Off the Bus and on the Record: Teen Journalists of "Rock Star Stories" chat about their new Book

I have an equal amount of passion for teen culture and indie music culture; so when the two worlds collide it's a safe bet that I will be seek out whatever book, movie, website, 'zine, or piece of music is the resulting product.

As a former teen journalist, I was super psyched to check out the new book Off the Bus and On the Record: 22 Candid Interviews by the Teen Journalists of the Rock Star Stories. I love it when teens create their own media and it must have been a dream come true for these teens to make a mission out of interviewing some of their musical idols.

The book collects interviews conducted by the young journalists of the TV show The Rock Star Stories. The program began when siblings Amanda and Jaime Rich were asked to host a teen-oriented music TV show in Florida called Swept Away TV. They invited their other siblings Zac and Brittany to help out behind the scenes and the show grew from there, ultimately airing around the country, online, and on college campuses. Eventually they started a non-profit that works to help train other young people in media creation.

Their book collects some of their favorite band interviews (including The Donnas, All-American Rejects, Fat Mike from NOFX, and Fall Out Boy), many of which were conducted when some of the journalists were young teens. I was curious how this group of young music fans discovered new music and if radio (especially college radio) played any part in their lives.

To learn more about their take on music discovery, music journalism, and what it's like to be young and interviewing rock stars; I had an email chat with Brittany and Zac Rich. I also got some perspective from the author of the book's foreward: Aaron Burgess. Aaron used to be the editor of indie music staple Alternative Press and he sheds some light on rock journalism across the generations.

The Rich Siblings

Spinning Indie: How do you learn about new music?

Brittany Rich: I listen to some of the obscure channels on satellite radio and listen to all kinds of music on Myspace. I also get recommendations from my friends who have all kinds of musical interests.

Zac Rich: A lot of ways. I tune into Pandora and Sirius radio. But also from other bands during interviews [who] will tell you "oh you have to check out this new band, they're really good."

Aaron Burgess: Even though working in this industry for a while has allowed me to get on a lot of mailing lists to hear advance music, I still discover most of the really good stuff the same way I always have: through word of mouth. Granted, the concept of “word of mouth” has changed a little since I first started getting serious about music. These days, I find out about new music primarily online, but I still go after the music that really grabs me in pretty much the same way I did before the Internet. (Yep, I’m officially old enough to be considered “pre-Internet.”)

Thanks to the Web, it’s just gotten a lot easier to learn more, faster, about new bands, and to go deeper than that to learn about things like the bands that inspired them and the genres, concepts and other big ideas that tie everything together. All that said, I still like having to work to learn more about bands that interest me, and I love to be surprised when a band I never could’ve imagined existing comes completely out of left field and sets me off on another tangent.

Aaron Burgess

Spinning Indie: Do you listen to radio? college radio?

Brittany: I listen to Sirius radio in the car and some local rock radio but we don't have a lot of alternative or even rock on the radio in our area. When I move into the dorms this year at college I will probably start listening to college radio.

Zac: Sirius Radio and Internet Radio.

Aaron: I don’t actively listen to commercial radio at all, and I listen to college radio primarily online while I’m at work. I love being able to sit at my desk in Texas and listen to a station in Ithaca or Pittsburgh or Washington—although I have to admit, I don’t listen to college radio as much for discovery as I do to affirm whatever tastes I might be pursuing at the moment.

When it comes to discovering new music, I visit a lot of music blogs and MP3 blogs, and I really like reading customer reviews at sites like Amazon and staff write-ups at stores like Aquarius and Amoeba. I’ve been relying on Twitter for new-music recommendations a lot lately, too. I’m aware of the irony here, but even though I review music professionally, I hardly ever look to professionally written reviews to give me the best insight into whether I’ll like a new record.

Spinning Indie: How do you think being an on-air (TV, video) journalist different from being a print journalist? Have you guys done both?

Brittany: I have done both but on air is much harder because you have to react in the moment to what the interviewee is saying. You also have to keep focused in spite of what may be going on around you. Your body language also is important on air. You want to give the same impression with your words and your actions.

Zac: Being on air makes you have to think really quick on your feet. You have X amount of time on camera and every move you make [and] question you ask gets shown on the tape. So you have to be really focused and able to think quick on your feet. No matter how much you get ready for an interview it won't have any effect if you lock up on camera and forget everything.

Aaron: I have a lot of respect for the Swept Away crew for having the guts to hone their chops on-air. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that anyone can do print journalism – interviews full of social awkwardness and dead air can be just as painful to experience when they’re not being broadcast live. But I do think that you have a tougher job as a TV or video journalist because you have to be totally present while your subject is in the spotlight.

You have to be ready for anything in ways that a print journalist doesn’t, and you have to be hyper-aware of things like timing, appearance, composure and rapport in ways that you don’t have to when you’re interviewing someone for print. With print, you can edit a terrible interview to look like something that flows. On video or TV (or even radio), the camera won’t let you lie quite as easily.

Spinning Indie: I see that your ventures now include radio. Is that relatively new and how do you like doing a radio show compared with TV?

Zac: I been doing Internet radio for the last 5 years, it's a uncensored talk show aimed at college students. It's nice to be on the Internet because of the freedom of being uncensored and being able to say whatever we want.

Spinning Indie: Do you think teens and young adults are better interviewers/journalists than older folks? Why?

Zac: Yes! for starters we care more about who and what we're interviewing because most of the time the band plays a role in our lives. Either we hear their music every day or we [or] our friends talk about them every day. Also because a teen or young adult journalist isn't as threatening to a band as a someone from NBC or ABC or MTV. To them we are just fans, but with a great job! This makes most bands open up more and tells us some really great stories.

Aaron: I really think it depends on the interviewer more than the age of the interviewer. In order to be a great interviewer, you really need to understand people—what makes them tick, how to unlock them—and for a lot of us, this sort of empathy a skill that only comes with time, experience and a lot of personal ups and downs.

That said, I’ve met a lot of teens who are wiser beyond their years than I ever was at that age, and I’ve met a lot of adults who continue to act like the stereotype of a dumb teenager. As one of those “old folks” myself, I can attest to the fact that age has brought wisdom and a wider sense of empathy for the people on the other side of the microphone that I might not have had when I was a 16-year-old doing my first interview. Knowing what I do now, I can only imagine how much better some of those early interviews would’ve been.

Spinning Indie: What do you love about music journalism?

Brittany: I love the excitement of discovering a new artist and telling everyone about him or her. I really like when other people discover an artist that I really enjoy listening to. I like to share!!!

