I’ve been friends with Andrea-Jane at CKUT for a few years now because of Silber Records.  She’s into the kind of weird music that makes what I’m into look normal.  CKUT is the real deal in Montreal.

QRD – Why did you want the position of music director & why do you think you got it over all the other applicants?

Andrea-Jane – Like most jobs, I kind of fell into this one - in the right place at the right time, I guess.  Our station’s music director position is split in two.  The official job positions are music programming coordinator & music resources coordinator; I occupy the later position - which means I am the station’s link to the music industry.  I go after promo copies of new releases & re-issues, do tracking, & take care of the station’s library, as well as do some technical trainings for new station volunteers, & am (as almost all staff are) a part of our collective management.
I wanted the job because it seemed like a good opportunity for me, I had finished all of my course work for my masters degree & needed to get a job to pay the man his rent & bills & things.  I had been bitching for several years that I was out of the musical loop, that I wanted to be doing radio & working in a field that was linked to what I studied (communications & electroacoustics).  I like to think I got the job because of my anal organization skills (you wouldn’t know that by looking at my desk) & because I have a decent amount of knowledge pertaining to independent & avant garde music – specifically experimental/electroacoustic stuff, I also have a pretty solid background & teaching experience in sound production & studio recording - all of which come in handy on a daily basis here.  I also like to think I was the best person for the job.

QRD – What do you think the job of a good music director is?

Andrea-Jane – First & foremost, striving to make the best resources available & accessible for all programmers at the station while being on top of what’s brewing in the local & global music communities.  This means that I’m always trying to make contacts & form relationships & partnerships with people in the music industry who are putting out innovative releases that fit with our programming or step it up a notch.  Striving to work with people who understand & support the work that we do at CKUT because not all campus community stations cater to the same audience, especially in a city the size of Montreal.

QRD – What did you initially think you could accomplish as music director that having obtained the position became obviously impossible?

Andrea-Jane – There is still a lot of stuff on my to do list that keeps on growing, but there isn’t anything that I feel to be impossible.  I didn’t come into this position with delusions of grandeur.

QRD – How much do you let your personal taste in music effect your station’s music?

Andrea-Jane – I would say that if my personal tastes were a great influence on what is & is not made available for play at CKUT, the shelves would be empty.  I am a finicky listener with an open mind, & an ear that’s tickled by a multitude of genres that must have decent production, even if it’s a home job done on a 4 track & submitted on cassette.  I listen to what I think may be interesting, based on the label, the band members, instruments used, word of mouth, & as much as I don’t want to admit it... packaging.  I rarely read one sheets, except for laughs, cause when it all comes down to it, everyone out there is presented as the freshest sound in their genre that’s gonna scream up the college charts.  When I come across releases that I dislike, I take a look at our programming grid & see if anyone would play the release; if only one program would play it, I give it to the programmer.  If I really don’t know what to think, I give it to someone else for a second opinion - a volunteer, a programmer, the other music director.  The station’s music selection is not about my likes & dislikes; it’s about the programmers & their shows’ mandates, as well as the station’s mandate.  There is a whole lot of stuff that we make available that I am not into, but you gotta give the bands a chance & see if anyone fancies them.

QRD – How have streaming online radio stations affected the purpose & competition for your station?

Andrea-Jane – For the time being we have online streaming since 1997 (this could change if the Canadian government adopts new copyright laws that would tax us on this). We also archive up to 8 weeks of each of our 130+ shows on our website, so other online radio stations don’t really have such an effect on us, as far as we know, or care for that matter!  We are not really in competition with anyone, we have no demographic to target, no national ads to peddle, no one to please but the communities that are tuning in to us because they can’t handle the non stop sell-a-thon that commercial radio has become.  Our purpose has been the same since we started in 1987, which is to provide an essential service to those in the Montreal community whose needs are not met by mainstream commercial radio.  CKUT functions not only as an alternative to the status quo, but as a viable community resource that serves as a training ground for the community & student populations, & in doing so, provides an essential educational & informational service to the greater Montreal community.

QRD – What are some things bands/labels can do to get on the fast track into rotation & to eliminate themselves from getting into rotation?

