Francesca Bessett
Audio By Carbonatix
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Breaking through has never been easy for Phoenix bands and musicians. Finding an audience can be even harder.
Alt AZ 93.3 on-air personality Monique “Mo” Rodriguez has been helping with both for the past decade.
Since 2016, her weekly locals-only radio show, “Homegrown With Mo!,” has introduced Valley listeners to hundreds of Arizona artists.
Every Sunday at 9 p.m., Rodriguez fills Alt AZ’s airwaves with an hour of local music. Each playlist is different, mixing rising Arizona artists, longtime local favorites and the occasional genre curveball.
Case in point: Recent shows have featured local upstarts like East Valley emo band Phantom Spring and pop-punkers Perfect Sense.
More established Arizona talents like indie pop artist UPSAHL and singer-songwriter Sydney Sprauge are also in the mix, plus artists that don’t strictly fall into the alt-rock category.
“Sometimes I’ll make exceptions for bands that don’t necessarily fit the alt-rock genre. It feels like I’m being a little sneaky,” Rodriguez says. “The good thing about alternative is there are so many different fabrics that are apart of its quilt. And genre is even a hard thing to define right now, anyway.”
A similar genre-hopping mix artists will perform at Alt AZ 93.3’s Homegrown showcase at FOUND:RE Phoenix Hotel on Friday night. The lineup includes alternative hip-hop artist The Kaleidoscope Kid, “intergalactic neo-soul” act Hyperbella and post-hardcore act Life on Standby.
That stylistic free-for-all has been baked into “Homegrown With Mo!” since the show debuted a decade ago.
‘Something I’ve always wanted to do’
Rodriguez, a Valley native, grew up listening to legendary Phoenix alt-rock station KEDJ, also known as The Edge, in the ‘‘’90s and early 2000s with dreams of someday getting behind the mic. One of her favorite programs was the station’s locals-only show every weekend.
“When I was younger, I’d The Edge constantly,” she says, “It felt like they were really championing a lot of the local bands I’d heard about back then that are all big now.”
That included plenty of legendary Arizona acts like Authority Zero, Jimmy Eat World, The Format and Phunk Junkeez.
When Rodriguez began working for Alt AZ in 2015, a locally focused show was one of her pet projects. It became a reality in late August 2016.
“It’s something I’d always wanted to do,” she says. “It felt like there was a hole that needed to be filled when it came to showcasing local music. And they finally gave me the opportunity.”
Alt AZ 93.3 Homegrown Showcase. Friday, Aug. 7, 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Found:RE Phoenix, 1100 N. Central Ave. Admission is free.
