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The Dance Music Community wants YOU COLLEGE RADIO!

T

TonySantiago

I am going to share a story that happened here at the DJ Expo in Atlantic City today.

Poster Nick Divakar, that works at a college station in New Jersey had asked a question (more of a comment) regarding that there isn't enough of dance music (as in our brand of it) on college radio and he would do more to push for it. Long story short, dance artist Lucas Prata, amongst others were GIVING discs to him! :) By the time Nick was through, he had received about 25 CD's!

The reason why I note this is simple.....dance music WANTS to be heard on college radio. Not just electronica but hit artists such as Lucas Prata, Cascada, Kim Sozzi, just to name a few. We WANT to reach out to you guys in hopes that perhaps your local college outlet could consider a dance format along the way!

No spam here...I'm not making money on this. I want to help dance music grow in this country. Contact me via e-mail and I will put you in touch with the right people for this.

Thank you,
 
Well, I can't speak for ALL college radio...but based on my direct experiences at WHWS, and also with a dozen or so college radio outlets in greater Boston...and my indirect experiences with college radio outlets nationwide via conferences like IBS and CBI...I don't think college radio particularly wants dance music.

College radio, rather by definition, defies any conventional wisdom. Every station is different, and just because a station is at a college doesn't mean it sound like the "prototypical college radio station". Nor does a "prototypical college radio station" have to be at a college, either.

But speaking rather broadly, most college radio outlets - that sound like college radio outlets - are more interested in really obscure alternative rock-ish bands, along with a lot of trance/electronica/industrial. Maybe some emo, too...but that trend seems to be fading as of late.

That said, I've never seen lack of airtime stop a label from sending a station tons of CD's. If dance music labels want airplay on college radio, they can certainly send the CD's off to the music directors. Do try to make sure you're sending it to a name that's still at the station, though; it's a big pet peeve of our MD's that they get mail addressed to students who graduated three or four years ago.
 
At this years IBS conference, the dance music panel which I put together had one of the largest turnouts at the conference.

At my station I have tried to remove that "college radio" tag because there are some negative issues that go along with it. Some of the majors labels and radio services dont want to get involved because in some cases its a free for all and stations do not send playlists. The other thing I have noticed is that a least from the conferences I have attended the advisors or station managers have been there for years and do not want to experiment like they used to. Years ago it was cool to play the cutting edge rock record but they are still play that record today.

We play a format that caters to what our students want to hear.
 
At this years IBS conference, the dance music panel which I put together had one of the largest turnouts at the conference.
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Yeah, I guess you never know. Well, that's why I said that every "college radio" station is different.


We play a format that caters to what our students want to hear.
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This is a real perennial battle at several stations I know. I haven't seen too many stations successfully implement a format the "students wanted to hear" because usually it ends up roughly copying a format an existing commercial radio station is already doing. Granted, often the commercial station plays a ton of obnoxious commercials, but it also typically has much better contests, concert promotions, and remote broadcasts...and I've seen that make a big difference. Well, that and usually the college radio station has a pipsqueak signal compared to the commercial one, and that often dooms it.

Now, if you DON'T have a commercial outlet (or non-comm outlet) on a bigger signal with better funding and more promotions...then in many cases you can get by just fine on catering to a specific music taste alone. But it's still a dicey proposition. Depends a lot on how many community "legacy" listeners you have who love the "college radio" feel and will desert you if you "sell out" to the students. At fundraiser time, that can really hurt your bottom line.

This doesn't mean it CAN'T be done, just that it's nowhere near as easy as I've seen many students make it out to be. It's a lot more work than just "play the music the students like and everything will be fine".

And yes, the entrenched culture is often an obstacle to change. Sometimes that's bad, sometimes it's good. Colleges tend to change very slowly and reject any rapid change, a moderating influence from an established overseer can help prevent a station from shooting itself in the foot. OTOH, it can also prevent a station from making badly needed changes at any pace.
 
aaronread said:
Well, I can't speak for ALL college radio...but based on my direct experiences at WHWS, and also with a dozen or so college radio outlets in greater Boston...and my indirect experiences with college radio outlets nationwide via conferences like IBS and CBI...I don't think college radio particularly wants dance music.

College radio, rather by definition, defies any conventional wisdom. Every station is different, and just because a station is at a college doesn't mean it sound like the "prototypical college radio station". Nor does a "prototypical college radio station" have to be at a college, either.

But speaking rather broadly, most college radio outlets - that sound like college radio outlets - are more interested in really obscure alternative rock-ish bands, along with a lot of trance/electronica/industrial. Maybe some emo, too...but that trend seems to be fading as of late.

That said, I've never seen lack of airtime stop a label from sending a station tons of CD's. If dance music labels want airplay on college radio, they can certainly send the CD's off to the music directors. Do try to make sure you're sending it to a name that's still at the station, though; it's a big pet peeve of our MD's that they get mail addressed to students who graduated three or four years ago.
Click to expand...

