Submitted by Cathy (not verified) on Thu, 04/17/2008 - 06:26.
I want to 2nd the above comment regarding local community (public) listener-supported radio station KFCF 88.1 fm. Rick Flores has hosted many local musicians on his program Wasteland of the Free. Bob Lambert and Bill Traylor have added a new dimension of interest with their musical playlists, and local guest musicians. There was also Paul Lucich, host of Cold Turkey Shakes, who played a Punk/Alternative type of format, and had local guests of a similar genre late Friday nights. Unfortunately Paul left Fresno, but I'm sure his show helped introduce younger listeners to our station. There is of course Move On Up, hosted by our Devoya Mayo. We used to have Woody Miller on Valley Black Talk, who is now back to his role as host of his (excellent) jazz show on KFSR. There is also a fairly new show called In the No which is more youth/hip-hop-oriented (I think!) I think KFCF does a great job promoting local artists, and it provides some other great information covering local (or not) events and issues and subject matters through other local programmers, and through the programs from KPFA Berkeley, which we broadcast. So when supporting "public radio", please don't forget KFCF Fresno, our grass roots, listener-supported, free-speech, community radio station!!!
Wow thanks Joe, College radio and local music in mutual support of one another.
Hey Kids. Joe just told you how to get your music directly to the station, bypassing the channels used by the paid promoters(Big Recording Industry Types). Bravo! That is local support for local music. Please support KFSR with your donations in return. We can feed each other.
Submitted by Joe Moore on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 17:45.
Matt's voicemail message is in reference to what we call in the industry "tracking calls." This is when promoters call and ask how many spins record XYZ is getting. It's usually a lot faster to do tracking through email rather than over the phone. Of course the paid promoters prefer the phone, because they can more easily twist the music directors arm to try to get their band added. But if you add up the number of CDs, and say each tracking call takes just 3 minutes, it quickly becomes a huge mess.
Always send the CD in the mail. And for a local band, I'd suggest calling Matt, AND following up with an email or a message on the Evening Eclectic Myspace. Once your on his radar, send the CD. Don't email music files.
Submitted by Famous Guest (not verified) on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 15:13.
Earlier in the month I tried to call the Mr. Garcia (music director) to introduce myself as a local musician and his voicemail requested email submission as an easier way. Has this changed and should I now do what your saying and mail it in?
Submitted by Joe Moore on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 12:28.
Thanks for the plug, and I'll be the first to admit that we're always looking to do a better job serving the community, and that includes local music. We're working on a number of things right now that I think are going to be really cool for fans of local music, so stay tuned (can't really talk about them yet).
Also - tips for submitting a CD. Don't bring it by the station in person. That's actually the best way for it to get lost, becuase most often it doesn't end up with the right person. Sending a CD in the mail is probably best, though if I were a local band, I'd get in touch with the music director first, and let them know about the band and the CD in advance, and then write "local music" on the CD mailer. That way we can give it priority when it comes in from the mail room. And if you're on the music director's "radar" in advance, you'll stand a much better chance of not getting lost in the never ending flood of new CDs (about 300 a week!)
Also, one problem I've seen with local bands is that the CDs sometimes aren't in an actual jewel cases or digipacks. If it's just in a paper sleeve, we can't easily file it or read the spine, which means it likely will get skipped over by our in studio DJs. Also - make sure you put a track listing on the jewel case / digipack, which includes both track numbers and times of the tracks. It doesn't do the DJ much good when the track names are only written on the CD, which is in the CD player! And don't send music that isn't "FCC clean" because we can't play it on the air.
Submitted by fresnoise on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 11:35.
KFSR stands head and shoulders above all other local radio stations in their support of local musicians. But, I wish they would do more. How about a push for more localism on KFSR? Sometimes when I hear a show or read a playlist and it has nothing but national acts over and over again I wonder why? I was told by a former KFSR DJ that sending your band's CD to the station was like sending it down a black hole. And I can attest to that. I finally got some airplay when I sent my CD directly to the DJ at his home address. But, I do appreciate all KFSR does. I guess it's kind of unfair to ask so much of one station when so many others do absolutely nothing to support local music.