Zac: Being able to say, "hey you know that band we interviewed like a year ago when no one else would give them the time of day?", and now they're the hottest thing on MTV and on the radio. That's the greatest part :-)

Aaron: I love getting beyond the music to understand more about the people who make it: their ups, downs, strengths and flaws. I love learning what makes people tick and being able to get insight into how great musicians become great. I love learning that my favorite artists are people, too, and I love it when I can get someone to open up about not just how they got from point A to point B in their craft, but how there were all these other factors that allowed them just to find where point A was in the first place. Beyond all this, though, I love being able to come back from an interview or assignment and have the chance to share what I find with other people.

Spinning Indie: What has it been like being a young female journalist interviewing mainly male musicians. Have you found the indie music scene to be welcoming?

Brittany: It can get weird and the guys can get really sexist but for the most part everyone has always been totally cool and nice. We keep it professional and music related or least we try to. Most indie artists are so appreciative of us trying to promote their music and it shows in their interviews. I started doing this when I was in 6th grade and back then I felt very self conscious and shy. After so many years nothing phases me anymore-even weird Jeffree Star!


Thanks to the crew from The Rock Star Stories for sharing their passion for music with me!

College Radio Getting Exported to Taiwan via Oh! Zone

When I wrote my recent profile of Carleton College radio station KRLX, I was made aware of a new service coming to Taiwan on September 1st called Oh! Zone. KRLX will be one of the many English-language college radio stations being featured on this online radio station oriented towards students in Taiwan who are interested in studying abroad.

I'm always very interested in any sort of concerted effort to celebrate college radio culture and this seems like a very ambitious project. On their website you can take a look at some of the sample programs from participating stations, including some from the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Their website lists approximately 25 U.S. stations including WXPN (University of Pennsylvania), KEXP (University of Washington), KBCS (Bellevue College), WVUD (University of Delaware), KVCU Radio 1190 (University of Colorado, Boulder), KLPI (Louisiana Tech), KLCZ (Lewis-Clark State College), WWSU (Wright State), KUSC (University of Southern California), WGWG (Gardner-Webb University), WLNZ (Lansing Community College), WNCW (Isothermal Community College), KUCI (University of California, Irvine), KUNM (University of New Mexico), KPLU (Pacific Lutheran University), KUT (University of Texas, Austin), KTBG (University of Central Missouri), Radio K (University of Minnesota), WLRA (Lewis University), KBVR (Oregon State), WUOG (University of Georgia), WODU (Old Dominion), KTUH (University of Hawaii, Manoa), and WXJM (James Madison University).

According to a letter sent by OhZone Program Director Jon Roberts to participating schools, "The OhZone is a collection of English-language campus and Community radio stations from around the world. We are a free English-language tool for Taiwanese listeners. Our target audience is Taiwanese students wanting to study overseas. We provide them a choice of music and accents to listen to while researching universities."

I've heard some buzz recently from schools who were contacted by OhZone and there seems to be some confusion among the U.S. radio stations about whether or not their radio programs can be re-broadcast by other entities online or oversees and what the ensuing licensing implications may be. According to OhZone, "We have obtained a certificate from the music licensing authority here MUST - meaning we can legally rebroadcast programs - and we pay the royalty fee." I was told by OhZone that participating stations are required to provide playlist information to them so that they can fulfill licensing and royalty requirements.

In any event, it's a cool idea to set up a 24/7 schedule that is peppered with specific content from radio stations from all over the globe and it's the first time that I've heard of college radio being highlighted in such a way. Other similar attempts have included XM Radio's "Student Exchange Program" (where different college radio stations curated 2 hours of programming on satellite radio station XMU) and the "College Radio Tuner" for the iPhone (featuring streams from IBS member stations); but I haven't seen something like Oh! Zone before, where specific programs are hand-picked for the schedule.

[By the way, there isn't much in the way of student radio in Taiwan itself. The first station run completely by students, VNNCU, began in 1963 at National Chengchi University. Unfortunately I get scary warning messages about potential hacker attacks when I try to visit their website, so much of their programming remains a mystery to me.]

To learn a bit more about Oh! Zone I conducted email interviews with a few of the folks responsible for developing it, including Brian Hockertz, the Director of the Oh! Study Education center, and Program Director Jon Roberts. I was surprised to find out that college radio is just one part of a whole promotional program for study abroad. Who knew!


Spinning Indie: I'm curious about how came up with the idea for Oh! Zone?

Brian Hockertz: I started developing the concept of the Oh! Zone almost two years ago in response to a need to create a medium to promote overseas schools, study abroad and also a way to promote learning English and create a better understanding of western culture in Taiwan. We wanted to create a community of listeners that will stick with us over time and we could provide them with high quality programming coming from campus radio stations to give a taste of life on an overseas campus. FYI, the Oh! Study Education center is the largest overseas education promotion and student travel center in Taiwan.

Spinning Indie: Why do you find college radio to be a compelling way to share the experience of campus life?

Brian: We promote overseas campuses in many ways, such as publications, web content, exhibitions, local campus outreach, etc. We also have extensive experience running promotions on several local radio stations and were aware of the effectiveness of this medium. The Oh! Zone seemed like the a logical step for us to take in the development of our activities in Taiwan. Additionally, establishing a radio station allows us to provide a greater variety and diversity of content from around the world to our audience in Taiwan, and give them a better feel for life on an overseas campus.

Spinning Indie: Do you have a background in radio? college radio?

Brian: Personally, no, with the exception of conducting many promotional activities and being a regular interviewee on local radio stations. However, both Jon and a new addition to our team, Rick Monday have extensive experience in the radio industry. Rick will be taking over as our Program Director and Jon will remain with us in a consulting role. Rick has close to 40 years in the radio industry and he is the only foreign DJ in Taiwan to have won a Golden Bell Award (sort of like an Emmy).

Spinning Indie: How are you determining the program schedule?

Brian: I provide a little direction in terms of general themes and direction of the programming, but Jon and Rick are the ones crafting the final schedule. We are trying to create a program schedule with a broad variety of different programs reflecting overseas campus culture. At the same time, we have to create appropriate content for different days (i.e., week day vs. weekend) and times during the day to match the audience that will be listening. As we are a non-commercial station, we have a lot of leeway in terms of being able to create a program schedule that suits the needs of our audience and station rather than advertisers.

Spinning Indie: Are you focusing on music programming only or will you also include talk shows, sports, etc?

Brian: Most of the programs will have a mix of DJ talk and music, but we already have several talk shows, such as a vegan cooking show, a tech show, movie review show, etc. A bit of an eclectic mix.

Spinning Indie: How are you selecting stations and who has joined up?

Brian: Usually it has been based on two different criterion: first, we have approached schools that are working with our student counseling/travel center to see if they would be interested in participating in the Oh! Zone, and second, we have been searching for high quality programming from all campus radio stations that would fit into our schedule.

Spinning Indie: Tell me more about "Women Rule Night."

