By Matt Schild

Even in the era of satellite radio and digital streaming, terrestrial radio remains one of the best tools to help a musician put his music in front of a wider audience. Although most commercial radio stations’ playlists remain strictly programmed and out of reach for independent artists, nearly every large city supports a noncommercial signal or two, whether they’re traditional college stations staffed by students, or nonprofit public radio stations with paid professional staff. Submission policies vary among stations, but many of noncommercial radio’s staff members thrive on the opportunities their station provides to break up-and-coming bands or support local music scenes. For Music Connection’s Radio Roundtable, we contacted several programmers and DJs at stations across the US to help you increase the odds that your recordings make it to the airwaves.

Eli Gaultney

Programming Director

WUOG 90.5

University of Georgia, Athens

Box 2065 Tate Student Center

Athens, GA 30602 

http://wuog.org

programming@wuog.org

Music Directors: Ryan Rudde,

 JJ Posway – music@wuog.org 

HOW DO YOU SELECT SONGS FOR AIRPLAY AT WUOG

There are two avenues. If the band is coming through town and want to do an in-station, they should get in touch with the programming director––myself––and then we set that up. Now, if they want to submit music to us, they should send it to our address that’s on the website and our music directors will handle that. Any correspondence regarding submitting music goes to our music directors.

 “Our main goal at WUOG is to give independent artists as much exposure as possible.”

WHEN BANDS DO IN-STUDIOS IS THAT AN INTERVIEW OR PERFORMANCE

We try to do both as often as possible, but if the schedule only allows an interview, we’ll only do an interview. Our main goal at WUOG is to give independent artists as much exposure as possible, so if they can play a set, we’ll make it happen.

HOW MUCH LEAD TIME DOES A BAND NEED TO SCHEDULE AN IN STUDIO APPEARANCE

Ideally four weeks, but if it’s two weeks we can usually work it in. I realize that a lot of the times, the bands that we’re looking at on college radio don’t have their schedule worked out that far in advance. So two weeks usually works out.

MOST EFFECTIVE WAY FOR AN ARTIST TO GET TRACKS ON THE AIR

Just send an email to a music director or myself. Say, “I’m an artist and I have these tracks.” Maybe send a little blurb about it so we can get an idea. Links are always important. Basically, if they just send us a little blurb and ask for an address to send it, that’s the best way. Then, we’ll have it in our heads that this person contacted us and we’ll keep an eye out for it.

WHAT FORMATS DO YOU ACCEPT

A CD is definitely best. Right now, we have decided not to digitize our collection as of yet, so most people working at our station are playing CDs. For what we do here, the CD format just integrates better into our collection that way.

HOW DO YOU EVALUATE MUSIC FOR AIRPLAY

It goes through our music directors, and from there, we have a relatively large music staff. People grab CDs that are relevant to their tastes and genres they know. They’ll take them home and review them. All of our CDs are reviewed by that spate of music reviewers under the music directors. Most of the choice is on them. 

DO YOU CONSIDER THE SIZE OF A BAND’S FANBASE OR ONLINE FOLLOWING 

As far as a black or white line, the only thing we take into consideration is if they’ve ever been in the Billboard Top 50. If they haven’t, then they qualify to be played on our airwaves.

DO YOU HAVE SPECIALTY SHOWS

We do have specialty shows, but I have yet to deal with any bands that have contacted me and mentioned a specific specialty show. That’s not a bad idea. If they’re willing to put the legwork in and look up the schedule online then contact us about a specific show, that would assuredly go much further to getting them in rotation. In that case, we’d talk to the specialty show host. 

DO RADIO PLACEMENT SERVICES HELP A BAND GET ON AIR

I don’t think it’s worth the money. It depends on how big you are if it’s worth it or not. I’m just as likely to reply to a personal email, or probably more likely to respond to a personal email, than the super-mass sent out to 600 radio partners email.  •

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Anne Litt

Music Programming Director

KCRW 89.9

1900 Pico Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA 90405

http://kcrw.com

HOW IS MUSIC SELECTED FOR PLAY ON KCRW

Every single DJ is also a programmer, so every DJ has the ability to choose whatever music they want to play. We’re a little bit challenging in that if you’re a band and you want to reach out to KCRW, you kind of need to reach out to a lot of different people. The hub music discovery at KCRW is our music library. Generally, a band will send a CD to KCRW. If that happens, it goes to the music library and it gets listened to and either added or not added. The more savvy artists out there have figured out that the chances are that I’ll hear an album faster if they send it straight to me, rather than if they go through the process of the music library.

“Chances are that I’ll hear an album faster if they send it straight to me.”

WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO SEND MUSIC TO KCRW

The most effective way for a band to get on the air is to be good and to get their music in our hands. It doesn’t have to be in such a creative way that I can’t carry it home easily in my bag. I appreciate quick efficiency. I appreciate something that gets to the point, that doesn’t kill a million trees with all the paperwork and press. Send me something about you. If you know me or my show, send me a personal note. Send me the music. Highlight a couple tracks if it’s a whole album. The easier it is for me to absorb it, the more quickly I’ll listen to it.