For the latter sentence, you do have to realize that record labels are extremely busy in terms of sending material. In that sense, if a student on your station had graduated, perhaps it may be best that you help out the labels by updating your information to them. It doesn't have to be a pet peeve. To that people can't read minds.

Regarding what a student may like, and using what Dancerev said here, if your station is over the air and not solely "campus" isn't it really about the community at large and perhaps filling a void? I mean sure, play alternative rock or whatever else is on the pure edge. Dance music by our brand counts in this country like that because you only HAVE 7 stations (3 of them non-comms) doing this with a core following. It doesn't mean just having to play some wild electronica track that may sound "cool" but really stinks and is just being played for the sake of just being "college radio" and HAVING to do that. In that sense, you can open things further by adding some dance tracks that people WANT to hear, gets very little to NO terrestrial airplay above 92 and it still makes your station sound good.

I mean, don't take my word on this...talk to Dancerev on it. But here is a case where the dance music community WANTS to reach out. And this is the time for you all to come over and work along side with us :)

I have been at the IBS conference for 2 years. The electronica conference my first year only yielded 9 students and admittedly I felt uncomfortable there because I knew NOTHING about electronica, not like a core fan anyway. That's why I came up with the suggestion of a new forum entitled "Dance music, when is commercial non-commercial?" Brett (Dancerev) knew many important people and made things happen in that regard. Standing room only...MANY students were interested.
 
For the latter sentence, you do have to realize that record labels are extremely busy in terms of sending material. In that sense, if a student on your station had graduated, perhaps it may be best that you help out the labels by updating your information to them. It doesn't have to be a pet peeve. To that people can't read minds.
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True, but we have labels that keep sending us music addressed to long-graduated students...even though the current student MD talks with them on a regular basis. And I mean like "every week or two at most" for "regular". And always reminds them that so-and-so has graduated.


Regarding what a student may like, and using what Dancerev said here, if your station is over the air and not solely "campus" isn't it really about the community at large and perhaps filling a void?
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This does get at a major part of the "problem" (for lack of a better word) with college radio: by and large listeners do not like musical diversity. They want to know that when they tune to a country music station, they're gonna get country music. When they tune to a Top 40 station, they'll get Top 40. Etc etc etc. The prototypical block-format (or even free-format) college radio outlet is total anathema to that...hence (in part) why most college radio outlets have such low listenership. Often you'll find a niche audience that really likes one particular genre the station airs...or more likely they really like one particular DJ whose musical tastes lines up with their own. But that's it.

Formatting the station to be more Top 40, rock or urban (the top 3 favorites of most students) will undoubtedly annoy those niche listeners. But it's often very questionable whether it'll attract other listeners...be they students or not students. After all, students are not going to listen to the student radio station because it's the student radio station. They listen because they like the music, or the like the promotions/giveaways. In that sense they are no different than non-students. The only difference might be that students who listen because their friend is on the air at the moment...but that's such a self-limiting audience it's not germane to this discussion.

As for our stations specifically, WHWS, we are definitely putting a heavy emphasis on the station being for the student body moreso than for the community. That's intentional because we already have a community-focused outlet on campus with WEOS - the NPR affiliate. Many of our students do work at both stations, actually. But the reason we're focusing on the student body is partly political (we want WHWS to be recognized internally as something the college WANTS to be aware of) and also partly just because the student body is the most receptive audience...WHWS is pretty much brand-new, we only launched it as a really cohesive station less than a year ago.

It does get 5-10 miles off campus, too, and that's a major reason why we run Radio Bilingue from roughly 2am to 10am every morning; there are no other Spanish-language stations in the area and it's an underserved audience in these parts.


But here is a case where the dance music community WANTS to reach out. And this is the time for you all to come over and work along side with us
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Ouch. Never tell college radio stations what they "must do"... ;)


That's why I came up with the suggestion of a new forum entitled "Dance music, when is commercial non-commercial?" Brett (Dancerev) knew many important people and made things happen in that regard. Standing room only...MANY students were interested.
Click to expand...

This could be tapping into the relatively recent phenomena of non-commercial radio realizing they can do traditionally-commercial-radio formats and do them much better than many commercial radio stations do. WXPN in Philadelphia is a major pioneer with their "XPoNential" triple-A format. That's why I said that a college radio station CAN format themselves to sound "professional/commercial" and just not play commercials. They can even have underwriting. And if they've done the research to make sure they're not trying to serve an already over-served audience...and assuming they put the work in to make the station sound good...they can be quite competitive. WBRU's another example, although they are technically commercial and do run "real ads", they're mostly run by students.
 
I would never consider WXPN a college station. They maybe owned by a university but thats as far as that goes
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Oh, heck no. I know a lot of folks there and THEY don't consider themselves a college radio station, either.

My point was more that the conventional wisdom for music on public radio was, for many years, that it was limited to obscure formats or an eclectic/block-format lineup. Only commercial radio could play commercial radio formats, and that meant you had to live with all the "problems" of commercial radio if you wanted to hear those formats on the air.

