If Our DJs Could Be Anyone For a Night…

Ever thought about what it would be like to live as your favorite character for just one night? Maybe you’d step into a movie scene, wander through a video game world, or become the main character of your favorite book. It’s one of those questions that lets your imagination run wild — and our KSSU DJs had some fun with it.

For this round of our collaborative blog, we asked our DJs: If you could be any character for a night, who would it be and why? Their answers were as creative and unpredictable as the shows they host. From nostalgic picks to bold transformations, each one gives a little glimpse into their personalities beyond the studio.

Here’s what a few of our DJs had to say about the characters they’d love to be — even if just for a night.

DJ Ziney, Host of SIGNALS OVER THE ZONES

If I could be one fictional character for the night, I’d choose to be Howl from Studio Giblihis Howl’s Moving Castle. I know that in the film he isn’t a very good person, but assuming I’m only gaining consciousness in his body for one night, I don’t think that would define me as a person. Or being. I like how he can shadeshift, especially when he turns into the bird creature and flies after being summoned to fight in the war. I think I would very much enjoy being the mysterious, androgynous persona with a magical (and slightly villainous) reputation while getting to travel around casting spells. But I think the main reason that this would be my selected fictional character is because in the movie, Howl makes a delicious looking breakfast showcasing his amazing cooking skills. I have no cooking talent whatsoever and that is something that I would very much like to have!

DJ Stella, Host of Vaguely a Phase, Mom

If I could be one character for a night, I’d pick the new kid from the South Park video game “South Park: The Fractured But Whole”. The new kid, which is, yes, the character’s name, is your own little South Park superhero. The 4th graders are onto their new game, and it’s superheroes. The boys have divided into two sides, “Coon and Friends” and “Freedom Pals,” in a civil war parody before they have to work together to stop crime around town.

The specific night I am picking, though, is one of the main missions, “The Hundred Hands of Chaos”. By this point in the game, you are working with Cartman’s superhero faction to rescue a missing cat to fund their superhero movie franchise. However, the group discovers Professor Chaos, Butter Stotch’s super villain persona, has been working with adults in town to spread crime and chaos. You go into Professor Chaos’s lair, the U-Stor-It self-storage facility, and battle his army of minions and eventually him. The group figures out at the end that Chaos, Butters, is only a little piece of the puzzle of the main plot, but that’s all I’ll give away for now, since this is only around halfway through the game, before the sides have even joined together. 

I chose this night because, personally, it’s one of the most fun missions for me. It’s in the perfect section of the game, where when you go back for another round of the game, you can’t really remember all the jokes. I also chose this night because, compared to one of the end quests, “The Many As*es of Dr. Mephesto”, the kids, to some degree, are just being kids. Yeah it’s silly that Butters was given 20,000 dollars to protect a U-Stor-It and the dialogue between Butters and all the characters on the quest, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski (Human Kite), Jimmy Valmer (Fastpass), Mosquito (Clyde Donovan), Super Craig (Craig Tucker), and Captain Diabetes (Scott Malkinson) who are all from “Coon and Friends” and Stan Marsh (Toolshed) as a favor for a previous battle. You also get Wendy Testaburger (Call Girl) officially added to your battle buddies during this mission.

One of my favorite quotes from Butters from this mission is “Minions? No, minions, you gotta kill ‘em. Aww, dang it,” when Butters’ hamsters don’t kill the superhero team. I also enjoy, “If you all want to join my new supervillain group, Chaos League, we could all go back inside and get some juice boxes,” if you don’t pick your next move fast enough. 

The game came out in 2017, and it’s still a banger. I wouldn’t want to spend more than a night in South Park, though. Lest I want to end up eating chilli that also has my parents in it and then be called a loser by Radiohead (“Scott Tenorman Must Die” Season 5, Episode 4), or almost get murdered by a cult of radical Ginger kids (“Ginger Kids” Season 9, Episode 11). In retrospect, both were caused by Cartman. If you end up in South Park, don’t mess with Cartman. But just for the night, fight alongside him and the rest of the team!

DJ Sammie, Host of Red Ribbon Hour

This one is a tough one because after every media or film I consume, I go into a hyperfixation on either the lore, the character, or the actor. Then I yap about it on my show in between songs. Especially in the age of amazing Tik Tok edits…Oh I am losing myself in that rabbit hole.  

There are many characters who I want to either be, be in their shoes, or if there is a character that I have a crush on – be their love interest of course. It’s a very slippery slope in my case. But this is a question I have been thinking about since I first began acting and have found a love in classic literature. If I got an opportunity to play any character ever – who would it be. Automatically I think of my favorite movies, mythical creatures and plays and always two come to mind. Although there are many renditions and versions of these characters, their role, beauty, story and circumstances, I find it completely compelling and would love to try it out myself. Those two characters being: Juliet Capulet from Romeo and Juliet and Mina Harker from Dracula. Call me a hopeless romantic or problematic for liking such problematic characters, but I love them. Every portrayal of these characters have been amazing and beautiful.  

My favorite renditions of both characters include Olivia Hussey’s portrayal of Juliet Capulet in the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 rendition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In this rendition, Mina Harker is played by Winona Ryder and filled with a star-studded cast. While I did love the 2024 film Nosferatu, that rendition of Mina was not my favorite. No shade towards Lily Rose Depp as she did amazing but it is not my cup of tea. I love the slight romance aspect of Dracula – trying not to sound creepy or problematic. 

Not only do I love the naive and innocent romance of Juliet Capulet but I also love that no matter the rendition, her character remains brave, self-aware of her feelings and what she wants – which was not heard of at the time both of when the character was written and in the time of when the story takes place. Juliet is not a submissive young woman. While others might think of her as a dumb brat who was blinded by love, I find her brave, intelligent, and passionate. Love did not make her weak but gave her life and light. I don’t think that is a bad thing.  

Mina Harker is a character who embodies intelligence, compassion, and an early feminist character in literature. In Bram Stoker’s book she is not originally the love interest of Dracula, but in the film adaptations she is his original love reincarnate. In both adaptations though, she is a virtuous heroine. She is known to have the “brain of a man” with a “woman’s heart.”  

These characters I would love to be for a night to see the world through their eyes and perceptions, especially with both of the characters living in different eras, classes, and situations. It would be amazing to experience yearning from their partners (maybe not so much the creepy stalking and deaths in Dracula) but also to be a powerful and emotionally composed woman in a time where women empowerment was frowned upon.  

Both Juliet and Mina live in eras that confined women to narrow roles, yet they find ways to exert power through love, intellect, or sheer emotional will. To embody them would be to experience different forms of strength: Juliet’s fiery passion and Mina’s quiet resolve. Maybe that’s what draws me to them. They are women who feel deeply and act decisively, even when the world punishes them for it. 

For one night, I’d love to be them. To see Verona’s balcony bathed in moonlight or to wander through the fog of Victorian London, journal in hand. To fall in love, to fight for autonomy, to be the heroine of my own story even if it’s tragic.