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11 April, 2006
"Get Some West", a dream of a radio show

Back in 2003, I used to listen to the DJs on the University of Alberta volunteer radio station and think, "You know, I bet I could do that." So I did my requisite volunteer work (to show I was serious) and training (to show I could do it), and soon had a very late night weekly radio show.

It was fun because I got to play whatever music I wanted to play, which was generally music I liked. But a person can only have so much favourite music, and soon I found myself scrounging for songs to play. Since "my personal favourites" was no longer my modus operandi, I had no guiding principle. My show was just random tunes.

I began to evaluate my purpose as a DJ. Anybody could play random tunes. What was special about me that I could translate to my show?

As a musician, I've made musician friends simply by playing and attending shows. So I thought of doing an all-Edmonton show that focuses on independent artists like me. But an all-Edmonton show would be virtually impossible to maintain for a long time, so I decided on a western Canadian music show, with a strong emphasis on Edmonton.

It's been a year since I did my first edition of "Get Some West". It's starting to be quite fun. But why am I voluntarily submitting myself to the restriction of playing only independent local and western Canadian music?"

Well. First of all, most people think that musicians only come from the United States, the United Kingdom, Vancouver, or Toronto. A few people seem to know that musicians come from many different cities around the world, but they think those musicians always move to a "major centre".

Of course, the truth is that there are musicians everywhere, even St. Albert. (I've even played records from Salmon Arm, BC). With my radio show, I basically want to spread the awareness that musicians are just regular folk who live in your neighbourhood and who work regular jobs.

Only a minority of people who make music are celebrities or professionals. But music made by non-professionals is hardly inferior. In fact, it's often better, because non-professionals don't answer to non-musical pressures like public image and sales, so they can be limitlessly creative. I want to promote the idea of music as a common, accessible, creative activity that every can do and-most importantly-share.

Secondly, I want make music personal again. Sure, the "global village" that instant worldwide mass communications has created is great for learning about other cultures and sharing information. But a side effect of easy global communication is that we're losing touch with our own physical, brick-and-mortar, tree-and-flower, flesh-and-blood environment.

It's easy now to listen to Japanese post-rock and South African township jive, and it's great to do so. But most people use mass communication to access American crime drama TV shows and glossy American pop music. I want to help people plug into their own physical communities, communities that don't operate on a for-profit basis. (Of course, I don't complain about hanging out with cool people and having access to a huge music library.)

My point is that I want to promote getting our heads out of the clouds and putting our ears to the ground. As it stands, the guy who lives next door to my new condo has a son who owns a recording studio and has access to lots of current local artists. Wow. Cosmic.

(Catch Dave's show Tuesdays 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m on 88.5 FM. Visit http://www.cjsr.com for more information on the station.)

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