Stations play the music of recording artists all the time; but how often do they turn a permanent air slot over to one?
Beasley station WKIS(FM) is promoting a country recording artist as its latest air talent.
“Jason Aldean’s Overnight Music Machine” debuted this week. The artist is hosting the Miami station’s midnight to 5:30 a.m. shift — in the words of a Beasley official, through the magic of “virtual radio.”
This is the same station that launched an HD2 channel named after country singer Gretchen Wilson.
In response to a query from Radio World, PD Bob Barnett, who came up with the ideas, confirms that Aldean is pre-recording tracks that are inserted into the log — “similar to standard ‘voice-tracking’ but a little different,” he said.
“While (Aldean) doesn’t introduce or back-sell songs, he jocks the show through the ‘magic of radio.’”
The station announcement quoted Barnett saying, “We may be the first country music station to feature a major recording artist in a regular time slot this way.”
One side benefit of the setup for WKIS: Aldean will be heard seven nights a week.
