CaSera “DJ Ca$h Era” Heining, 25, is a producer at WGN Radio and runs her own mobile DJ company. She’s also the official DJ for Young Chicago Authors’ annual Louder Than a Bomb youth poetry festival and competition.
- DJ Ca$h Era made this mix for London-based music media platform Mnrchy in 2018.
I always thought of that as a side job; my main focus was always radio. I first wanted to be on-air at a radio station, and then that energy switched my junior year, ’cause I kept hearing horror stories—like on-air talent can get let go at the drop of a dime for nothing. I was just like, “I want something with a bit more job stability.” So I started looking at the production side of radio—sales, music programming, music directing. By my senior year, I was looking at DJing way more seriously because I was full-time at that point.
After graduation I had the scare of no job reaching back out. I applied to everywhere in Chicago and nothing was coming back, so I started looking at other cities. Kevin Coval sat me down, and he was like, “Yo, we are not losing you. We need you here—what do you want to do?” He helped me to meet the right people to get me a job at WGN Radio.
I started looking at Twitch—for a couple months, I was just DJing for tips. Luckily the community that I have around me, they were pouring into me as much as I give out to them. It was beautiful, and I definitely cried some nights. Like, that’s what helped me—the people that I DJ for all the time, they came back to pay it forward. And they don’t have to, ’cause we’re all in a pandemic. v