Brian: Jon and Rick could probably tell you more about this, but we thought it would be a good way to show diversity on campuses and reach out to a female audience. Sometimes, female issues/performers take a bit of a backseat in Taiwan, and we wanted to be able to spotlight them on the Oh! Zone.

Jon Roberts: Both Rick Monday and I had strong willed mothers and sisters. The rule in our homes was "if men would listen to what we women say you won't go wrong so often." Plus, female announcers have always been well received in Taiwan. The first shows submitted to us were from CHLY (the voice of the VIU campus): In the Red and Pandemic Pulse. Both have female announcers and both received great comments when we tested the OhZone on Taiwanese. Rick and I wanted to create a format that ensured those CHLY announcers would always be on the OhZone as well as a format that reached out to other female announcers. We're expecting big things from Women Rule.

Spinning Indie: Is there college radio in Taiwan? How does it compare to U.S./Canada/European campus radio?

Brian: It exists, but it is not very well developed. Usually, the stations would be directly attached to a university journalism/mass comm department and programming is a part of the curriculum.


Thanks to the Oh! Zone folks for talking to me about their venture. It will be cool to see how all the programming shapes up as of September 1st.

College Radio Loyalists Refute Boston Globe's Dire Report on Radio

Student Station WECB at Emerson College in Boston

There's been some chatter this week about whether or not young people have turned away from terrestrial radio. An article in the Boston Globe (which I discuss further on Radio Survivor) called "Young Listeners Tune Out Radio in Search for New Music" quotes a bunch of teens and 20somethings about how they listen to and discover music. None of those quoted listens to radio. Of course the piece spawned some debate and many have rushed to defend radio's continued relevance.

Scanning through some of the 122 comments on the article, I found several themes.

1. Commercial Radio in Boston Sucks
2. There's No Good Music Anymore
3. Radio in Boston actually Rules
4. College and Non-Commercial Radio is Where it's At

Among all of the noise and banter, there were many amazing quotes from college and non-commercial radio fans (who of course realize that there is tons of great new music and there always has been).

I'm so encouraged that people are speaking out about the importance of the left end of the dial and was inspired by many of the eloquent commentary that I ran across. Here are a few gems that I liked from the sea of comments:



mifmu wrote:

"College radio rules and Boston is one, if not the richest source, of college radio in the nation. There is nothing homogeneous about it. WMBR, WERS, WUMB are all worth listening to for all genres of music and public affairs. And there's something expansive about listening to stuff which you may not like right off the bat. Given a little exposure to new and different types of music, it's surprising what you can grow to like.

The homogeneity of satellite radio is mind numbing, as is the screaming blather of commercial radio. And there's something anti-social and Orwellian about everyone running around plugged into individual MP3 players, oblivious to the world around us. Wake up and listen, Boston. There's an earful of culchah at the lower end of your radio dial. And unlike most MP3's (all, once DRM is fully enforced) it’s free!"

kalimba writes:

"Boston has the best college radio scene in the country, hands down, and this still has a loyal following here in Boston. WMBR, WERS, WZBC, WMFO, WMWM, WHRB. These are my pre-sets in the car, along with the npr affiliates."

lazrin writes:

"To those of you lamenting the lack of interesting music on commercial FM stations: there's a whole universe of music below 92 on your FM dial, of non-commercial FM stations. Don't be scared; dip your toe in and explore it - there's practically every musical genre imaginable, played by DJs with a true LOVE and PASSION for the music they are playing -that's because most DJs are volunteering their time to play the music they like, and not getting paid to maximize station ratings and ad revenues."

Now that's what I'm talking about. All of us who listen to and love college radio need to tell a friend...and so on...and so on.

Radio Station Field Trip 17 - FCCFreeRadio in San Francisco

On Monday I had the opportunity to check out a brand new low power FM (LPFM) radio station in San Francisco called FCCFreeRadio.

Located in a secret South of Market (SOMA) location, FCCFreeRadio is a micropower community radio station (they shy away from the term "pirate radio") that is broadcasting both online and at 107.3 FM without a license from the FCC. According to their website they believe that the U.S. government has granted emergency authority for broadcasters to operate without a license during time of war, including the current "war against terrorism."

Board at FCCFreeRadio

The station has been on the air since January 24th, 2009, although the studios have only been recently built. The first live show from the current studio took place on May 30th.

It was exciting to visit such a new station and it's encouraging to me that there are people who believe in radio so strongly that they are willing to start up a new terrestrial station. Thanks so much to General Manager John Miller and Program Director John Hell for taking the time to show me around their new digs.

John Hell and John Miller

Both John Miller and John Hell are enthusiastic supporters of radio and have extensive broadcast experience. Between the two of them they have worked in college radio, community radio at LPFM stations (they were both at Pirate Cat Radio in San Francisco), commercial radio, and in Internet broadcasting.

They both began DJing when they were teens. John Miller started at commercial station KWNE in Ukiah and had his trial by fire when he had to stand in for the regular DJ (who was stuck in jail). He said that from then on he "got hooked" on radio and eventually became inspired by comedy, then Internet broadcasting. He's been involved with many stations since then, including a gig at All Comedy Radio on KPHX 1250AM in Phoenix which aired on 271 stations globally (including South Africa). Additionally, he's been the technical brains being a variety of stations and helped to set up a new LPFM station in Arizona: KWSS. Along with John Hell he helped Pirate Cat Radio build their new studio as well.

John Hell's DJ career started with him spinning tunes at the Ice Capades ice skating rink in Foster City. He went on to DJ at weddings and events, worked at college stations KCSM and KFJC (where he DJ'd for nearly 10 years under the moniker The Reverend Dah Wave), and was part of the crew that started Radio Free Burning Man before he joined SF Liberation Radio and Pirate Cat Radio.


John Miller told me that he'd always dreamed of doing comedy radio in the San Francisco Bay Area and was inspired by the morning show hosted by Alex Bennett back in the 1980s and 1990s on a series of stations including KMEL, KQAK and Live 105. Bennett's show at the time (he's now on Sirius satellite radio) was characterized by a regular stable of comedian guests and a live audience. John's passion for comedy comes through in the current lineup of programming on FCCFreeRadio. He's hosting a morning show that's in the spirit of the old Alex Bennett show and has a programmer on staff who is dedicated to filling the comedy shifts.


Currently FCCFreeRadio is working to recruit DJs and fill up its 2-hour shifts. They have 17 hosts and 16 shows right now in addition to John Miller's weekday morning show (Monday to Friday from 6-10am) with comedian Susan Maletta. When there is no live DJ the station runs automated music programming culled from top hits of the past several decades. John Hell was quick to point out that the automated programming is a temporary solution and isn't necessarily reflective of the more adventurous airsound that they are going for with live DJs. They hope to eventually provide live programming 24 hours a day, but for now are focusing on filling up drive-time shifts. To get a sense of some of the music programming, take a look at John Hell's archived playlists on his website.