DO PERSONALIZED SUBMISSIONS HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF AIRPLAY THAN MASS MAILINGS

Especially if it’s something I’ve never heard of. If somebody writes me a really nice note––I was looking at a CD this morning and someone said, “Hey, I’m a big fan of your show. I was listening last weekend when you played blah-blah-blah.” It was this personal note. I was like, “Oh my gosh!” Even if this CD doesn’t look like something I would listen to, clearly they have a sense of what I like and what I listen to because they listen to my show. Something like that will make me give a record a second look that I wouldn’t otherwise.

WHAT ARE COMMON MISTAKES ARTISTS MAKE WHEN SUBMITTING MUSIC

These aren’t mistakes, but we don’t need 8 x 10 glossy photos. We don’t need posters. We don’t need 2-inch thick press kits. We don’t need all the extra stuff. We just need for you to make it super easy. If it’s kind of creative looking, if it’s a handwritten scribble on a burned CD, that’s fine so long as you give me a little information, to give it some context.

Don’t give me a hard time. Some bands send me mean emails, “Why haven’t I heard back from you?” Now I’m definitely not going to listen to your record. Be cool. Don’t be mean.

WHAT FORMATS DO YOU ACCEPT

Digital is good. I think some DJs would disagree with me on that. Definitely not cassettes. I got a cassette the other day. Although there’s something lovely and retro about it, I haven’t listened to it and I won’t play it on the radio. The easiest way for me to listen to your record quickly is digitally or on a CD––good old-fashioned mailing a CD totally works. If you have just one MP3, I’m cool if you email it to me. Don’t email me 16 MP3s. That’s an easy [decision for me to delete your email].

DO RADIO PLACEMENT SERVICES HELP A BAND GET ON THE AIR

Usually they’re helpful. There are a couple of guys who do that, that I know, and they have good taste. If independent promoters or publicists send me a record, and I’m like, “Oh, I love everything else they ever sent me.” I’m going to listen to it. That’s more by reputation. There are a few who are keyed into what my taste is. Yeah, it helps. Get a good one.

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 A College Radio Jock’s Perspective 

Demolisten

KXLU

1 LMU Drive

Los Angeles, CA 90045

http://kxlu.org

http://kxludemolisten.blogspot.com

At commercial radio stations, playlists are dictated by programmers, but DJs at college and noncommercial stations often have a lot more leeway. As many of our program directors indicate, reaching out to a DJ when trying to find a spot on the air for your music can take a slightly different touch.

Fred Kiko, host of 88.9 KXLU in Los Angeles’ Demolisten, has been spinning local music since the ’90s, and helping many Southern California acts make their first steps in radio. He’s seen more than his share of direct-to-DJ submissions. He’s also seen a lot of mistakes bands make when submitting their music.

In the era of digital music, the most common misstep made by bands is overlooking a physical copy in favor of a MP3. While a digital submission is quick and simple–and won’t disqualify you from a spin on Kiko’s show–it also nearly guarantees you’ll never make it on another show. 

“If you send me an MP3 and I like it and play it on the radio, I’m the only one who’s going to have a chance to play it on the radio,” he says. “If you send me a CD, I can give it to the music director and it gets added to the station. It’s there forever and all the DJs get to play it.”

If you’re going to make the effort and expense of submitting a CD, you should also make sure you do it correctly, as mailings often leave stations with discs that quickly get lost in the shuffle. “Send it in a jewel case that has a spine with at least the name of your band on the spine. If I like it, I’ll play it on my show and give it to the music director. He adds it to the stacks. If there’s a spine, we can find it. If you just send your CD in one of those little cardboard envelopes, nobody will ever find your band again.”

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Sky Daniels

Programming Director

88.5 KCSN

18111 Nordhoff St.

Northridge, CA 91330-8312

http://kcsn.org

sky.daniels@csun.edu

HOW DOES MUSIC GET CHOSEN FOR AIRPLAY ON KCSN

There’s a couple of levels of curation. One, for the weekday program, the Monday through Friday AAA mix, I select the music for that. That’s something that comes through me. In addition, we have our weekend hosts. They’re genre specific in many cases. They select their own music.

“I’m always going to want to have a WAV file for broadcast quality.”

IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO CONTACT A SPECIALTY SHOW DJ DIRECTLY

That’s something that if someone were to do that, I think it would really help them. In sheer number of submissions, I get overwhelmed. I probably get 200 a week, and that’s local and independent submissions on top of all the acts that are signed to labels. When you consider that, it’s a pretty daunting task to be able to assimilate that music.

    The specialty show weekend hosts, they’re really devoted to their genre, and if artists were to tap into those respective hosts if their music is aligned with those shows, that’s going to give them a heck of a lot easier opportunity to be heard and assimilated and noticed instead of falling into the 200-a-week box that I have.