Andrea-Jane – Simply put, if you want to be put into rotation ASAP, put out solid releases.  Labels like Digitalis Industries, Kranky, Atavistic, Clean Feed, Blocks Recordings, Soul Jazz, Constellation, Gnomosong, Smithsonian Folkways, Arc, Aum Fidelity, Alien8recordings, Studio1/Heartbeat, Load, le son666 (I could kiss ass here & say Silber, but you know how I feel); I could go on & on....  These label know what works & what does not, they send out their own promos, or work with promo companies that are mom & pop shops & deal with select artists/labels.  These are the envelopes that make me happy, because we are in a partnership, we understand each other’s needs, it’s so beautiful I’m tearing up.  These labels don’t call me every week to see if their releases are going to chart, some never contact me at all - they know that their music will do well at or station, because they are putting out quality product.
If you want to be eliminated -
1.  Use 3 or more promo companies to service your record, each sends me a copy or 2 of your mediocre CD so that I can build a little tower.  Just because I get 6 does not mean I’m going to put any in rotation - this tactic also reeks of arrogance & I find it terribly annoying.
2.  Send us e-mails saying check out our tracks on our MySpace page.  Everyone has tracks on MySpace; I’m not one to promote the use of compressed audio over the airwaves.
3.  Digital servicing - we just don’t have the infrastructure for this, the $$ to put it in place; & we’re adamantly old school, we like physical copies, liner notes, coloured vinyl, etc....
4.  Put confetti in your envelope so that it dirties up my office space & I have to sweep up after your mess.
5.  Distasteful naked bodies as cover art, distasteful cover art in general - it’s a turn off, but just because it’s a really pretty package, does not mean the contents of the music are anything to write home about, the opposite also applies.
6.  Send a CD-R with no packaging, no liner notes, just your track names written in indelible ink on the CD-R.
7.  Call me every week to ask me how your record is doing, when I’ve told you the last two times that we talked that it does not fit our mandate.

QRD – Do you read the charts of other stations & if so how do they affect your charts?

Andrea-Jane – I read a few station’s charts, they have no influence what so ever on CKUT’s charts, I usually peruse the other station’s charts to see what records they may be getting that we are not.  Our charts are seriously based on actual airplay.  Gavin Bryars at number one for 2 weeks in a row is the real deal yo!  Our programmers rule!!

QRD – Do you solicit labels for servicing or just generally stick with who finds you?

Andrea-Jane – There are some labels that need to be badgered every now & then but are really generous, some labels that never get back to me which is a shame, because when I approach a label for station promos it’s because a programmer has asked me to, or because it’s a stellar release that we would love to promote & expose our audience to.  We have been around since 1987, so most of the releases just find their way to our door.  I generally have to actively pursue the experimental music labels, jazz, reggae, & labels form overseas.

QRD – Do you like to deal directly with labels or do you prefer to deal with some sort of radio promotional team about what is going into the station library & rotation?

Andrea-Jane – I much prefer dealing with labels directly, it’s more personal, I like to know who I’m dealing with & I like the labels to know what we are all about.  Unfortunately many don’t care to do this or don’t have the staff to do it, so they go through the promo teams/companies.  The promotion teams are usually working so many records & they end up just looking at numbers or points off CMJ, it’s not really about the music.

QRD – What’s the longest time you feel comfortable keeping a record in rotation?

Andrea-Jane – I am not sure what’s being asked here, are you talking new releases and adds (which we don’t do, cause we’re free form)?  What we do is put all new releases in the on air studio for 3 months so that they are readily accessible to the programmers, & then they go into the library, where they continue to get played, so....  I guess you could say that we have some records that get played regularly that date back to the early 80’s when we were a cable station (91.7 on cable).

QRD – Do you listen to & review the majority of records you receive yourself?

Andrea-Jane – I listen to about 1/3 of what comes in, music department volunteers do the rest (we get about 150-200 CD’s a week & in the fall we get 250-300 a week).  If I listened to more I would lose my ability to listen to music outside of the work place, there is only so much that one person can listen to before their critical ear gets jaded or euphoric.

QRD – How much control do you let individual DJ’s have over what they play & how do they deal with requests?

Andrea-Jane – DJ’s reign over their own musical universes on CKUT’s airwaves.  Free-form radio is still alive in small pockets of the campus/community world.

QRD – What’s the importance of specialty shows at your station?

