When
UtahFM first started up in 2008 it did its best from the beginning to
find a home for all the then former-KRCL volunteer hosts who at the
time found themselves without a shift. After the dust cleared and
everyone figured out whether they would stay or not, the search went
out for new talent to fill the empty slots. Either by way of former
broadcasters looking to join in, or fresh-faced talent who knowingly
weren't going to get a paid gig from corporate radio. And by that
process the internet station found itself some of the best talent
anywhere.
--- Take for example the Friday mid-day shift held down
by Dag. A former Simmons intern with nowhere to go after his term was
up, turned to the station in April of 2009 and quickly became one of
the most respected and talked about names currently on the schedule.
Playing a mix of local musicians as well as unknown national indie
and world artists, Dag has done the one thing most DJ's in the
country only wish they could do... play whatever the hell they want
and influence everyone they can. I got a chance to chat with the man
himself after he recently passed the one-year marker on his show,
talking about his career plus thoughts on music and broadcasting, all
with pictures from my visit a few weeks back (where he also chatted with Allison Martin and rock group SPORK).
Daniel
“Dag” Gentry
http://www.utahfm.org/
Gavin:
Hey Daniel! First off, tell us a bit about yourself.
Daniel:
I graduated from Hillcrest High School in 2008. I was born in Japan,
and no, I'm not Japanese. I was also born with six fingers, but they
were cut off at birth. I'm a pretty outgoing person and like to meet
new people all the time.
Gavin:
What drew you into music in general, and what are some of your
favorite artists?
Daniel:
Well, I've always enjoyed music since I was little. I have too many
favorites, but if I had to pick my top five artists it would be: Bob
Dylan, Bad Religion, The Clash, Sparta and RJD2.
Gavin:
How did you first take an interest in radio and what drew you to
want to make it a career?
Daniel:
My first interest was when I was job shadowing Todd Nuke'em
for school when I was in 14. I thought it was so cool that he got
paid to sit on his ass and play music. I then decided to be a radio
broadcaster during Reality Town, which was an event that 9th graders
participated in to show how what job and education would impact your
life. Later that year, once school was over for summer, I decided I
wanted to intern for X96.
Gavin:
What made you jump right in as opposed to going to college
first?
Daniel:
When I graduated High School, I didn't have money for college at the
time and didn't want to worry about stupid student loans that I
wouldn't be able to pay for. Because I've seen family and friends
struggle with paying for loans for school, or paying for bills they
couldn't pay for because they couldn't work as much as they could
while being in school. So I decided to pass on going to school,
because I knew it would impact me in ways that would give me extra
stress on my shoulders. College isn't for everyone I've always said, but I would like to go back to school when I have the money. All I
can say to everyone that's reading this right now... if you have a
dream to be someone you want to be someday, then strive for it.
Dreams aren't easy to achieve, if you can get through the time and
effort to get somewhere, as well as getting positive and negative
comments for what your doing, you'll eventually get there. Also when
trying to achieve your dream, never let anyone get in your way of
doing something you enjoy in life. Its your life not theirs... now
get off that easy chair and make something out of your life if you
haven't yet.
Gavin:
How did the opportunity come about to work for Simmons Media?
Daniel:
I got the email contacts for all the Simmons Media stations, and
emailed the director in charge of each station. All the stations
rejected me, except for one called X96. Randi Wilson, who was the
Promotions Director at the time, told me to send an email to Richie
T. Steadman, the producer of the Radio From Hell show. I then contacted him and received an email back shortly after
to give him a copy of my resume, as well as a call to set up a
interview to come sit in the studio for a period of time, just so
Kerry, Bill, and Gina could get to know me. After that period of
time, had a interview with the one, the only, Richie T. Steadman. He
reviewed my resume, asked me a couple questions and asked me when I
could start. I said. "Right away." I started the internship
for Radio From Hell in August of 2008 and finished
December of 2008. Oddly enough, that same day my computer decided to
take a shit on me. Pretty eventful December day I must say. I later
stayed on and helped Portia until she left the station in May of 2009,
and came to UtahFM.
Gavin:
What was it like for you working with Portia during that time, and
what experience did you gain working for the station as a
whole?
