Behind every great radio show is a voice–and inspiration–and few are as intriguing as Teresa, the soft-spoken yet captivating DJ behind Casually Crying. This unique show airs on Fridays from 7-8 a.m. on BFF.fm and is known for the ethereal sounds from local bands like Shannon & The Clams and Christina’s Trip. Teresa has cultivated a cult following for early risers and late-night replay listeners alike. Frequent listeners instantly recognize Teresa’s soft, soothing voice, often accompanied by the distant sound of sirens drifting through the city streets. As part of our series spotlighting the voices behind the mic, we sat down with Teresa to uncover the magic behind her one-of-a-kind show, the inspirations behind her creativity, and her favorite local releases of 2024.

What were some of your favorite local releases of the year? Top local album of the year?

Actually a BFF.fm DJ introduced me to this band. They are a local band called Christina’s Trip. This year they released an album called Forever After and I LOVED it! They also did a show at Stable Cafe for BFF and that’s when I heard some of these songs live for the first time ever. I just fell in love with their album. They release their music on a local record label, and there are a lot of really amazing local labels here in the Bay Area but [Christina’s Trip] released their music on Cherub Dream Records which I particularly love. They have some other really amazing local bands, like Nothing Natural, JOCK, and Buddy Junior.

When do you feel most creative?

This is going to sound kind of funny because my show is on at 7am on Fridays, but I pre-record so I am my most creative super late at night. Sometimes when you are listening to the episode at seven in the morning on a Friday, I ended up recording it at 2am on a Wednesday…it's really random. So, super late at night is when I feel my most creative and I feel like it's because things are really quiet and all the noise in my brain and the world has really calmed down.

Do you have any pre-show rituals that help you get in the mood for your show?

Definitely, I plan my playlist maybe a couple days in advance and then right before I record my show, and again this is super late at night, I usually curl up with my cat because I work from home a lot. So typically he is sitting in my lap when I am recording or he is sitting somewhere near me, and in some episodes you can kind of hear him purring.

What's your cat's name?

His name is Mickey. I adopted him when he was a year old and he already had that name and I was like, “It just doesn’t feel right to change your name.” So I had to keep it!

Teresa's cat Mickey
You can catch DJ Sweet T's show Casually Crying every Friday 7-8 a.m. only on BFF.fm!