Artists to launch Internet radio station
Members of Portland's music and arts community know they contribute a great deal to the city's economy, but they never had a voice to trumpet their contributions until now.
Next month, the Maine Radio Project is scheduled to launch and give the city's musicians, artists and writers a free, non-commercial forum to broadcast locally produced programming and performance listings in the area, according to Jason Basiner, who serves on the new radio station's board of directors. The station will be broadcast online only at www.maineradioproject.org.
Jessica Lauren Lipton, owner of the Sylvia Kania Gallery in Portland, came up with the idea for the radio project to fill a free-form radio void in the city.
"I was thinking about the sheer amount of local music that we have and thought, what if we started our own Internet radio station that could feature the wealth of creativity we have here?" says Lipton. "We could feature music from every genre, interviews with artists and creative persons, discussions about art, life, philosophy."
Lipton worked with Marc and Gina Bartholomew, owners of Acadia Recording, and a small group of people with various Portland music and arts backgrounds. The group is now meeting regularly.
"We're trying to fill a void of locally generated and free-form content in Maine radio broadcasting," says Bartholomew.
Basiner says the new Internet radio station will give local artists the play time they can't get on other stations in the city. "Being a local recording artist myself with my band, This Way, it can be a struggle to get regular airplay on the three or so radio stations that will feature local music from time to time," he says.
He says the radio stations that do play local music are strictly formatted to suit their specific audiences, advertisers and underwriters. "If an artist doesn't fit into the specific format that particular station adheres to, there are no other options for radio play," he says.
Basiner says the ability to reach more people over the Internet could help the region's arts and music-related businesses and performers sell more of their products.
"There are no restrictions or quotas, it is free form and because it will be broadcast on the Internet, Portland's creative community has a unique opportunity to get their music and ideas not only to a Maine audience, but to a global audience," he says.
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