Our Podcasts are on Mixcloud
I hate to do it but I'm going to have to pull the plug on the full time stream and focus more on podcasting. My carpel tunnel is worse than it's ever been and there's so much word processing involved in producing the stream. There seems to be less and less interest, too. "Americana" as a format seems to be splitting into different directions with one side being more Modern Rock sounding - Amanda Shires and Aaron Lee Tasjan for examples - while another side seems to be more country than country radio. Cody Jinks, Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers. Then there's a huge influx of R&B/Soul revivalists, like The Revivalists, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, The War and Treaty... and, while I personally love the variety, apparently there's not a big demand out there for the mix. Also every year there's a new threat that prices for playing licensed music is going to increase, and I just don't want to be a fundraiser. I want to produce great radio without fundraising taking up so much energy.
"Always Eclectic, All the Time."
"A seductive, addictive, professional blend of 'Cosmic' Americana,
Contemporary Blues, Modern Bluegrass, Jam, Folk Rock, soulful alt.country & more."
Contemporary Blues, Modern Bluegrass, Jam, Folk Rock, soulful alt.country & more."
artists & labels, send promo CDs our way for airplay consideration:
WreckingBallRadio.NET - 500 Umstead Drive #202A - Chapel Hill, NC - 27516
WreckingBallRadio.NET - 500 Umstead Drive #202A - Chapel Hill, NC - 27516
New Blog Posts:9.21 - See above note about our transitioning from full time stream to podcasting. Any new money collected will go toward new music for the podcasts. We will have them up on Tune-In soon as we figure out how to do all that.
9.18 - Thanks to Richard in NJ for the donation today... I'm counting it as the last donation of our Summer Fund Drive.
9.18 - I want all artists to thrive. I want you all to be successful on your own terms. Everyone I play on wreckingballradio.net. That's why this station exists: to help expose artists who might not otherwise be heard. But - there's talk that Licensing Fees are going to go up - Again - and if that happens we won't be able to continue without someone with deep pockets backing us. We don't have that. So, sadly, it'll go back to how it was before. Only the rich and the very well off will be able to broadcast. And their motivation won't be art, it'll be commerce.
I didn't get into this to be a fundraiser. I knew it'd be part of it. But, increasingly, it's eating up too much time. I don't like begging for money. I dislike doing it as much as I dislike commercials. When I started this, I didn't know how time consuming the fundraising element would become. And no one's come forward to volunteer for the gig. A few over the years have said they were gonna do it but they never followed up. So, in short, if they raise the price to operate an internet radio stream, I'm out. For some, that'll be fine. I know. Life will go on. 9.16 - Thanks to Ruth Ann for the donation, which I think ends our Summer Fund Drive, unless we get a much bigger donation between now and next week. We came up a little short this time. Hopefully the Fall will be better for us. I can only know if you still find wreckingballradio.net valuable if our fundraising goals are met. So fingers crossed for Autumn this year.
I love this pic. No clue where it came from or who owns it. If you own it and would like me to take it down, lemme know. But it's one hell of a shot!
You can donate through our Paypal Address: wreckingballradio@gmail.com
"Old school" checks and money orders are also fine, through our mailing address Jayson c/o Wrecking Ball Radio 500 Umstead Drive #202A Chapel Hill, NC 27516 If you do it this way, please include your email so I can thank you, ASAP or right away! |
Staff Picks:
Artists in Heavy Rotation right now on WreckingBallRadio.NET - in no particular order:
Amy Helm, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Dave Matthews Band, Carolina Story, Jim James, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Anderson East, The Record Company, Hot Buttered Rum, The War and Treaty, Stray Birds, M. Ward, Sam Morrow, Amanda Shires, Milk Carton Kids, Trampled by Turtles, John Prine, Birds of Chicago, Mavis Staples, Punch Brothers, The Jayhawks, Wild Feathers, Magic Numbers, Lake Street Dive, Mipso, Marcus King Band, Amos Lee, Ben Glover, Neko Case, Cowboy Junkies, Willie Nelson, Caleb Caudle, Dana Fuchs, Blackberry Smoke, Shakey Graves. 
The perfect cup for your better moods!
If you've been geo-blocked for any reason, or maybe your place of business has blocked us for being a bad influence, The above WikiHow can teach you, easily, how to get around such things. Listen to us anywhere with a VPN. I'm not advertizing any one of them in particular, just recommending that you get a good one and use it. thanks!
A Cup for Our Times!
800 a quarter seems to just cover the bases.
PayPal: wreckingballradio@gmail.com Interest on paypal adds up quickly, too. Webhosting costs money. Music itself costs money. Yes I do get some promo stuff but most of what you hear is music I've bought for the station. The cost of playing the music itself continues to grow every year. And sometimes we have to replace a microphone or a laptop or something basic like that. There's Internet fees & more. We don't have a huge overhead because there's no fancy studio or tower to worry about. Seriously, I do this from the living room. But since this is my only "job", I do have to put on my fundraiser hat now and then. If I could I'd pay for it all myself, I would. Maybe if they ever get that Basic Income thing going. I haven't won any lotteries lately so I do rely on the kindness of strangers. Your Promo Here!!
