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Last Updated: 12/18/2009

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Gender: Female
Status: Single
Age: 30
Sign: Virgo

City: Tampa
State: FLORIDA
Country: US
Signup Date: 12/8/2005

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Friday, December 18, 2009 
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Wednesday, May 06, 2009 

Current mood:  excited

The 28th Annual WMNF Tropical Heatwave,  Saturday May 16 5:00PM -- Cuban Club and surrounding area in Ybor City. Adult ticket $30 Adv/$35 Door ~ Youth ticket $10 (ages 12- 20)    http://wmnf.org/heatwave
 Go to wmnf.org/heatwave for all the Heatwave details, including band info, schedules, vendors, directions etc. 

TROPICAL HEATWAVE: An extraordinary evening of eclectic and exciting entertainment. The event of the year and annual rite of spring for lovers of eclectic music. One night of uninhibited fun and amazing music. Six stages. 32 bands chosen for their ability to entertain live audiences. It all happens in the area of Ybor City around the Cuban Club. This year's lineup could be the best ever:

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet - the best known Cajun band in the world. Bandleader Michael Doucet is often credited as the key figure in popularizing Cajun music.' In their live show, the Grammy winners present the best of Cajun musical traditions, filling dance floors and exciting festival audiences everywhere.

Chuck Prophet and Mission Express - longtime WMNF favorite whose music has come to encompasses a dizzying array of styles - an affection for sweeping pop-soul and funky spaced-out blues, roots rock, wry humor.

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue - Trombone Shorty's set at the 2007 Tropical Heatwave was a revelation: a young artist, a consummate entertainer who we will be hearing for decades to come. He has earned rave reviews both for his jazz artistry and as leader of a blazing funk/rock/hip-hop band Orleans Avenue. USA Today wrote: 'A superstar on New Orleans crowded stage, Trombone Shorty is emerging from the tall shadow of Louis Armstrong, earning comparisms with the late legend's showmanship, technical skills and charisma.'

Michael Burks – Guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Michael 'Iron Man' Burks stands tall as a major contemporary blues figure. With a nickname earned by his hours-long, intensely physical performances, fearsome guitar attack, tough, smoky vocals and the thousands of miles logged behind the wheel of his touring van, Burks is a modern blues hero. Nobody in today's blues world successfully bridges searing electric guitar blues with unbridled rock and roll energy like Burks. The Chicago Sun-Times recently said Burks is 'poised on the brink of major stardom.'

Sara Borges and the Broken Singles - Inspired by a plethora of American music, from the classic country of Bob Willis and Wanda Jackson to the modern Boston and L.A. punk scenes, Sarah Borges and The Broken Singles blend steel guitar and hard-driving rhythms into an infectious brand of roots-rock. In previous appearances at WMNF's Birthday Bash and Rockabilly Ruckus, Borges showed she is a terrific crowd pleaser.

Bonerama - When Bonerama struts onstage with its four-trombone frontline, you can guess it's not quite like any rock 'n' roll band you've seen. When they tear into some vintage New Orleans funk, there's no questioning from which city these guys hail. And when those 'bones start ripping into Hendrix and Led Zeppelin licks, all stylistic bets are off. Even in a city that doesn't play by the rules, New Orleans' Bonerama is something different. They're not a traditional brass band, but they've got brass to spare—even with no trumpets or saxes in sight. They can evoke vintage funk, classic rock and free improvisation in the same set; maybe even the same song.

Eilen Jewell Band - Jewell's heart-achingly hushed style and intimate grasp of roots music's wild graces were revealed in her first two CDs. Set to a swaying, irrepressible groove, the subdued emotion in her soft soprano feels like music straining beneath skin. In her great new album where her elegantly unflinching songwriting combines with a rustic, pre-Beatles swagger that encapsulates vintage R&B, Midwestern garage rock, Chicago blues, and early rock and rockabilly, while maintaining the haunting, folk-inspired purity that first made her an artist to watch.

Big Sam's Funky Nation - Presiding over his Funky Nation is Big Sam, formerly the trombonist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who blows the funk out of his trombone and refuses to let the audience sit still. Between solos and trombone riffs, Big Sam second-lines (a uniquely New Orleans style of street-dance) and gets the crowd going both in movement and in replies to his call-and-response MC-style. A talented group of jazz-trained musicians makes up the Funky Nation, bringing with them the improv-style associated with jazz and the horn-heavy front section that's the hallmark of big band funk. Theirs, and Big Sam's, exuberant dancing and playing, afford them a rare opportunity to let loose. Big Sam's Funky Nation has undeniable personality, as well as masterful chops.

