Hey Mr Redjam do you fancy presenting a radio show?

CHRIS REDJAM, MUSIC PRODUCER AND PRESENTER “Hey Mr Redjam, do you fancy presenting a radio show?”

It was 30th October 2021, on a peaceful Saturday afternoon, I was in the company of my favourite Rombouts filter coffees and a lemon incense stick remixing a track I was working on in Redjam Studio A in deepest Somerset at the time. The question regarding the radio show came during a phone conversation I was having with one of my greatest friends of the last 15 years Drew “Drewbag” Armstrong. It was asked in his usual casual manner in the middle of a discussion we were having relating to the multifarious benefits of certain types of plug-ins for music production that were currently available.

I considered, thought-through and gave Drew my response to the radio show question in under one second which is quite normal for me and then instantly formulated a dozen questions in my mind which, knowing me as he does, Drew had clearly anticipated and before I was able to draw a deep breath and begin to verbally scatter gun him he simply and clearly stated

“The Answer’s Yes What’s the Question”

It was a tacit assumption; however, that all the information that is already known was contained in that one statement.

There was a momentary pause before Drew broke the silence to inform me that he was part of a relatively new venture for Aspen Waite into the zany world of owning a radio station and that was the stations motto. Wow I replied, rather cautiously, and then continued to fire, much to Drews amusement, several questions at him all at once not quite convinced at this point that I could present a radio show in any manner I chose with whatever song content I wanted, (this has subsequently been aligned to Ofcom guidance without ever breaking it). Drew knew my music taste already and indicated the station would be receptive to a new show playing songs of my “alternative music taste” I sent Drew a short, recorded example that same afternoon of what I felt the show could sound like. The following week a proposed start date was given to me for my first show, a virtual meeting arranged with Craig, and it was off we jolly well go on Saturday November 13th at 8pm for 2 hours of my alternative song choices every week.

Fast forward to February 2022 and I’m now 14 Radio Shows in. I’ve got to know several very creative individuals and spent lots of time with Calum Waite who I did know before and had done some studio recordings with. I’ve also communicated with and got to know hundreds of bands and artists of whom I probably would have never heard of, and I enjoyed a very pleasant Saturday afternoon in the company of Paul Waite who has subsequently asked me to write this article.

It’s a natural assumption for anyone that knows me to think the show would be about music and as I appear to have an inherent affinity to talking, rather a lot, so no one seemed particularly surprised about me presenting a radio show in the way they would have if I had said I’m going to have flying lessons. The easy answer to what I play on the show is anything I want both old and new that I like, most people quickly make the connection on what that is likely to be.

All of my old, and new, friends and family are now aware of my latest adventure, I’ve had a few, and the question that I regularly get asked is “what sort of music do you play on your show?”

The station set me up initially to be called The Alternative Rock Show which I swiftly requested to be changed to the Alternative Music Show before the first one was aired. I play music from any genre that I find (or now finds me as seems to be the case) and am particularly drawn to artists and bands that follow their own musical path true to their creative inspirations, irrespective of what others are doing and any commercial viability. The show has naturally evolved into a platform for new music and I am being contacted and followed on social media by lots of bands, artists and music support sites, that are interested in engaging with me and the show, in what seems to have been a fairly short period of time since I aired my first one in November last year.

I have been asked my views on the station by several different people connected to it and although everyone will have their own view, and most are likely to differ from each other mine has been consistent from the start and has now been reinforced by Paul’s recent email regarding the monetisation of Aspen Waite Radio and as such this opens up a number of discussion points.

The name of the radio station is one topical question and whether it should be changed has been an active talking point. I think it depends on several things.

The first is are we keeping DAB? it’s very expensive to have the licence so it is worth it? If yes it won’t draw music listeners in by default if that’s what we want it to do and ultimately, it’s just a name and like band names it soon becomes associated with a particular style, sound or image anyway.

DAB will be more appealing to advertisers and sponsors locally however - it’s a high price to pay for that but it could at least partly be recovered as more advertisers buy airtime. It’s worth keeping locally either way if we can make it pay.

Do people listen to DAB radio for business and financial advice? I don’t think they do enough to justify a DAB licence, I think what they will listen to is a phone in type show where questions can be asked either live or by listeners sending in questions that are then answered by an informed specialist whilst the show is on air. The station could easily set up a What’s App Group for this and all other shows for engaging with listeners, it’s quicker and more user friendly than emails or station contact forms.

None of the bands I speak to and play have ever questioned the name of the station, they don’t care what it is as long I’m playing their songs. The bands and fans of the bands I’m playing will only listen to my show on the station and maybe Calum’s and Sam’s but that’s fine as the rest of the station content is unlikely to appeal to them. I’ve checked this with several of my friends but it’s not that big a deal, BBC Radio has distinctively different stations that all have their own identity. It’s unlikely that anyone listens to all of them.

We have one station, so can it have various shows all with their own distinct identity?

Ithink it can with themed shows and more emphasis on listener engagement. We have one station that needs inclusive specialist content to replace some of the current blandness, that I don’t think anyone is listening to, from the current schedule. This will attract advertisers. The global identity will then be more about the entertainment and engagement content of the station, and less about the name, if the monetisation options are to be fulfilled.

The overall station identity is still being developed and may take some time to establish globally, so when Aspen Waite Radio is mentioned in the future there will be a connection as to what content is likely to be on it - so that’s currently work in progress. If we have no DAB licence and just have an online presence the name will matter less. People will accept whatever it’s called if they like the content. TikTok for Pandora’s Box figures proves that, and equally the poor views for the stations You Tube channel tells its own story. The right social platform for each show needs careful consideration with the right content being created for the intended end user - and then an all-out marketing assault to promote the content accordingly needs to be planned specifically for each social platform. I prefer AWR as the station name either way, but we will all have our own view on that.

As well as my own show Paul has given me use of the top floor of Rubis House to set up a recording studio, this will enable me to invite bands and artists in to record exclusive sessions for mine and any other shows on the station, we could then licence the recording rights to the sessions and release them on our own AW record label. The studio could also provide us with facilities to produce in house adverts for future advertising customers. I have also contacted a friend of Calum and I who is the head of commercial music at Bridgwater college with a view to forming a link with them that would allow a student night show run by students in return for the station to display materials at the college and presenters doing talks to the students about how their shows are created. This is a win-win. I also think we should be looking for sponsorship opportunities with any relevant local events like SomeRock and any other associated events that would have a mutual benefit.

In summary, the station has masses of potential and as Paul has clearly communicated his wish is for it to be monetised everyone needs to understand their role and responsibilities within this. I think all show presenters should be actively promoting their own shows across the relevant social media platforms and building their own profiles like Calum has done with TikTok to engage with and grow their listenership to support the great work Lara does for the station with her graphics and media releases.

I understand Calum is now directing the radio show content, schedule and presenters’ profile with Paul taking more of an executive director role. I see this as an important step for the station as Calum has already demonstrated the potential his own show has and is now well on the way to a million views on his Pandora’s Box Tik Tok channel created from scratch by Nathaniel only a few months ago. This is a phenomenal achievement in what has become a very crowded platform and will be monetised accordingly in due course. The station has got the potential to have a very bright future once it has a true understanding of exactly where its listener base is going to come from and has the relevant presenters and shows accordingly. The answer is yes

so let’s ask the right questions.