by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WESTMEATH — Mike Graham is a radio host whose studio is in Westmeath, whose radio station is in the United Kingdom and he is heard around the world.
In his box-like studio, Mike is surrounded by a myriad of musical things and doodads, including CDs, albums, guitars, amplifiers, turntable, CD decks with a mixer, sound boards, keyboard, a set of drums, microphones, computer equipment, and non-musical things, like photos, chairs, couches and a collection of figurines.
“I do online radio and community radio with CHIP FM,” he said.
The online station is Rock Bandom Radio out of the UK, he said.
“I don’t know what it means, but it sticks in people’s head,” he said with a laugh. “I’m (live) on air twice a week, about 10 hours a week,” he said.
However, there’s about 20 hours of prep time on top of the 12 hours, plus the CHIP show is pre-recorded, he noted.
He does three shows on Bandom. The first is a two-hour show each Monday at 5 p.m. It’s two hours of live concerts which Mike hosts alone.
At 7 o’clock, Dr. Dave slides into a chair and the two co-host Soundcheck until 11 p.m. Dr. Dave is Dave McGee, a taxi driver from Pembroke.
This show is where live bands can be heard, Mike said. It’s been awhile since there’s been a live band, but the show must go on, he noted.
“We showcase local talent on Monday,” he said. “We bring them out here and get them playing live on air and interview them.”
The studio is set up so bands can perform, Mike said.
“It doubles as practice space for the three bands I’m in,” he said, adding, “I wanted to create a platform where local talent could come out and play live on air and people locally could hear them, but also get their music farther than what they could on their own.
“When no one’s here we still do our show, play tapes, CDs, vinyl, take requests from the chat room and get chatty,” Mike added. “We talk about music. There’s an open door invitation to friends, so if they want to come and hang out on the show with us, great.
“We’ve had shows where we’ve had 10 people in the room and we get into discussions on musical topics or sometimes the discussions might not even be musical.”
Mike noted while most times it’s fine, it can get difficult when everyone’s trying to talk at once.
Mike noted there’s also a sister show in the Niagara Falls area called Soundcheck Too and it’s hosted by Bobby B at 8 p.m. each Tuesday. He plays local artists from the Niagara Falls area.
The third radio show is each Thursday from 5 p.m. until nine and he’s the host known as Mega Mike. There’s a range of music played, he said. However, don’t expect to hear the songs you hear on corporate radio.
“I play the stuff you don’t hear,” he said. “(I) pull out bands that nobody’s heard of. That’s part of my research every week. I’ll scour things like Rolling Stone or various web sites, to find out what’s new.”
Mike noted this is the sixth station he’s been a host for. It all began eight years ago when he was playing in the AM Radio Band. He was looking for radio play, couldn’t find it, so went online.
“Online radio existed, it just wasn’t as big as it now,’ he said.
He found V Radio out of Las Vegas and began talking with some of the DJs. They suggested he submit songs, which he did, and they began playing them.
When the DJs found out he is a graduate of the radio and television program out of Seneca College in Toronto, they asked him to do a show.
“And, as they say, the rest is history,” Mike said.
He began with a show called Can Con, which was only Canadian content music. The station eventually lost its licence to play licensed music, but that didn’t stop Mike. He changed to playing only independent (indy) bands.
He began looking for independent and local bands to feature on his radio show.
“That started my love and interest for indy music,” he said. “Relationships developed as the bands released music and I would play them on the shows.”
While finding bands may have been difficult, it wasn’t for Mike, because he continued had an in — he was shooting bands through the camera lens, so was meeting them all the time. He also began going to venues in the Valley where there were live bands.
“I’d bring my cameras and just start shooting people,” he said. “I wasn’t going to make a business out of it, I just enjoyed doing it.”
His CHIP FM career began two-and-a-half years ago. He can’t remember how the career began with CHIP, but he does know his show is called Musicology.
“I’m not even sure if that’s a real word, but it’s what I use,” he said.
It’s usually on each Thursday evening from 9 p.m. until midnight. However, until the Montreal Canadiens are done playing hockey, the show is now on much later.
“It comes on after the hockey game is over,” he said. “So, it’s difficult to tell people what time to tune in.”
Mike pre-records the show about three to four days prior to Thursday.
“At last count, I’ve done somewhere between 130 and 140 shows,” he said.
However, it’s not the only show he does for CHIP
FM. About a year ago, he was offered the 5:30 to 7 p.m. slot, which is straight forward rock, with no news.
“People tuning into me want to hear music and laugh,” Mike said. “They’ve had their fill of news.
Mike is able to do online radio, along with all the research and prep work because he’s a home dad. He and wife Jo-Ann are the parents of five-year-old Jack, who has autism.
“I do all this stuff around Jack’s schedule,” he said. “It makes it easier for this type of thing because I have a set up in my (home) office. When I’m taking care of Jack, when he’s happy playing in the livingroom, I can get work done.
“Work, Jack, work, Jack.”
Mike said for those singers and bands who want air time, send him an email at [email protected]
“You can submit music if you can’t make it on a show,” he said. “We also do interviews through Skype.”
Mike enjoys dj-ing on internet radio.
“I enjoy the freedom of playing what I want,” he said. “The freedom of creating radio of how I think radio should be. That’s something I learned in college about radio — it’s very formatted. There’s a lot of thought, in like you have to do this, then make sure you write down when you play a song and the time. There’s too much thought and not enough fun in corporate radio. But, these people are being paid to do a job. They have people depending on them, like advertisers, and other people in the station. I don’t have any. I get to be goofy on air, have fun with it.”
There’s no restrictions on what music he can play, but he plays music that is in good taste.
“I don’t play music that’s offensive just for the sake of being offensive,” he said.
Online radio is also a great way of networking and encouraging a love for music, he said. He tries to play music a 14-year-old would love to hear as well as someone who’s 55.
“The demographics is wide open,” he said. “I’m hoping I’m reaching the 14 to 55 age group. I’m getting older and am starting to realize people who are 10 years older than me are into some of the same kind of music as me.”
He and Dr. Dave get along so well, because he brings a different perspective being 10 years older.
Leaning back in his hosting chair and looking around the studio, pointing out a wall of photos of alive and deceased musicians, Mike smiled and said, “Some people call this place a museum.”
The studio is a comfortable place where musicians and friends can hang out and play music and Mike knows people are listening to his show because they want to, not because it’s the only station in the area.
“People are tuning into me,” he said. “They want to listen to me and my wealth of music trivia.”
The Bands
On top of taking care of his son and spending time with his wife and being an online disc jockey, Mike is also a member of three different bands.
Red Dissever, which is a rock cover band. This means they play other people’s music.
The Murder By the Lake Band is a band that plays all original music, much of it story-telling rock. The bands latest CD was released two weeks ago.
The final band is Stoneskull, which is “pretty much Black Sabbath-y music.” There are two members, Mike on bass guitar and friend Dave Trudel on drums.
