Re: Blues on The Radio

[Shawn Mamros <mamros@MIT.EDU>]

>And even college stations aren't as open minded
>these days...they'll have specialty shows for jazz,
>blues, folk, and so on, but you hardly, if ever, hear
>that music mixed in with the alternative rock they
>play. 

I can't speak for the other college stations in town, but at WMBR, the
music that gets played on any given show is solely up to the announcer/
producer's discretion, not the PD, MD, or anybody else.  If an alt. rock
show announcer wants to play blues, they can.  Some of our producers do
cross genre boundaries on their shows from time to time.  Likewise, producers
are free to propose a show that's completely free-form, without any single
focus on one style of music.  We haven't had a show like that in a while,
but that's only because there isn't anyone interested in doing one, not
because of any management decree.

At the same time, though, we're not going to mandate that alt. rock shows
play some blues.  We assume that our producers are closer to their audience
than we are, and that they (the producers) have a feel for what the audience
does (and doesn't) want to hear.

- -Shawn Mamros
Comptroller (and rare occasional fill-in announcer), WMBR Cambridge 88.1
E-mail to: mamros@mit.edu

------------------------------