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EARLY REGISTRATION OPENS FOR 12TH ANNUAL NON-COMM MAY 17-19, 2012
WXPN (88.5) Philadelphia Ops Manager/MD and NON-COMM founder/producer Dan Reed has announced that registration is now open for the 12th Annual NON-COMMvention. The event returns to Philadelphia, after last year in Delaware, with meetings and live music showcases to be held at the WXPN building at 3025 Walnut St., which also houses World Café Live. Industry pundit and blogger Bob Lefsetz will host this year's "Non-Commversation" with Dan Reed.
EARLY REGISTRATION - RADIO: The NON-COMMvention remains the most affordable convention around with the Early Bird rate for Radio Employees at just $95 - additional station employees can attend for just $50 each*. *To obtain the $50 rate for additional radio station employees, all registrations must occur simultaneously.
EARLY REGISTRATION - NON-RADIO: Non-Radio folks have an Early Bird rate of just $200. Breakfast and lunch are included each day. The early rate expires Friday, April 6th at 5pm.
Register here.
Hotel accomodations are also now available. This year's official hotel is The Inn at Penn - ask for the "Non-Comm Rate" of $185 per night.
For event sponsorship opportunities, contact Dan Reed now via email.
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TripleARadio.com Archive: 2011
11TH ANNUAL NON-COMMVENTION CLOSES IN WILMINGTON
Event unveils second WXPN/World Café Live venue in remodeled movie palace
World Café Live Wilmington-style, in the historic Queen Theater
By Dave Chaney
(5/23/11) Over 60 Triple A radio music stations along with labels, managers, indie music promoters and media marketing-types made the trek over the weekend to The 11th Annual NON-COMMvention Thursday through Saturday, May 19-21, at a brand new location this year, in Wilmington, Delaware. The annual WXPN Philadelphia-sponsored event celebrated the grand opening of the second regional World Café Live, Live at the Queen, in a beautifully renovated historic old movie house that is the centerpiece of downtown Wilmington's cultural urban renewal plans.
The Turn-Out
Considering budgets in this economy, the non-comm radio community was well represented with multiple attendees from NPR and WFUV New York, of course Philly's 'XPN, WTMD Baltimore, KCMP/The Current Minneapolis, WYEP Pittsburgh, WFPK Louisville, WJCU Cleveland, WCBE Columbus, WYMS/Radio Milwaukee, WRUR Rochester, WNRN Charlottesville, KUT Austin, KXCI Tucson and Maine Public Radio, among plenty of others. Commercial WRLT Nashville and WCNR Charlottesville were also there.
Ya Got An App For That?
The conference featured three days of networking, live music showcases - shared with enthusiastic WXPN listeners - and daytime business panels: Media Mechanics consultant Paul Marsalek's opening session on multimedia platforms and social media - with assist from KCMP/The Current PD Jim McGuinn, WFHB Bloomington PD Jim Manion's community radio breakout, WFUV MD Rita Houston's panel on artist interview technique, WXPN PD Bruce Warren's session on old school label war stories, and WXPN GM Roger LaMay's discussion on music and public radio funding. Other highlight's included NON-COMMvention founder/producer Dan Reed's keynote interview with artist/label manager and radio station owner Cliff Burnstein and World Café host David Dye's chat with Robbie Robertson. Guest panelists Greg Kot and Jim Derogatis of the popular syndicated rock/talk public radio show Sound Opinions lit up the joint with non-stop zingers ("Rick Rubin ruined Adele!") at their first NON-COMM Music Meeting.
THE MUSIC MEETING (*songs listed in order of appearance not ranking)
1. Blind Pilot "We Are the Tide"
2. The Jayhawks "She Walks In So Many Ways"
3. Motopony "King of Diamonds"
4. Bon Iver "Calgary"
5. The Bewitched Hands "Happy With You"
6. Gillian Welch "Scarlet Town"
7. Gary Clark Jr. "Bright Lights"
8. Vetiver "Wonder Why"
9. Theophilus London "Wine and Chocolates"
10. The Heavenly States "Berlin Wall"
11. Dionne Bromfield "Yeah Right"
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. "Simple Girl"
Ladies and Gentlemen...
