Meeting With the Post Master from The State Press on Vimeo.
The Blaze 1330 AM’s radio show, “The Post Office,” was well under way as the mustached host, philosophy junior Roddy Nikpour, sat behind the microphone listening to the soft indie post-rock music play through the monitors.
As the song came to an end Nikpour slid the fader up and went live to the airwaves. He introduced the next song, giving background on the band and where to find more of its music and then sat back and listened to the next one.
Nikpour isn’t only the host of “The Post Office.” He does much more than direct music over The Blaze radio station. He is also a Barrett Honors student, a member of local Phoenix band Ursus Colossus and he speaks fluent Latin.
Every Monday from noon to 2 p.m. Nikpour hosts his radio show on the third floor of the Walter Cronkite Building. “The Post Office” features the instrumental only music genre known as post-rock.
“It’s a mellow ambient music show,”Nikpour says. “People think of it as soundtrack music.”
Along with hosting his own show, Nikpour is also in charge of all the music that is played over at The Blaze as music director. He’s been with the radio station since his freshman year.
When Nikpour joined The Blaze he showed dedication and interest in the music at the station and even started hosting his current show after one semester at The Blaze, a rarity. Faculty and professional adviser Brian Rackham noticed that Nikpour is an integral part of the station.
“He’s a really dedicated guy in putting together a college radio station,” Rackham says.
Rackham sees that Nikpour puts a lot of attention and care into his radio show too. “I kinda like "Post Office," it’s interesting,” Rackham says.
Outside of the studio and inside of the classroom, Nikpour is a Barrett Honors Student. This year he is writing his thesis on Ancient Greek and is taking 18 credit hours. His fluency in Latin has influenced his band, Ursus Colossus.
Theatre junior Tom Bross, Nikpour’s roommate and band mate, has no clue how Nikpour manages to balance everything.
“He’s a complete scholar,” Bross says.
They formed the band just before their senior year of high school when they first had a chance to play a show. Nikpour was just starting to get into post-rock music at the time and nudged the band into the direction.
After receiving positive feedback after a few shows friends told them that they should be a post-rock band. And thus, Ursus Colossus, with its Latin inspired name meaning "giant bear statue," was born.
“(Nikpour’s) classical influences affected the band and the songs,” Bross says.
Many things in the band, from song titles, to the music itself has some form of Latin influence to it explains Bross.
Ursus Colossus plays shows around the valley and recently started playing shows up in Flagstaff.
Between school, the band and managing the music department at The Blaze Nikpour has been very busy this year.
“I still manage to have a social life,” he said with a laugh as he turned around to end his show for another week.
Reach the writer at jamillar@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @ChillinJess
