Music City Roots radio show offers new artists big stage - By Juanita Cousins in THE TENNESSEAN
Producers have made changes with Loveless Cafe’s radio show, Music City Roots, to give greater exposure to emerging artists.
The weekly variety program has moved to Lightning 100, WRLT-FM, and video is also broadcast on Livestream.com, allowing fans and first-timers to see and hear the acts for free on their computers or smart phones.
“The show’s vision was global from the beginning,” said Executive Producer Todd Mayo. “At Music City Roots everything we do is geared to letting the world see and hear the diversity of music we have in Nashville, shining a light on this great city and putting its musicians on a global stage.”
Mayo and Executive Producer John Walker modeled Music City Roots after the classic live radio variety shows that started on WSM-AM radio.
A year after its conception, Gaylord Entertainment, the company that owns WSM, the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium, wanted to own and control the show, Mayo said.
Saying the show was not for sale, the partners decided to sign a temporary contract with Lightning 100 this fall, and the Music City Roots show now airs there on Wednesday evenings.
“It isn’t a 100 percent Americana radio station, but they have a long history of supporting Americana music,” Walker said, “We are really excited about the places where we do have overlap. That is kind of the point of the show to create a platform globally that could broadcast the talent of Music City. We will be coloring outside of formatted lines because Music City has a diversity that other people don’t realize.”
The new broadcast on Lightning 100, WRLT-FM, began on Oct. 20 with announcer Keith Bilbrey. Host Jim Lauderdale and journalist Craig Havighurst remain with the program.
Live streaming allowed more than 10,000 people to hear singer Brandi Carlile perform Oct. 20. The production team uses a TriCaster, a 2-cubic-foot, 20-pound device that does the work of a traditional TV truck.
Starting at $7,000 per unit, the technology has made possible what would have otherwise been cost prohibitive, the producers said.
“It’s changing the way that music gets out to the world because no longer are you limited by geography and live audience but how you can expand the reach of your show,” said Philip Nelson, senior vice president of strategic development of NewTek, the company that created the portable live production unit.
The Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville Predators hockey club and others also use the TriCaster to broadcast online.
“The thing about Music City Roots is it is really (an attempt) to get Nashville back to what it was when Loretta Lynn showed up, met Patsy Cline and was performing at the Opry that weekend,” Nelson said.
“For years there have been gatekeepers for great shows, like television networks and radio stations; and now with live streaming there is no gatekeeper. It is in the eyes of a viewer to determine whether a show is interesting and has value.”
By Juanita Cousins
THE TENNESSEAN
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