IS IT IMPORTANT TO BUILD UP A FOLLOWING BEFORE SUBMITTING MUSIC

Absolutely. Radio still remains the most powerful platform in music discovery for a lot of people, for 65 percent of people. This platform is what I like to call an accelerator. It’s an amplifier. It’s not necessarily the agent of discovery, but it takes bands that have created a certain amount of awareness in the marketplace, that have built a certain amount of an active fan base, and it merely validates that commitment and amplifies it to the next level of potential fans. The idea of radio stations singularly starting to play and build an audience alone as the only vehicle that a band uses to become “discovered,” … with all the competitive media going on, you really have to build a fan base. A base can be a lot of different ways. It doesn’t need to be a playing base, you don’t need to be a club band that’s built an audience up. 

WHAT’S THE BEST FORMAT FOR SUBMISSIONS

CDs. I still believe, only because of the ability to go back and find a physical CD. I don’t like an MP3 because I like to play WAV quality material. I may listen to an MP3 that is sent to me via email and get a sense of, “This is a good song. This band is pretty good.” But I’m always going to want to have a WAV file for broadcast quality, which gets us back to FTP or Dropbox, or get the CD with a little bit of collateral information, a one-sheet and a bio.

HOW MUCH LEAD TIME DO YOU NEED TO GET SOMETHING ON THE AIR

That one, I don’t think there’s a bad answer to. I could get something today and say, “Oh my God, this is great!” That’s all the lead time you need. That’s certainly the exception to the rule. It could be months. I know people have submitted stuff to us and thought, “Oh, they don’t care.” That’s certainly not true. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s just it’s really tough to wade through and absorb and assess everything that comes in.

ARE THERE COMMON MISTAKES BANDS MAKE WHEN SUBMITTING

Not knowing the station. If a metal band sends me an album, why? We don’t play any metal. A jazz act will send us something. While we’re eclectic, we’re pretty much a smart AAA radio station. We’re kind of a hybrid between an alternative station and AAA. If you’re not making music in that space, sending me a hip-hop record is [a waste of time and money]. •

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Caleigh Souhan

Programming Director

Radio K (KUOM) 100.7 FM

University of Minnesota

610 Rarig Center

330 21st Ave. S.

Minneapolis, MN 55455 

http://radiok.org

Music Director: Chase Mathey

HOW ARE TRACKS CHOSEN FOR AIRPLAY AT RADIO K

First, we go through all the submissions that get sent to us. Our station gets anywhere from 20 to 200 CDs a week, from promotional companies or the bands themselves. Our music director and volunteers go through and listen to all the CDs. Whatever we like, we choose our 10 favorites and add them to rotation that week.

“We really get excited if a band is brand new, it’s their first demo or something and it’s really great.”

HOW LONG DOES A TRACK USUALLY REMAIN IN ROTATION

It depends on how our DJs react to it. We have an internal DJ poll and a listener poll called the Top Seven. If it’s in the Top Seven for a long time, we’ll keep it in. Usually, it’s in there for about a month to a month and a half. Then DJs have free access to play it whenever they want after that.

DO YOU CONSIDER THE SIZE OF A BAND’S FOLLOWING

Nope. Around Radio K, we mainly focus on the music. We really get excited if a band is brand new, it’s their first demo or something and it’s really great. We like to play it as soon as possible and help create a following for them.

WHAT FORMATS DO YOU ACCEPT 

We accept digital as well as CD format. If you want to send tapes or records, that’s okay. We understand the economic price of it, so the digital format is 100 percent okay, but CDs are nice. (CDs) just take one less step out of adding it to our library.

WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY FOR AN ARTIST TO CATCH YOUR ATTENTION?

Actually not trying to catch our attention. We’ve gotten a lot of folders and huge press kits. A couple people have sent us shot glasses and crazy stuff like that. Trinkets are fun, but we mainly focus on the music. If you send in a big folder or a big press kit, it’s kind of like you’re focusing on promoting yourself rather than just the music. 

IS THAT A PROBLEM WITH A LOT OF ARTISTS WHO CONTACT YOU

A little bit, especially with bands who are trying to do a similar sound or trying to follow a trend. Right after chillwave came out, we got a bunch of bands that were trying to do the chillwave thing. They’d have big promotional things, thinking that the big, flashy trending music will get them airplay. We prefer originality.

DO YOU INVITE BANDS FOR IN-STUDIO PERFORMANCES

We actually do a lot of in-studios. We do from one to six a week, six is our most. We love doing in studio sessions. We have them perform live. We have a really nice studio, actually, and they get to come in, perform two or three songs, and do an interview. We usually go live to air.

HOW MUCH LEAD TIME DO YOU NEED TO SCHEDULE AN IN-STUDIO

Anywhere from a month out to a couple weeks out. At least two weeks, because we have video and photo sessions, so we have a team that runs the sessions and we need enough time to notify everyone.

DO YOU HAVE SPECIALTY SHOWS

Our specialty shows range from electronic dance music to hip-hop, soul. We have a local show as well, a couple pop shows, a UK pop show, an oldies pop show. We pretty much run the gamut of any specialty show you can imagine.

IF AN ARTIST FITS A SHOW’S FOCUS, CAN THE ARTIST CONTACT THE HOST

Definitely. All their contact info is on the specialty show area on our site. You can either reach out to the DJs directly, or go through the music director, because the music director handles dispersing music to specialty shows. •

See MC’s exclusive College/Indie Radio Directory in this issue.