Stations like WXPN and KCRW have been demonstrating that having a traditionally "commercial radio" format, but run using core public radio values, can be a real winner in the ratings/audience department. Here in Rochester we have WBER, run by a local high school with one professional guy...it kicks a lot of ass in the ratings every quarter with their alt-rock/triple-A-ish format. We also have "newcomer" WRUR, which has recently adopted a mixed news-talk and Triple-A format and it's ratings have been on a huge upswing. It's taken a long time for the general public to realize that there's "real" radio stations down there below 92.1MHz...but it is most definitely happening now.

So a college-owned radio station, that's operated like your prototypical college radio station, can elect to go with a dance music format and it's quite possible that it'll get a lot of listeners.
 
aaronread said:
Ouch. Never tell college radio stations what they "must do"... ;)
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I'm not telling anyone what they MUST do. We're just inviting you all over to check out our side. :)

I did college radio a long time ago....back in 1984, and I had wanted to do a "rap" show on campus. To put it in perspective, back then rap was still an "inner city" thing. For New York, Kiss-FM and 'BLS were playing it. However, it really didn't hit to "suburbia" yet and a lot of the students on campus were from areas like Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, etc. When I spun the music, I was told I was "ghettoizing" the college. Back to perspective again...this was Grandmaster Flash, Sugarhill Gang, Run-DMC, Fat Boys....nothing RADICAL here, definitely nothing compared to hip-hop post 90's. Yet I was trying to convince them that this was the future music and is alternative. It didn't fly to their mindset and that anger, amongst other things has generated what I am doing now.

A lot of college students I have talked to in my passings "get it". In that sense there may be more specialty shows regarding dance in the upcoming semesters of certain colleges and I will fully support them! :) And by no means am I suggesting you dump electronica because yes, that is alternative. If dance music had a bigger following here as it is in the UK, I could certainly understand why college radio would ignore it. But in that sense, club music IS "alternative". Very few commercial stations are touching it and there is a following.

Realize, I had to fight tooth and nail to my college on this back then. I still do so for the sake of the dance music community that I look out for.

You don't have to take any of the music Aaron. That's your perogative and I'm not forcing you. But there are MANY college students that want to look further into this and to those students, our arms are extended and welcome. We're here for them, that's all we're saying. And if down the road Aaron, you want in...we welcome you too :)
 
Tony Santiago said:
I am going to share a story that happened here at the DJ Expo in Atlantic City today.

Poster Nick Divakar, that works at a college station in New Jersey had asked a question (more of a comment) regarding that there isn't enough of dance music (as in our brand of it) on college radio and he would do more to push for it. Long story short, dance artist Lucas Prata, amongst others were GIVING discs to him! :) By the time Nick was through, he had received about 25 CD's!

The reason why I note this is simple.....dance music WANTS to be heard on college radio. Not just electronica but hit artists such as Lucas Prata, Cascada, Kim Sozzi, just to name a few. We WANT to reach out to you guys in hopes that perhaps your local college outlet could consider a dance format along the way!

No spam here...I'm not making money on this. I want to help dance music grow in this country. Contact me via e-mail and I will put you in touch with the right people for this.

Thank you,
Click to expand...


i saw the stack in nick's hand. i was absolutely amazed!! i co-hosted the last 2 friday night shows with him on 90.3 The Core and with every cd he played from that generous pile he received, the phones lit up like crazy. it was absolutely nuts and a very big payoff for his extreme enthusiasm and hard work.
 
To add, for those of you going to the IBS Radio Convention, on Friday, March 5th in the Paris Suite of the Hotel Pennsylvania, we will have that panel discussion again on "Dance Music, When Is Commercial NOT Commercial". Brett Holcomb (Dancerev889) will be moderating the discussion. I will be there along with some "heavy hitters" in the dance music industry (Cary Vance, Mike Rizzo, George Hess, just to name a few) to discuss matters involving dance music and how college radio could benefit from our end in terms of getting the music, specialty shows, reporting, etc.

If you plan on going to the convention, drop on by ;D
 
I have a show that is Electro, Dance, Hiphop, & Old School, leaning heavily on Electro/Dance. Have labels & artists send TWO (2) copies of CD's (RADIO EDITS/CLEAN VERSIONS) to:

WPRK-FM 91.5
c/o DJ Mo Radio
1000 Holt Avenue
#2745
Winter Park, FL 32789

I will make sure they get added once it arrives in my mailbox.

I have a feeling that the Music Director (a college student) keeps the borderline commercial CD's to themselves.
So have artists/labels e-mail me directly when they send music so I can expect them in my box at the station:
[email protected]

Let's get Dance/Electro more on College radio!
 
DJ Mo, did you ever do a show on Friday overnights on WPRK? I remember hearing a dance show in 2008 on 91.5 in the middle of the night.

And I might as well add my station's contact info

90.3 The Core RLC-WVPH
84 Joyce Kilmer Avenue
Piscataway, NJ 08854
 
I subbed a lot on Friday nights anytime from 5pm-5am before I got my new time slot at 5-7pm in February 2009.
 
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