Tag: tampa bay radio

 
Song Submissions Are Accepted By These Radio Stations Around Tampa Bay

Song Submissions Are Accepted By These Radio Stations Around Tampa Bay

Tanoa Bay

  • WMNF | Community Conscious Radio
    Web Site || Submissions Page
    Notes: The proverbial creme de la creme of radio stations in the Tampa Bay metroplex for music. Posting a listing comes late as I didn’t find the submissions page sooner.
    The submission page highlights local artist content submissions, but the door is open for artists in general to submit music. WMNF let me know that:

    You can submit it to the music department, but also check out the schedule and shows, and submit it straight to the different programmers. We get a ton of music that way. Thanks
  • Music Tampa Bay
    Web Site ||
    Note:  This is a non-profit streaming/terrestrial station in the St. Petersburg, Florida area that takes music submissions from artists of west-central Florida (and central Florida). There is no submission page, things are handled through email; you’ll have to hunt on the site for proper contact.
  • Radio St Pete / Sunshine 96.7 Fm
    Web Site || About Page
    Notes:
  • 97X – Local Motion”
    We Site || Submissions Page
    0Notes: Tama By-based musicians, this is another for you. Thy play it up as A0pp-based. I eon’ know if his leads 5o any on-ar airplay on the tra0ditional broadcast station.
  • WURK 96.3 FM Tampa
    Web Site || Submission Page
    Notes: WURK changed operations this fall (2021) and is taking submissionsdigitally (MP3 via email.)
  • WZIG 104.1 LP FM Palm Karbor
    Web Site ||
    Notes:” Happy and upbeat music” with not much else said.
  • Waves of the Bay
    Web Site ||
    Notes: Hip-Hop, R&B, and raggae.
  • Smooth JazzTampa
    Web Site || Submissions Page
    Notes:
  • See Also: College – Florida,
Community radio exists in the soundscape of northern Pinellas County

Community radio exists in the soundscape of northern Pinellas County

I didn’t know North Pinellas County has a community radio station all of its own..Did you?

While I’ve done much radio research, know Tampa Bay radio as a resident, h and know of three community stations in the metroplex off the top of my head – WMNF, WURK, and Music Tampa Bay -I have been shocked since making the discovery of WZIG 104.1 FM-LP in Palm Harbor which has been on-air since 2014..

It was only by chance I discovered tje statuim while doing a casual music search on Lycos – a 3rd party site’s ad touted providong WZIG’s stream. I’d never crossed a listinkng of the station radio research, general Bay Area web searches, or heard of it though friends or local news.It would seem WZIG is mute with its search engine disposition and media relevance in Tampa Bay.

That’s not meant as a shot. WZIG is mostly run by one fellow. Volunteers and donations are accepted… And necessary. This is a community station after all..How many in WZIG’s broadcast radius (folks in Countryside, Dunedin, East Lale, Holiday, New Port Richey, Oldsmar, Ozona, Palm Harbor, and Tarpon Springs) have and are willing to step up for the task and perhaps raise awareness of the station? How do you appl for a role? I’m not sure……

Alternative music is what’s claimed as WZIG’s preference, but Free Form is what fills airtime in what I’ve. heard That’s how community radio tends to roll. WZIG Is on Twitter and also accepts music submissions from locals — they don’t say how local though. Is the Tampa Bay area’s musical population welcome or are things restricted to northern Pinellas/southern Pasco residents?

So… there’s more community radio in Tampa Bay’s music spectrum tjan people know. It piques my curiosity about elsewhere in Florida and cities across the US.

Can I get your station on the internet?

WBPM NetRADOP: A Living Relic of Internet Radio

An Internet Radio Relic Wxists With WBPM NetRADIO

Net radio is common, major companies and independent hosts with varying ambitions are out there. They stream all you may like ifro, the audio soundsca[e… You just need to find the right one..

Many took a footing in recent years, and all too many fell apart and failed due to lack of popularity or real-life issues. Shit happens, we all know that.