On the World Café Live upstairs and downstairs stages: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Keb' Mo', Raphael Saadiq, Givers, The Civil Wars, Cave Singers, New Sweden, Ben Harper, Justin Townes Earle, Thurston Moore, Matt Nathanson, Rebecca Pidgeon, Todd Snider, The Head and the Heart, Sean Rowe, The White Buffalo, Dylan LeBlanc, Bright Eyes, The Jayhawks, Junip, Over The Rhine, Sarah Jarosz, James McCartney, the Sam Roberts Band, G. Love and John Popper and The Duskray Troubadours. Radio programmer consensus on exceptional performances swirled around Raphael Saadiq, Givers, The Head And The Heart, Bright Eyes, Junip, Sam Roberts Band and The Civil Wars!
Kudos
No problem with the new venue. The organization of the 'XPN staff and volunteers seemed flawless. (Even if Raphael Saadiq did almost blow it and show up at the wrong World Cafe Live!) Congrats to Roger LaMay, Dan Reed, Bruce Warren, Tess Coffey, Ellen Oplinger, Paul Severin and Hal Real and his crew on a super job. Roger announced that next year's 12th Annual NON-COMM will return to Philadelphia.
Non-Comm Rising
While many but definitely not all commercial Triple A and Alternative radio stations struggle to remain relevant in this fast-moving multimedia era, often burdened by stagnated corporate playlists and clunky spot-sets, non-comm Triple A is live, local and "commercial-free"... and apparently on a roll. Arbitron reports that the total shares of 11 top non-commercial Triple A stations measured by PPM have risen 30 percent since October. All the while, non-comm has become the near-exclusive radio home of the steady rising Indie Rock genre, now celebrating mainstream success with bands like Arcade Fire (Grammy Album of the Year!), Mumford & Sons, The Decemberists and Fleet Foxes.
(For video of NON-COMMvention artist showcases, visit XPN.org.)
WXPN 2010 NON-COMM Archived Music Performances
TripleARadio.com Archive: 2010
WXPN PHILADELPHIA HOSTS 10TH ANNUAL "NON-COMM": A DECADE OF STEADY GROWTH FOR TRIPLE A
By Dave Chaney
THE RISE OF NON-COMMERCIAL TRIPLE A
(6/8/10) You've come a long way, baby. It seems like it was just yesterday when Dan Reed was getting good-natured grief for repeat bookings of some local band called My Morning Jacket at a fledgling little eclectic gathering of non-commercial music stations in Louisville. The Alternative format was fading. Non-commercial radio stations were flipping their jazz, classical, and news formats to Triple A in increasing numbers. Fast forward to 2010 and a whole new blogosphere. You know the success story of MMJ, Dan is entrenched on top market 'XPN as OM/MD, and his NON-COMMvention - now better known simply as "the NON-COMM" - celebrates ten years of nurturing and networking community music radio with its burgeoning modern platforms. While the economy has been an obvious challenge in recent years, the convention – like the format overall – continues to prosper.
Particularly in comparison to our commercial radio counterparts, who've recently witnessed a nasty convergence of recession corporate downsizing coupled with competition from the internet and digital revolution. Once quality stations reduced to Pandora with station liners. Glorified jukeboxes with no local content. Not that there aren't well-branded commercial Triple A's still around that are adventurous and community-oriented. There most definitely are. WXRT, WRXP, KFOG, WXRV, KBCO, WRLT, KPIG, WNCS, WRNR, KBAC, WRSI, WMMM, WCNR, WEHM, and WMVY, to name a few.
It is non-comm though that has truly emerged as the new player for most of the country in the past decade for contemporary music radio and indie rock, becoming a serious contender in key markets like Philadelphia (WXPN), New York (WFUV), Los Angeles (KCRW), Boston (WUMB), Minneapolis (KCMP The Current), Milwaukee (WYMS Radio Milwaukee), Seattle (KEXP), Pittsburgh (WYEP), Baltimore (WTMD), Cleveland (WJCU), Salt Lake City (KRCL), Austin (KUT), Tucson (KXCI), Cincinnati (WNKU), Akron-Canton (WAPS), Kansas City (KTBG), Columbus (WCBE), and Asheville (WNCW), among others - and new this year, Dallas (KXT) and L.A.'s San Fernando Valley (KCSN).
Veteran programmer and Concord Music Group Sr. Director/National Promotion Dave Einstein told proqb, a publication of this year's media sponsor FMBQ, that "the non-commercial end of the dial has grown in audience and impact. This convention has grown due to Dan Reed's passion to have a convention that dealt with the issues of the non-commercial broadcasting community. It's like a family gathering."
