Believe it or not, metal still gets played on the radio! In addition to channels like SiriusXM’s Liquid Metal and nationally syndicated shows like Full Metal Jackie, there are still hundreds of outlets for heavy music in the United States. Most college radio stations have a metal show or two, and there are also commercial rock stations with metal shows around the country as well.
The Syndicate, Metal Insider’s parent company, is a promotion and marketing company that has championed the metal scene for almost 15 years. Starting this week, we’ll offer a look behind the scenes of metal radio from some of the stations and outlets playing metal that the Syndicate works with to spotlight the newest underground music on the airwaves and the people that bring it to you. Read on for a look into Gary “Turbo” Webb’s one-man metal crusade in Oklahoma, followed by a brief look at some new records making their way to the airwaves, courtesy of the Syndicate.
Featured Station: KRSC-FM (Claremore, OK)
Station type:
College alternative
Owned by:
Rogers State University
Frequency:G
91.3 FM
Wattage:
3,000 W
Where’s the metal?
On Turbo’s Metal Meltdown, Tuesdays 8pm-12am and Wednesdays 11pm-2am CST
What’s going on here?
Turbo has carved out a sizeable niche for himself in the Oklahoma music scene. His show’s Facebook page cracked more “likes” than KRSC’s official page due to his promotional hustle, and he’s now been shortlisted as a finalist for Urban Tulsa Weekly’s annual Absolute Best in Tulsa awards under the Radio Personalities category. His three competitors in the category are all commercial radio DJs with a far greater reach than KRSC has. Voting ends June 18, and while Turbo knows he’s facing an uphill battle, he’s still proud of what it took to get this far.
“I’m a metalhead; being an underdog and not getting recognized is what I specialize in,” Turbo says. “But I’m hoping that because I have the connection with fans and have worked as hard as I have, that maybe, just maybe I’ll win. If not, just being nominated is an honor. Think about it: my seven total hours of weekly programming on a 3,000 watt college radio station is up against the big dogs in Tulsa. That alone is an accomplishment I’m proud of.”
The Metal Meltdown features a half-hour segment called “The Half-Hour Hellfire” that’s restricted to Oklahoma-based bands only, and that’s just the beginning of the lengths Turbo goes to in order to promote the local scene. He organized and hosted a seven-band Halloween concert dubbed OcTurboFest last fall, and he hosted the Tulsa stop on the Metal Alliance Tour in April.
“The goal is to show Tulsa, and the nation for that matter, that Oklahoma has a great metal scene and it can be done,” Turbo says. “We have a great pool of talent in Oklahoma, though most people would never know it. But I also show some love to metal bands from other states and countries. Basically, I just want to grow the scene, keep it going while I’m here and hope that it continues if I ever make it to a big market like New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.”
Sample hour
The Metal Meltdown gets more extreme during each hour of the show. Stoner metal and some heavier metalcore sneaks in during the first hour, but by the last hour, the show goes into death, black, grind and extreme thrash. This is from the closing hour of last Tuesday (June 12):
Dethklok – Castratikron
Cannibal Corpse – Submerged In Boiling Flesh
Meshuggah – War
Decapitated – Spheres of Madness
Aborted – Coronary Reconstruction
Immolation – Den Of Thieves
Nile – Barra Edinazu
Dying Fetus – Second Skin
Psyopus – Insects
Insect Warfare – Self Termination
Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Trauma Queen
General Surgery – Decomposer
Behemoth – Ov Fire and the Void
Immortal – At the Stormy Gates of Mist
Mutilation Rites – Realms of Dementia
New at Metal Radio This Week:
Gojira – L’Enfant Sauvage (Roadrunner)
The long-awaited follow-up to 2007’s The Way of All Flesh, the relentlessly unique French band’s Roadrunner debut is one of the biggest metal albums of the summer.
Lita Ford – Living Like A Runaway (SPV)
The pioneering lady rocker strikes back with her cathartic first album since a high-profile divorce from Nitro singer Jim Gilette.
Rumpelstiltskin Grinder – Ghostmaker (Candlelight)
Philadelphia’s deathrash four-piece makes its Candlelight debut with awesome song titles like “Run Through the Bastards” and 45 solid minutes of riffs to its name.
The Syndicate, Metal Insider’s parent company, is a promotion and marketing company that has championed the metal scene for almost 15 years. For radio promotion, street marketing, publicity, event marketing and brand consultation in the world of metal, contact us here.
