific Time until noon!

Also, we’re recruiting UC students to join this campus radio station! Deets on our recruitment fliers and on our website!

📻 KALX 90.7 FM Berkeley
🔊 KALX.Berkeley.edu

08/27/2024

Quiet halls and shiny floors the day before fall semester classes begin at UC Berkeley. Let’s go!

Microtone on at 9:30 AM to noon
📻 KALX 90.7 FM Berkeley
🔊 KALX.Berkeley.edu

and

07/23/2024

Hey, it’s been a bit, and I’m here at and ready to play some tunes for you! On at 9:30 AM at 90.7 FM KALX Berkeley and streaming live online at kalx.berkeley.edu

07/09/2024

Microtone is out this Tuesday, and a most splendid sub has been arranged for your listening pleasure. Tune in to this morning from 9:30 AM to noon on KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM! 📻

and

07/02/2024

TUNES happening SOON on
90.7 FM Berkeley
KALX.berkeley.edu

Microtone on air from 9:30AM to NOON

06/25/2024

All the coolest kits tune in to 📻
Microtone on air 9:30 AM to noon
90.7 FM Berkeley
KALX.Berkeley.edu
🐈‍⬛

and

06/18/2024

Shifting from weekend party vibes 😎 to office work ambiance 🤓 this morning on
9:30 AM to noon

📻 KALX 90.7 FM Berkeley
🔊 kalx.berkeley.edu for our live stream

06/14/2024

What are you doing Friday night?? I’m going to be in SF Chinatown chomping on some ART BITES, a Chinatown Art Block Party presented by with . Come check out the action on Grant Street tomorrow from 5:30 to 9 pm! It’s going to be an evening of eclectic performances, music, and pop-up art by and and I’ll be playing some tunes throughout. Stroll on by and say hi!

06/11/2024

Tunes for kittens and all the cool cats on a hot Tuesday morning, 9:30 am to noon on

📻 KALX 90.7 FM Berkeley
🔊 kalx.Berkeley.edu

Address

University Of
Berkeley, CA
94720

Opening Hours

12pm - 3pm

Telephone

+15106425259

Website

https://widgets.spinitron.com/KALX/dj/169776/Microtone

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Videos

Lights on! I’m on at 9:30 AM Pacific Time this Tuesday morning on @kalxradio 90.7 FM Berkeley and streaming online at KALX.Berkeley.edu

Microtone has arranged another splendid sub for you this Tuesday morning. Please tune in for @kalxcontrolissues on at 9:30 AM after this fascinating feature on Cal’s Older Wiser Learners 🦉group now on Berkeley Brainwaves! @kalxradio 90.7 FM Berkeley KALX.Berkeley.edu #ucberkeley and #listenersupportedradio #freeformradio #campusmedia #collegeradio #olderwiserlearners

It’s Day 2 of the @kalxradio spring fundraiser, and yes, earlier I accidentally posted a vid of my foster kittens reenacting the in-studio antics of Tiger Lily and Sparklemotion’s fabulous Tuesday afternoon show. 😹 We’re having fun listening to KALX all week and into the next! Fundraiser lasts through April 24th, and I’ll be taking my turn on the air next Tuesday and Wednesday. I’ll post more later. Back to socializing the kittens with the tunes and voices on the radio… 📻 90.7 FM Berkeley 💸 KALX.Berkeley.edu/donate

@spacemoth__ about to go on at 11 AM with @kalxcontrolissues . Turn on @kalxradio 90.7 FM Berkeley or kalx.berkeley.edu/live-streaming for sound! #kalx #kalxlive #ucberkeley and #listenersupportedradio

Just played this @simon.popp record on @kalxradio … Most beautiful packaged piece of vinyl of the day! 🥰 #beautifulpackaging

Prepping for my Best of KALX show, Tuesday morning 1/24 at 9 AM. That means I now have less than 12 hours to figure out how I’m going to cram my currently 25-hour long playlist into a three hour show 🤣 Uff, never enough time to get to it all. Hear what makes the cut at 90.7 FM Berkeley 📻 or streaming online at KALX.Berkeley.edu. Best of 2022 lists are now online too!

Popping up for another Sunday morning mix tomorrow at 8 am! 📻 @kalxradio 90.7 FM 🔊 kalx.Berkeley.edu/live-streaming #campusradio #collegeradio #freeformradio #sundaymornings at #kalxfm #ucberkeley and #listenersupportedradio

Whoa, apparently I got back to Berkeley just in time for some creepy stuff to happen at midnight TONIGHT 🙀. Go to KALX.Berkeley.edu/donate starting at 0000 hours to see how to keep our lights on this Halloween… 👻💀🧟‍♀️

One last stumble through the KALX radio library TOMORROW 2.16 Wednesday, 12-3pm. After this week, I’m going to be adrift for a bit, who knows how long?? But that’s part of the fun of college radio — always changing, often surprising, unexpected radio for our ever-shifting times. Tune in as always at 📻 90.7 FM Berkeley and live streaming at 🔊 kalx.berkeley.edu/live-streaming 🎶 🌊 #collegeradio #campusradio #ucberkeley and #listenersupportedradio #kalx #kalxradio #freeformradio

Radio time! Now until 3pm Pacific Time @kalxradio 90.7 FM Berkeley // kalx.berkeley.edu/live-streaming

Dear listeners, I had some stuff come up last week so I won’t be on this Tuesday noon to 3pm — but no worries, because Megasoup will be on air at that time to fulfill your freeform needs. I’ll return to continue our rotation next Tuesday. Meanwhile, here’s a clip of my dogs enjoying some Tanzanian music at home. This will be relevant to my next show on 8.4.2020. p.s. KALX t-shirt design contest HAPPENING NOW!! Due August 14th! https://www.kalx.berkeley.edu/news/2020-design-contest