North Country Community Radio on LATV2.
Community broadcasting centers team up.
NCCR has a new audio series coming to LATV. The local radio station is branching into the television scene with a pilot of its new series “Audiofile”. It stems from NCCR Executive Director Nate Alberts, and local video producer Chip Cross. Originally broadcasted live on WZNC-LP on 99.9 fm, the live performance show was recorded and edited by Chip Cross. The interview/performance show spotlights local musicians with in studio performances and interviews. The first two segments are roughly 15 minutes each. Each features a different local/regional group; Steel Sorrow from Gorham, and Broke and Ugly from Whitefield. The original music is played acoustic style in the studio with DJ and radio host Dustin Peterson helping to guide the show along.
Mad Cat duo renamed
Zach Potter and Brad Shedd bring Broke and Ugly into the NCCR studio from the city of Whitefield. The two also perform with the local band Mad Cat Habitat. As a pair they also had performed outside of MCH for many years. However, previous live performances under the name “Mad Cat” caused a fair amount of confusion. As the duo continued to perform outside of their parent band, a new name was sought. At the beginning of 2017 they decided to rename themselves and the term “broke and ugly” was cast out by Brad as a joke. It stuck. Brad stated that he “came up with about 200 other names” but it didn’t work. Zach loved the name and it was adopted.
The duo performed about 12 minutes of live music and hosted a short interview segment after their performance.
Pedal steel punk-folk-country
Steel Sorrow features Lee Lamontagne and “Slug”, formerly of the band The Tommy Guns. Slug performs on the pedal steel guitar and Lee sings and plays rhythm on the acoustic. The duo have trouble pinpointing their music genre during the broadcast. Slug explains that it is “a mix of everything we listen to… It’s like, punk rock and country and stuff that’s meshed together like that. It’s a mesh.” Lee continues with a bit of humor adding that “[the music is] a little folkey, it’s a little ‘sorrow-ey’, it’s a little bluesy, it’s a little ‘country-ey’, it’s a little punky, it’s a little metal-ey…” He settles on the ad-libbed term of “Anarcho-acoustico-folko-punko”.
Broadcasting partners
Collaboration between NCCR and LATV has been in the works for a few years now. Channel 2 Station manager Chad Fillion and NCCR Executive Director Nate Alberts discussed the idea in early 2016. The shared interest in working together on projects also included The Loading Dock proprietor Jason Tors. “It’s a perfect broadcasting match” says Fillion. “Marrying the two broadcast entities into a single performance-style show at a local venue is certainly a ‘harmony’ of exposure. It is perfect format for listening on the radio as well as viewing; both live and on television.”
Alberts, Tors and Fillion have had a few discussions of live performance shows airing in a simulcast format. The three have met to discuss the intricacies involved with a live performance show being broadcast from The Loading dock. No word yet on an actual performance or show date. Fillion says the vision is still alive and well and “in the works”. Though a live event that is streamed to the web, and broadcast onto television and radio simultaneously is complicated, it is achievable.
Audio file airs nightly this week at 7:15pm and 1:00 am. The 7:15 showing rotates between episode 1 and episode 2. the 1am airing shows both episodes back to back. For a full schedule of LATV listings and all of the times Audiofile airs, please visit our schedule page.