RTP-area local music and culture

[DJ Stevo <djstevo AT wknc.org>]

I suppose I should jump head-first into this discussion, as, first
off, I thought
that I was alone in thinking bad things when a manager of a band I've
never
heard of before gets in touch with me before the band themselves, or
when a
group sends me a big press kit filled with glossy photographs.  I make
it a policy
to never overlook an album from its cover, but in nearly 100% of all
cases, these
albums tend to make my ears sad.  In the most dire circumstances, I'm
forced
to pull out my emergency copy of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway to
serve as
an aural palate cleanser.

I'd also like to reiterate Ross' point about listing the FCC cuts;
there's nothing more
irritating than a group that sends you everything from reviews to
their favorite cover
songs but neglects to state the FCC information.  I tend to listen to
a CD about three
times before I've got a good idea of what tracks will be going into
what levels of rotation,
and if I have to screen out the profanity manually, it's not an
enjoyable process.

Reiterating one final point...  rotation is a limited resource, and
while it's
not quite so heavily regimented by CD at KNC, it's still limited by
major factors such as hard
disk space on our automation system, my schedule, and by self-imposed
limits on songs in rotation
levels.  We care a lot about keeping our rotation fresh and enjoyable,
as if you end up rotating
something of sub-par quality, it'll inevitably get played by the Auto-
DJ or by a shift jock, and
it's going to make the station sound like ass for the 4-5 minutes it's
on.

My process for determining 'good' CDs from 'bad' CDs is likely a lot
simpler than what most
people might surmise.  Simply put, if your music sounds like a sludgy
rehash of Nirvana
and Creed, or if it's aping something like Fallout Boy or Jack
Johnson, there's no way in hell
I'd put it into rotation.  I've received a fair number of CDs that
sound like this, and oftentimes they'll come
with veritable tidal waves of publicity behind them.  Some groups,
with delusions of grandeur, will
do things like buying giant tour buses or hiring major publicity
agencies to promote them when
the music itself isn't up to snuff, and it blows my mind.  These bands
will wonder why I don't play them
on KNC, and some will even posit that I'm not supporting local music
due to my indifference.

I've found that this lack of airplay is something that a lot of these
groups take personally, as music is a personal
statement for many bands.  Many seem to think that club owners and
media 'owe' them airplay, a slot on a bill,
or a good review simply because they're a local band.  Granted, being
local gives you major points in my book,
but boring music won't get played on our station whether you're from
around here or not.  Call 96 Rock
for that shit.  It's not favoritism, it's probably not fair either,
but it seems that the only way to get known
around the Triangle is through the old-fashioned, pre-Internet method
of hitting the streets, practicing,
and then kicking ass and taking names until people start to pay
attention.  I'm probably preaching to the
choir here, since amc-h is populated by the types of people who have
done this time and again and
who make this scene so awesome because of it.

So that's basically how the 'gatekeeping' goes down at KNC, and, by
virtue of being in
such an awesome music scene, it's never been quite as dirty as it
could be thus far.  By far and large,
most of the CDs I've received have been fantastic, inspiring works.
Sometimes good CDs will slip
between the cracks, though, and if they do, kick my ass until I play
it, as school, work, and other distractions
will sometimes cause me to inadvertently look over an album that I've
slated for digitization and rotation.
That's not fair to you, and every good album that I get deserves as
much airplay as we can throw at it and
more, so take me to task with great zest and zeal if you're not
getting the airplay you think you deserve.

Anyways, thanks for letting me brain dump here, and if I haven't
played a really good album that you think
I should be playing, shoot me an e-mail and let's talk.
-Stevo
djstevo AT wknc.org