Hi folks, this week's playlist winner is Angelo Anastasio, host of Panorama
Italiano (Mondays 9-10 AM). Angelo played a track from Roberto Occhipinti's new
album (#97 on the playlist) and wins a free CD from the promo box.
Keep working on expanding your range as a programmer and you will be reward,
both from the station with prizes, and from your audience with your diversity!
Keep exploring to win next week!
--
With the Music in the Park schedule now out, now's a good time to talk about
music festivals and concerts, and how to use them in your show.
Live concert listings have long been a mainstay of campus/community
programming. Our type of radio is often the only kind able to announce all
types of concerts, from local punk shows in a downtown basement to full
classical symphonies, and to be able to play the music from the concerts we're
announcing. With live music coming back in force with pandemic restrictions
lifting, our job as promoters and supporters of live music is even more
important. Including live music listings in your show is a great way to add
more content to your show and keep new material coming in.
First, pay attention to the concert listings in the PSA binder. Make a note of
any musicians coming through the area that work well with your genre. For
example, a blues show should look out for blues artists coming into town, jazz
for jazz artists, metal for metal and punk shows, etc. Make a point of telling
your audience when the concerts are happening and when, because your listeners
are the one's most likely to go out and see the bands, since they've already
shown an interest in your show's content. In addition, you can also play tracks
from that artist in your show. The concert listing artists are always up in the
on air booth on the shelves on the back wall, with notes on them with the
concert information. Announce the concert during your show, then play a track
from the artists who is going to be playing. It's a great way to connect public
service material (the concert announcement) with the content of your show (the
music).
Consider interviewing the artists when they come into town too. Interviews are
another great way to add unique content to your program. If an artists comes to
town to play live that fits into your show, you can easily set up time with the
artist before or after the show, even during the day, to talk with them. Bring
along a portable recorder or a recording app for your cellphone and record the
interview. Then, it's easy to put that interview on during your show later.
Even better, you could talk to them before they even come to town, then play
the interview before the concert happens to help promote it more. And, once
restrictions lift for live interviews at the station, you can even bring the
artist in to interview live during your show, or even get them to play a song
or two live on the air! Why stop with the artists, interview people who
attended the show and get their reactions to what they saw. There are a lot of
options with interviews, and almost any kind of interview or mode of recording
can be set up for an interview. Just ask station staff for help.
As I said at the start of this tip, the local music scene is something that is
very important to campus/community radio. We will often be the only media in
town that is able to focus on local music, both local acts and local concerts,
in a more focused way that other media. We can play the music not featured on
other stations, and we can also take more in depth looks at the music being
played. Local independent artists and touring artists often have no other
options to advertise their concerts on radio than on campus radio. Our job is
to help them do their job, that is, play live music and earn a little money
doing it so they can get to their next concert. Any help we can give an
independent artist is valuable to both them and to us. They benefit by getting
people out to their shows and getting their music heard. We benefit by adding
more unique content to our airwaves, often content that simply can't be heard
anywhere else. The more the local scene grows and prospers, the more that
benefits us. The more we can promote the local scene, the better our reputation
with local musicians and promoters, and the better we will be able to work with
them in the future.
Going beyond the local scene can help you a lot too. While we have a lot of
local festivals happening (like Music in the Park, Salmon Arm Roots and Blues,
2 Rivers Remix, Desert Daze, Monashee, Bass Coast and more), there are even
more festivals happening in BC and across Canada. Check in with other interior
festivals like in Salmo, Revelstoke, Vancouver Island and in Vancouver. For
example, the Vancouver Jazz Festival is full of music that we play every week,
and doing a show (or a segment of your show) focusing on that festival is
another great way to bring focused and unique content to your show. If you are
going to a festival outside of the area, you can let your audience know about
the festival, and play artists from the festival to promote it, which is yet
another good way to promote live music and festivals in general. Even festivals
outside of Canada are fair game. Why not a section on Glastonbury this year? Or
Lollapalooza? Or Coachcella? Your options are practically endless!
--
Steve Marlow, Programming Coordinator
CFBX 92.5 FM www.thex.ca
Campus/Community Radio for TRU and Kamloops
