Subject: Re: question to all you real radio dj's
From: kari orr <orrk@weiss.che.utexas.edu>
Date: 1997/05/08
Message-Id: <33723FD1.1B43@weiss.che.utexas.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.music.hip-hop

Suave wrote:
> If I am going to rebuild the homebase to try and compete with what fans
> have come to expect as hip hop (seeing is how the only stations that even
> touch hip hop are the two main college stations), where do I start?

have a lot of records. like at least 9 or 10 crates. seriously though
if you want to knock people out the box, you got to figure out what
the audience you want to attract wants.

picture this, a cold winter, after christmas. Red Koolaid and
the Mic Checka are following our arch nemesis, Brian Patrick.
He was the head dj at the station, and continually smiled
in our faces, and talked behind our back. He had all the connections,
he had the big l lp, months ahead of time, he worked on wu tang
videos. You know, his resume' was kinda thick. but he had a couple
of soft spots, he only played vinyl and cd's, and he didn't really
take requests.

so that night we were supposed to come right on after him, normally
there was an hour and 1/2 break between the main hip hop show,
and the house of phat beats "free form" show. We had a couple of
aces in hand, but tonight we would play a spade. the cats were pretty
much dead, the ones hanging out. les threw on a shyheim instrumental
i stepped to the mic, and we dropped 1.2 pass it, for 500,000 people
who've never heard it. brian's jaw dropped. the heads in the studio
woke up. from them on, we started to get the respect of the heads
in town. we had the records.

The key is figuring out what your heads want to hear. So the most
important thing that you can do is get the right records ahead
of everyone else. Now when it comes to underground tapes
and what not, you've got a headstart in terms of the internet.

but the staple of your show, will be what the major labels and
indy labels send you in the mail. so the next move is communication
With those people. there are two types, direct and indirect.
direct is calling the labels yourself, and sending them playlists of
the music that you play. if you have good representation as
far as your station has a name, or you've already been doing
street promotions, then your halfway in. You have to really talk
to these people, and get to know them. A good way to get them
on your side, is to report to the magazines, CMJ, Hits, Urban network
and most importantly Gavin. if you can report your playlist or
top ten to the mags, they put you on a list. So the promotion people
who's jobs depend on how well the record charts in a trade magazine,
now have a better reason to service you. As you develop a better rep,
you can start to ask for more, tapes of vinyl not coming out for a while,
t-shirt, cassingles and cds for giveaways on your show.

so at first, if you aren't connected with anything, fax your
playlist on station letter head to every hip hop/urban record label
and every magazine you want to report to. (you should be able to
get most the numbers you need from your radio stations music
director) and do this on a regular basis.

the indirect route is to go through a record pool. you pay
for records, and report to a pool leader.

if you can do both, more power to you. My partner handles the label
people, i got the local artists and the record pool. So when
suave forgets to send him the new tru, i got it from my pool
and he can use it. when he gets' an extra mean green 12", he slides
it my way.

once you are starting to get records from the majors, the next
target is the indies. same thing applies, but they don't care about
chart positions.

the next move is to get in touch with local big wigs. the club dj's
the mc's, the b-boys, the graf people. and give them the word about
your show. promote to your core audience first. the street promoters
should be able to hit you off with records and stuff to giveaway.

so from the top you trickle down. you want to street promote your
show, so at the clubs and the concerts hit people off with flyers,
go to record stores, car audio stores, high schools, public buses,
clothing spots, car wash, convenience stores,
pool halls, arcades, bookstands that carry hip hop mags(put a flyer
in the mag) any place that you go on the regular is where you
want to drop flyers. You know cats are going to eat, so drop flyers
in places like fast food restaurants, or grocery stores. and i mean actually
drop your flyers on the floor, you will get pushed out of many a place if they
think you are soliciting

on the homebase tip, figure out what the rules are, and if they don't
work for you, slowly break them.(somethings like the 7 dirty words can't
slide)

when it comes to equipment, just like skills, you should bring your own.
with your own equip, you know the strengths and weaknesses. with a radio
station, that doesn't really care, you don't know who was pretending
to be q-bert while the cd players were going. if at all possible,
convince your tech director to get equipment, but when he fails
use your contacts and connects to do so.

Am I
> going to be on the phone 24-7 trying to catch up with the record
> collection available at the comp?

no, label's don't send old records

Will my radio station provide the funds
> and means necessary? What about equipment?

they might get your phone calls, if you are calling in the name of your
station, but they probably won't spring for new equip unless it's broken
and there is a need.

> Do you provide your own,
> setting up the tables, mixer and shit every night?

sometimes

What is the best way
> to get indie connects and main record connects?

meet them in person. failing that talk to them.

>Do the majors just
> naturally send their promo radio albums/12"s without constant harassment?

no, you will get mad copies of the refugees all stars, but
you will never get the stuff you really want without making
it clear.

> This is my project, from ground one, top to bottom so all I'm looking for
> is experienced dj practices so I won't go out like the competition. I'll
> be fighting a 99% rock/alternative station with a .5% r∓mp;b time slot. I'm
> determined to get hip hop represented here...
the best thing you can do for your show is develop a good relationship
with everyone you touch. So the major and indy labels, and the locals
all need to know that you are really doing something. once you start
the ball rolling, things are easier.

when it comes to your show style, here are things i check for in
a college playlist

1. new joints (major and indy)
2. indy joints (in choosing between a good indy that is locally
available and a good major, go with the indy, the major
will be heard eventually)
3. local representation (freestyles, demos, local dj's, local
events promotion)
4. old joints (stuff from last year, stuff from 4 years ago,
stuff from 10 years et cetera)
5. breaks - this is the hardest part, but you want to educate them
about hip hop history as you they listen.

most fans check for 1 and 2, heads check for all 5.

you can't do it all by yourself, well you can, but the more people
that you can trust, that get behind you, the more
successful you will be.

good luck

k. orr
house of phat beats
KVRX 91.7 thursday nights 11-12:30
austin TX