Yet some little-known sites are out there, unseen, widely unknown, and have been for decades. Decades. They have thier niche and are content with it.
WBPM NetRADIO in Tampa is an example.

It was founded in 2004. It ,ay use a four-letter lead in its name but WBPM NetRADIO isn’t an FCC-licsense station (WBPM FM is up in New York) I, personally, remember things about the site because of my own long-time writing history and my friendship with prominent Tampa Bay bloggers with prominent status and social connections.

In fact, WBPM NetRADIO’s web site is quite nostalgic in its design: It’s arcane; old. Site security is high in (in an HTML-basics fashion of the 2000s) within ab old-school, frame-based lavout. Right-clicks don’t work, no text copyinght, and email contact links are encryptions… or was in response to a click.
With an older design, the site is still a step above all too many radio stations using the Wix platform.
UPDATE: I never noticed the displayed email at the bottom of the left menu. No response at this time.


It’s old. The music submission page tells a tale of malicious s 0agubmissions that forced WBPM NetRADIO to cease taking email submissions. Music must be mailed-in on CD.

They have their niche though. Something works as-is with an ancient site design, an off-site, third-party broadcast, and a complete absence from, social media. Yet the site’s copyright is fated as 2021. That’s likely a manually typed date and not a produced by a content-management program (with an update to come).

WBPM NetRADIO is still out there and humming along in one fashion or another in its 18th year.

It’s in need of an update and upgrades though. The internet and online music scene has vastly changed and always evolves. Yhose involved within it should do what they can to evolve with it.

A minor adaptation on-site can help: Be more direct. From page titles to stating music genres played, it helps people find what they are looking for. I say “music genres” because WBPM NetRADIO says they play a variety of music on their submission page, yet I only heard pop/dance music when I listened. Oh, if MixCloud isn’t truly the station feed (if there is one at all) a “listen live” link pointing to the station’s feed would be beneficial.

In the end, an older general Internet radio station that calls Tampa home is (still) out the. I have no clue if these words will entice curiosity and site visits or lead to a much-need site evolvement from WBPM NetRADIO… They’re content in their as-os rhythe, or there would have been a change in beat long ago.

No beat from  Tampa Bay’s  Pulse Radio

Tampa Bay’s Pulse Radio is sadly in a still-beat [UODATED]

There’s a high likelihood that you’ve never heard of Tampa Bay’s Pulse Radio. This applies to almost the entirety of the Tampa Bay metroplex. While these words introduce you to an audio operation, right now you can’t hear it.

An arm of Pulse Media LLC and based in New Port Richey, Tampa Bay’s Pulse Radio is out to highlight the music of independent artists, but not in the locals-only play form like Music Tampa Bay and Radio St. Pete. Pulse only came to be in the spring of 2021 with the ambition to stream music online and in a terrestrial broadcast. There About Page wukk tell you more.

It’s flatlining though.

I found Tampa Bay’s Pulse Radio by chance last fall while researching college radio stations in Florida that accept music submission, Pulse Rado is not a college-tied property a-la WUTT Spartan Radio (University of Tampa) or SPC Radio, the music submission article just coincidentally came up high with that search.

There’s been no other media coverage for Pulse that I have crossed despite the fact an upstart radio property seeking an FCC license and trying to be big is a feature story.

It’s out there, but it’s not. The station’s online stream doesn’t load as of this writing, nor has it since Christmas week Why not? No explanation from TBPR on the main site, on their weblog (not updated since August) , or via social media…

In fact, they rarely post on Twitter (the more-common social media tool for radio), posting a dead-link the last time they did, while not

responding to questions and comments sent their way. That, and their Twitter account only has 12 followers while following 14 themselves. Not exactly ideal self-promotion there.

They’re on other, media platforms, including Spotify, but the fact is they aren’t going anywhere by way of it. Not when their involvement is nil.