A measure of the success of the NON-COMMvention last weekend (June 3-5) has to be that even in this tough economy with limited resources, programmers traveled from as far as Kauai, Hawaii (KKCR)! It was good to see KXT Dallas Music Coordinator/AM host Gini Mascorro make it to her first NON-COMM. Some commercial AAA programmers attended as well, including KFOG San Francisco APD/MD Kelly Ransford, PD Ira Gordon of KBAC Santa Fe and KMTN Jackson WY PD/MD Mark "Fish" Fishman. Kudos to Atlantic Records' Brian Corona who won the much-hallowed "NON-COMM 1st Annual Best Mustache" award, which with any luck, will not remain a tradition! Runner-up? Of course, WNTI Hackettstown NJ PD/MD Spider Glenn! 2010 NON-COMMvention Photos by Songlines Music
THE MUSIC
The music showcases were solid and frequently funky on the stages of 'XPN and World Café Live: The Constellations, Amy Correia, the legendary Judy Collins, Retribution Gospel Choir, Alberta Cross, Gaslight Anthem, Philly's own Dr. Dog, The Secret Sisters, Bobby Long, Minus The Bear, Carolina Chocolate drops, Martin Sexton, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, The Rescues, Gin Wigmore, Nathaniel Rateliff, Cyndi Lauper, The Mynabirds, Ike Reilly, Robert Francis, John Legend & The Roots (local heroes rocked the house down!), Mayer Hawthorne, Trombone Shorty, Graham Parker, The National, and the late pleasant surprise addition of Chrissie Hynde's new side project JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys!
*For audio and video snippets from the 2010 NON-COMMvention, visit XPN.org.
THE MEETINGS
The conference opened Thursday morning with a "One-On-One with Sub Pop Records' Jon Ponemon and Dan Reed," followed by a Q&A with the innovative label founder.
The following meeting was the "Public Radio Listeners' Media Habits & Usage in 2010 – The PRPD Tech Survey II," where Fred Jacob's polling confirms that people do indeed go where they know, leaving Pandora as the only clear winner so far in internet radio. The survey revealed that satellite radio has apparently peaked - stats have it trending downward. One takeaway from the meeting was that stations need to make it obvious for people to listen online. "Make the 'Listen Here' button easy to find." And regularly give your listeners video and special content on the station site.
Friday's first meeting was titled, "Add Date, What Add Date?" moderated by WXPN AGM/PD Bruce Warren, who has helped coordinate meetings at the NON-COMM nearly since its inception. The meeting was a follow-up on a similar theme discussed last year as the constant availability of digital music available online renders "Add Dates" silly. The general consensus (at least from radio!) was that the listings can still serve a basic "guidepost" but are not especially relevant any longer.
In Friday afternoon's "Going Social With Your Fans," moderated by Bruce, the importance and value of maintaining continuous communication with listeners - and potential listeners – via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter was underscored and dissected. NPR Music's Bob Boilen said, "With social media you give people a chance to tell their story and then spread their story comments as content (on your site)." Panelist KCMP/The Current Minneapolis PD Jim McGuinn summed it up well, "Further the engagement by deepening the relationship with your listener through social media." The social networking meeting ran concurrent with a "Community Radio Roundtable," moderated by WFHB Bloomington PD/MD Jim Manion. The group covered topics unique to "block formatted" music/info community radio stations that play a substantial amount of AAA and Americana roots programming.
The "Music Meeting" wrapped up the conference on Saturday. Together with WXPN listeners, the lively conference crowd sounded off on new tracks debuted by host Sean Coakley of Songlines. WNTI's Spider commented afterwards, "The new blood in the format and their opinions (at the Music Meeting) with their fresh ears and eagerness to be involved seem to keep the grizzled veterans from becoming jaded."
'10 NON-COMM Music Meeting:
THE WEEPIES "I Was Made for Sunny Days" (Nettwerk)
PONDEROSA "Old Gin Road" (New West)
JUNIP "Always" (Mute)
RA RA RIOT "Boy" (Barsuk)
LOS LOBOS "Burn It Down" (Shout! Factory)
JESCA HOOP "Four Dreams" (Vanguard)
BEN GLOVER "Monument Green" (Mr. Jones Productions)
LOST IN THE TREES "Song For a Painter" (Anti)
SAHARA SMITH "The Real Thing" (Playing in Traffic/RED)
ROBERT PLANT "Angel Dance" (Rounder)
MOBY "Gone to Sleep" (Mute)
HEART "Hey You" (Legacy)
TRIBUTE TO MIKE
In summarizing the event, I have to mention the late Mike Lyons, who spent years doing just that for us here at TripleARadio.com. His role at NON-COMM in relentlessly supporting and mentoring broadcasters was big. As Dan Reed eulogized in the official NON-COMM Program, "Mike was a genuinely nice guy, a very kind individual who really cared about this format and the people in it." We miss 'em. Mike more than got it when it came to understanding the shifts and trends. Turns out his forecasts in his regular media column The Forest were spot on.
