Featured Spotlight Station: UV - Ultimate Variety Radio

Live365's "Featured Spotlight Station" this week is UV - Ultimate Variety Radio! We spoke with Maggie Giamalvo about the station's setup, what listeners can expect to hear, and some of the station's biggest hits. Check out the interview below!

What brought you to Live365?
I was bored with listening to songs repeating 15 times a day on terrestrial FM radio. Even when I would channel surf between different genres, it was tiresome... and that's not what music is supposed to be. Music is supposed to be enjoyed. Owning a significant music collection, I decided to start UV - Ultimate Variety Radio for a pretty selfish reason. I wanted to be able to turn on a station and know that no matter when I tuned in, there would be a song playing that I enjoyed. Fortunately, my station was well-received and has been pretty popular.

What's your studio like?
Listeners don't tune in to hear me talk. I have a voice geared toward silent movies. So, since I don't talk on air, I really don't have any special equipment. I upload my CDs to my laptop and let the AutoDJ run things from there.

What can listeners expect when they tune in to your station?
Expect the unexpected. Really... I play everything I love to hear and that's music from all walks of life. Not only will you hear the hits from mainstream artists, but you'll hear some of their lesser known songs and songs from independent artists, too. Of course, there's rock, pop, country, R&B, and '80s. That's all very popular. I include American music that spans the 1940s to today, jazz, classical, bluegrass, rap, movie soundtracks, and much more.

What has been your favorite moment as a DJ/Station Manager so far?
It's really hard to pinpoint one favorite moment because there have been so many. One that was pretty darn cool, though, happened several years ago. My dad is a musician (Chuck Giamalvo) and I play his music. I used to run a report of my station statistics. Song popularity was one of the statistics I paid attention to. Seeing how excited my dad was on the day I was able to tell him he was more popular than Garth Brooks was a memorable day.

Another memorable moment was a time when LL Cool J replied to something I posted on Twitter.

What is the best concert you've ever attended, and why?
"Best" is so subjective and I've seen a lot of great concerts in my (nearly) 45 years on this earth.

When I was a little kid, we would go to these free Friday night summer concerts. I loved the music, but didn't realize my parents were exposing my sister and me to such music legends as The Mamas and The Papas, Three Dog Night, The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, etc.

Our local amusement park used to have a concert venue inside the park and I saw '80s acts such as The Jets and Debarge, country acts like Ricky Van Shelton, Sawyer Brown, Eddie Rabbit. Okay, Eddie Rabbit was a memorable concert because his band remembered meeting my sister and me after a concert 2 years prior and gave our family backstage passes. They didn't date them like they did for everyone else. They told us to laminate them when we got home and we could use them for ANY Eddie Rabbit concert we ever went to, anywhere he was playing. We used them on several occasions, until he passed. His band was really cool and I'm still friends with one of his roadies... 25+ years later.

Other great concerts were the Metallica/Guns 'n Roses stadium tour in the early '90s, every time I've seen Bon Jovi has been great, Alabama, Poison... so many incredible concerts.

Then, there was the road trip I took with my dad. An independent artist I had been playing for several years (Luke Pilgrim) was playing his hometown, about 4 hours from where we were working out of town. It was Father's Day weekend and we didn't have plans. So, we hopped in my truck and took off for the show... that night! We had a great time and my dad was happy I "dragged" him to the show. Of course, he still thinks I'm nuts for driving that far for a concert, though.

Maggie listed some of her favorite songs (in no particular order), below!

"Sweet Tea" by Luke Pilgrim
It's a fun, upbeat song that I came to appreciate the meaning behind while temporarily living in the south (NC).

"Pocket Full Of Change" by Chuck Giamalvo (link not available -- you'll have to tune in to the station to hear!)
My dad wrote this song after I told him a bar patron I was serving stuck his hand in his pocket, jingled his change around, and exclaimed, "I got a pocketful of change, but I ain't got no sense!"

"Enter Sandman" by Metallica
I think it's just a good rock song with a strong beat. It reminds me of the fun I had in college, too. The guys and I had an all-day Metallica listening party on the day their Black album was released. We got hammered and ended up with sore muscles for a week due to all the headbanging and moshing around our friend's livingroom. I'm pretty sure I was the only girl that dared show up... and somehow, I wasn't the person with the longest hair in attendance. Haha!

"We Weren't Born To Follow" by Bon Jovi
This is how I've always lived. I don't like to live my life the "normal" way and any time I've tried being "normal," I've regretted it. I wasn't born to follow the crowd.

"These Arms Of Mine" by Otis Redding
This is just a great soulful song. Plus, it was in one of my favorite movies, "Dirty Dancing."

"I'm Alright" by Jo Dee Messina
After leaving my hometown and living elsewhere for about 10 years, moving home for four years, and leaving for another four years or so, I lost touch with many of my old friends. Coming home, it's been great getting back in touch with them and really reconnecting. Plus, when I sing karaoke, I'm not very good but I tend to sound better when I belt out Jo Dee's songs. This and "Bye Bye" are two of my go to songs.

"If I Had $1,000,000" by Barenaked Ladies
Who doesn't like thinking about what they'd do if they had a million dollars?

I could keep going... haha!

Listen to UV - Ultimate Variety Radio on Live365.com, like them on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter!

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