Kinobe and Soul Beat Africa - Soul Beat Africa, coming directly from Uganda, have been bringing their energetic and highly visual show to audiences across Europe and Africa for several years, and this is their first North American tour. These musicians represent the new vanguard of Ugandan performers, gifted instrumentalists steeped in the music of their homeland, but with ears opened to the sounds of the world at large. Driving poly-rhythms underlay transcendent melodies. Traditional African instruments – koras, kalimbas, adungus, endongos, ngonis, drums – blend with guitars and keyboards, drawing on influences from around the globe. This is a new groove for a new world.

Blair Carman and the Belleview Boys - 'The best thing to happen to honkytonk and rockabilly piano playing since Jerry Lee Lewis.' - a phrase that's been used to describe the wild piano pounding rock-n-roll talent of this young man from Cincinnati Ohio. Take the 1957 hands of Jerry Lee Lewis and the 1957 look of Elvis Presley and the raw energy of those two artists and what do you get? A piano pumpin', thumpin rockabilly kid named Blair Carman. Blair started playing and performing when he was just a child and is a real Rockabilly enthusiast who strives to keep his music authentic. From the honky tonkin' songs of Hank Williams, to the rock-n-rollin' hits of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, a Blair Carman show is guaranteed to leave you wanting more.

Modern Skirts - The Athens alternative indie pop quartet is on a rise to success, accelerated by the release of the new All Of Us In Our Night. Music fans all over the world are learning who this band is and are loving what they're hearing. So are industry insiders and some world-famous friends. Mike Mills of R.E.M. and David Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker produced tracks on the new CD. Lead singer and principle songwriter Jay Gulley's knack for crafting an undeniably catchy melody keeps our ears glued. Everybody sings, and the harmony-vocal arrangements are sophisticated, sweet, and effortlessly discharged….did we mention they have great stage presence?

David Dondero - Few songwriters have experienced and expressed the sinking depths and uplifting optimism of humanity like David Dondero, and his ability to shine a light on the human condition (his own included) is inspiring. Dondero is best known for his narrative tales of America. Having spent most of his life on the road, Dave uses his staggering lyrical talent to paint tales of life in the US of A through clever word play and sarcastic humor about some of life's most sensitive subjects.

James Intveld - James Intveld got his start in the same LA clubs that birthed the careers of Dwight Yoakam, the Blasters and X. The soulful singer and stunningly talented multi-instrumentalist returns for his second Heatwave. Though Intveld's voice might be most familiar coming out of the mouth of Johnny Depp (that's Intveld's dulcet twang when Depp sings in Cry Baby), he should also be known to any followers of contemporary, indie country music. He appeared on the second volume of the classic Town South of Bakersfield compilations, played guitar for the Blasters, and has released three rich and varied solo albums, the most recent of which is 2008's Have Faith on the Molenaart label.

Pack A.D. - Holding the torch high in today's garage rock revival, Vancouver's Pack A.D. strike with a raw, hell-torn, blues-rock swagger that is equally contemplative and unflinching. If you're not familiar with the two-girl group's music, think the White Stripes minus all the annoying pretensions, but plus one incredibly talented singer and guitarist in came-from-nowhere Becky Black. Black has blues pipes that could give 1970s-era Buddy Guy a run for his money, plus the rare ability to use her virtuosity on the guitar as an extension of her voice. Add Maya Miller's confident, perfectly restrained drumming to the mix and you have an exciting band ready to rock the Heatwave.

The Visitations - Davey Wrathgaber is the off-kilter poet, songwriter and humorist who is the creative force behind the Visitations. Wrathgaber (who formerly performed in Fablefactory, Elf Power) contributes thoughtful passages to the black comedy that is love, hate and the nothing between. He seamlessly combines literate, often farcical, always clever lyrics a la Smog, Magnetic Fields and Will Oldham with the tasty, psychedelic hooks that helped cement The Visitations' home town of Athens, Ga. as the 'Pop Metropolis of the South.' Wrathgaber's lyrical cynicism and penchant for political humor have landed him in considerable in his home state.

Johnny Cakes and Four Horsemen of the Apocalypso - Punk, ska and calypso make it hard to stand still.