Most of the DJs at the station have extensive radio experience already, so on-air training is pretty limited. To get a show, people are required to submit a proposal and upon approval they are trained on the equipment and given a run-down on the short list of rules (don't swear, play station promos, say the station name, and give out the studio number).

DJs at FCCFreeRadio are expected to pay monthly dues and attend monthly staff meetings. Those with music shows must bring their own music since there is no music library. Currently the studio supports the playback of CDs, mp3s, and music from laptops. John Hell told me that any money left over from staff dues will get used for projects at the station, including studio improvements like new equipment and better soundproofing. Being a low budget operation, they are also soliciting help from listeners in the form of underwriting, equipment donations, and real estate (do you live atop a mountain? they need a better spot for their transmitter).


Even with their limited resources and space, FCCFreeRadio has already taken on some interesting projects, including a live remote from a nearby auditorium. DJs regularly have in-studio guests, ranging from musicians to comedians to artists.

In my interviews with John and John I learned more about the mission of FCCFreeRadio, where they fit in to the overall radio landscape in San Francisco, and why they chose a slot on the commercial side of the dial:


Spinning Indie: What's the overall mission of your station?

John Miller: I would say to your question to the over all mission of FCCFREERADIO is to provide a place for community radio. All the staff will be doing something each week that will link their show to the community. We are putting the local back into radio.

John Hell: This is something that is ever evolving, but I know it's safe to say that part of our mission is to serve the SF community that we broadcast out of. We want to pay attention to the concerns of the neighborhood, and we strive towards being a voice for those in the neighborhood that have no voice. With that being said, we also believe that music programming should be challenging as well. We don't believe that we should be playing the "hits," from any genre or era. There are plenty of other stations in the bay area that are doing this.

We've asked the staff to take the next few weeks to think about the mission. We plan on putting it in writing and on our website within a few months. Check back.



Spinning Indie: How do you differentiate yourselves from other low power, community, and college radio stations?

John Miller: Well this question is one that I have never thought about, at least to the point that should matter. I have built a LPFM because I was without a home for my program. That's where it started... after that I am just running a station like I would run any other LPFM station. I just want my hosts to be on the top of their game, with all hosts working each week to do better for themselves and their programs.

John Hell: There is plenty of room in this largely populated and diverse bay area for many non-commercial, LPFM's. Our station is personality driven. Most of our staffers have at least 10 years radio experience; many have over 20 years experience. John Miller and I have a passion for radio as done in the days of KMPX/KSAN's "Big Daddy" Tom Donahue, KYA's Emperor Gene Nelson and Bob Mitchell; and of course the King of Pirate Radio, Wolfman Jack.

FCCFreeRadio's show log

Spinning Indie: Were you influenced/inspired by any existing radio stations?

John Miller: Well, all but 2 morning hosts are gone from the airwaves in SF. I grew up to Alex Bennett for my morning show (My program The John Miller Program with Susan Maletta has the foundation of The Alex Bennett Program with Lisa Thompson.) From KOME.... Dennis Erectus, One of the kings of working the FCC.

From KSJO Lamont and Tonelli. They have somehow been on the air in the Bay Area for over 25 years. I am personal friends with both and back in the day helped with live remotes when I could.

Last, well maybe not the last, but the last for this list...Tom Leykis. He owned afternoon drive for years and before they put him on FM he owned AM. Shame to see the talent of yesteryear not on the air.

John Hell: I was influenced by the '80s morning show of Frazer Smith, of KLOS in LA, and M. Dung of KFOG. Dung also hosted the Sunday Night Idiot Show, which he would sometimes do live at Wolfgang's (owned by the late rock impresario Wolfgang Bill Graham). I would attend those live shows as often as I could.

View into a Phantom Studio

Spinning Indie: Can you explain a bit more about how you selected 107.3 FM?

John Miller: Well I did not want to be down in the basement so I have always been on the upper side of the dial doing my radio program. So with that I went looking and found 107.3 FM was open for San Francisco proper. With that I liked being between CBS's KCBS and Cumulus station The Bone. Both huge stations with a very broad group that tune in.

The Ubiquitous Radio Station Couch

Thanks again to John Miller and John Hell for showing me around FCCFreeRadio. And kudos to them for believing in the power of local radio!


Previous Spinning Indie Radio Station Field Trips:

Field Trip to WECB at Emerson College
College Radio Field Trip 2 - Cal Poly's KCPR
College Radio Field Trip 3 - Notre Dame's WVFI
Radio Station Field Trip 4 - WFMU in Jersey City
Radio Station Field Trip 5 - East Village Radio in NYC
Radio Station Field Trip 6 - WNYU in New York City
Radio Station Field Trip 7 - Northwestern's WNUR
Radio Station Field Trip 8 - Stanford's KZSU
Radio Station Field Trip 9 - University of San Francisco's KUSF
Radio Station Field Trip 10 - Santa Clara University Station KSCU
Radio Station Field Trip 11 - UC Berkeley's KALX
Radio Station Field Trip 12 - KSJS at San Jose State University
Radio Station Field Trip 13 - WBAR at Barnard College
Radio Station Field Trip 14 - KFJC at Foothill College
Radio Station Field Trip 15 - UC Santa Cruz Station KZSC
Radio Station Field Trip 16 - Haverford College Station WHRC

Farewell to Michael Jackson

San Francisco Chronicle Coverage of Michael Jackson's Death
from Today's Paper

Like many people, I'm still reeling from Michael Jackson's death on Thursday. I found out on email and immediately jumped on to Facebook to share my shock and get some consolation from friends. Status updates became message boards, full of conversation about various reactions to Michael Jackson's death. The same thing happened on blogs and Twitter. And people quickly drafted posts to chime in with their reactions (myself included).

It was fascinating to see people learning of the news via Facebook and hearing their immediate responses. Many, like me, were sad and shocked and immediately called upon personal memories of Michael Jackson's music. Every time I hear "Rock with You," I can't avoid thinking about junior high school years, roller skating parties, and school dances. I would imagine that people of my generation in particular have strong associations with the music (discussed nicely in this piece in the Miami Herald), as it was ubiquitous in the early 1980s and grew in popularity along with the rise of music videos and MTV.

Yet, at the same time, even in the minutes following the announcement of his death, I heard commentary from detractors who were quick to discount Jackson's influence (it's just good producers and choreographers) and felt that his misdeeds overshadowed his music. This line of commentary is what's been gnawing at me since I first heard of his death. Although I'm very disturbed by the child abuse allegations against Jackson and continue to be alarmed by some of his questionable parenting choices (dangling a baby off a balcony); there's no way for me to separate Michael Jackson's music from my youth.

