A Break and The State of The Show

Dec 2, 2012 by Justin Wayne

Hello there fellow independent music lovers, long time listeners and first-time visitors.  I hope that Thanksgiving and the end of November meets you well and that your holiday shopping is nearly done.  If you’re like me still looking at a big goose egg in the column of presents bought, then a solemn nod to you as well.

First off, we’re taking a break from now until mid-January and I want to tell you why.  I also want to tell you what our plans are for the future after nearly five years of providing you with an independent music show because if you so desire, you can be a part of the change.

This break is for many reasons but primarily because I need to get my bum in gear and finish my dissertation for my Masters in Electronic Publishing.  Luckily, I’m working on a project that will build a prototype system for DJs, presenters, music bloggers, and the like to share music, create playlists, and organize their music libraries more efficiently.  Producing shows takes a lot of work and when you’re doing nearly everything on your own, anything to save time is welcome and I think I can help.

The Justin Wayne Show has been a project of mine now for five years.  It was conceived on the chair lifts of Red Lodge, Montana with my good friend and fellow DJ Bill Buckner who asked me, “Why couldn’t you just do something like that yourself?”  It’s been an amazing five years but one thing I’ve had to learn over and over again it seems is that I can’t do this alone.  At least, not to the high quality and reach that I feel these artists deserve.  For this reason, I have always looked to linking up with others in this same pursuit as well as finding ways to use the technology to my advantage.  I also went back to school, as I knew I needed to learn more about these web technologies which will power the radio of the future.

One thing I have tried over the years is to work with other podcasters and broadcasters in different capacities.  The first was the Association of Music Podcasting which has been a positive experience from day 1 and with the wide support of different podcasters all over the world I have really enjoyed and still do to this day  We just developed a HTML5 playlist player for all podcasters with the hard work being done by Yannick of Euterpia Radio, and we plan to do more for the podcasting community.

I also worked with Recharged Radio for almost three years helping them build their station from one show to thirty, and this was an experience that not only got be back into the live broadcast seat (instead of just prerecorded podcasting as I had done before) but also recruiting and managing DJs (called “Presenters” in the UK) virtually from all over the world.

Shortly before I left Recharged, I was accepted to the MSc in Electronic Publishing program at City University London and much of what I have learned since has been invaluable to the work I’ve been doing with my show and – something else I began doing after The Justin Wayne Show began – building websites the music industry.  Mainly, I have been most interested with the growing influence of mobile and “other screens” connected to the internet, the new web technologies emerging including HTML5, and how broadcast radio fits into it.

There was a point where I asked myself, “What am I really doing this for?  What do I really love about what I’ve done over the last five years.”  Great questions and perhaps questions I should have answered long ago.  I realized not too long ago that I really loved working with the independent, upcoming musicians; that I was OK with the fact that many would “graduate” to a higher echelon and I would not play them anymore on the show.  The best part was seeing these artists find a way, and giving them a bit of airplay, an interview, or directing them to an independent label or manager – helping them along and contributing to the process.

AND (a bit “AND” here) we do this because we love giving  listeners a place where they know they can come for quality independent music chosen by actual human beings and not some sort of computer algorithm.  Without you, we would have nothing here.

But… I also knew that I wasn’t satisfied with what I was doing and that I could do better but I simply did not have enough time to accomplish what I wanted on an extremely part-time basis.  I had to work to make ends meet and the Show was currently something not generating any income.  This left me with the question, “Could I make this my career, doing exactly what we’re doing now?”

“Could I make a living producing and promoting new music on The Justin Wayne Show?”

This is what I want to find out.

We are going to be experimenting with a few different formats of expansion and toying with the format of the show and other shows in the coming year, however we are going to need your support, feedback, guidance because we want you to come along with us.

Comment below and let us know what YOU think we should do.  We’re already brewing some ideas with some great people from around the world but we would love to hear what you think.  Would you like to be involved?  Please let us know.  You can also email me at jw (at) thejustinwayneshow (dot) com.

A few things you can know now:

• It will not remain just The Justin Wayne Show.  The show will remain but there will be a bigger organizational name you’ll start to see next year.
• There will be more shows.
• We will broadcast live and send out podcasts of the complete shows.
• We will stick to unsigned and independent music completely.
• We will be including young people and others who want to break into the radio industry as presenters, DJs and producers.
• We will be trying to make money both on the website and on the shows – let us know if you have any ideas on this.  What should we do? What should we NOT do?
• We DO NOT wish to alienate any of you.  Especially if you’re still reading this long Jerry Maguire-like manifesto.  So, get in touch if we do something wrong or something you don’t like.

If this all sounds good to you, become an Insider by joining the mailing list below.  You’ll be the first to know about the upcoming changes and take part in the process as I have outlined above.  The subscription form will appear below.

That’s it for now.  I’ll leave you in a little bit of suspense until we come back mid-January.  We’re also going to have a huge blowout five-year birthday bash with the best songs from the last five years, visits from some of our favorite artists and all that.

I look forward to talking with you and we’ll see you in the new year.

All the best,

~JW

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