Just before the '08 NON-COMM, his last before he passed away last summer from cancer, Mike wrote "The only stations that still provide a music service that's still compelling are stations like AAA. And the non-commercial AAA stations that will convene in Philadelphia later this month are way ahead of the curve, because they have a format constructed without the old five-minute ad clusters that are the true death of music radio today. It's hard for boomers like me to stay tuned to a station through another spot cluster. I'm rarely convinced that there is something worthwhile on the other side of it. Generations X and Y don't even consider it. They're gone."
And Mike was always impressed with the WXPN management triumvirate of LaMay, Warren and Reed. Which has since expanded to include AMD Mike Vasilikos, the young and talented former PD of WTMD Baltimore who arrived at 'XPN almost two years ago and has been a perfect fit.
"THE BEST ONE YET"
So, congrats to Dan and Bruce on the wrap of number ten! A milestone. The hang was casual, informative, and incidentally the most affordable (low registration with campus housing) of any convention (hello Boulder?!). By the close of the convention Saturday afternoon, few could disagree with Dan's proclamation that "this NON-COMM has been the best one yet." We owe our thanks to the hardworking WXPN and World Café Live staffs, management and volunteers for hosting the three-day affair without a hitch. And let's not forget Stacy Owen and the WFPK Louisville crew who originally produced and hosted the NON-COMMvention in its early years. They laid the groundwork for the coolest radio convention ever. May the show go on. See ya next year for #11!
TripleARadio.com Archives:
2009 NON-COMM Summary
2009 NON-COMM Photos by Songlines
2008 NON-COMMvention Format News Story
2008 NON-COMMvention Report by Mike Lyons
History of the NON-COMM:
WXPN Philadelphia OM/MD Dan Reed is founder and producer of the annual NON-COMMvention, launched in Louisville in 2001 when Dan was at WFPK. TripleARadio.com co-sponsored the NON-COMM with WFPK from 2002-2007. The late Mike Lyons gave the annual State Of The Format address. In 2008, the event moved permanently to Philadelphia and WXPN, excepting a one-off 2011 NON-COMM in Wilmington hosted by a new second World Café Live venue. The gathering has grown to become the premier annual conference for North America's non-commercial Triple A radio. Originally created as an alternative to the annual commercial Triple A radio convention in Boulder, the NON-COMM now hosts numerous adventurous commercial Triple A stations as well. The focus of the NON-COMMvention is on networking, informative panels, and cutting-edge music showcases.
LOUISVILLE, THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES
By the late Mike Lyons, Triplearadio.com Contributing Editor/The Forest
"Hold this" asked singer-songwriter Tift Merritt.
"As you wish," I suavely replied, witnessing the lightning search for a capo in her purse. Which I was now holding.
I had been simply walking around the riverboat Dixie Belle on the Ohio River at the second NON-COMMvention when Tift and I ran into one another in a small room near the bow of the Belle.
Tift was to perform for the programmers on the boat and was rapidly trying to get herself prepared when she ran into me.
After I helped her dig the capo out of her purse, she thanked me graciously and then knocked out a terrific 20-minute set.
Her first ever performance done while bobbing up and down on a boat in the water. She nailed it.
That was how I spent my first two hours in Louisville.
Two hours just wasn't enough for Gerry Weston and Dan Reed however. Especially at a radio convention.
Dan was the PD of WFPK. Gerry was the head of the Public Radio Partnership, a homegrown Louisville operation that ran the three non-commercial FM's in the city.
WFPL-FM was the NPR/All-News station.
WUOL was your classical station.
And WFPK was one of the best non-commercial AAA stations in the country.
But when the radio programming and trade conventions were held - the non-comm's were only slated perhaps a single two-hour panel discussion at best.
It was almost as though the increasingly successful and booming non-commercial portion of the radio business was an afterthought.
It was. To the old guard and the old habits of the radio business.