Thanks Steve for the info about KJWL. I love that song, too.
Thanks Kingsburgbuzz, you got it right about the Major-Owned radio stations, they could care less about "localism". All they care about is the bottom line and that makes for the worst kind of music. Reminds me of what I have heard Howard Stern say about Disc Jockeys. The expansion of radio on the internet is more diverse but the major players there are the same Big5 media conglomerates.
I am hoping that with the new Hi Definition Radio, where a station can actually have two or more channels associated with their call letters that more opportunities will open up for programming that represents more local content.
Submitted by Kingsburgbuzz on Sun, 04/13/2008 - 22:52.
It seems to me that anywhere you go the radio stations (that get good arbitron ratings) are controlled for the most part by either CBS or Clear Channel. In turn most of the program directors that work for these companies hand down the music that the stations are allowed to play. There is usually very limited amounts of time dedicated to local stuff if any time at all. The only chance of getting on a station in a regular rotation is through a locally owned or small company stations.
You may also be able to get on the regular rotation on the College station.
The problem is that the largest audience is controlled by CBS and Clear Channel which have archaic business practices. The future of music radio is running very thin with the new technologies that provide a platform for mobile music; Sirius, XM, IPod, Mp3 players, etc. They constantly have come up with new formats, (hence Jack FM, that don't seem to employ any DJ's but a computer one.) Jack FM "playing what we want." I just love this slogan because it is the exact opposite of what I want and being that I am in their prime advertising demo they don't have me as a listener, sad.
The audience is shrinking for most of the music stations, (Check the arbitron ratings.)
The only medium in radio that seems to keep going strong is talk radio.
However, local play would still benefit local musicians. My suggestion would be to rally up a ton of your friends, fans, and start calling these radio stations with song requests. If your good enough at voice impressions you can do it yourself, (just block your number so they don't think it's you every 5 minutes.)
Hopefully some of these stations get their act together and start running some local music, even a special local music show would be nice, I would listen. I am in their premium advertising demo so hopefully they implement something like this otherwise I'll stick with the internet and the Ipod.
Submitted by Joe from KFSR (not verified) on Sun, 04/13/2008 - 20:22.
Steve - I think just about all of our programs play music by local artists, from the Barn Dance to blues. And that certainly includes our rock based Evening Eclectic programming. In fact we've done some live remote broadcasts of local bands in the past few months like Aspen Hollow, Super Lucky Catz, IBID, etc. Stay tuned we hope to do some more soon.
99.3 KJWL FM, the only locally owned and programmed commercial radio station, plays my track "This Touch of Home" on the show "Diamonds After Dark" They also play amterial by Karen Marguth. They do as well as they can within their format. Too bad John Ostland doesn't own a rock station too.
Local public radio has some opportunities for airtime.
88.1 KFCF FM has Rick Flores from 10 to noon on Tuesdays with "Wasteland of the Free" (An important and very great Song!). Bob Lambert and Bill Traylor take "Musical Trips" every other Tuesday evening from 8 to 10 PM. They are both open to live in studio performances by locals.
90.7 KFSR FM, with its jazz dominated playlist, plays local artists such as the Eva Scow and Karen Marguth. I'm not sure if they do any local rock music anymore. They used to play things like Trike Shop. I applaud what Joe Moore has done in bringing JazzFresno along and bringing order to the format but I miss the late afternoon craziness. I once heard jazz metal being played... wow.
89.3 KVPR has almost nothing of local music. Some years ago I gave some of my material to Vince DiCiccio for his jazz show.
Not to my knowledge. Other than local music on Sunday nights on KRZR and Friday nights on Alice. But there are little to no ways of getting local music into rotation on local radio stations other than hard rock that I know of. Am I wrong, someone please correct me and enlighten me if so.
