Mike and Tara WhiStling while they carry the Live Music Torch
- October 6th - A singer/songwriter/recording artist from Australia – Chris Altman (Being broadcast live from the Cornerhouse at 7:30 to 9:30)\
- October 13th – Nemarket singer/songwriter Ryan Ainsworth. The show is beinig pre-empted by Stouffville Spirit game so we are recording in front of a live audience at Afters [the Cornerhouse rooftop lounge] and broadcasting it in its entirety Friday (14th) at 7:00pm.
- October 20th - Kim Brown. I am away that week so Tara is being helped out by Tania Senior.The show is beinig pre-empted by Stouffville Spirit game so we are recording in front of a live audience at Afters [the Cornerhouse rooftop lounge] and broadcasting it in its entirety Friday (21st) at 7:00pm.
- NO SHOW on the 27th
- November 3rd – is Chris Zealand
- November 10th – is Dave Lawlor The show is beinig pre-empted by Stouffville Spirit game so we are recording in front of a live audience at Afters [the Cornerhouse rooftop lounge] and broadcasting it in its entirety Friday (11th) at 7:00pm.
- November 17th – is Pierre Bordeleau and Andrew Heathcote
- November 24th - the last show for the Cornerhouse series until after the New Year is Kennedy Clarke
- December 1st – Justin Kerswil
- December 8th – John Lemme
- December 15th – Co-hosted by Tani Senior with special guests me (Mike Burns) and Pierre Bordeleau Christmas Special
- December 22nd – NO SHOW (Christmas Break)
- December 29th - New Years special – the year in review – bloopers, out-takes and hi-lights of NITE OUT from 2011.
YORK REGION TALENT MAKE MUSIC WITH NOTEWORTHY ON ROGERS TV
Friday, June 24, 2011 [YORK REGION] – From the beautiful and historic 19 on the Park in Stouffville Rogers TV presents Noteworthy, a new six-part series showcasing musicians from across York Region, Mondays at 8:30pm starting Monday, July 4 on Rogers TV, Cable 10/63.
Community Producer and Host Jim Priebe pitched the idea for a music show to Rogers TV as a way to shine the spotlight on local talent. The series includes performances by SOPE; Beautiful Flow; Black Lungs; Teal and Joyce; Alex Stratas; Marion Drexler; Boys N Girl; and Glenn Marais.
Don’t miss Noteworthy Mondays at 8:30pm with encore presentations Fridays at 1pm and Sundays at 7pm on Rogers TV, Cable 10/63. Check out the show’s webpage, http://www.rogerstv.com/Noteworthy for more detailed information.
Rogers TV is a unique TV channel where community members take an active role in conceptualizing and producing programming for local audiences. Our staff and volunteers produce informative and entertaining local programming, reinforcing Rogers’ commitment to the communities we serve. Rogers Communications is Canada’s largest provider of wireless voice and data communications services and one of Canada’s leading providers of cable television, high-speed Internet and telephony services. Rogers TV is only available to Rogers’ customers, including the company’s 2.3 million cable customers in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. For more information on Rogers Communications Inc., visit www.rogers.com.
Rogers TV serves the Regional Municipality of York. Rogers Cable 10 serves Newmarket, Aurora, Georgina, East Gwillimbury and Bradford West Gwillimbury. Rogers Cable 63 serves Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, and King. For more information on Rogers TV, visit www.rogerstv.com.
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Noteworthy to air starting July 4
Noteworthy will take to the airwaves starting July 4th. Noteworthy, hosted by me, showcases York Region musicians on Rogers Community Television in York Region. I’ll post more details as they become available.
Next week – 2 great events you don’t want to miss
Monday May 16th – Jim Hurst playing at the Earl of Whitchurch, 8:00pm
Jim Hurst is a multi-award winning guitarist in Bluegrass, as well as a contest winner in Country and other acoustic music genres. Jim is known throughout the Nashville TN area as one of the best in the business.
His talents of singing, multi-instrumentalist abilities and well-rounded stylings have garnered him support positions and recording sessions with some of the best artists in Country and Bluegrass music — Trisha Yearwood, Sara Evans, Holly Dunn, Claire Lynch, Travis Tritt, John Cowan, Mark Schatz, Tim O’Brien and others.
Jim is becoming known and respected as an artist and performer in his own right, recording and releasing his first CD “Open Window” in 1998. Following this project, he recorded and released two CDs with duet partner, award-winning bassist Missy Raines. “Second Son”, Jim’s second solo CD was released in 2002 to rave reviews and Bluegrass chart action. Jim’s most recent recording “A Box of Chocolates” was released in 2007, and has received outstanding reviews.
