Public Enemy's Chuck D Wants A Record Store Day Radio Station, DJ SKEE Helps

After last year's Record Store Day, Chuck D of Public Enemy went to the founder of the national event, Michael Kurtz, to share an idea. What if the day dedicated to vinyl had its own radio station? Kurtz adopted the idea and recently struck up a partnership with DJ SKEE's new venture, DASH Radio, which premiered last August. The station is no longer a dream. It will go live March 1, well ahead of this year's annual celebration of vinyl.

"He kept bringing up that we needed a Record Store Day radio station, so I said, 'You really want this to happen?'" Kurtz told Billboard about Chuck D's persistence. "'It would be so cool, one of the few cool things Record Store Day hasn't done.' He started the whole conversation."

SKEE, aka Scott Keeney, was onboard right from the start as well. The DJ said that a station ran by and dedicated to music lovers who are always exposed to new artists on a local level was a no-brainer. "They know the scene like no other. They're obviously the most passionate. They live, breathe, eat this every day."

Kurtz and Keeney will spend the next month hammering out programming ideas for the station. So far there are suggestions for an hour-long Frank Zappa block as well as a show curated by John Densmore of The Doors. They're also considering a show dedicated to what's popular at stores around the country. Amoeba Records in Los Angeles, Grimey's in Nashville and Newbury Comics in Boston have all been tapped to help.

Keeney stressed that the human aspect will get customers to the stores.

DASH Radio was created in response to Pandora, which relies on an algorithm to program music. Keeney tapped Peter Ferraro, who's also involved with the Record Store Day station and is the co-founder of the since-closed East Village Radio, as an investor along with L.A. Reid and Adrian Peterson. It combines the streaming and music discovery aspect Pandora and Spotify implore with human programming and hosts.

"DASH provides an innovative platform for artists while offering listeners the variety they want, without limitations," Reid said.

Record Store Day is April 18.

Tags

Chuck D, Public Enemy, Record Store Day, The Doors, Frank Zappa, Pandora