WNYC News

March is Women's History Month and to celebrate it, we've been profiling several local musicians and their journey through the music industry. Today, we hear from Carys Dixon, a 23- year-old, multi-instrumental engineer and producer from the Bronx.

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

I would consider myself under hip hop trap genre if I had to. But I really couldn't put myself into a category. I make all types of music, electronic, drum and bass, jazz. It goes on. The first time I became interested in music, I give credit to my late dad. I remember him putting me on to piano at like three-years old. Then my grandparents got me a toy guitar when I was like nine. I started and my dad was like, "no, you have to get put in lessons. We're gonna do this for real."  I find probably the dream teacher that was like my second father at the time. He really taught me anything you can think of musically, and that really jump started my music career. 

Around 2016, 2017, I started producing and I felt like it was something special to me that I'm gonna spend my time doing and kind of got obsessed with women in the field because I'm like, I wanna see somebody that looks like me doing this.

In 2018, I found a musical partner [RUNITUPDAY!]. I consider him my brother at this point. We've had music throughout our entire lives, and that's what really bonded us together. Also, he just really wants to highlight the fact that I am a female producer in the field and that female producers are very much here. Being a woman in the field, a young woman of color at that is not easy to come by, and I've been through a lot with some males in the industry, not believing what I can do, not believing that I belong here.

So, I'm all for female encouragement, mentorships. You know, my earlier mentor, LaFrae, she's put me into a lot of spaces and there are more female producers than you know. And I feel like it's my job to get that word out there, whether you hear. A tag or a beat of a female producer, like I just want to push the message that we're here.

With Hochul's 'bell to bell' phone ban on track to become law, students visiting the state Capitol in Albany voiced mixed opinions about the proposal. The governor's plan would separate kids from their phones for the whole school day. Kids said they were open to it -- but worried about what could happen during an emergency.

March is Women's History Month. To mark it, WNYC is profiling local musicians and their journey through the music industry. We wrap up our series with Raquel Delgado, a 22-year-old singer-songwriter, producer, and audio engineer currently attending New York University. We talked with Delgado in collaboration with CUNY Creative Arts Team's Sound Thinking NYC (STNYC).

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Ever since I was a child, I had completely envisioned myself being a artist, being a singer, more specifically a rock star. I just saw myself performing and writing songs for myself and for other people. My music would definitely be indie folk. I think that's where me as a songwriter, like I really fit into. Then there's rock, which is very hard hitting heavy. It encapsulates another part of me at the core of my artistry. 

My greatest inspiration while growing up was definitely the Spanish music that my family would listen to. My parents immigrated from the Dominican Republic. So, the music I grew up on was primarily bachata, but we also listened to a lot of salsa and merengue as well, and those three genres really formed my love for rhythm. Another inspiration is just the things that people would say. I would draw inspiration from my everyday conversations with friends, families, teachers, and for some reason that just became poetic and I would just transform it into a song. 

Music is an art form and in order to keep making that art, you need life happening around you. To do that, you need community. You need to be interacting with the world. For me personally, I just can't really imagine what my art would be like, or if I would make any art if I didn't have an expanded worldview.

I've dedicated almost five years to this field. I think it almost feels like, you know, to make way in this industry, you're constantly hopping through hoops just to get where other people are, and dealing with being the only woman in the room full of men, where they see you as incompetent. And I think specifically as a woman of color, you're gonna have to boast about what you've done, all the hard work that you've put into this moment, and keep reminding yourself of your purpose because I deserve to be in the room.

As they face a polarizing front-runner with wide name recognition, progressive mayoral candidates will likely need to take advantage of the city’s relatively new ranked-choice voting system by urging voters not just to support them, but also their competitors. The system allows voters to choose up to five candidates, and in order for a person’s vote to be maximally effective, they have to fill out the whole slate.

Zohran Mamdani, an assemblymember from Queens who was the first candidate to openly welcome the idea of a cross-endorsement, could become a key test of whether progressives can set aside their differences and unite. The closest to striking distance from Cuomo Mamdani, is also the furthest to the left, leaving his fellow progressives to wonder if aligning with him would risk alienating their more moderate supporters.

On March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, would become the first African American man to cast a ballot in the U.S. under the 15th amendment. Noelle Lorraine Williams, director the African American History Program and the Black Heritage Trail at the New Jersey Historical Commission, joined WNYC host Michael Hill. She says the telling of Mundy Peterson's story is often an incomplete picture of voting rights in the U.S.

Stargazers will be treated to two meteor showers that overlap this month. It's also a good time to observe the neighboring Andromeda galaxy and a phenomenon called "earthshine." WNYC's Rosemary Misdary joins Weekend Edition host David Furst with April's astronomical highlights. 

Cherry blossom season is just getting started in our region, with some of the earliest varieties already in bloom. You can grab a front row seat for the entire cycle at Essex County Branch Brook Park in Newark and Belleville, New Jersey. The park boasts more cherry trees and more varieties than even the famous tidal basin in Washington, DC.

Branch Brook Park Alliance President Thomas Dougherty joins Weekend Edition host David Furst for an update on the progress. 

The Coney Island casino proposal, which is being developed by a consortium that includes Thor Equities, Legends, Saratoga Casino Holdings and Global Gaming Solutions, a commercial arm of the Chickasaw Nation, is one of 11 vying for a downstate gaming license as part of a protracted approval process expected to conclude by year’s end. Read the full story here.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has a $160 million plan to add a dedicated bus lane found for LaGuardia Airport to the BQE. That and more in this week's On The Way roundup of New York City transit news. 

The "She Built NYC" program is an effort to honor women’s history in the city by commissioning a public monument or artwork in each borough, plus more. A design plan has already been approved for a monument of Brooklyn Congress member Shirley Chisolm in Prospect Park. The deadline is April 7th for artists to submit design proposals for monuments honoring jazz legend Billie Holiday in Queens and public health pioneer Dr. Helen Rodríguez Trías in the Bronx. There are projects planned for Manhattan and Staten Island, too. WNYC host Michael Hill is joined by Laurie Cumbo, the city's Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, which is leading the initiative.