Do local radio stations do enough to support local musicians
I want to 2nd the above comment regarding local community (public) listener-supported radio station KFCF 88.1 fm. Rick Flores has hosted many local musicians on his program Wasteland of the Free. Bob Lambert and Bill Traylor have added a new dimension of interest with their musical playlists, and local guest musicians. There was also Paul Lucich, host of Cold Turkey Shakes, who played a Punk/Alternative type of format, and had local guests of a similar genre late Friday nights. Unfortunately Paul left Fresno, but I'm sure his show helped introduce younger listeners to our station. There is of course Move On Up, hosted by our Devoya Mayo. We used to have Woody Miller on Valley Black Talk, who is now back to his role as host of his (excellent) jazz show on KFSR. There is also a fairly new show called In the No which is more youth/hip-hop-oriented (I think!) I think KFCF does a great job promoting local artists, and it provides some other great information covering local (or not) events and issues and subject matters through other local programmers, and through the programs from KPFA Berkeley, which we broadcast. So when supporting "public radio", please don't forget KFCF Fresno, our grass roots, listener-supported, free-speech, community radio station!!!
You heard it here!
Wow thanks Joe, College radio and local music in mutual support of one another.
Hey Kids. Joe just told you how to get your music directly to the station, bypassing the channels used by the paid promoters(Big Recording Industry Types). Bravo! That is local support for local music. Please support KFSR with your donations in return. We can feed each other.
Re: email / voicemail
Matt's voicemail message is in reference to what we call in the industry "tracking calls." This is when promoters call and ask how many spins record XYZ is getting. It's usually a lot faster to do tracking through email rather than over the phone. Of course the paid promoters prefer the phone, because they can more easily twist the music directors arm to try to get their band added. But if you add up the number of CDs, and say each tracking call takes just 3 minutes, it quickly becomes a huge mess.
Always send the CD in the mail. And for a local band, I'd suggest calling Matt, AND following up with an email or a message on the Evening Eclectic Myspace. Once your on his radar, send the CD. Don't email music files.
Did this change
Earlier in the month I tried to call the Mr. Garcia (music director) to introduce myself as a local musician and his voicemail requested email submission as an easier way. Has this changed and should I now do what your saying and mail it in?
Re: local music on KFSR
Thanks for the plug, and I'll be the first to admit that we're always looking to do a better job serving the community, and that includes local music. We're working on a number of things right now that I think are going to be really cool for fans of local music, so stay tuned (can't really talk about them yet).
Also - tips for submitting a CD. Don't bring it by the station in person. That's actually the best way for it to get lost, becuase most often it doesn't end up with the right person. Sending a CD in the mail is probably best, though if I were a local band, I'd get in touch with the music director first, and let them know about the band and the CD in advance, and then write "local music" on the CD mailer. That way we can give it priority when it comes in from the mail room. And if you're on the music director's "radar" in advance, you'll stand a much better chance of not getting lost in the never ending flood of new CDs (about 300 a week!)
Also, one problem I've seen with local bands is that the CDs sometimes aren't in an actual jewel cases or digipacks. If it's just in a paper sleeve, we can't easily file it or read the spine, which means it likely will get skipped over by our in studio DJs. Also - make sure you put a track listing on the jewel case / digipack, which includes both track numbers and times of the tracks. It doesn't do the DJ much good when the track names are only written on the CD, which is in the CD player! And don't send music that isn't "FCC clean" because we can't play it on the air.
Joe Moore
Station Manager
90.7 KFSR
KFSR stands head and
KFSR stands head and shoulders above all other local radio stations in their support of local musicians. But, I wish they would do more. How about a push for more localism on KFSR? Sometimes when I hear a show or read a playlist and it has nothing but national acts over and over again I wonder why? I was told by a former KFSR DJ that sending your band's CD to the station was like sending it down a black hole. And I can attest to that. I finally got some airplay when I sent my CD directly to the DJ at his home address. But, I do appreciate all KFSR does. I guess it's kind of unfair to ask so much of one station when so many others do absolutely nothing to support local music.
Thanks Steve for the info about KJWL. I love that song, too.