The other killer fault for Pulse is charging musicians to submit music ($10 for up to 3 songs). Stations that accept submissions are bombarded with them, Add operational costs for the stations — many are non-profit voluntary operations – and you can understand stations charging for artists and labels to submit their music…

…which they don’t. I’ve only crossed a handful of ‘Net Radio stations true stations that do as such and one terrestrial, co,,unnity station that being in Los Angeles makes it a necessity.

For an unknown and struggling start-up to charge for submissions stops them except the few who have the cash and have the desperation.

I am not against a submission feen I’m surprised it’s not more common, but that comes later when you prove you have reach and the influence. TBPR lacks both.

Pulse Radio’s web site is well designed and flashes the station’s ambitions for success. Sadly, inconsistency in property management is part of Pulse Media: Pulse Media Magm Pulse, Radio’s sister, hosts its own web*version of TBPR intead of redirecting users to Pulse Radio’s site.

The way to look at Tampa Bay’s Pulse Radio and hold out hope as a listener, indie musician, or a curious and interested local, is to realize the tech fact they are in BETA mode. They’re still at start-up and getting things together while chasing an FCC license. Only time will tell when Tampa Bay’s Pulse Radio’s beat will start in full and how rhythmic it will be.

UPDaTE: I have had email contact with TBPR. Issues had and have come into play that have delayed resumption of airplay. They estimate being back on-air on or around March 1st.

Volunteer assistance sought by Tampa Bay community station Music Tampa Bay

There’s a special community radio station based in St. Petersburg that airs local music, to say the least. the 2016 Top 100 list and a Top 40 from this past summer.  EDIT: You can find the Top 100 page with each individual year of Music Tampa Bay here.

Yet Hurricane Irma did her damage and complicated things with the station that were already challenged in one way or another. The site representing Music Tampa Bay has long been in need of upgrading to improve accessibility and exposure for the artists and the station itself.

All that said Music Tampa Bay is looking for assistance of the high variety. Everything is voluntary but the open positions listed are basically everything. The MTB sit’s declaration shows it:

All Volunteer Staff Needed

​General Manager – Sales Manager – Business Manager – Operations Manager – IT / Website Manager – Program / Music Director – DJs – all shifts

Here’s the official statement off the site about volunteers and the station:

Radio Station Volunteer Staff Wanted

The music stream on this website is now in its 13th year of continuous operation.  96.7 FM in St Pete is now beginning its 2nd year, since the FCC issued a non-profit broadcast license in October 2016.  If these listening platforms are to continue serving the local arts communities as stipulated in the license, new management is needed in key revenue generating and operational areas.  A new general manger being sought to work with the existing team and eventually assume control once the original license period is renewed in early 2020.  Air talent is also needed to fill program positions and operate from the new live Radio Central in The Zoo Studios in St Pete.  All air positions are currently open, 24/7.  Interested beginners and professionals are encouraged to contact rick@musictampabay.com / 727-455-8848.

This is a great starter place for those interested in being part of the music business or working in communications; a prime opportunity for students. It’s also a great place for those who are embedded already in local music as performers to further expose themselves by working as DJs (or, if qualified, in one of the higher-up positions). Most importantly of all, it’s part of the community. While MTB isn’t available in terrestrial, traditional broadcast throughout Tampa Bay, the online stream is readily available for everyone to hear performers who were, and are part of music.

Music Tampa Bay’s Top 40 for June 26th, 2017

Earlier this year, I posted a list of the Top 100 songs from Music Tampa Bay for 2016: Converting the image list to text and linking to various locales where you could actually listen to the songs (side note: I’ll still take link and genre submissions for some of the unlinked artists/songs, thanks).

Well, the Top 100 list for each year on Music Tampa Bay is built around a weekly running Top 40 list that Music Tampa Bay has going on. I’m not sure how it has functioned long-term but as of now you can vote once per day on a song that’s been placed on the Top 40 list. Voting ends at 6 PM ET on Sunday nights and the results make up the Top 40 list for the week ahead. How a performer or band get on the list to begin with is Music Tampa Bay’s choice while the songs listed aren’t all recent releases by Tampa Bay musical artists.