Jackson 5 on American Bandstand

So, yes, I am sad. And, I did immediately want to turn on the TV to watch video after video so that I could reminiscence about a period in his career when he was at his peak and when I was still a kid and teen. Thank goodness for MTV and especially BET for its hours and hours of non-stop Michael Jackson videos on Thursday and Friday (and today FUSE is doing the same). He was so defined by his videos, so it was awesome to see iconic videos like "Beat It," "Thriller," and "Black or White" on channels that don't often play videos anymore.

Particularly heart-breaking to see were the pre-video performances from the Jackson 5. My 3-year-old daughter was rivetted by his singing and dance moves and was particularly charmed when the Jackson 5's very first American Bandstand appearance hit the screen on MTV. That's the real tragedy, seeing Michael as a cute talented little kid and knowing how his life ultimately turned out.

But, even as that example shows, one of the best ways to deal with death is by cherishing positive memories of the departed. So everyone embraced the music. It was cool to see some of my local record shops getting TV coverage, as customers flocked in to pick up Michael Jackson CDs and records.

ABC Shows DJ Playing Michael Jackson

And, as I had hoped, radio responded as well. A DJ at my station did a Michael Jackson themed show Thursday night (even playing some Weird Al), KCRW quickly assembled a tribute page on their website and aired special programming, and Sirius XM radio had a number of tributes across various channels (including one hosted by former MTV VJ Nina Blackwood on the 1980s channel) and it's devoting an entire channel to a Michael Jackson tribute today through June 29th on Heart & Soul (Sirius 51 and XM 62). As Tom Taylor of Radio-Info pointed out in his newsletter, "...Michael Jackson and radio made a lot of very good times and very good business together." The Radio-Info website has a bunch of stats to back that up, including reports on the increased Michael Jackson airplay on radio following his death.

Michael Jackson's Death Came Too Late for Streetlight's San Francisco Store on 24th Street
(but their San Jose branch was all over the news)

ABC World News Tonight showed clips of radio stations around the globe playing Michael Jackson songs and I found reports about special programming in Colorado (community station KAFM), North Carolina, and Boston in addition to a number of interesting tributes on college radio stations like WRMC, WICB and WUOG (just a sampling!).

Ben Fong-Torres has a really nice front page story about Michael Jackson in the San Francisco Chronicle today, outlining both his influence on music and his complicated persona. Ben's been in an interesting position the past few days, as he's been fielding non-stop calls from the media, asking for his commentary about the King of Pop. Ben interviewed a teen-aged Jackson, so it's got to be sad and surreal for him how things played out for Michael.

It's also bittersweet to think that a tragic death of a music superstar can potentially be so lucrative for the music industry. But, hey, I'm pleased that it may cause more people to buy physical music, patronize record shops, and turn the radio back on again. It makes us all remember just how powerful music can be.

Ypulse Mashup Day 1: College Slam Reveals Role of Music on Campus

On Monday and Tuesday (June 1st and June 2nd), I immersed myself in youth culture by attending the 3rd annual Ypulse Mashup in San Francisco. I've been to every year of the national Mashup (see my prior posts about it here and here) and always enjoy the combination of folks and presentations from a range of youth-oriented fields, including entertainment giants (MTV, Disney), cool non-profits (Youth Radio, The DJ Project), technology startups, and companies headed by really young entrepreneurs.

The conference itself was extremely wired and documented in true 21st century style with a special iPhone app, live blogging and Twitter updates (#ypulse09). I decided to go old school this time around, and just kept notes using pen and paper.


I listened closely for the latest word on college students, music, and radio and came back with some kernels to share. This first post will focus on Monday's "Campus Case Study Slam" (see the live blog of this session on Ypulse).


Radio Listenership Low for College Students, But Terrestrial Beats Online

On Monday, I sat in on one of the three pre-conferences: the "Campus Case Study Slam." Dan Coates from Survey U got right in to things by throwing all kinds of stats at us about college students.

In terms of radio, he told us that college students report spending 4 hours a week listening to radio, with 2.6 of those hours spent on "traditional" radio, 1.1 hours on online radio and .45 hours on satellite radio. Young people who aren't in college listen to a bit more radio, reporting 7 hours a week of listening, 5.1 hours spent on "traditional radio, 1.3 hours on online radio and 1.0 hours on satellite radio.

I find this really interesting, especially since one of the arguments that I've heard from college radio stations abandoning their terrestrial signals is that more students would listen if the station were online. This survey suggests otherwise. At the same time, the survey also points out that college students spend 37 hours a week on the Internet (vs. 28 hours a week for those not in college). Perhaps they are listening to more radio while online than they admit?

Vinyl at KALX

State Farm and Vinyl

The next "College" presentation was from State Farm. They've been doing all kinds of on-campus guerrilla marketing tactics (sidewalk chalkings, static stickers, etc.) in order to get students thinking about the important of insurance. Most interesting to me, though, was seeing one of their ads (that appeared in campus papers) which portrays a girl at a turntable, surrounded by a big collection of vinyl records and bears the tagline, "You know where Massive Music Collection meets Miniature Bank Account? I'm there." It's awesome to see vinyl and turntables in a starring role in an ad, but I kind of wonder how many college students these days have big collections of music housed in a format other than mp3.

MySpace Records' Pop Star Hypes University of Phoenix from Tour Bus and Blog

Throughout the morning I heard about the variety of ways that companies are pitching their products to college students (via student reps, spring break promotions, online contests, etc.). Two presentations actually talked about the idea of advertising specific colleges. MySpace Records' artist (and One Tree Hill star) Kate Voegele is doing an entire campaign around her experience of both touring and attending online classes at University of Phoenix. She's driving around in a logo'd tour bus, blogging about her classes, and recording video diaries to get the school's name out to a broader base of kids. During the presentation, it was mentioned that she's got a #1 album on iTunes without having had any radio promotion whatsoever.

MTVu as Incubator for Young Filmmakers, Musicians, and Artists

One of the coolest things that I heard about at the Ypulse Mashup was the "Open Force" project going on at MTV's college-specific channel: MTVu. MTV's Ross Martin talked about how MTVu has 760 partner campuses who work to provide creative content to MTVu's incubator projects. Students in "Open Force" are invited to pitch their ideas for various for-pay projects, including a recent Citicard commercial. The highest profile endeavor was the show "Engine Room," in which a group of young digital artists competed against each other in design challenges using HP products. The winner came away with $400,000. Within the Open Force umbrella, there are currently specific websites for filmmakers (Best Film on Campus) and musicans (Best Music on Campus). Beyond all of that, MTVu's website showcases student-produced work, reports on campus news, has a top 10 video feature curated by students from different schools, and has an entire section devoted to activism.

