Author: Jay Goldberg
My decision is in. I am putting “this month in rock music history” on hold and will proceed with generating content for syndication. While I did not have a significant enough number of responses to my survey from two months ago to place any statistical significance on the results, it did yield me information I am using to shape the syndication content.
First, all responses were fine with me having a sponsor for these free to radio stations syndicated shows. Next, the vast majority were okay with me releasing limited run series as opposed to committing to an ongoing weekly show. Here I will offer series of shows in bulk so stations can program them how they like (e.g. one hour once a week, two hour blocks once a week, an all day special, etc.).
The response that was most conflicting was the amount of programming I should provide for a one hour block. The answer selected most was 55 minutes – this allows for the 4 minutes of commercials and one minute for a combination of station ID and promo. However, in second place was 52 minutes. I'll decide how to approach the length soon.
What I do long term with syndicated shows will depend on how many stations like the shows and want to carry them on their stations. Many stations will result in a consistent show, while fewer stations will result in different themed shows.
My initial release (I consider it my market test), will be a themed show and the sponsor will be my book Building a Successful Business. For those of you who read some of my earlier columns, you will be familiar with some of the topics in my book since I wrote about them here (e.g. business plans, branding, market research, etc.). If I remain in the themed show sets it will be because I don't get enough stations to acquire an outside sponsor. If I get a lot of stations, then I'll move to releasing blocks of a consistent show. I'll see where I stand after looking at how many stations play my market test shows.
What will my first themed set be? I will release eight one hour blocks of cover songs. In next month's column, I will have a link to one of the available shows for radio station owners to listen to and a way for them to get on a list to receive the eight shows with the corresponding CVS files required for uploading the show to your Live365 song library.
I have an idea of what four of the shows in the eight show series will be (not necessarily in order):
- Sixties Covers
- Classic Rock Covers
- New Wave Covers
- Cover Dance Party
For the music this month I will share two recent indie/small label albums where I added multiple tracks to the station.
No Profit in a Peaceful World by Tony Butler
Butler was the bassist for the band Big Country. He joined Big Country in 1982 and remained with them until 2000. He briefly rejoined the band for reunions in 2007 and 2010–2012. Butler has also collaborated with artists like Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and The Pretenders. Here are the six songs I added to my station:
“I Call It 'Home'”
“No Profit in a Peaceful World”
“Welcome”
“Echoes Of Your Voice”
“Loving This World”
“In My Dreams”
Kept by Rioghan
Rioghan is a Finnish progressive metal band founded in 2019 by singer and poetess Rioghan Darcy. Initially a solo project by Darcy, Rioghan evolved into a full band with the addition of multi-instrumentalist Teemu Liekkala and drummer Valtteri Revonkorpi. In 2024, guitarist Tero Luukkonen and bassist Antti Varjanne joined the lineup, solidifying the band's latest lineup. And while they are considered metal, they have songs that crossover to alternative rock. Here are the four songs I added to my station (and all four have a category code that puts them in an elevated rotation on my station):
“Here”
“Hopes”
“Skin”
“Dreams”
All "The Music Scout (Alternative)" content rights reside with the author.
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