Jim has a multi-faceted approach to music and performance. His singing, guitar work, songwriting and live performances entertain with calm sincerity as well as high-energy and magician-like accomplishment.
Hurst was the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Guitarist of the Year in 2001 and 2002.
Wednesday May 18 and Thursday May 19
Join the studio audience for the taping of my Rogers TV mini-series Noteworthy. We’re taping at 19-on-the-Park, doors open at 6:00pm, no charge. Noteworthy showcases musicians from around York Region. You’ll see some great musical performances and meet some great musicians.
~Jim
York Region Fingerstyle Guitar Association
Whitchurch-Stouffville is home to a wide variety of great music and great events. Here is another example.
The York Region Fingerstyle Guitar Association is an offshoot of http://www.fingerstyleguitar.ca/ It was started by Brian O’Sullivan, Erwin Shack and Bob Vopni as a way to bring high quality fingerstyle guitar playing to the Stouffville area. As well as hosting a monthly open stage at The Earl of Whitchurch pub (http://www.theearlpub.ca/) on Mainstreet, we sponsor concerts and workshops in the area. This saves local fingerstyle guitar enthusiasts a drive to Toronto where they would have to pay for parking, etc. Our group also supports local businesses and cultural activities by adding entertainment value to our town. We regularly perform at the Stouffville Strawberry Festival (under the gazebo) and at other community events such as Markham’s Art in the Park or at the Latcham Gallery.
~ Jim
A Community Station for Uxbridge?
Recently I approached Conrad Boyce, editor of the Uxbridge Cosmos (http://uxbridgecosmos.ca/), about his perception of the interest in Uxbridge for a community radio station. I first met Conrad while I was launching WhiStle Radio. He was intrigued and supportive of the project.
I was subsequently interviewed by Cosmos reporter Nancy Melcher. You can read the article here:
Hopefully another community station will come of it!
Yours in Radio,
Jim
Bob Evans Concert May 1st – tickets are going fast
On Sunday, May 1st @ 2:00pm, the Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar Association, in conjunction with the Stouffville based York Region Fingerstyle Guitar Association, will be presenting Bob Evans in concert at The Earl of Whitchurch pub and restaurant. Bob is one of only two Canadians to have ever won the prestigious U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship (the other winner was Don Ross – Ewan Dobson managed to pick up a 3rd place finish a couple of years ago). Tickets are available at http://www.fingerstyleguitar.ca/ 30 tickets have already been sold. About 50 are available.
But wait, there’s more! May is Musical Madness Month in Stouffville. Other events include:
May 7th @ 7:30pm: The Men of Note present their Annual Spring Concert at Christ Church on Sunset Blvd, Stouffville. Visit http://www.menofnote.com for more information.
May 16th @ 8:00pm: A very special opportunity to hear award-winning guitarist Jim Hurst from Nashville in an intimate setting upstairs at the Earl of Whitchurch. (6204 Main Street). Jim’s acoustic guitar work includes bluegrass, country, and other genres. Check out his website at www.jimhurst.com. Tickets are $10 at the door.
May 18th, 19th – Yours truly is host of a Rogers TV mini-series focusing on York Region musicians. It will be filmed at 19 on the Park. We’re hoping for a good “studio audience” turnout. No charge. Details forthcoming.
~ Jim
Chubby Checker Meets Quantitative Easing
Monetary Policy with a Twist, from The Economist:
To lower long-term rates the administration of John Kennedy persuaded the Federal Reserve to co-operate with the Treasury in selling (shorter-term) bills and using the proceeds to purchase (longer-term) bonds. By altering the supply of different types of debt, the idea was to “twist” the yield curve. This came to be known as Operation Twist after the early 1960s dance craze sparked by Chubby Checker, a singer whose views on QE are not known.
The full article can be found at http://www.economist.com/node/18486271
An Open Letter to Anonymous
Recently I received a call from a show host who was lamenting a feeling of a dwindling audience for the show they hosted. This is my response:
Canadian Community Radio anywhere and everywhere struggles with audience and funding issues. That’s because Community Radio station has a different place in the radio spectrum. Commercial AM and FM radio stations are operated for advertisers who purchase advertising time in return for a measurable listenership. Satellite radio is run for the listeners, who pay a subscription fee. I will grant you that I don’t know what the CBC’s criteria is (and I say that as a big fan of many of their shows).