Thanks Kingsburgbuzz, you got it right about the Major-Owned radio stations, they could care less about "localism". All they care about is the bottom line and that makes for the worst kind of music. Reminds me of what I have heard Howard Stern say about Disc Jockeys. The expansion of radio on the internet is more diverse but the major players there are the same Big5 media conglomerates.
I am hoping that with the new Hi Definition Radio, where a station can actually have two or more channels associated with their call letters that more opportunities will open up for programming that represents more local content.
I don't listen to Terrestrial Radio and I'm in the Prime Demo):
It seems to me that anywhere you go the radio stations (that get good arbitron ratings) are controlled for the most part by either CBS or Clear Channel. In turn most of the program directors that work for these companies hand down the music that the stations are allowed to play. There is usually very limited amounts of time dedicated to local stuff if any time at all. The only chance of getting on a station in a regular rotation is through a locally owned or small company stations.
You may also be able to get on the regular rotation on the College station.
The problem is that the largest audience is controlled by CBS and Clear Channel which have archaic business practices. The future of music radio is running very thin with the new technologies that provide a platform for mobile music; Sirius, XM, IPod, Mp3 players, etc. They constantly have come up with new formats, (hence Jack FM, that don't seem to employ any DJ's but a computer one.) Jack FM "playing what we want." I just love this slogan because it is the exact opposite of what I want and being that I am in their prime advertising demo they don't have me as a listener, sad.
Many cities have already implemented city wide Wi Fi in turn people can listen to streaming music in their cars with the new internet radios that have come out. http://www.dailywireless.org/2007/09/14/in-car-wifi-radio-huge/
The audience is shrinking for most of the music stations, (Check the arbitron ratings.)
The only medium in radio that seems to keep going strong is talk radio.
However, local play would still benefit local musicians. My suggestion would be to rally up a ton of your friends, fans, and start calling these radio stations with song requests. If your good enough at voice impressions you can do it yourself, (just block your number so they don't think it's you every 5 minutes.)
Hopefully some of these stations get their act together and start running some local music, even a special local music show would be nice, I would listen. I am in their premium advertising demo so hopefully they implement something like this otherwise I'll stick with the internet and the Ipod.
Rant Over, Good Day!
Never Mind The Bullocks Kingsburg Is Awesome! http://www.kingsburgbuzz.com
Cool
The more the merrier. Thanks Joe.
Local music on 90.7 KFSR
Steve - I think just about all of our programs play music by local artists, from the Barn Dance to blues. And that certainly includes our rock based Evening Eclectic programming. In fact we've done some live remote broadcasts of local bands in the past few months like Aspen Hollow, Super Lucky Catz, IBID, etc. Stay tuned we hope to do some more soon.
Joe Moore
90.7 KFSR
KJWL plays me
99.3 KJWL FM, the only locally owned and programmed commercial radio station, plays my track "This Touch of Home" on the show "Diamonds After Dark" They also play amterial by Karen Marguth. They do as well as they can within their format. Too bad John Ostland doesn't own a rock station too.
Local public radio has some opportunities for airtime.
88.1 KFCF FM has Rick Flores from 10 to noon on Tuesdays with "Wasteland of the Free" (An important and very great Song!). Bob Lambert and Bill Traylor take "Musical Trips" every other Tuesday evening from 8 to 10 PM. They are both open to live in studio performances by locals.
90.7 KFSR FM, with its jazz dominated playlist, plays local artists such as the Eva Scow and Karen Marguth. I'm not sure if they do any local rock music anymore. They used to play things like Trike Shop. I applaud what Joe Moore has done in bringing JazzFresno along and bringing order to the format but I miss the late afternoon craziness. I once heard jazz metal being played... wow.
89.3 KVPR has almost nothing of local music. Some years ago I gave some of my material to Vince DiCiccio for his jazz show.
No
Not to my knowledge. Other than local music on Sunday nights on KRZR and Friday nights on Alice. But there are little to no ways of getting local music into rotation on local radio stations other than hard rock that I know of. Am I wrong, someone please correct me and enlighten me if so.
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