Now, exposure to the song is subjective to those who cross the Top 40 list. You either have to be a Music Tampa Bay listener (online streaming or over the airwaves in St. Pete, Florida at 96.7 FM), or have crossed the music by other means (like deliberately hunting down a listed song online, as I’ve done in the past).

Well, this article is a little twist on things. Below you will find the Top 40 list from Music Tampa Bay (released on Monday, June 26th) with embedded versions of the songs from the list. Not all songs are embedded. Omission like that is not a deliberate act as-so-much an inability to locate the song online. Some songs do appear on the web in sales locations or on streaming locations like Spotify. For the sake of accessibility, those instances aren’t linked. In other cases where a song can be accessed by anyone but the tune isn’t embeddable, things will be simply hyperlinked.

Many of these songs have been and will remain listed on the Music Tampa Bay Top 40 for some time to come, so if you like one of these tracks a lot then you should support it: Go to Music Tampa Bay and view the Top 40 list and cast a vote in favor of it (button next to the song on the Top 40 list). Read More

Note for Tampa Bay area indie musicians: WURK it out and submit!

If you’re a musician in the Tampa Bay area – a recording artists with your own records to show for it – you may want to take a look at WURK Radio’s web site and their submission process. WURK went on the air in May 2017 in the Tampa area and is a community, volunteer driven radio station. I don’t know how far and wide it is listened to in its fledgling status, but it remains important to spread your name and your talents locally and WURK is one of those opportunities.

Oh,they’re also on Twitter and  Facebook (though the Facebook entry is a private profile).

The downside of submissions is that they require hard copies — Compact Discs, not digital submissions. If you’re willing to go that route and explore other positives for you and your act by way of WURK, click thru and have a read.

 

Exposing songs from Music Tampa Bay’s Top 100 list of 2016

Indie music is…well, independent to the point it adds additional responsibilities to the artist to expose their tunes to the masses. Sometimes that comes with ease. Sometimes that’s an afterthought.

I cited the other day when talking about Gypsy Star, keeps a competitive Top-40 list (which listeners and web visitors vote on). At the end of the year, the songs that rank highest in votes on the Top 40 are piled into a Top 100 song list. The site has a page devoted to the listings from several years – though the lists are graphics and somewhat illegible. It doesn’t really get the songs out there or make it easy for you to actually find them online.

This post is an attempt at changing that. I’ve taken the 2016 Top 100 listing from Music Tampa Bay and converted the image to an actual list. To build on that, to actually expose the artists who ranked so well to make this list, I’ve hyperlinked to as many of the songs as I could find.

While these are supposed to be Tampa Bay based artists, some have national attention (Four Star Riot among others). Also, while this list was for 2016 – some of the songs were published before then and I don’t mean just a year earlier.

The ranking of the songs itself is based off of votes cast in the Top 40 listing. I can’t say this was pure song rankings, or as if there was no “fix” regarding the top 10; don’t take the order as an opinionated or fine performance ranking. It’s just voting.

As of this writing, 80 out of the 100 songs are linked to so you can take them in yourself. I’ve linked to YouTube most of the time, but other places such as Reverb Nation and Soundcloud also get linking. Spotify contains many of the songs, including non-linked songs (I decided against using Spotify due to the forced registration to use the service). Some of those unlinked songs also are readily available on commercial sites such as Amazon or iTunes – this isn’t a sales-pitch though, so I didn’t link to any of that either.

Some of these songs, despite being listed as Top 100 and having age and radio play on Music Tampa Bay (at least) had never been viewed on YouTube by the time I crossed them while compiling this piece. Some came off as deeply hidden.  It sort of furthers the point of limited exposure.

This article remains an ongoing project as I’d like to get music genre listed next to each song… I mean, c’mon! You’ve likely never heard of most (if not all) of these artists and you’re not exactly encouraged to blindly click to a song. At least knowing it’s supposed to be pop, rock, country, folk, etc. will encourage where you go.

Also, as this remains an ongoing project, if you can provide a link for a non-linked song that would be great. Just use comments below or contact me via email with a link. Read More