Community Radio is different, because it is run for the show hosts and other volunteers. This is summed up by the CRTC as “community access” – a community radio station must provide community access to programming. To say this a different way, the community station’s mandate is to create a structure so volunteers from the community can create programming. That’s what community radio stations are all about. That also means that funding and audience are, by design, secondary considerations in how the station is run, and so they are the weakest links in the chain.
Show hosts like yourself put in countless hours to make your show. I can’t tell you how much I admire the hosts and production volunteers at WhiStle Radio and other community stations. Putting in so much time week after week is a massive commitment, and to keep going it has got to be a labour of love. If it becomes a grind, and isn’t fun anymore, then it probably is time to move your talents somewhere else. It is a corny and perhaps too-often told story, and chances are you heard it, but I repeat it here.
A woman came upon thousands upon thousands of starfish stranded on a beach. One by one she started to throw them back into the ocean. A stranger came up to her and asked “why are you doing this, you can’t possibly hope to make a measurable impact.” The woman replied “it makes a difference to this starfish”, and threw it back in the ocean. She then continued on, throwing one starfish at a time back into the ocean so it could survive. So the community radio host needs to take comfort in the knowledge that they are making a difference to one listener at a time.
If you still love doing your show, there are a few small things you can do to build audience:
(1) Try the occasional live show, in a public place (a community hall or local pub for example);
(2) Offer help to the board’s promotion committee. The promotion committee’s role is to sell the station to the public (think of WKRP’s turkey’s thrown from the airplane), and raise awareness about the station. Perhaps even suggest a mascot for the station – which can appear at public events and have people take pictures with her/him;
(3) Raise your show’s profile on the station’s website;
(4) Make use of social media & podcasting to promote your show;
(5) Consider pitching your show to a different community station. A different geographic area of the province may have a wider audience;
(6) Develop a number of interesting show promos and ask the station to air them in their regular show promo rotation;
(7) Remember that with community radio you have a lower quantity of listeners, but you also have a much higher quality.
As for funding, a community radio station needs a strong presence in the community. One way is through the promotions committee. Another is through memberships. WhiStle Radio needs to bring its membership to 1,000 over 5 years. This will bring in a stable revenue of funds year after year. It will also make selling advertising and acquiring sponsorships that much easier, because it is quantitative evidence that the station has public support.
Unfortunately, the board seems to be sitting around waiting for funding from the town. When I first read this quote in the newspaper I was sure it was a misquote. But the fact that it has been on the station’s website for over a year indicates it is board policy:
Most of the smaller communities surrounding us have received about 99 per cent (of community radio station operating costs) from their town financially, or been offered a location.
Why the board issued this statement I don’t know, but I do know it is woefully misguided and completely erroneous. Not a single example to back up this statement can be found, and indeed it shows a troubling lack of understanding of the community sector. The money raised from the town has been more than the town’s fair share, and the station needs to look elsewhere for funding.
Finally, as a show host you are also a member, and you have a right to hold the board accountable. You should be able to bring your concerns to them and receive a worthy response. That’s part of their job description.
~Jim
Men of Note: A Great Choir will be performing a Great Concert
Last year I joined Stouffville’s Men of Note Choir. A great choice by me! The choir has been going strong for over a decade, started by local resident (and college instructor and business owner) Dave Duggan, who, the legend goes, was inspired by a bus driver while in Ireland. We now have over 40 members. It is a fantastic group for music and for fellowship.
Our director, Dr. Margot Rejskind serves on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she is a member of the Choral and Voice Faculties, and Director of the Royal Diploma Program. Dr. Rejskind received both her Doctorate in Music Arts (Choral) and Master of Music (Choral) from the University of Illinois, and attained her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Vocal Performance) degree from Concordia University in Montreal.
I think she does a superb job in working with the wide spectrum of talent we have in the choir, from the extra-ordinarily talented all the way down to the me, the choir’s hopeless case. She also does a wonderful job in selecting some very interesting and enjoyable music.
Our new President, Vince Parry, has launched a recruitment drive, and we are actively looking for new members at this time.
If you’re not ready to join us as a singer, then join us as a listener at our Annual Spring Concert, to be held at Christ Church 254 Sunset Blvd in Stouffville May 7 @ 7:30pm.
More information about tickets, membership and the Choir in general can be found at our site, http://www.menofnote.com
~ Jim
