*** The Musician Advice Section - Radio ***
Getting on the airwaves
This represents my personal opinion on the matter, built
through 5 years of college radio experience, as such, it
may not hold true across all situations.
Do a little research ahead of time - find out how many shows
they've got that play metal or hard rock music. If they don't
have any, save yourself some money and don't bother sending
a disc. Your best bet, in most cases, is the college and university
radio stations. I've tried to compile a fairly comprehensive list on
the Radio page, but there may be others out there that I'm unaware of.
Anyways, here is where my thinking goes very astray from a lot
of the traditional promotions companies and approaches. The
most important people to form a relationship with at a radio station
are the DJ's themselves. If it's at all possible, bypass station
management and go straight for the people you want to play your
music. Get to know them, talk to them, make sure they have their
own copy of the CD, and ask them to send you a copy of their
playlist each week.
If it's possible, arrange to do an on-air interview with them, or
even to come in and co-host their show, or just bum around in
the studio and goof off with them. Speaking from my own experience,
DJ's love that kind of shit. And when you come in, bring stuff to
give away - it could be tickets to an upcoming show, promotional
singles, full albums, t-shirts - whatever. The more people you can
rope in to the interaction game, the better.
Do cross-promotion - support them as they support you. Trade
links on websites, mention their show when you're doing a show
in their broadcast area, etc. Better yet, invite them to your shows
(guestlist is good, and you'll generally get an interview out of the
deal, which they can then broadcast on the show) and then point
them out to the audience (check with them on this first though) and
tell people "this dude hosts the show .... on ...., they play our stuff
and I think you should really check it out".
Ego stroking works both ways. Give 'em the promotional reach-around.
So, what do you do if the station is all metal? Well, besides tuning
in all the time and being one of the luckiest people around, you
contact BOTH the station management and the most appropriate DJ's.
If a station is all metal, and/or hard rock, you can bet there's some
righteous people working there, and you want them on your side.
Contact the music manager/department, make sure the station has
a copy of the CD, but also target specific DJ's whose show format
your music will most fit into.
I want to know what you think about this section - please e-mail your
comments, suggestions, and additions to the advice herein to:
djdaimon (at) ontariometal dot net
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