Genre Specific Radio Shows Deliver The Music You Love
The evolution of radio over time is quite interesting and leads up to today’s popular dissemination formats whether it be the various types of broadcast formats such as subscription radio, terrestrial stations, or internet choices. On top of that, today’s modern radio choices have splintered away from Top Forty stations and what used to be called middle of the road stations. Today genre specific radio is hot and the hotter they are leads to genre specific shows entering into national and world syndication. For example within the blues genre independent radio stations and premiere shows dominate the landscape. Among them is a prime example, the top rated syndicated show Blues Deluxe whose music choices are presented on 73 radio stations week in and week out reaching up to 1.2 million listeners. Now what is extremely cool is that within the blues radio community some blues shows focus on areas known as sub-genres such as traditional blues, which is blues with its well recognized twelve bar approach, while some shows such as Blues Deluxe feature blues rock just as their logo suggests “Where Radio Rocks The Blues”. Now you may wonder how do these stations acquire such a diverse library of music to spin, and still today it is up to the artists or their record label to submit their music to these stations. Some stations receive up to 300 hundred submissions per month. Now what is rather interesting is that all new music needs to be curated first and what is selected for airplay needs to scheduled. Sometimes however a new submission is so hot to the Music Director or the DJs that it is scheduled immediately. One terrestrial station located in Houston Texas, KPFT Radio, dedicates one complete day per week, Sunday, to the blues. From the moment you wake up on Sunday morning until dinnertime, KPFT is delivering blues shows that feature each show’s specific choices based on submissions. One of those shows “Howlin’ The Blues” features a husband and wife team, the Blueshound and Baby Girl, who personally review every submission that comes to their attention. That is why their show and shows like Blues Deluxe are rated so high. This is personal to them and not just to these two either. There are over 700 blues shows around the world and it is personal to each and every one of them. Basically, genre specific shows allow listeners to receive more of what they like without the need to sort through a pile of albums just to find one or two cool songs. There’s nothing wrong with combing through songs on albums. But when you are on the go and you do not have that luxury, it is cool to know that you can click on a show and your host will be presenting hot, new and some older tunes that will knock your socks off. Radio continues to evolve. Terrestrial and internet stations and shows are not going away. All that glitters is not located on just any one-delivery format such as subscription radio, you have multiple choices. If you know the format of the music you want to listen to then there are shows designed specifically with you in mind across the board. October 2020 • Rock and Blues International
25