Radio and South by Southwest

South by Southwest just drew to a close in Austin after over a week of panels, films, and music (apparently 1900 music acts!). I feel a bit remiss in not writing about this year's epic indie (and not so indie) music fest, so I'll share a few college radio-related tidbits.

As was the case last year, a number of college, community and non-commercial radio stations set up camp in Austin this week to capture performances, chat with musicians, and blog about the insane amount of music taking place. It's actually quite overwhelming just sifting through the coverage of SXSW online. There's so much out there that I kind of wonder how much of it the average person is interested in consuming online.

KVRX, the student radio station from University of Texas, presented a number of showcases during SXSW.

Radio K, the AM/FM station from University of Minnesota (recently profiled on the CMJ Staff Blog) sent a team down to Austin and broadcast live performances out of a studio there on March 18-20. You can see their coverage on their blog.

KJHK (University of Kansas) sent a few of their DJs down to SXSW to soak in the festival and blog about it. They also covered it all on one of their DJ's Twitter pages, as did many of the other stations in attendance.

WFMU once again trekked to Austin and organized a showcase along with San Francisco indie record store Aquarius on March 20th. The show was also broadcast live on WFMU. A review on Pop Matters captures the essence of the show.

KEXP, the Seattle station affiliated with Experience Music Project and University of Washington, also set up shop in Austin, broadcasting performances from a studio there March 18th to 20th. They aired video streams of the live performances and also featured interviews and KEXP DJs spinning music between bands. You can see their extensive blog coverage of SXSW on their website, where you can catch show reviews and a lot of great photography. They were also one of the many stations helping co-present NPR's "Music for the Right Brain Show."

KCRW, the public radio station from Santa Monica College broadcast their "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show live from Austin on March 19 and 20th. They also sponsored a music showcase on March 18th featuring School of Seven Bells, Port O'Brien and others. You can learn more about their SXSW schedule, see videos and view photos here.

NPR sponsored a show called "Music for the Right Brain," featuring a number of bands. On the NPR website you can actually listen to entire performances from this year's SXSW (as well as stuff from 2007 and 2008), including The Decemberists, Dirty Projectors, and the Avett Brothers. They also have blog posts, podcasts, and videos that cover the festivities. Last year it was pretty easy to figure out which NPR stations were broadcasting bits from SXSW, but in 2009 I have yet to find details about that.

KUT, Austin's public radio station from University of Texas also did a lot for SXSW this year. Lucky for them, the are IN Austin, so they were able to have musicians come by their radio station for performances and interviews. They hosted their own showcase at Momo's (and streamed it live) and it looks like they streamed a bunch of really cool live club performances from The Mohawk too (including AIDS Wolf, Akron/Family, Hold Steady, Vivian Girls, Camera Obscura, The Mae Shi, HEALTH and Monotonix). Their website actually features multiple streaming channels...kind of a cool way for them to feature different content for different listeners (including one channel for Momo's and one for Mohawk shows). You can also catch archived SXSW performances on their website too.

Texas Public Radio (which operates three stations in Texas: KPAC, KSTX, and KTXI) also did some SXSW coverage, although it looks like they mainly covered the film festival.

Sirius XM also broadcast performances from SXSW, discussions with bloggers about the festival, and musician interviews across a number of their channels. Stations that participated included XMU, The Loft, Underground Garage and Outlaw Country, according to this post on Orbitcast.

KGSR, an Austin commercial radio station, also did live broadcasts from SXSW, as well as featured in-studio interviews and performances throughout the week.

And, in terms of television, DirecTV once again presented band and journalist interviews, acoustic sets, and live club performances from SXSW over satellite TV, including a set by Echo and the Bunnymen.

That's a whole lot of radio. If I missed your station's participation in SXSW this year, let me know. By the way, if you want to compare this year's scene to last year, you can see my SXSW post from 2008.

Former XMU PD Billy Zero Lands at WTMD

After the merger of XM and Sirius satellite radio, there were various shifts in personnel and station line-ups. A station that I wrote a lot about was the college-themed XMU (which is now known as Sirius XMU and has a blend of programming from the old XMU and the former Sirius station "Left of Center"). They did a nice job of featuring indie artists AND playlists from college radio stations from all over the country. Every weekend they did the "Student Exchange" program, which presented music and mic breaks from a different college radio station.

Billy Zero was Program Director of XMU and he left the station last fall. Thanks to an article in the Towerlight this week, I now know where he's landed. The piece profiles Billy Zero (real name Billy Gallagher), as he begins his time as Program Director of public radio station WTMD (aka "Radio for Music People") at Towson University. It also delves into some of the details surrounding changes at XM radio and why it was such an inspiring place to work initially. According to the article:

"Joining the XM staff in the company's early days was liberating for Gallagher.

'It was like a playground,' he said. 'We came to XM to do what we couldn't do in terrestrial radio, which was to do specials - hour long, two hours long - and play a wide base of music, not just 300 or 400-song play lists.'

Gallagher was eventually promoted to program director of XMU, a station aimed at college students. However, by 2004, the corporate culture he left at WHFS came back to haunt him.

'They started bringing in radio guys that were trimming play lists and telling you what to play and by 2006 it had taken a drastic turn and we knew things were changing,' he said."

He goes on to discuss the format of WTMD and his goals for the station, including a desire to expand the playlist, saying:

"The move to WTMD's adult-alternative format was a refreshing return to the freedom he had in the early days of XM.

'It's like taking eight, nine, ten satellite stations, genres and merging them into one amazing format,' he said. 'We're playing a little bit of everything.'

He said he also enjoys working with other people who know a lot about the music.

'When I worked at XM, I thought the people there that I worked with were some of the most knowledgeable people in music I'd ever met and now that I'm here, I'm realizing that the people here are just the same,' he said...

For now, Gallagher plans to change WTMD by exploring the 'little nuances of widening our playlist.' He stresses what commercial radio stations do wrong with how they present music."

I'm all for broadening the playlist, so I hope that Billy is able to accomplish that noble goal.

CMJ Music Marathon Day Two Recap - Unformatting Radio Formats

View of New York City from CMJ Music Marathon Exhibitor Hall

OK, so I'm finally somewhat rested after my whirlwind of a trip to New York City for the CMJ Music Marathon last week. This week I'll continue to post summaries of my reactions to the panels and music that I saw, as well as recaps of my three radio station visits. Keep in mind that often there were 5 panels taking place simultaneously (as well as off-site music showcases), so I was only able to catch a small portion of what was happening on any given day. At night there were parties, film festival screenings, and bands playing at as many as 50 different venues. So, my experience at CMJ barely scratched the surface of everything that was going on. I did, however, try my best to see every panel specifically about radio.