Cold Joon - A 'culture–pop' eclectic hybrid that combines traditional West African percussion and dance with pop, reggae, and R&B. Live performances feature high energy fun, dancers, costumes, politics, and are guaranteed to make you move….and think.

Magadog - Magadog was formed in 1992 and are regarded as the pioneering Florida ska band of Ska's Third Wave. Their first gig was a Tropical Heatwave and they are the only group to play three Heatwaves in a row, back in the nineties. The band released four albums and appeared on over 10 ska compilations and had countless U.S. tours along with bands such as The Skatalites, The Toasters, and The Pietasters. They hung up their dancing shoes for a number of years but in 2007 original members Ed Lowery, Dave Akright, and Jim Pedigo assembled a new Magadog ensemble that has had dancers and music fans ecstatic with the timeless fun of ska.

Thomas Wynn and the Believers  A heady brew of rock, country, gospel and Southern soul, this is one of the most thoroughly indigenous sounds coming out of Florida. It's an EXPLOSIVE LIVE SHOW, by way of rugged, yet uplifting combo of soul and spirit, triple-threat harmonies and tight band that plays hard-charging blistering rock, WYNN, with magnetic stage presence, channels big guns Tom Petty, Waylon Jennings, Ronnie Van Zandt, yes, Otis Redding.

The Vodkanauts - Surf/lounge/rock 'n' roll combo The Vodkanauts simultaneously pays respectful tribute to musical masters while creating a soundtrack to a mid-to-late 20th century America that never quite was ... but should have been. The Vodkanauts' continuing mission expands the band's repertoire to include rhythm 'n' blues, jazz and other roots-informed genres while still encompassing the surf classics, lounge numbers and original compositions that cemented the band's reputation as one of Tampa Bay's most engaging live acts.

Stolen Idols- A Latin Jazz comboled by Drew Farmer specializing in authentic 1950s-era exotica, the tropical mood-music/world/jazz subgenre pioneered by Martin Denny and Les Baxter. They play exotic arrangements of standards, recreations of classic exotica arrangements, and original music written and arranged in this style. Stolen Idols' core lineup is a quartet with piano, upright bass, vibes/marimba, and percussion., with a group of auxiliary percussionists who will join them for the Heatwave.

The Beauvilles - Described as independent Americana Revisionists, The Beauvilles have been playing their music and touring for years, with the payoff just starting. Their new CD Whispering Sin is climbing the national CMJ chart and they have been selected to showcase at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin and the NEMO Music Festival in Boston. Strikingly passionate vocals, jagged guitars and a taut rhythm section make them a band you need to watch and hear.

The Mojo Gurus - Bourbon soaked, gut bucket, glam meets twang. Led by singer songwriter Kevin Steele, the Gurus perform real deal rock 'n' roll with enough strut and swagger to make most of today's flavor of the month bands pale in comparison. Just signed out of Tampa Bay to True North label, they are busting out nationally. Shake 'em on down!

Birdstreet Players -Bird Street Players is a high energy funk, soul and reggae band with driving bass lines, wicked horn solos, a rhythm section that doesn't stop and a front man who's sure to keep you movin'! Originally based in Tampa/St. Petersburg, The Bird Street Players frequent the music scenes of New Orleans, Key West, Orlando and festivals all over the East of the country.

Lauris Vidal - Lauris Vidal creates innovative and unique folk music with dark undertones, but always carrying a message of hope. His lively performances include ukulele, tenor banjo, lap steel, guitar and sometimes even lap bass. Seeing Lauris Vidal is an experience all its own.

Roppongi's Ace - As the youngest hotshots in Bay area’s burgeoning Americana scene, they developed their heavy, fuzzy, loud-as-all-hell garage sound through the lens of the Tampa twang.

Ted Lukas - For fifteen years Ted Lukas has been in the center of Tampa Bay’s pop and roots music scene, from leading power- pop band Barely Pink in the mid-to-late 90's, and heading up roots rock band Hangtown since 1998, and recently playing guitar in Rebekah Pulley’s band. In his solo career he plays his own brand of rootsy twang and power pop.

