The NickelBlock, Damn… five years later

Five years ago a talented writer, Brett Olson, wrote a piece on my show, The NickelBlock. Just found it tonight. An interesting look back, that’s for sure…

He sits in front of the microphone, taking deep, rhythmic breaths.

The intro music to his show blares in the small DJ room of 88.7 KBVR in Corvallis. Nick Lilja makes eye contact with his producer, Tyson Beauchemin, through the glass window that separates the on-air talent from the production side of the show. Beauchemin holds up both his hands with fingers extended.

Ten seconds.

“This is the biggest interview I ever had,” Lilja conceded prior to the start of his show. “Hope I don’t [mess] it up.”

Finally the intro music cuts out and the remainder of the show begins. Any sense of nerves disappears and Lilja projects his loud voice full of confidence and arrogance into the microphone.

Lilja, the self-proclaimed Corvallis sports media icon, is the host of the NickelBlock. The show is in its third year of existence on the airwaves of Oregon State University’s student-run radio station. The show mixes sports talk and hip-hop music during its 8 to 10 p.m. time slot now on Thursday nights. What makes this show different from any other sports shows on the radio is Lilja. His strong opinions have won him fans and critics all at the same time.

“I know I’m not always right,” Lilja said. “Sometimes I’m not right on purpose.”

On a particular show on February 22, Lilja thought he was right when he discussed a controversial issue about a student from OSU who broke his neck and became paralyzed from the neck down. The student, Kevin Manning, hurt himself by jumping off a fraternity’s roof into a pool with only two feet of water in it. Manning later went on to file lawsuits against the frat, OSU, and the city of Corvallis for $50 million.

During his 20-minute rant, Lilja said things such as “Most bogus lawsuit ever, I have to be careful, if he is willing to go after the city of Corvallis, he might go after me” and “How great was your life, was it really worth 50 million dollars?” Beauchemin, the show’s producer, interrupted Lilja to inform him that the program director wanted Lilja to change subjects and quit what could be viewed as slander.

“I know what slander is and when to stop,” Lilja said, reflecting on the incident a month later. “And that was not slander.”

After the show, the station immediately put the NickelBlock on suspension due to the potential of Lilja’s comments being slanderous.

“The worse part of it, the program director didn’t even hear the comments,” Lilja said. “Someone called and told them it might be slander.”

The fallout of the incident wasn’t as harsh as Lilja and others close to the show predicted. The show remained on the air; however, any subject not dealing with sports needs to be discussed with station management prior to the show.

Lilja does see the new policy as a positive; it has allowed him to broaden his shows material from just sports to hosting interviews with a variety of different figures.

“I can now expand my show,” Lilja said. “Which is a good thing.”

The expansion of his show was first seen on his March 15 show, when he had on Portland hip-hop artist Xile the same person Lilja called his biggest interview ever for an hour long segment.

The anxiety Lilja felt before the interview disappeared immediately. Lilja began to ask Xile a variety of questions, from his motivation for his music to his nomination as Best Rapper on comedian Steve Harvey’s Hoodie Awards Show.

When Lilja asks about the possibility of no longer being able to relate with an audience after his success hits, Xile compliments Lilja with, “that’s a great question man, a real good question.”

After the segment ends, Lilja has on OSU football player Brandon Hughes. It is Hughes first time on the radio and is nervous about messing up.

“I sure hope I don’t sound ignorant,” Hughes said during a music break on the show. “I better sound articulate.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll sound fine,” Lilja said.

Lilja walks Hughes through the interview, helping him at points and carrying it when necessary. Eventually Hughes loosens up and acts like he was born in front of a microphone.

Hughes walks out of the booth when his segment ends and has a smile on his face and lets out a sigh of relief.

“Man you a pimp,” a relieved Hughes said to Lilja. “I love being on your show.”

The love that Hughes showed for Lilja is rare in the KBVR station. Beauchemin explains it to a few factors; that Lilja doesn’t attend station meetings, doesn’t socialize with other hosts, and has a bitter relationship with some of the station management.

And another one, as Beauchemin puts it about Lilja: “He seems a little bit elitist.”

However, not all of Lilja is negative in Beauchemin’s eyes. He describes the Nickelblock as, “One of my favorites to produce on the station.”

The Nickelblock is the only sports show on KBVR, which is dominated by music shows ranging from hip-hop to folk. The walls of the radio booth are covered with band posters and signed autographs from artists. On the door to the booth there are some 50 stickers of bands and artist. Among the stickers is one sports sticker, which is easily the biggest sticker of them all. That door is a perfect metaphor for Liljas role on the station; surrounded by music, but still the biggest entity of them all.

“I get to give the people a different perspective and voice,” Lilja said. “Allows me to share my opinion, get my voice heard.”

The future for the Nickelblock is brighter than the disco ball in the booth of the radio station. Lilja is in talks to getting his show expanded to 11 other affiliates, ranging from Eugene to New York.

“I am just having fun doing my show,” Lilja said. “I just hope it all works out.”

And so far it has.