Day Two: Wednesday, October 22, 2008

On the second day of CMJ, Wednesday, October 22nd, I skipped the morning panels in order to continue my series of radio station field trips. Trekking over to Jersey City, I had an inspirational morning visiting freeform community radio station WFMU. Stay tuned for a massive post about that visit later.

Front Door to WFMU's Building in New Jersey

While I was over in Jersey City, I missed panels dealing with music licensing, RIAA lawsuits, webcasting, social networking, video game music, indie artist success stories, hi-fidelity, and the intersections between politics, the law and music.

Spring Awakening Panel

I arrived back at NYU in time for a panel discussion featuring the author, producer, and composer of the award-winning Broadway musical “Spring Awakening.” A few cast members were also on hand to perform songs from the “indie-rock musical.” Composer Duncan Sheik (who totally endeared me to him when he revealed that he was heavily influenced by 4AD import records from Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance during his youth) talked about the music and how he approached the process of creating the soundtrack recording, saying that “…the record was made…like…. a rock record” because he wanted to break a bit from the standard “original cast recording” style. Ultimately, he said that the final product was more of a “hybrid of a rock record and a cast album.” He said that the album got radio play, probably even on college radio.

KEXP and Free Yr Radio Table at Exhibitor Hall at CMJ

Unformatting the Radio Formats Panel

The final session of the day for me was “Unformatting the Radio Formats,” which was billed as a discussion of “current trends and formats in commercial and non-comm radio.” The panel had a packed audience, overflowing with mostly college radio DJs, presumably eager for a riveting interrogation of how radio is programmed.

Unfortunately, there was only one radio station representative on the panel—Andrew Corey, the Programming Manager of KEXP. Gregg Steele, the VP of Rock for Sirius Satellite Radio, was supposed to be there, but probably canceled in light of the XM-Sirius merger restructuring (lay offs just happened). It’s too bad, as it would have helped to have had a panel full of radio folks from a variety of stations. Instead, we had one radio guy and 4 promoters/marketers (some of whom had done stints in college radio). Regardless, it became an interesting discussion (and at times an infomercial) about what KEXP is doing since Andrew was the only person from radio on the panel.

"Unformatting the Radio Formats" Panel
October 22, 2008

KEXP is a station in Seattle, Washington that was formerly college station KCMU. In 2001 KCMU became KEXP after forging a partnership with the Experience Music Project and receiving an infusion of funds, a new studio, and a wattage increase. Today, Programing Manager Andrew Corey is the first to admit that they can't really call themselves a college radio station anymore, since they have more resources and are "fully staffed" with nearly 30 people working there full-time. At the same time, KEXP is much like a typical college radio station in its passion for music and its devotion to playing underexposed artists.

Andrew was optimistic about the state of radio today and said that even in light of all the changes in the radio landscape due to increased competition from Internet radio, iPods, and satellite radio, he feels that his station KEXP is still doing well. The station has even more "content" than in the past, using methods such as podcasting. He argued, "I don't feel like we've lost ground" and stated that with changes in technology the station has "more opportunities" and is "helping people discover music."

When asked about satellite radio and whether or not it was competition for terrestrial radio, the panelists made some interesting points about the community aspect of radio. Andrew from KEXP said, "Our model is based on community...Our community is growing and growing." He pointed out that he didn't think that people listening to satellite radio got that same sense of community. Gary Jay of Landshark Promotion Studio added, "Radio stations aspire...to be more than a box in your car...want to be a lifestyle...Satellite radio is in an interesting spot...non-stop barrage of songs...as much as it's great...it's not a lifestyle yet."

This theme kept coming up, over and over, that many great radio stations have a very defined brand or personality to them and that listeners are fans and loyalists because they want to be associated with that station's identity. There was a lot of joking around on the panel about how much they were all touting KEXP (since they were the only station on the panel). Gary even quipped, "We're really kissing KEXP's ass here." Probably because of that, Andrew mentioned a few other stations when talking about the potential of non-commercial radio.

The panelists contrasted the commercial radio model (playing the same songs over and over in order to present familiar music to listeners) with the beauty of college radio. Andrew said, "KCRW, WFMU...when the DJ retains the power to curate the experience...that's their job. Even our Senior Direct of Programming has been around forever...that's not the [commercial] model."

Audience Members Mill about the Panelists

Panelist Steve Kline, of 10th Street Entertainment, reminded the college radio DJs in the room to "Keep your passion. There is an audience out there." Hannah Carlen from Spectre Entertainment, who works primarily with non-commercial radio stations, agreed, saying, "College radio seems to be alive and well." She also made a very interesting point about radio formatting, saying that some stations are "running from it" while others are "running toward it" (for example, college stations that program like an "adult contemporary" station) in order to get support from record labels.

Later in the panel, Andrew Corey talked a bit about how the Music Director of KEXP selects music for the station. He said that they do have a "rotation" system of about 100 records, but that their MD tries to exist apart from the industry. According to Andrew, "Our Music Director...Don Yates...he gets crates and crates of CDs...he's completely insulated from the music world...he puts up this wall and he's locked it down. The door is shut and you don't see that man for hours."

In terms of the future of radio, Gary turned to the audience, saying, "You're the future of radio right here in this room." J.J. Jensen of Foundation Media added, "...freeform...college radio...can re-invent itself...push the online angle." Panelist Hannah Carlen also challenged college radio stations, saying that radio needs "...to be braver...take more chances" and argued that the most successful stations (like KEXP) are "dissolving formats." She pointed out that dissolving formats and breaking genre lines makes so much sense because the today's iPod listener is accustomed to hearing playlists full of multiple styles of music.

Staff Cuts at XMU

It was only a matter of time, I suppose...but the fallout from the merger between satellite radio networks XM and Sirius is just starting to become clear in various news reports this week, including an article in The Washington Business Journal. The article states that layoffs have occured and that among those affected are two staff members from college radio-friendly station XMU.

A message on the XMUnation website indicates that the top folks at XMU (Program Director Billy Zero and Dean of Music Tobi) are moving on to other endeavors. The post states: "billy zero and tobi have enjoyed the years of love, music, fun and passion we have exchanged with our friends in music. It's been more than a pleasure" and goes on to provide their respective personal URLs.

I'm sad to hear about this and wonder what will happen to XMU and all of its shows. Close to my heart, of course, is its innovative "Student Exchange Program." Keep your fingers crossed for them.

WXVU Playlist from Oct 5 XMU "Student Exchange"

Villanova University station WXVU-FM made their first appearance on XMU's college radio-friendly "Student Exchange Program" yesterday. WXVU was around for years as an on-campus carrier current radio station, but in 1991 they were granted permission by the FCC to broadcast over 89.1 FM. They share their FM frequency with another college radio station (Cabrini College's WYBF) on the Philadelphia Main Line, so they only broadcast to FM listeners a few days a week. Both stations, however, can be hear 24/7 via their Internet feeds.