Will Quinlan & The Diviners - "Nobody around here infuses four chords with whiskey, hope and heartbreak like Quinlan and company, bringing to mind an enthralling amalgam of porch and gutter that speaks for generations of Americans." - CREATIVE LOAFING TAMPA

GreyMarket - GreyMarket is a future rock outfit that blends Muse-like power and charisma with Radiohead-inspired lyrical sensibility and throbbing laptop electronics. GreyMarket has been wowing audiences in clubs and dive bars throughout Florida with high-intensity live shows that are truly one-of-a-kind. Johukames Posse- One of Tampa Bay's longest running Caribbean bands, they create an instant party with infectious soca and reggae.

The Sheaks - With four singers, four songwriters, and a sometimes volatile convergence of four very different and dominant personalities, the Sheaks seem, at times, as if they shouldn’t even exist. Unconcerned with current trends, the Sheaks have instead picked up the sword from early, genre-bending alt-rock influences like the Replacements and Yo La Tengo, letting the strength of the material speak for itself. Poetry Showcase: Sandbloom - The Poetry Showcase headliner is LA songwriter-poet Sandbloom who combines influences of Bob Marley and Bill Withers.
5:54 PM 
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Friday, December 19, 2008 

Current mood:  argumentative

WMNF 88.5 Tampa : Top 50 Most Played "CDs during 2008


1) Radiohead - In Rainbows - ATO


2) Various Artists: Cheatin’ Heart: Tales of Lies and Love - BAAMO


3) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal - Back Porch


4) Have Gun, Will Travel - Casting Shadows Tall As Giants - self release


5) Amanda Shaw - Pretty Runs Out - Rounder


6) Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind - Lost Highway


7) Will Quinlan and the Diviners - Navasota - Ironweed


8) The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism - Ramseur


9) Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand - Rounder


10) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend - Beggars


11) Old 97s - Blame it On Gravity - New West


12) Amy Winehouse - Back to Black - Universal


13) Rebekah Pulley - Back To Boogaloo - Lucky Bird


14) James McMurtry - Just Us Kids – Lightning Rod


15) James Hunter - The Hard Way - Hear


16) The Shackeltons - The Shackeltons - Loveless


17) Lupe Fiasco - The Cool - Atlantic


18) Drive-By Truckers - Better Than Creation’s Dark - New West


19) Iron and Wine - Shepherd’s Dog – Sub Pop


20)Hoots & Hellmouth - Hoots & Hellmouth - Mad River


21)Portishead - Third - Island


22) My Morning Jacket - Evil Ways - ATO


23) Sheryl Crow - Detours - A&M


24) M.I.A. – Kala - Interscope


25) The Hold Steady - Stay Positive - Vagrant


26) Kasey Chambers, Shane Nicholson - Rattlin’ Bones - Sugar Hill


27) Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - 100 days, 100 Nights - Dapton


28)Conor Oberst – Conor Oberst - Merge


29) Various Artists - Soca Gold - VP


30) Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins - Jagjaguwar


31) Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs - Atlantic


32) Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple - Atlantic


33) Shelby Lynn - Just a Little Lovin’ - Lost Highway


34) Ronny Elliott – Jalopypaint - Blue Heart


35) Me-Shell Ndegeocello - The World Has Made Me - Emarcy


36) Talib Kweli - Ear Drum - Warner


37) Tift Merritt- Another Country - Fantasy


38) Dr. Dog - Fate – Park The Van


39) R.E.M. – Accelerate - Warner


40) Bruce Springsteen - Magic


41) Explorer’s Club - Freedom Wind - Dead Ocean


42) Wilco - Sky Blue Sky - Nonesuch


43) Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Merge


44) Van Morrison - Keep it Simple - Lost Highway


45) Paul Thorn - A Long Way from Tupelo - Perpetual Obscurity


46) Donna the Buffalo - Silver Lined - Sugar Hill


47) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes - Sub Pop


48) The Black Keys - Attack and Release - Nonesuch


49) The Dedringers - Sweetheart of the Neighborhood - Dedcrow


50) Cat Power - Jukebox - Matador


4:28 PM 
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Sunday, November 30, 2008 

Current mood:  excited
Category: Music

Tropical Heatwave   - 27 Years, a history
 


The 28th Tropical Heatwave is scheduled for May 16, 2009.


An entire generation has grown up since that first steamy, eclectic party in the Cuban Club in 1982 called Tropical Heatwave.  Back in those days, Ybor City slept during most of the year, but came alive for Heatwave's dizzying array of music and festivities.  Heatwave has become an annual rite of spring for fans of eclectic music, with mystery, legend and excitement contained in memories of the annual extravaganzas. How did it all start?

