December 13, 2011 Music » Music Features

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Plaza Midwood Community Radio makes waves 

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click to enlarge FOUNDING FATHERS: Scott Slagle and Jason Michel of Plaza Midwood Community Radio

  • FOUNDING FATHERS: Scott Slagle and Jason Michel of Plaza Midwood Community Radio

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"It's only named that because this is where it's coming from," Michel says. "But this is something for anyone in the city or region. I've always had a longing for a community space that showcases the creative output, the social-activist output, and the way we look at things that are happening in the world."

Souvlaki Space Station rolls into Gregory Isaacs during Jason Herring's Wednesday afternoon "Fizzy Pop Rivers" show. Jeff Rehnlund's "Medieval Arab Lesbians" on Wednesday nights features a range of experimental music. DJs spin live from Snug Harbor on Monday nights ...

Charlotte doesn't currently have much radio that offers local musicians opportunities to get their music heard. Radio personality Divakar, at 106.5 FM, is the lone beacon at corporate radio to broadcast regional rock during his weekly show "90 Minutes" on Sundays. Gastonia's 90.7 FM, WSGE, mixes a few locals into its Americana and rock offerings. You can hear some (but not much) local hip-hop and R&B on Power 98 and on 103.3 FM, WGIV. And some Spanish-language AM stations give time to area acts that play norteño and rock en español.

PMCR is different, in that it welcomes all kinds of music. Within a week after the station went live, more than a dozen local musicians and potential hosts contacted Slagle and Michel.

"I got involved because PMCR is a rare opportunity in Charlotte to get music out that people wouldn't normally hear," says folk yowler Andy "The Doorbum" Fenstermaker. "I collect obscure ethnic/indigenous records and [PMCR] is a perfect format to share these with my peers. Plus, it's insanely fun." Fenstermaker's wildly eclectic show, which he calls "The Weird World of Traditionally Unconventional Music," runs on Mondays at 6 p.m.

Among the other 20 to 25 people currently hosting shows are DJ and nightlife personality Scott Weaver ("Hotel Chaka"), Tara Flanagan ("My Period," which focuses on punk and sometimes women's issues), Justin Aswell ("The Loop Hole," eclectic sets of hip-hop), Corey Zeigler ("Corey's Hours of Powers," his self-proclaimed "best recordings in history"), Flock ("The Other Side of This," mixes of funk and psychedelia), and Dirty Drummer ("The Zap Pow Sound System," featuring, among other flights of fancy, dub and Afrobeat). Michel and Slagle host shows, too.

"The more vocal the host is and the more they promote, the more popular a show is," Michel says. "The most we've had is 20 listeners at once and we get more than 100 unique listeners each day. As we go into a live format and someone is sitting here picking the songs, the hosts can play what they want, but in general we want to have it be a mixture of local with underground, regional and mainstream. Would peppering it with more national stuff be a more engaging draw? I have to wonder, if it's local only, will people give it a chance?"

Along with PMCR's new studio comes new bills, says Michel. Two fundraising concerts in 2011 paid for the station's application for nonprofit status and for royalties through Sound Exchange — roughly $500 a year to keep the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) off their backs. PMCR now has to worry about rent and the purchase of any new equipment or computer servers.

"There are a lot of free services out there with servers and ways to set it up. It's easy in that sense," Michel says. "It's harder to be legitimate as far as paying royalties and taking it to another level from just doing it in my living room."

Moving to the new location was timed with the station's redesigned website that includes an updated playlist. Michel and Slagle plan to create a database on which artists can link their songs to their websites and places to purchase music. The site also will include sponsors, and those in the top tier will get on-air mentions.

"The way I look at it, we'll find out really quickly if people give a shit," Michel says. "We just need to find 12 sponsors — one for each month, ideally — which doesn't seem too far out of the realm of possibility. We could also do a fundraiser show every three months to help keep it alive if we need to."

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