indie music

CD liner notes

vinyl records

making mixed tapes

chuck taylor low tops

little black dresses

chunky silver rings

black leather cuffs

red lipstick

scarves

the color green

tall boots

bright tights

SXSW

the indianapolis colts

indy car racing

traveling the world

impressionist art

hugs and kisses

full-on belly laughs

kettle one vodka

sunday fundays

bottomless mimosa brunches

sarcasm

tom foolery

beer bongs

sleeping in

proper grammar

mountain dew

lipton sweet tea

mint chocolate chip ice cream

flossing

hand washing

hand holding

coloring with my niece

euchre (midwest card game)

scrabble

ketchup

seaweed snacks

coffee bean

taco bell

living by the golden rule

the smell of freshly cut grass

improper grammar

cilantro (i'm allergic, actually)

cooked green peppers

cantaloupe

germs

root beer

BBQ sauce

cleaning toilets

packing and/or unpacking

being cold

missing the movie previews at the theater

sweating (i mean, perspiring)

douchey, rude, thoughtless and/or mean people

facial hair (generally speaking)

small talk

people that don't say "please, thank you, excuse me and/or bless you"

I was born and raised in Indianapolis and I love music like peanut butter loves jelly. When I was little, I used to roller skate in my basement while playing The Jackson 5 on vinyl. As a matter of fact, my very first live show was The Jackson 5 - when I was 5! It was my love for music and my gift for gab that inspired a career in radio. I got my start as a DJ at my awesome college radio station (WGRE - The Sound Alternative) at DePauw University. My only non-radio job came right after college graduation when I decided to fly the friendly skies as a Continental Airlines flight attendant for 3 years. When I left the skyway, I traded in my gold wings for a microphone and used it for my first legit radio job as a talk show host. I hosted "Tobi Talk" at WLBK-AM in DeKalb, Illinois for the next 3 years, but when life ran its course in the cornfields, I packed up my Geo Metro and moved to Los Angeles. Once in LA, I helped navigate commuters through traffic as a reporter for Metro Networks and I also played alternative rock on Y107. I spent the final 2 years of my first LA residency as the on-air/on-camera morning show host for the groundbreaking Internet start-up called Soundbreak.com. A few days after the untimely demise of Soundbreak, XM Satellite Radio asked me to help build the nation's first coast to coast college/indie channel, called XMU. XM moved me to DC in 2001, where I spent 8 years programming new music on XMU and hosting a daily new music show called "The Afterschool Special." About a year ago, I returned to LA and started hosting a new music show at indie online outlet New Normal Music. Which brings us to present day - I'm stoked to join 987FM, where music and mayhem will most certainly ensue!

I'm always being asked to list my favorite bands of all time and it's always hard for me to settle on a fixed amount. I was recently interviewed by a blogger who asked for my top 25 - of course I picked 31 - WINK. Here's that list in alphabetical order: Badly Drawn Boy, Belle & Sebastian, Bob Marley, Broken Social Scene, Cat Stevens, Depeche Mode, Elliott Smith, Everything But The Girl, Faithless, Grateful Dead, Hall & Oates, Jackson 5/Michael Jackson, James Taylor, Kings Of Convenience, Lemon Jelly, Lloyd Cole, New Order, Pinback, Ra Ra Riot, Radiohead, Rogue Wave, Sigur Ros, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Sufjan Stevens, Tahiti 80, The Cure, The Police, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Travis, XTC.