          In early 1982, WMNF Station manager Janine Farver and volunteers John Dubrule and Linda Reisinger were brainstorming  new ideas for events and fundraising for the young station.  In those days there was a popular annual event called the Artists and Writer Ball in Ybor City which always had a theme for decorations and costumery and was known for drink and debauchery, and that provided some of the inspiration for WMNF's new event. Janine coined the name "Tropical Heatwave", and the first Heatwave was advertised for May 22, 1982, at the Cuban Club, with seven local bands, silent films, mime, theater groups, clowns, jugglers, a light show and a Carmen Miranda look-alike contest. 2000 people bought tickets for $7 and the station made a $10,000 profit, a bigger success than anyone anticipated. An annual event was born.          

          Each of the early Heatwaves got bigger, wilder and crazier than the one before.  In 1985 Bo Diddley was the first national artist booked; the Cuban Club Ballroom was so packed with people jumping with excitement during his set you could feel the old building shaking.  The next year, 1986, with Buckwheat Zydeco headlining, Heatwave almost lost control. By early evening the Fire Marshall said capacity had been exceeded  -  hundreds of people who had already bought tickets and others wanting to buy door tickets were still streaming into Ybor City.  Desperate people were scaling the walls and bribing ticket takers with money, drugs and sex. In those days coolers were allowed, and liquor flowed freely.  A skinhead contingent in the basement was getting overly rowdy, and there was the sense that Heatwave had spiraled out of control.

  

          The next year, 1987, to save Heatwave, sales were limited to 2000 tickets, ticket prices raised to $15 and greater concentration was made on high class music with first class sound. Two stages were set up in the Cuban Club Courtyard for non-stop music and dual headliners NRBQ and the Sun Ra Arkestra were booked. It sold out in advance. Many Heatwave veterans remember the 21-piece Sun Ra ensemble performance as one of the most thrilling Heatwave sets. 

          In the first ten years all the Heatwave activity took place within the Cuban Club's indoor and outdoor stages.  But just a few days before the 1992 Heatwave, the Cuban Club Ballroom was deemed unsafe by the Fire Marshall.  On short notice, friends at the Café Creole next door to the Cuban Club gave permission to build a stage in their parking lot for the displaced bands.   El Pasaje Plaza has been one of the main Heatwave stages ever since. The 1992 Heatwave was another special year with the transcendent and spellbinding performance of Aboriginal band Yothu Yindu, and the Florida debut of the very young blues artist Sue Foley.

          Heatwave was so successful we made it a two-night festival in 1993-95. Artistically these years were a huge success, but eventually we realized it is too much to expect people to come back for two nights; Heatwave, with the sensory overload, dancing and roaming from stage to stage, can be a exhausting, exhilirating experience that works best as a one-night blast. The two-night era provided the Heatwave or Florida debuts of  The Subdudes, Laura Love, Donna the Buffalo, and Jimmy LaFave.

          In 1996 and 1997 Heatwave spread across 9th Avenue to Ybor Square.   When that part of Ybor City shut down for commercial business we had to stop using that courtyard  but those Heatwaves gave us the idea for our current 9th Avenue street party.  For a few years around the turn of the decade we put a small, intimate Heatwave stage in the Cherokee Club above Café Creole; the debut of the previously unknown Chuck Prophet in that jam-packed, sweaty room in 2000 was a magical set in the Cherokee Club.  

  

 

          The Cuban Club eventually was renovated to bring back the ballroom and the fun of traveling up and down the decorated stairwells, with fabulous music on each end.  The bottom floor of the Cuban Club was remodeled as well.  The punk rock sweatbox known affectionately as The Basement became reborn with air conditioning as The Cantina and turned into the venue where some of the most intimate and memorable Heatwave sets take place. Melissa Ferrick, Kinky, Spam All Stars, Dismemberment Plan, and Th' Legendary Shack Shakers provided unforgettable Cantina sets.

          In recent years we have taken steps to make Heatwave more comfortable by spreading out the crowds to create more space for everybody.  We have moved beyond the Cuban Club block, adding Heatwave venues at the Orpheum and New World Brewery.  Vendors are no longer in the courtyards but they are all on 9th Avenue, which has become a popular place for social exchange and networking.  Even with record-setting crowds, there has been elbow room.

