AAA Radio and Local Scenes

Here's an article about how the AAA radio format is important in Austin but is non-existent in Raleigh, NC.

Some AAA stations actively support their local music scenes and others do not. The article explains some of the reasons why there aren't more AAA stations around the country.

newsobserver.com | Why the scene isn't heard on local stations: "After Scott Gilmore moved to Raleigh from Austin, Texas, four years ago, he scanned the radio dial in search of a particular kind of station. He was 30 years old, an active music consumer and club-goer.

"Gilmore wanted to find a commercial station reflecting that sensibility -- one playing a mix of local and national acts, plugged-in to the local music community. He was looking for a Triangle equivalent to KGSR (www.kgsr.com), Austin's flagship 'Adult Album Alternative' (Triple-A) station. KGSR plays current acts such as Beck and Gomez alongside Kris Kristofferson, Lucinda Williams, Joe Ely and other Texas acts, plus adult-alternative standbys including John Hiatt and Shawn Colvin.

"He never found anything like KGSR in the Triangle, at least not on the commercial end of the dial.

"'The closest thing we have to that here is college radio, which is so minute by comparison,' says Gilmore, who works as local director of operations for Sonic Drive-In. 'When I go back to Austin, it's almost like you can get the current pulse of the live venues and music scene there just from listening to KGSR. ... This cool inter-dependency between the local scene and the radio, they both help each other out.'"

music scene
music promotion
Austin