Broadcasting made easy

It may seem that the shows go fairly easy. We schedule someone, log into the website, and go on air. Unfortunately for us there are a lot more steps leading up to it. We are going to take a step by step look at the process that goes into making the shows you hear happen and run as smooth as possible.


1. First contact! We scout everywhere for our talent. We look high and low for some of the most talented and radio wave worthy music we can find. We find a lot of music on myspace. Myspace allows us to listen to it and see if we like it before actually contacting the artists or having to ask for music. Now that things are going and we have quite a few shows under our belt people contact us. We get emails via our myspace, facebook, and our gmail accounts. On occasion the artists even email Kristin at her personal email. Everyone helps out with scouting for music. Once the artists is found, the link to their webpage is passed around amongst all of us hosts for approval. If everyone or the majority of us agree on the artists, the information is given to Kristin (our booking agent) to be contacted. 


2. Continued contact! The first email is never the only one. There is usually many emails thrown back and forth between artists or manager and Kristin before a date is picked. An explanation of the show is usually thrown in there, with questions and concerns being filtered in on occasion. A date is decided and the next step is up.


3. Scheduling and Promotion! Once the date is set, we have to go to all the different Artists On Demand web pages to book the show. The first one is always the blog talk radio web site. This one will create a web address specifically for that show so we can use it to link all the guests. From there we have to hit up all of our websites.


http://www.myspace.com/artistsondemandradio
http://www.facebook.com/artistsondemandradio
http://www.artistsondemandradio.ning.com
http://www.artistsondemandradio.webs.com
http://www.twitter.com/artistsondemand


When we schedule on facebook, we also send out invites to all our friends, who will then in turn send out invites to their friends to spread the word. Word of mouth is our biggest means of promotion.  With the show scheduled, we usually create a banner for the artists so they can put it on their web pages to promote. We use a lot of status updates to keep the word out of any upcoming shows as well as twitter to get instant information out to our followers. 


4. Show prep! Even with the show booked and people set to come, we still have lots of work to do. The first is to get at least three MP3's from the artists for the show. This usually takes quite a bit more communication via email and phone. Once the songs are received, they usually have to be converted to the proper format to be uploaded to blog talk radio. All song that are uploaded to the show have to be labeled properly as well for easy access on the switch board. Everything on our switchboard is kept in alphabetical order. With music uploaded, the last preparation is to have the outline written up for the show. The outline is handled with a generic layout. We always make sure to ask the bands about their albums, tours, fans, concerts, and inspirations. The second half of the show is dedicated to having fun and asking totally random questions to allow the listeners to get to know the personalities of the band a little better. 


5. SHOW TIME! When it is time for the show, we usually have three people working on it at the same time and from all different parts of the world. If you are unaware... we have 4 hosts/staff and they are all in different areas. Five staff if you count our guest host that shows up randomly.


Nikki - Maryland
Vicky - Liverpool
Kristin - Florida
Megs - Washington
Dan - California


Most interactions are done through IM's or via phone calls. Sometimes even Skype calls. One of us, normally Kristin, runs the switchboard screening calls. All callers are screened and their names and purpose are input into a little spot for the hosts to see. That way we avoid crazies and picking up wrong lines. The two people hosting, which is normally Nikki and Vicky with Kristin and Megs filling in when they are unavailable, pick up any lines for people that need to be on air. At the same time all three people are monitoring the chat room and interacting with the listeners. The bands/artists sometimes make up user names and chat in the chat room as well. 


6. After show! You would think that once the interview is done, our jobs are done. This is not the case. We have to close up the chat room first and foremost. From there we have to update any statuses that talk about the "upcoming show" and change it to how the show went or another show that is up and coming. We also have to email the band/artists the links to the site where a recording of their show can be found. The final step is to make sure the rating on the show is correct before it goes over to iTunes for downloading. 


The show is over!


This is the long... and yes I promise you it is Looooong promise of what goes into the show. It wouldn't go smoothly without the collaborative help of everyone involved. Any questions? Let us know!

A necessary Thank You!

We believe that the proper way to start this blog is to give a huge thank you out to the people responsible for bringing all of us together. Nikki, Vicky, Kristin, and Megs all met through the 100 Monkeys Fan Club, an L.A. based band. Vicky thought up the idea of having a radio show and brought it to Nikki's attention. The two of them had met through a mutual love of the 100 Monkeys. From there, the girls started doing shows about bands and artists they knew of and were fans of. From there, Nikki and Vicky met Kristin through the Official 100 Monkeys Fan Club (www.official100monkeysfans.com) and brought her on to handle the booking of bands and talent. The show took off over the summer of 2009 and soon was too much for the three girls, so they brought on another host, Megs, who was also introduced to the girls via the fan club. 

So as you see... we would like to give a big thank you to the 100 Monkeys for introducing us to each other and helping us form these life long bonds of friendship.

We highly recommend you all check out the 100 Monkeys music at http://www.100monkeysmusic.com and their official fanclub at http://www.official100monkeysfans.com.

Just Wanted to Say Hey!

Hey everyone!

I have to say that I'm excited about this blog. I think it is a wonderful idea, because there is a lot that gets put into these shows and not to mention we aren't able to cover everything about an artist in one hour. Amazing, I know. So this is awesome.

I guess I wanted to start with a little story today.

As everyone knows I was an active fan of Artists on Demand before I was made host. My first show as host I did not really understand that it would lead to something awesome. It was my job to ask the hard sometimes absurd questions to the lovely Nikki, Vicky, and Kristin. I was stoked because they were all becoming good friends of mine. So I wanted to ask the best questions and when I mean the best I mean the most random and the most perverted. Let's be honest here. So I prepared for a day and a half on questions. Came to show time and it was just an absolute blast. So when I was asked to do more shows and to be a part of the Artists on Demand family I was both surprised and excited.

There are not many chances that you get to do something that is both fun and a learning experience. Trying to put together amazing fun shows. Learning the small delicacies of broadcasting. And making sure that our guests are comfortable. If we are all able to do this then our mission was complete.

Our first post!

Well, it has been a long time coming. Artists on Demand has been growing and changing for months now. We went from not being known and having one show a month that may or may not have had a guest to having numerous shows a week. Some of our guests are known, but the majority of them are unsigned and/or indie bands that are trying to get their name out there.

It came to our attention that a lot of people are not only interested in the music, but the artists as people. Having constant contact with them while leading up to a show, we learn to get to them more, and even become friends with some of them.

This blog is going to be the place for you to come and get all the behind the scenes details about the show! We will tell you the process we go to in order to ensure each show goes off without a hitch, coming up with new ideas, and anything else we do that has to do with the show. We will also do music reviews on all the bands we have on the show, and even some music that we don't, but feel everyone should hear.

So tune in and check... follow us... and leave comments to let us know what you think.