We don't have advertising but as an incentive to donate, if you have a small business to promote, a coffee shop, a new album, an ebook or book or movie or comic book or anything (within reason, of course, example: no porn, no guns, nothing racist or sexist), in exchange for any donation $50 or more we'll gladly help you promote it here on this page. Or.... Hire Me!
Another way to help out with WreckingBallRadio.NET, if you like my voice (and some people do, believe it or not!), I'm available to create a radio ad for you which you can place on various radio stations in your market. I specialize in the "soft sell" approach. Just write me some copy and I'll send you an mp3 or two or three in a timely manner, which can be used when you buy time on other outlets running commercials. I'm also available to program or consult other radio stations, on line or wherever, in the wreckingballradio.net style. Moving is not an option but you don't need me hanging around your break room anyway, when I can do it long distance just fine. Questions or suggestions: wreckingballradio@gmail.com
If you ever find you're being "geo-blocked" from a website for whatever reason, we recommnd that you find a good VPN service. A good example for needing a VPN: say you work in a big office building and everyone uses the same WiFi but your office doesn't want to follow the same rules as the office building's landlord. A VPN is an excellent way to get around whatever block they've put in place. There are several good ones out there. Do some shopping around. We're not promoting any specific VPN. But we do recommend using them.
Like the artists we play? Support their music! Support this forum so you can hear more of the music you love!
Paypal us: wreckingballradio@gmail.com - plus, Obviously, buy their music, go to their websites, buy their t-shirts, go see them in concert, friend them on social media. We need our artists to survive and thrive - just as we need our web-streams and podcasts to continue to do so For as long as you allow us, we're going to promote them with the loving care they deserve. 
Wearing our new shirt helps with word of mouth promotion. But just know it's not a donation. I get nothing from those things in terms of tangible money to pay our bills. I was just encouraged to make them because some of you have asked for some SWAG and I thought it would be a good way to make some SWAG available.
Maybe if we sold a couple thousand of them I'd make a few bucks but I'm not holding my breath on that one! Same goes for the cups. What really helps, though, is donations thru PayPal. Here's our direct address. PayPal.Me/WreckingBallRadioNET |
Wrecking Ball Radio
500 Umstead Drive
Suite 202-A
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Note: cups and shirts are cool. The station doesn't really make money off of these things. I only made them available because some of you asked for them. Our stream, and everything that comes with it, is paid for by donations alone.
."I got into radio when I was 19 out in Walla Walla, Washington. after some time at Whitman College's KWCW I landed a job at KTEL - a little news, sports and country music station. Before too long I became their music director. It was my dream job, really. Same station Family Guy & Batman's Adam West began his career, btw.
Moved to Florida in the mid 80's and spent some time as Music Director at Class 103 in Naples, back when they were 'THE' station to listen to. After that I hosted a popular weekly Sunday Jazz Brunch show on WAVV-101. I got out of radio for a while to pursue other interests and wound up back on the air at Eye-Q Radio in Miami where I began exclusively playing Americana and alt.country. This was back in 2000. Moved to North Carolina and found myself continuing the Americana/alt.country show at WCOM, a little community station here in Carrboro. The show got "syndicated" on a few other internet stations in the USA and UK - which was very cool. But a weekly 2 hour show just wasn't enough for me. Once I finally figured out how to put the pieces together for a full time internet-based radio station, and thanks to the generosity of friends who believed in this project (and my ability to pull it off and create something innovative, fun and interesting) - Wrecking Ball Radio was born in 2011. The station continues to survive ONLY on listener donations and, for that, we are eternally, extremely grateful." "This is my only real skill and it's becoming less and less marketable so I really do appreciate the support." 
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"WreckingBallRadio.net is still the best stream I've discovered and you've rejuvenated my love for radio and buying music. Your doing a fantastic job so please keep the stream alive as long as you can."
- Bern S. from the UK "A terrific source for discovering new music! I've bought a ton of music because of you!"
Jamie T. "I had satellite but I got rid of it and now I only listen to Wrecking Ball Radio. Nothing compares." B. Tweedy "WreckingBallRadio.Net must continue. It is the go to sound track for my life. Your programming skills are spot on. Bringing joy to me every day of my life. Telling all my friends about your station."
Joel K. "[Wrecking Ball Radio] is a goldmine of new and old Americana nuggets curated by Jayson Tanner, who seems to have the knack of uncovering under the radar artists... He has a real ear for intelligent music, the kind that has something to say and which does not simply seek to replicate the past...."
Steve Swift, writing in 'Louder Than War'. "We play your station every day , and EVERY day, so many clients ask about the station because they LOVE the music that is played. We're sharing the good news! Thank you for playing great songs all the time."
- Dennis S. "Wow...seriously? Radio with really good music? Really, REALLY good music...song after song after song? Two hours ago I would have said it wasn't possible ... thank you Jayson for proving me wrong." - Barbara P. "... reminds me of listening to "underground" radio back in 1969..." - Ron I. "Incredible! ... I love ur song selections and could never find all these artists on my own. Thank you I can now lay in bed and listen to my hearts content." - Virgil J. "I like having a place I can escape to where I can be guaranteed awesome music." - Jessica D. "Wrecking Ball Radio harkens back to the quality and depth commercial radio once had the freedom and chutzpah to explore. Class, quality and excitement." - Jon M. Send Comments:
WreckingBallRadio@gmail.com
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