So, in 2001, Gerry and Dan established the NON-COMMvention in Louisville, to be held every May. Triplearadio.com would come on board as a co-sponsor immediately.
This would be an opportunity not only for the music programmers to see and hear work by new and established artists, it would enable people to exchange stories about their funding, equipment, legal matters and trends in the field of non-commercial broadcasting.
And it didn't have to be crammed into two hours on the last day of the Boulder AAA Summit.
The first NON-COMM in 2001 attracted just over 100 folks. It then increased dramatically during the next five years until it peaked at over 600 when the convention took place in Philadelphia in 2005. By then Dan Reed had become the MD/APD of AAA non-comm leader WXPN, the home of the successful syndicated AAA program "The World Cafe".
Now, the NON-COMMvention will move permanently to Philadelphia starting in May 2008.
Before we go - let me gather some memories of my annual trips to Louisville:
"I'M SORRY BUT WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST SHUT UP!!!"
Those were the words of, then newcomer, Norah Jones when the registration for the convention was, unfortunately one year, set up in the bar of the Seelbach Hotel concurrent with her debut performance on the Seelbach bar stage.
My god, you know how loud radio and record people can become, especially when reuniting for the first time in a year for many. Jones' soft, contemplative ballads simply weren't in sync with that social roar.
But after letting off her young steam, she dazzled the crowd.
And made me a fan of hers forever.
The most charming rush of a performance came the next year when Glenn Tilbrook of the Squeeze simply went unhinged while performing his solo songs and tunes from the Squeeze catalog while dancing joyously, guitar in hand, the spirit just flowing out. Pulling mussels from a shell, sure, but Tilbrook pulled us up and down 4th Street that afternoon across from the Brown Hotel delivering one of the best, unexpected surprises I ever experienced at a convention.
Then there were the revelations. Unknowns who impressed immediately. From Tift Merritt to Mindy Smith to Nellie McKay to this year's "who is that?" girl, Ingrid Michaelson.
Oh, and then there was Keller Williams, who opened with Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" this year, Patti Smith, T-Bone Burnett and Patty Griffin's little poocher scrambling into my hotel room.
Woof. I've had a great time with the talent in Louisville.
On the other, business, side of the coin, the news was remarkable.
After starting slowly, more and more general managers were showing up, talking capitol campaigns and new underwriting sources. This year, it was the new Internet Royalty rates, which may yield more good news for non-comm radio soon.
Weston and Reed had been on the right track. Listening to non-commercial radio in America doubled between 1994 and 2004. Fund-drives started to become shorter and more effective every year. Rotations tightened, tempo became more important and by 2004, led by the major market signals at WXPN in Philadelphia, WYEP in Pittsburgh and WFUV in New York City, AAA Non-commercial radio stations had developed a more flowing daily music presentation, away from traditional block-programming.
Also by 2004, commercial AAA programmers were showing up in droves to the NON-COMMvention!
One reason was that by the fourth convention in Louisville, non-commercial radio was the only part of the radio industry showing growth.
Ratings were up. Fund-raising was up. New facilities were being constructed. Non-commercial AAA was playing terrific music and sincerely COMMUNICATING with a well-to-do, previously under-served audience. Baby-boomers with money and musical memories and an open mind for new artists and sounds. And it was the only radio format gaining listeners (other than Spanish).
Now, the NON-COMMvention will be moving permanently to Philadelphia.
But we must all treasure the memories of Louisville and the people who worked so hard to make this AAA convention such a success.
Stacy Owen, Mindy Fulner, Billy Hardison and the entire Public Radio Partnership staff have always been gracious, polite and, most importantly, good at producing a convention. One with nothing but radio announcers and musicians! I'm amazed we didn't burn down either the Seelbach or the Brown.
For Dan Reed, he so enjoyed his life in Kentucky that he gave his, once, hometown several more years of his idea and never, ever forgot who to thank. I thank him for giving me a chance to see Churchill Downs, The Louisville Slugger factory, Hunter Thompson's boyhood home and the bridge from which Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) threw his 1960 Olympic gold medal into the Ohio river.
For Gerry Weston, one of the most talented managers in radio, I suspect we will be seeing him at a new major market location next year (if not sooner).
For six out of the last seven years, the AAA non-comm community has been meeting at the corner of 4th and Broadway in Louisville, what the city historians call "The Magic Corner".
Now, it's Philly's time to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
—Mike Lyons |