The next two weeks of "Student Exchange" (Sundays at 1pm Pacific/4pm Eastern) will feature repeats of previous broadcasts by Emerson College station WERS (on Oct. 12) and Chico State station KCSC (on Oct. 19).


WXVU (Villanova University)
Student Exchange Program Playlist
10/05/08

Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire - Only By The Night
Ra Ra Riot - Oh, La - The Rhumb Line
Wolf Parade - Call It A Ritual - At Mount Zoomer
Miniature Tigers - Cannibal Queen - Tell It To The Volcano
Paper Rival - Keep Us In - Dialog

Jukebox the Ghost - Good Day - Let Live And Let Ghost
Noah and the Whale - 5 Years Time - Peaceful The World Lays Me Down
Faded Paper Figures - Logos - Dynamo
Black Kids - Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo) - Partie Traumatic
TV on the Radio - Golden Age - Dear Science

Death Cab for Cutie - Long Division - Narrow Stairs
Lykke Li - Dance, Dance, Dance - Youth Novels
Paper Route - We Are All Forgotten - We Are All Forgotten
The Faint - Machine In The Ghost - Fasciinatiion
Architecture in Helsinki - Like It Or Not - Like It Or Not

CSS - Move - Donkey
Oxford Collapse - Featherbeds - Bits
The Fashion - Dead Boys - The Fashion
Maps & Atlases - Witch - You And Me And The Mountain
Devin Lima - Rocky Road - Mozart Popart

Harlem Shakes - Old Flames - Burning Birthdays
The Walkmen - Four Provinces - Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why - You & Me
Band Marino - Chasing Rainbows - The Sea And The Beast
Delta Spirit - People C'mon - Ode To Sunshine

Behind the Scenes of XMU's "Student Exchange Program"

I've written a lot about the satellite radio show "The Student Exchange Program," which airs every Sunday afternoon on the indie music/college radio themed channel XMU. I think it's awesome that every week they feature college radio stations from all over the country, by airing a 2-hour program put together especially for XMU. These segments aren't just list of songs, but include DJ commentary (and banter), so you actually get a flavor for each station, even if at times the music is similar from week to week.

To get a bit more insight about the inner-workings of the program, earlier this week I chatted by email with Josiah Lambert, who manages the "Student Exchange" project for XMU. He talked to me about how he recruits stations for the show, reveals some of his favorite stations, and hints at some of the guidelines that college radio stations need to follow when crafting their XMU shows.

As he mentions, there's still time to make a pitch to XMU for your own station. I've been thrilled to see some new participants recently, including Villanova Station WXVU this coming Sunday, October 5th. So, I'd encourage you to continue that pattern by applying if you've never been on the show before in order to help provide some different voices and sounds on the show.

On to the interview...


Spinning Indie: What's your role at XMU and on the Student Exchange Program?

Josiah: I am the on-air host for NiGHTtiming, our late-night indie show on XMU ch. 43 airing at 9pm West / Midnight EST every weeknight. I also work on many of our specialty shows including "The Radar Report" (for unsigned and small-time independent music), "XMU A.I.R. Time: Artists In Residency" (a weekly indie artist takeover show which has featured The New Pornographers, The Black Keys, Albert Hammond Jr, and many others -- this month it's The Kooks), and "1234 More, More, More!" (our weekly takeover show by John Davis of Georgie James, Q and not U, and Title Tracks).

My pet project, however, is the XMU Student Exchange Program, which allows college radio stations to take over the satellite radio airwaves. I recruit college radio stations for the show, coach them through the process, and assemble their selected songs and voice breaks for airing every Sunday afternoon at 1pm West/4pm East.

Spinning Indie: Were you a college radio DJ?

Josiah: Surprisingly, I was not! I began as an intern for XM Satellite Radio (now SIRIUS XM Radio) two years ago. After working on back-end stuff for XMU ch. 43 for a time, I was invited on-board as the evening host by Billy Zero and Tobi (XMU's Program Director and Dean of Music, respectively). Internships are available for all departments in XM's Washington, DC-based headquarters. Details are online at internships.xmradio.com. A fantastic experience for college radio talent.

Spinning Indie: How do you select the college radio stations that you feature on the "Student Exchange Program"?

Josiah: Our first preference is to use colleges who take the initiative to contact us directly with a pitch for their station (email us at studentexchange@xmradio.com). Schools which take this initiative tend to deliver a better show than those we contact on our own effort. When we resort to personal recruiting, we typically bring on schools which have received CMJ coverage or have caught the eye of one of our XMU staff members.

Spinning Indie: Do you have rules or guidelines that you require stations to follow when coming up with their playlists?

Josiah: We send out a detailed "Syllabus" with instructions. A few guidelines regarding playlists spring to mind:

* keep most of it within the general indie rock/electronic cannon (The Shins, Spoon, Justice, The Knife, etc. etc.)
* make your playlist reflect a "snapshot" of your station's tastes
* flavor the playlist occasionally with local bands or artists you have an interesting back story with

Spinning Indie: Which stations have been your favorite contributors to the show?

Josiah: If I were forced to pick two, I would go with WERS from Emerson College in Boston, MA (one of the nation's most prominent college stations -- always top-notch music and DJ banter); and RadioUTD from University of Texas at Dallas (a smaller-but-growing Internet-only station -- to use a car commercial cliche, "the best in its class").

Spinning Indie: Have you gotten turned on to new music through the program? Which bands?

Josiah: Some of the left-field remixes I discover on the XMU Student Exchange Program often make their way into my own evening show... some examples include Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' "My Man Is A Mean Man (DJ Spinna Remix)", Astrud Gilberto's "Bim Bom (Psapp Remix)", and Kings of Leon's "My Party (Kenna And Chad Hugo Remix)".

Spinning Indie: Have you ever had to remove a song from a station's playlist? Why?

Josiah: Unless the audio is corrupted/missing or the song contains highly explicit content (as outlined in the syllabus), we have never removed a song from a station's playlist.

Spinning Indie: If stations want to participate, what's your best advice for how to get on the show?

Josiah: Get a feel for XMU's on-air style with a free online trial. Then email us directly at studentexchange@xmradio.com and let us know why you think your station could churn out a great show for us. College stations who demonstrate a willingness to take initiative over an on-campus promotional campaign are almost always brought on-board (or invited back for return shows).

Spinning Indie: Can you share with me the fall schedule for the program?

Josiah: It's still coming together as we speak! There's still room in the schedule for first-time college stations, so schools should email us right away they want in. It's a tremendous opportunity to garner big attention from your on-campus community, your school administration, CMJ, your local press, and your online network.