Andrea-Jane – I’m not sure what you’re asking here?  I think that jazz is considered a specialty show?  & we have 4 stellar jazz shows, one that romps through the avant-jazz/experimental realms, the other two are pretty traditional.  & then there is one that is a collective show, where many hosts take turns programming, which results in a very diverse collective.  & then, a dozen other shows play jazz as well, because many shows have open formats - so they can play ANYTHING!!!
We have a bunch of really special spoken word programs, but I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about.... 
We do specialty programming - like the homelessness marathon, Radio Sanctuary - once a month we broadcast live from a church where Adelkader Belaouni has been in sanctuary for over 2 years now, we do prisoner’s justice day again, not sure about this one.....

QRD – How is your station involved in the local music scene?

Andrea-Jane – Well, we have a lot of contacts in the local music scene & several of our current & past programmers are superstar DJ’s, producers, musicians, label owners/employees.  We currently have an artist in residence program where a producer/musician gets the Tuesday 2 to 5 slot for a month, the show is called The Montreal Sessions & during the course of each show the host must perform or diffuse one of their original compositions/projects, & they have to have a local musician or band in for a live performance.  We do remote broadcasts of bands where we set up at the venue & broadcast the concert live on the air.  One of our hip-hop shows has the rap hour half hour where people can call in & freestyle along to a live DJ mix; it’s a really popular segment.  We do a whole lot of co-presentations where we run ads for local events for a ridiculously cheap rate.  & then a lot of shows have live guests in for in studio performances & interviews - folk musicians, steel bands, noise makers, reverberators, 11 piece bands, keytar players, we’ve had ‘em all!  We do a lot of interviews to promo upcoming shows.  Plus, I mean, we are in Montreal, where you can’t cross the street without running into a musician, so we’re really luck to have such a great diverse local music scene that just keeps on growing.

QRD – With your experience in radio, are you jaded or hopeful for the music industry?

Andrea-Jane – I am both a little jaded & hopeful.  I hope the giant conglomerate labels crumble.

QRD – If your position is temporary, what do you plan to do with your interest in music in the future?

Andrea-Jane – This is a full time position.  In the future, there will be machines that will make music & flying personal displacement devices

QRD – What are the best & worst parts of your job?

Andrea-Jane – Best part - I work in a collectively managed station that is run by 10 coordinators & 300 volunteers; it’s pretty dynamic.
The worst part is the amount of work that is sometimes overwhelming, but mostly stimulating.  The amount of CD’s that we get that we can’t find a home for.

QRD – I imagine a lot of the younger generation of DJ’s pretty much exclusively use MP3s over CDs (much less vinyl).  How do you feel about the situation?

Andrea-Jane – This is not really the case, we have a higher percentage that use CD’s & vinyl, or a little of everything.

QRD – Do you try to get your entire catalog digitally encoded on a hard drive for radio play?  If so, at what compression rate do you feel is appropriate?

Andrea-Jane – No, this is not something that we are aiming to do.

QRD – How do you feel about automation for overnight or unfilled DJ slots?  What program do you use for automation & how does it decide what to play?

Andrea-Jane – We have people willing to program at all hours of the day & night, there is no automation in place & we have no plans to implement one because there is no demand, there is a warm body programming from our studios around the clock all year round!  & when someone can’t do their 4 to 7am slot, we have a handful of volunteers dying to show off their DJ skills & musical selections ready to swoop in & fill the slot.

QRD – I know that some labels & promotional teams are pushing towards digital download links over physical copies.  How do you feel about this?

Andrea-Jane – I understand that it is easier for some labels to service stations digitally, but I don’t really like it, because it is less flexible & we just do not have the infrastructure to facilitate it.

QRD – When I worked in radio, there was a big problem with theft at the station.  Since so many people these days just use MP3 players, do they just steal the music rather than the physical disc & do you feel as a DJ they have a right to personally access any music from the station library at any time?

Andrea-Jane – Again, because we do not have digital music archiving in place, this is not an issue.  Anyways, what’s to stop someone from coming in with a laptop & burning CDs in the library, or on one of the station’s computers?  I don’t think there is a difference, except that copying an MP3 is a lot faster.
Theft or “borrowing” is still common, it’s frowned upon & puts me in a bit of a rage that passes after a few days, & pisses off some of the programmers who rely on our library to have the releases that they need to program their show.
All members have access to the library around the clock, I think that it is important that programmers be able to access the music library at all times; it’s the station’s greatest asset & belongs to everyone, if we start making it off bounds the releases will just sit & collect dust.  There are some selections that are under lock & key which need to be signed out because they are worth a lot of money, but this is only about 200 or so releases & box sets.

Official CKUT Website