It wasn’t really until going to college that I was able to get involved in college radio. That just opened my world up really wide. I got interested in underground dance music, house music at the time, which was not mainstream at all.

So for me, a guy who grew up on more mainstream rock and ’80s New Wave and disco, this was like a secret world that I discovered and I just became obsessed.

How do you see the function of a D.J. — somebody who’s curating in the world of Spotify algorithms?

It just can’t be replaced. It’s sort of a handcrafted feel, and people can tell you’re engaged.

The goal is to find that moment to connect with people. It could be something as simple as the weather, or it could be that we’re coming out of NPR news coverage or a press conference and some politics of the day.

[Here’s why classical music is hard to find on Spotify.]

I remember coming out of the Trump inauguration with Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World.” I don’t have to say anything — I just have to play a song and everyone can go from there.

That’s the art of it. I don’t see it yet with streaming-service algorithms.

What do you listen for in a new song? Can you describe what it is that makes you say, “This one’s going to be big?”

I think one important thing about being a legitimate curator is certainty and having a point of view. Maybe you’re not right, at the end of the day, but that’s O.K.