So I Have a New Gig: Indie88/Toronto

Here's a radio dude's dream:  An opportunity to help start up a brand new station in the second-biggest market in North America.  A clean slate.  Tabula rasa.  No baggage.  The owner is a private individual who loves radio and not a corporation that has to worry about month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter revenues and margins.

The station will be located in an uber-cool part of the city.  Plans are to have a massive presence in the clubs and the community.  The station's investment in online will be huge.  I still keep get to doing my Secret History of Rock show, too!

And the cherry on top?  The format of the new station is indie rock, arguably the biggest new thing in the rock world since grunge.  

Yep.  Welcome to Indie88. (Follow @Indie88) 

Alan Cross Joins Indie88

Programming Team

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Paul Moran

A welcome *high-five* for Alan Cross,

the newest member of the Indie88

Programming Team

Broadcaster, Writer, Public Speaker, and now… Guidance Counsellor! Toronto’s soon to be launched radio station – Indie88 welcomes Alan Cross to our growing team.

Known for his approachable style and near encyclopaedic knowledge of music, Alan Cross has been inspiring music fans all over the world with music documentaries like The Ongoing History of New Music and The Secret History of Rock. Now, as the Indie88 in-house music Guidance Counsellor, Alan will be part of the team that is bringing a brand new genre of music to the Toronto airwaves.

“How cool is it to be involved in a brand new radio station in Toronto? And one that plays all the music that I love? I mean, are you kidding me? It doesn’t get any better than this, frankly. I’m SO looking forward to this.” Alan said.

The CRTC awarded the last Toronto FM frequency to Central Ontario Broadcasting on September 11, 2012. Since that time, the company has been developing plans for Toronto’s First Indie radio station. The station will focus on emerging (Indie) artists, with a format that is unavailable anywhere else in Canada. Cross will help develop the musical and programming direction of the station.

“Indie88 will be an oasis for music fans in the city of Toronto, and there’s no one who has been more dedicated to the Toronto music scene than Alan Cross. I’m thrilled to welcome him to our community,” said Megan Bingley, General Manager of Indie88.

“Alan’s legend in Toronto is undeniable. With over 25 years of experience in Toronto, he brings a trusted perspective to the ever-changing musical landscape. This is going to be huge.” Adam Thompson, Program Director @ Indie88

Indie88 Team:
General Manager: Megan Bingley
Program Director: Adam Thompson
Digital Media Director: Paul Moran
CEO: Doug Bingley, Central Ontario Broadcasting
VP Programming: Dave Carr, Central Ontario Broadcasting

About Central Ontario Broadcasting
Founded in 1988, Central Ontario Broadcasting is an independent broadcasting company that operates three radio stations: Rock 95 and 107.5 Kool FM in Barrie, and Indie88 in Toronto.

My Guest Appearance on The K-Dub Podcast at the University of Victoria

I try never, ever to turn down an interview request from a student--and for a good reason.

When I was trying to get started in the radio business, there were two guys working in at Winnipeg radio stations that I was dying to talk to--you know, just to get a few pearls of wisdom and a couple of hints at how to get my first job.  

Even though I idolized these guys, both of them consistenly blew me off.  I swore that if I were even in their position, I'd never act that way to a student looking for a bit of break.

Second, they're both dead.  I'm not saying it was karma, but just in case...

This is how I came to be on The K-UB show on CFUV at the University of Victoria.  You hear how it all panned out by clicking here.

They're Talking About the Future of Radio in India

JMJ forwarded this article from an Indian tech blog called NH7.in:

When I was about 13, I wasn’t particularly into music (at least not in the way that I am now). Almost all of the music that constituted my world was the Smashing Pumpkins and despite the fact that it sounded great, I didn’t really understand the rage. Enter FM radio stations.

The radio, before the internet, showed me why this music mattered. I heard about Elvis and Buddy Holly and the rebellious nature of rock ‘n roll. I began to understand how musical eras progressed and the artists that made this progression happen. I gained a perspective about the music being played and with it, my desire to understand it grew. If it weren’t for radio, my relationship with music would have stayed casual.

Even with all the other sort-of-awful-non-interesting music they played along with the good stuff, radio still made for an important part of my musical education. It also gave me a tolerability quotient; I can at least understand why popular music (of the not-so-good kind) is popular and that alone is a boon in understanding why other styles of music that are, in my opinion, better, aren’t as popular. Listening to radio anywhere should give you a decent idea of what most people in the area you’re in find entertaining.

Continue reading.

Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?

Douglas forwarded a link to this story at CNN:

Columbus, Ohio (CNN) -- In this capital city and college town, there is a shrine to a disc jockey.

His name was Andy Davis, better known as "Andyman," and he manned the evening drive-time shift at WWCD-FM. He was a bear of a man, a hugger, a backslapper, a preacher's son who called everybody "brother." He could carry you along with his enthusiasm.

DJ Brian Phillips recalls Davis' annual 48-hour fundraising extravaganzas, known as "Andyman-a-Thons," exhorting callers to outbid one another. "Come on, brother, 10 dollars more!" Andyman would say.

"Our children's charities meant everything to him," Phillips says. "By the end of each Andyman-a-Thon, he was drained and everyone was in tears. He had given his all, and yet you'd have to drag him out of that studio."

He gave everybody a shot. Lesley James was a guest DJ -- an enthusiastic listener who once got to do an hour of her favorite songs on-air. When she was done, she nervously handed Davis her resume.

Continue reading.

Why There Are Radio Formats

For years, audiences have expectd radio stations to have a distinct and consistent musical personality. When they turn on Station X knowing that it plays classic rock, hoping to hear their favourite AC/DC song, the last thing they want to hear is a track by Ke$ha.  If you promise to play a certain format of music, well, then, you'd better always deliver.

Or at least that's been the conventional widom.  Take a look at this article by Sean Ross in Billboard:

The recent ROR [Ross on Radio] column on the possibility of “A World Beyond Formats”prompted an email from AC WIKY Evansville, Ind., PD Mark Elliott. He wrote, “I believe the format trap was built and encouraged by the record industry.” He then added, “Weren’t stations reporting, or not reporting, because their playlist met some sort of criteria set by the record folks? At one time there were 12 charts on the R&R back page . . . Listeners don’t know ‘new country’ from ‘fresh country,’ but we in the radio biz make a great big deal about it . . . the challenge is to serve them, not some random format definition.”

There’s some truth there, especially in Elliott’s last statement. There’s also a lot of complexity in the creation and defining of format charts. Having been a part of the chart process for many years, I’ve often found myself having contentious discussions with both labels and radio stations. Those arguments were often punctuated by the other person calming down just long enough to say, “I don’t envy you having to make these decisions,” before heating up again.

New charts, like new formats, are driven by the emergence of music that doesn’t fully fit in another format. Even rhythmic top 40, the format at the center of the most chart controversy through the years, began with dance music that was acknowledged—but never fully embraced—by R&B radio, then exploded when it had its own stations. By the time rhythmic stations went more R&B, or even recently more pop, there were separate label departments and careers built around it, and staffers who didn’t want stations to move, even though it has led to a less rigid set of musical criteria for reporters.

Continue reading.