Radio Stations
Sometimes it’s not possible for a band or group to be an active gigging band. It might be that most of your work revolves around song writing and producing. This is something that doesn’t normally trancend to live gigging.
It’s a common myth that anyone aiming for a record deal or wanting to release their own music and songs is that they MUST GIG. This is a little like working as a presenter on a radio station and people assuming that you at some time must have worked as a mobile DJ. The two occupations seem the same but are worlds apart.
TALK THE TALK
So don’t get bogged down thinking you must gig before become proactive releasing records. Not true. It maybe if you’re wanting to land a record deal that the A&R people will want to see you live because it’s an avenue of income for them when you’re signed. BUT if you’re going alone then you can all but forget gigging to begin with.
It’s true that the Pet Shop Boys never played live for six years after their hit West End Girls. But it’s also true to note that Neil Tennant did work as a reporter for music magazine Smash Hits and was able to network with all the right people within the industry.
But there is nothing to stop you doing that. It’s NETWORKING again. All you need to do is own a phone, email account and internet access these days and the whole process becomes so accessible. Technology has made the process and put the right people at your fingertips, but you do still need to be focused on communication.
You have to say the right things and grease the wheels a little with people. You may disagree with them or they may even ignore you – don’t worry, they are not the only avenue to success – there are plenty of people all willing to give you their time if you’re nice and not forceful.
It’s all in your hands – YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK !!!!
KEEP AT IT
What has this got to do with Radio? Well from an indie label perspective radio is your friend and it’s full of some of the nicest and passionate people you could want to work with.
Radio is also a very small industry and you can guarantee one person will know someone else that may help you or your cause. What you can’t do is make one phone call and expect the answer to come – you may have to phone someone and the result will be another phone number or email address. Then that contact will give you the name of someone else who will be on holiday for a week.
Whatever you do when this pillar to posting happens don’t say to yourself “This isn’t meant to be“. So people aren’t in the right place at the right time, big deal – keep at it. There is no luck in life except the luck you make yourself. It is time consuming and hard work, but it’s worth it.
OFFER YOURSELF TO THEM
I myself have been working in radio about as long as I’ve been writing and recording music. I started in hospital radio, then onto pirate radio stations, then various restricted license stations or RSLs for short and then into local radio. All along the way I’ve made friends and connected with people. I’ve made a few enemies too for some reason – I don’t know how because I’m a nice guy, but it has taught me to suffer ignorance and smile.
I never got into radio to parallel my music, I’ve just always been fascinated by the media all round. I’ve presented a few TV documentaries too which were fun, and every step of the way you’re making new friends and associates. Gather them and keep in touch with them. You never know when they may be able to help.
You may be reading this and have an interest in getting into radio. There are so many options open to you now for you to learn the trade. When I started it was hospital radio or nothing. Now you have community radio, internet and web radio, there are now more local radio stations than ever before and they’re always looking for altruistic people to help out.
Never be afraid to offer your services or time for nothing. If you’re wanting to broaden your connections and network then there is no better place to start. If I hadn’t started out working for nothing then the ripple effect of life would never have taken me to become breakfast show presenter on Chester’s Dee 106.3 or Drive Presenter at Marcher Sound 103.4 and Wirral’s Buzz 97.1 – although the latter two stations have now been bought and renamed to Heart.
WORKING IN RADIO
If you are interested in getting into radio then www.thepips.co.uk would be a great starting point. Also try searching on Google for community radio stations in your area. You can try hospital radio but to be brutally honest you spend the first six months on the wards collecting patient requests from people who are in no fit state to comprehend what you’re doing.
Community radio can also really help you if you’re looking to release your own music. They love that they can do what the perceived bigger boys of local radio can’t do. Most local radio stations these days are networked with centralised playlists. Forget approaching them – they won’t give you the time of day.
BUILDING YOUR MAILING LIST
Ofcom has a list of all community radio stations in the UK and that is a great list to have. It won’t be totally up to date and certainly won’t have the name of the Head of Music for each station, but that’s where you need to pick up the phone. You also need to establish the style of music they play. If you’re putting out electronic pop music then forget progressive rock stations for example.
Most play A/C adult contemporary but you still need to check and at all times build and update a database… you’re going to need it. When you’ve got 40 stations to send your next release to that’s when the Mail Merge comes in to its own. For the personal touch also scan your physical signature for mass mailing – sounds obvious but when you forget and you have to sign 40 letters your wrist soon knows about it.
This is just the beginning. In the next section I will look at what information you need to be feeding people when speaking or writing to them to get the best results.
