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The question remains, how relevant is radio in 2015? Where once it was the proving ground for new artists, a place where listeners could discover new talent and song, radio has seemingly lost its place. I’ve “discovered” many artists through people sharing on Facebook pages, You Tube videos and online music streams. I have noticed that folk audiences tend to be late adapters to these new technologies, but that is changing. As a radio host, I realize that I need to find a compelling reason for audiences to make an appointment to tune in – or make the effort to listen to an archival recording as part of their personal schedule. Sharing topical songs and providing context is one way I try to offer something listeners won’t find on most streaming services or cookie cutter radio programs.

Offering interviews and live performances that listeners cannot hear anywhere else is another opportunity for radio to differentiate itself, and embrace emerging technologies. Many artists are doing live Internet streaming concerts. Why not offer similar services on terrestrial radio? While in-studio performances are not new, I do find many artists would rather “phone it in” – calling into a show instead of making an effort to appear live.

Providing information about what I am playing is another important difference that radio can offer. However, listening habits have changed and often people turn to the other streaming services to avoid listening to a DJ. So where does that leave me?

Well, it may sound old-fashioned or more than a tad egotistical, but I hope that they respect the choice of songs I share and the sequencing I use to present them. My hope is that I give my audience an entertaining blend that they will enjoy listening to. The art of the “segue”, the transition from one song to another, seems to be a dying art. The idea is to make one song flow into the next so that the listener is not assaulted when the songs change and they find it pleasurable. Yes, there are computer programs that can use algorithms to piece together songs in similar fashion, but there are emotions that are tweaked by the words in each song, and a good DJ can tell a story and show a connection between songs in ways that software have yet to accomplish. It is much more than just stringing together songs that deal with a subject like trains. As a DJ, you want to hold their interest and entertain while hopefully educating as well.

Actually, I prefer the title “program host” over DJ. I was once introduced to a much younger person as a DJ and was asked what “clubs” I “spin” in. As a program host, in addition to “spinning” songs, I try to impart information and chat with my guests in a way that will draw the audience in.

I don’t want to bore you with details, nor do I want to make it harder than it really is. Producing a radio show isn’t that hard if you plan accordingly. All it takes is some time, interest, and good ears. There is a perk, there is no heavy lifting.

What does all this mean for the folk artist? I hate to say it, but unless folk radio wakes up to the changes, it COULD mean that folk artists will need to shift their attention to a deeper embrace of the emerging technologies. David Rovics has built a sustainable career by working around the commercial and public radio stations who do not play him. He gives away his music but receives donations and bookings to compensate for his talents and convictions. This could be model of the future, a further step for the independent artist who no longer has record labels for support.

Yet, there are still hundreds of folk-based radio shows airing across this continent. As has been the case for the last few decades, the folk community will still remain a “fringe” group in the eyes of mass media. The corporations that control the commercial stations and satellite radio see folk music as a small market with little potential. Even public radio has become formatted and a number of shows have been dropped across the country. Still, the potential is there – and the more radio stations that wake up and see that they can incorporate the emerging technologies to their advantage, the more opportunities will arrive. It is pretty clear to me that folk radio as a whole needs to change its attitude. Too many shows operate as if it were still 1980. We can use technology to our advantage. Airing brand new songs about recent events is just a small step.

If we look back on the 1960s folk revival, FM radio was still in its infancy and there were fewer radio opportunities in 1965 than there are in 2015. Yet folk music flourished. The few radio choices we had then recognized that they were serving a community and gave them music and information they could not find elsewhere. In 2015, folk radio needs to continue that philosophy by incorporating new technology as part of the broadcasts. They also need to recognize what the streaming sources are not offering and find a way to serve it to their audiences.

Obviously, I only share my opinions. If I truly had all the answers, I would be not be worrying about surviving until my next paycheck and folk music would be heard in every household in the land. Perhaps we do not want to go back to the over-commercialized days of the folk revival when making a buck was the only reward.

I am not worried. I KNOW that the audience is there. I see them in the e-mails and phone calls I receive and in the audiences I witness at venues and festivals. There is an audience for folk music. There are many talented and committed people making music today that care about the quality of their music. Like Woody Guthrie once said, there will always be folk music because there’s “lots of folks.”  Let’s serve them right.

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