         In 2008 we had so many great bands from Louisiana we made one stage The Louisiana Stage, all bands from the Bayou State.  It was so successful that in 2009 we will have another Louisiana stage with Trombone Shorty, Bonerama, Big Sam's Funky Nation and more.


27 years of Tropical Heatwaves: the party never ends! 

6:00 AM 
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Thursday, January 03, 2008 

I spent the holidays reading  "Something in the Air", subtitled  "Radio, Rock and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation" by Washington Post writer Marc Fisher.  The book is a must-read for anybody who has experienced the magic of radio – it's the first (and probably the only) book on the fascinating evolution and history of radio.   It's also an important book for anybody involved in WMNF programming or programming discussions.

Fisher starts his story in the post World War 2 years when many people thought television would kill radio. But that was just the beginning of radio's real golden age. Radio rocked, rolled and was reinvented over and over – the Top 40 concept which united a generation with outrageous promotions and crazy DJs like Murray the K, Alan Freed, Wolfman Jack, Cousin Brucie (transistor radios!); then the influence of pioneers in the sixties including raconteur Jean Shepherd, and Bob Fass' free-form radio at WBAI, and Tom Donahue in San Francisco with the birth of underground radio (which Lee Abrams cleaned up and homogenized to make AOR); Bill Siemering's experiments in Buffalo that led to NPR, "All Things Considered" and "Fresh Air"; Garrison Keillor (and NPR's subsequent retreat from diversity and risk-taking when consultants entered the picture); WHUR's  "360 Degrees of the Black Experience"  which evolved into urban radio;  radio's splintering into niche audiences;  the advent of shock jocks Howard Stern and Don Imus who led the switch from music to talk. Almost all the successful radio talkers including  Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck and Tom Leykis were originally Top 40 jocks who made their living spinning the hits.

Fisher writes in an energetic, entertaining style that makes the book an easy read on contemporary history.  He details the way research once informed creative decisions but that radio's reliance on research has now created a dead end,  leading to bland, highly formatted programming, the better to sell commercials to a very narrowly defined audience, but the worse for music. A fascinating chapter takes you inside a research session done by an oldies station trying to find the specific old songs that will appeal to younger listeners, that will cause the fewest number of listeners to react negatively.   Radio has become boring and predictable, stations sound the same no matter where you are.  DJs are not only stripped of personality; they usually don't even do shows live.  Consolidation has made research and standardized formats obligatory as few stations are independent; there's no local staff, news department, or local component. 

The intimate connection between the DJ/radio performer, the music and the audience has diminished and nearly disappeared in Clear Channel America. It can never be replaced by downloading or podcasts, which lack the immediacy of a live broadcast. Nor is the local sense of community possible to replicate on satellite radio.  Lee Abrams, who sterilized underground radio to create AOR in the seventies, is now the program director of XM satellite.  Abrams claims he joined XM to recreate the magic of radio with programmers who can play the music they love,  but the sterile sound of satellite radio is no accident.  Fisher quotes a memo from Abrams to the FM staff with the instructions; "Don't surprise people."

Radio is in bad shape in 2008, but where does this leave WMNF?  Reading Fisher's book encourages me.  Our strengths – diversity, personality, unrestricted playlists, authenticity, localism, live  -  are the qualities missing from radio today.  I believe more than ever, people will be hungry for what we offer.   We need to emphasize these qualities.

We need to be more than ever COMMUNITY radio.   Nobody else can be about Tampa Bay like we are.

  • Talk about what is happening right here in Tampa Bay.   What are people talking about in our neighborhood?  Local politics, local music events;  local sports teams.
  • Music programmers-  play local music.  Make Tampa Bay music part of your playlist every show.
  • Interact with listeners.  Invite them to comment or request.  Tell listeners what other listeners are saying, read their e-mails.
  • Nobody else has a mission  (point of view, statement of values)  like WMNF.   We need to put our mission and values upfront and center   

 I believe that stressing our local connections and unique philosophy will not only strengthen our ties to listeners right here in our community, but will make us a more interesting station on the internet.  With tens of thousands of internet stations there is every possible format dozens or hundreds of times over.  But a unique station like WMNF, sounding like no other station and all about a specific community, will be compelling to people who don't even live here.   

I encourage you to read "Something in the Air".   If enough people read it I'll schedule a book discussion.

Randy Wynne, WMNF Program Director             1/3/08

7:18 PM 
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