Go Mime Yourself
Wednesday we appeared on the local rock FM station WEBN to pimp our appearance at the MidPoint Music Festival. It was quite early in the morning (prime drive time for all the normals) and an awkward time to be performing... I think the last time we did something like this was for the local Fox affiliate two years ago.
WEBN, 102.7, was a fixture in my life as a teenager. Back then (this is pre-internet/ipods/podcasts/napster - hell, CDs were still a novelty) the WEBN morning show got me into school every day. We'd laugh at their juvenile jokes, sing along to hard rock bands... the radio station you listened to was part of your identity. Since there were only a few in town (WNKU played folks, 94.9 was classic rock, Q102 was Top 10, WOXY didn't reach my car) you were immediately indoctrinated into a large group if you could talk about the "joke of the day" before the homeroom teacher started class. Back then you could hear The Bears or Pure Prairie League... WEBN Album Projects featured tons of great poorly recorded local bands. Those were the days... and you damn whipper snappers better stay off my lawn!
So much has changed since then... DJs were shocked, station owners sold to Clear Channel, and playlists are generated by focus groups several states away. Local music dried up from the radio, with a couple of exceptions. WNKU still flys the local freak flag. WOXY hops on and off the airwaves (now it's settled on HD radio, thankfully) but picks and chooses carefully it's Cincinnati connections. No air time left on the big stations for any local flavor, unless it's a local car ad.
Sometimes though, God drops a crumb from the table. Or something.
I'm getting myself depressed. Let's get back on track.
We scattered in to the studio in the wee hours. WEBN has a rarely used but very well equipped band studio - incredible monitoring system, good drums, nicer amps than what I brought in. After a running a couple of songs down we were ready. A brief chat, TV, chat some more, squeeze the website in, Twister, thanks, done!
Everyone at the station was very complimentary and seemed to really enjoy our short set. Shroom & Dave made us feel like rock stars. Eddie Fingers and Bob the Producer, two names that kept me company as I fell in love with music, both seemed to dig it a lot. Eddie said we "f**king rocked".
I wish I could get a message back to that teenager in the late 80's sitting in homeroom, miserable that his band will never be heard on WEBN. Every once in a while you get to slip in the door.
Listen to the whole show HERE
WEBN, 102.7, was a fixture in my life as a teenager. Back then (this is pre-internet/ipods/podcasts/napster - hell, CDs were still a novelty) the WEBN morning show got me into school every day. We'd laugh at their juvenile jokes, sing along to hard rock bands... the radio station you listened to was part of your identity. Since there were only a few in town (WNKU played folks, 94.9 was classic rock, Q102 was Top 10, WOXY didn't reach my car) you were immediately indoctrinated into a large group if you could talk about the "joke of the day" before the homeroom teacher started class. Back then you could hear The Bears or Pure Prairie League... WEBN Album Projects featured tons of great poorly recorded local bands. Those were the days... and you damn whipper snappers better stay off my lawn!
So much has changed since then... DJs were shocked, station owners sold to Clear Channel, and playlists are generated by focus groups several states away. Local music dried up from the radio, with a couple of exceptions. WNKU still flys the local freak flag. WOXY hops on and off the airwaves (now it's settled on HD radio, thankfully) but picks and chooses carefully it's Cincinnati connections. No air time left on the big stations for any local flavor, unless it's a local car ad.
Sometimes though, God drops a crumb from the table. Or something.
I'm getting myself depressed. Let's get back on track.
We scattered in to the studio in the wee hours. WEBN has a rarely used but very well equipped band studio - incredible monitoring system, good drums, nicer amps than what I brought in. After a running a couple of songs down we were ready. A brief chat, TV, chat some more, squeeze the website in, Twister, thanks, done!
Everyone at the station was very complimentary and seemed to really enjoy our short set. Shroom & Dave made us feel like rock stars. Eddie Fingers and Bob the Producer, two names that kept me company as I fell in love with music, both seemed to dig it a lot. Eddie said we "f**king rocked".
I wish I could get a message back to that teenager in the late 80's sitting in homeroom, miserable that his band will never be heard on WEBN. Every once in a while you get to slip in the door.
Listen to the whole show HERE
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