KWSS 106.7's morning show, The Morning Infidelity is making a big push for local music fans. The show, which airs weekday mornings is running a countdown featuring Arizona-only acts every day at 9.a.m. Pretty cool, right?
Here's the details:
Bands submit radio edited mp3s to [email protected]. Then, they summon their friends, family and fans to vote by posting their bands name and song on the KWSS facebook page or by calling into 480-551-1067 when TMI is on air. (If you tune in on Thursday mornings around 8:30 a.m. you might here me spinning some new indie rock -- I do a call-in thing on TMI once a week.)
What do bands win? Glad you asked. When a band is voted #1 for a week straight it is considered a "KWSS Homegrown Hit" and goes into heavy rotation with a customized intro attached to it letting listened who flip onto the station know they're hearing a local band.
Locals Shallowpoint just became the first band to earn that distinction so listen for them on the station -- try tuning in on your commute and you may be pleasantly surprised to actually get it on your radio now that they have a big new tower thingy.
The TMI staff stresses that it "supports all local artists no matter genre or style" but that they'll pass on something if the sound quality sucks, so don't send them static-y crap to play.
My question for TMI's head DJ Beef Vegan: Why dedicate so much time to locals?
"Now that we cover a lager portion of the valley I thought it was time," he says. "My goal is to help build the local music scene through branding. When one bands fans listen to or see the countdown results they have four other band names right there with them. Hopefully, they will like and become a fan of that band. But even if they don't, eventually you will know that bands name and style. Overall, it's name recognition that's the driving force in attendance to live events. People check out the name's they recognize and let their taste decide from there whether they are a fan or not."
It's a slick plan -- now we'll see if people actually want to support local music broadcast on an FM station or if that's mostly just talk from holier-than-thou blowhards who want their friends' bands to get some love but don't really care beyond that. They're pretty much willing to play whatever people send them, so there shouldn't be any excuses from the folks over at the local message boards and blogs.
