Community Radio Is Still Vital, Especially in Places With Spotty Reception
Thinking outside the social media box when it comes to music promotion.
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When it comes to finding new ways to promote albums for Mama Mañana Records, I find myself going old school - which is how Zivi and I found our way to the local indie radio station yesterday.
If you’ve ever been to Santa Fe, you’ll understand why the radio is still handy in the car. Even if you’re in one of the most popular parts of town, there’s a good chance you won’t have great phone reception. Go anywhere outside of the main drags, and good luck finding enough signal to stream music. It’s also why I’ve returned to having CDs in the car.
We’re lucky to have some nice radio station choices outside the usual Clear Channel crap, and 98.1 Radio Free (Europe) Santa Fe is usually where I land if I’m cruising the dial. As someone who credits college radio as the reason I got into an array of music genres at a young age, it’s also nice to have a morning DJ like Honey Harris, who started out on college radio back when college radio became “college radio.” A true pro and a local legend.
As a fan of the label, she was more than happy to have Zivi on yesterday to play his new single, “Move Along,” talk about his upcoming record, and his show with Mikaela Davis (her new album And Southern Star is fantastic if it’s not on your radar) at Meow Wolf this weekend. Hell, I even got in a few words!
For someone that doesn’t love the social media part of all of this, mixing in the old-school promo and refreshing to reach listeners from a different approach besides buying Instagram ads or punching at the Spotify algorithm is fun. I can leave most of the radio programming these days, but these local indie stations are vital to the community - check back in with yours if it’s been a while!
If you're interested, you can listen at the link below. Thanks again to Honey and Chris, their program director, for having us out. If you’re a local reader, we’d love to have you at the show Sunday night, and please say “hi” if you’re around!
Also, as often as I dump on Spotify, thank you for all of the streams for Zivi’s “Move Along.” We can’t wait to share the album with you next month.
Listen here 📻
Grab tickets for Mikaela Davis and Zivi at Meow Wolf here!
Do you still listen to the radio? What keeps you coming back in 2023? Let me know in the comments!