Why Not and How the Current Can Do Better

(photo courtesy of Why Not/the Current)

It is impossible to discuss music in the Twin Cities (and even Minnesota at large) without mentioning the Current. The influential station has helped dictate local music taste since it was founded in 2005. Bands like Cloud Cult, Trampled by Turtles, and Hippo Campus have benefited hugely from the station's consistent support. However, the young local underground has largely gone unnoticed.

Punk trio Why Not tweeted about this issue last Saturday.

Hot and respectful take: 

The Current needs to start supporting young bands and actually doing something to grow the current scene of youth artists. 

We love The Current but they refuse to dig deep into the amazing DIY bands in MN. This needs to change.

— Why Not (@WhyNotBandMN) February 24, 2019

The Current wields influence over a demographic that remains ignorant of the kaleidoscope of talent found in young and up-and-coming bands. Why Not said that the Current "need[s] to use that power to bring up this scene. It is super super important." Frankly, they have a point.

I'm not entirely sure what the Current's gate-keeping process looks like for submissions or local artists in general. It can seem fairly open, especially with the Local Current. But that's only available online or with an HD radio (89.3 HD2). It doesn't get nearly as many listens or nearly as much attention. Someone with a glass-half-empty outlook would see this as the Current doing the absolute least to appease local musicians and their fans. I don't necessarily agree with that - I understand that the Current is a business and has to keep itself afloat. Why Not's Isaac Dell said, "It's a difficult situation [since] the Current's job is to serve their audience." The station has to follow the trends of their listeners as well. If the station doesn't play what 25-45 year-old hipsters want to hear, they would lose much of their market. It would be absurd to expect them to do that. However, it wouldn't be too drastic of a change to introduce more local programming into regular rotation and more local emphasis online.

While the Current is not ignorant to the underground, it doesn't give it the attention it deserves. Groups like Why Not (the Clean Tramps, niiice., Keep for Cheap, Heart to Gold, Unturned) have been perpetually underappreciated beyond maybe an occasional stream on the Local Current. These bands have been touring and recording consistently and have often partnered with excellent labels. The least they can get is some support from the go-to local music station. Radio K and other college stations have tried to fill the void, but they can only do so much.

I'm not suggesting that the Current do something as extreme as completely replacing a large chunk of its programming with young punk and indie bands (as exciting as that would be). If anything, they can start by leaning a bit more into it.

The College Contributor program would have been a great way to bridge the gap, before it fell to the wayside. These writers were roughly the same age as the high school/college-age bands that are feeling somewhat neglected. This would bridge the gap between Radio K's insider approach with the wider reach of the Current. Potentially, college kids could primarily and even exclusively cover smaller, younger bands. This would also help curb the deluge of music submissions received by DJs. Instead of relegating many of these songs and artists to a two-hour period on Sunday nights, they would get closer to their desired platform.

On top of all of this, connecting college contributors with bands that are more than willing to be interviewed and covered would help both parties to grow. Writers would be given more opportunities and could strengthen their multitude of skills required to succeed in media. The music community would grow in spades.

Given everything said above, I wanted to echo another of Why Not's sentiments.

Just want to clarify that in no way are we trying to throw shade at The Current!

We are all long time listeners who grew up listening to this station and we just want them to do better!

We love The Current and will always be supporters ❤️

— Why Not (@WhyNotBandMN) February 24, 2019

Both of us at Ear Coffee have been longtime supporters and fans of the Current, and will continue to be. Anything potentially negative in this article is said in the spirit of improvement and constructive criticism. I feel pretentious even saying this, to be quite honest. I reached out to David Safar, the music director of the Current and producer of the Local Show, to comment, but he has not responded at the current time.

We hope that the Current can strive to do more, because we want even more reason to love what it does. It can serve its audience while still doing more to support what the underground is doing.