YSU senior spins the tunes, looks forward to graduation

Youngstown State University senior Charles Colvin of Youngstown certainly knows how to use two turntables and a microphone.

Better known by his DJ name, “ChipBanks,” the Information Technology major has his own local R&B radio program, airing 10 p.m. to midnight Saturdays on YTown Broadcasting’s Star 94.7. He says Nielson has given the show high rankings in its time slot.

Colvin also DJed two Pittsburgh Steeler corporate tailgate parties this October for Wexford, Pa.-based Arias Agencies, and he did one corporate tailgate event for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It can be difficult to balance schoolwork and spinning the tunes. “It’s challenging at times,” he said. “I plan to graduate in December, so I have to study a lot, and also study my craft.”

Skip Bednarczyk, owner of Star 94.7 and former program director of JAMZ 101.9, has played an important role for Colvin.

In 2012, Colvin won a JAMZ DJ contest that would have entitled him to a mix show on the station, but the deal fell through when JAMZ switched to a Christian format under new owners. It was a disappointment, but Colvin would hear from Bednarczyk again with a new opportunity.

“At Star 94.7’s one-year anniversary, I sent him a congratulations email,” he said. “He wrote me back: ‘Hey, I was thinking about adding something new to the format. What do you think about coming in for a late night show?”

Colvin accepted the opportunity, and he’s now celebrating his own one-year anniversary at the station. He also continues to DJ events, where his playlist runs the gamut, from hip-hop to top 40 music and electronic dance music.

“I’ve had the great opportunity to DJ in Las Vegas and in Mexico,” he said, “and I’ll be back in Vegas this year for Halloween.”

Colvin credits his parents for encouraging his interest in music. “Cleaning up around the house, we’d always listen to music, then in junior high at Eagle Heights Academy I started playing drums. We had a little drum line.”

That experience won him a spot in the Warren Junior Military Band, and he traveled the country with the band for five years.