Daniel:
I loved working for Portia, I'm pretty sure I learned a lot more
during the time I was interning under Portia, then I did during my
internship with the morning show. But I did learn how to edit audio
with Audition during my internship with the show. I learned many things from both experiences I had, because of the knowledge I had with Audition, I decided to take upon
myself to start a new podcast for the station. The name of it was
called the "Live & Local Podcast". It was up online for at least 4-5 months until Portia left. I'm proud of myself for
making a new way to access Utah local artist interviews from her
show.
Gavin:
What eventually led to you picking up the gig at UtahFM?
Daniel:
My brother found a article about UtahFM in either City Weekly or
Catalyst and knew I had a interest in radio broadcasting. He
said "Give it a try." So I did. I loved the idea that it
was uncensored, because if you know me, I don't like censorship. I
believe it wrecks the piece of art that the artist or composer made. But I found that article and decided to
volunteer. I went online, filled out the volunteer
form (which anyone can register to be) and waited for a
response. A month or so goes by, I then glance at my inbox and
saw that I got a email letting me know that there was going to be a
upcoming open house for new volunteers. I made a note of
what day it was gonna be held and decided to go.
I attended the meeting, met a lot of interesting people that had the
same love for music I did. Later that night I spoke to Rachael, who
was one of the coordinators of UtahFM, who also had a show of her
own at the station.
Gavin:
Did you have an idea of what you'd be doing with your shift when you
came in, or was it more impromptu playlists?
Daniel:
When I first started I was just a volunteer, so I
didn't know what I was actually gonna do when I got an actual on air
spot. But I had one idea, that was to focus on local music for
one, and the other reason was to just give listeners another place to
find music they've never heard of such as local and indie
artists.
Gavin:
Offhand, how did the nickname Dag come around?
Daniel:
I got my name from a show on Nickelodeon called "Angry Beavers". There
were two main characters named Daggett and Norbort. That’s where I
first heard the name. It’s also a county in Southern Utah too,
which I learned in history class in school. So I decided to start calling myself “Dagget”. It
was just a profile name I used for my MySpace profile. Ha…who uses
MySpace now anyways? Well I do, but just to stay in contact with
bands and such. So I used that name for that. which later later
caught on as a nickname for me. I later decided to shorten it and
just call myself “Dag”. I’ve stayed with that nickname ever
since then.
Gavin:
How did the idea come for you to start playing local music?
Daniel:
Well at the time the station didn't have a show that played Utah
local music. So I thought it would be a great idea to have another
outlet to hear Utah's talent. I've gotta say, Utah has one impressive
local music scene. And keeps growing day by day.
Gavin:
You also include more worldly music from overseas and material not
being played around the country. How do you end up picking those that
you'll play?
Daniel:
I'll say just two things, Last.FM and YouTube. Those websites are
two places that are major help with finding new music, especially
overseas. Last.FM allows you to put one artist in, and it'll bring up
25 pages of similarities of that artist you entered in. Also with
Last.FM you make an account like you would with any other social
networking website, like MySpace or Facebook for example. YouTube is like Last.FM, but the only difference
is that you won't get 25 pages that are filled with similar artists
from the search you made. The one thing I like about YouTube is that
you can usually put in something to find, such as an artist you wanna
find, and it'll give you suggestions of what to watch next. It could
be the same artist that your listening to, or it could be something
different. But yeah, those are two ways I usually find music
overseas.
Gavin:
You recently hit the one-year anniversary for the show. How has the
overall experience been for you so far, and what do you plan on doing
with the show from here?
Daniel:
The experience of doing my show at UtahFM has been great. It did
take me a little while to get comfortable with the mic though. But
once I did I was on fire. Not literally though. My plans for the
show will always change from show to show, such as music that will be
played, guests that I'll be having on the show, and other surprises
that I like to keep hidden 'til the day of the show. I'm planning
on playing a little more local music than I have in the past, because
the local music and art scene that Utah has, deserves it very
much.
Gavin:
Moving onto local stuff, what are your thoughts on the local music
scene, both good and bad?
Daniel:
I've gotta say, Utah has one great local music scene. And keeps
growing day by day. Hell, I showed Portia the other day my friend
that has been playing guitar and writes his own lyrics. I have a
theory that the local scene started to progress more and more, right
after the 2002 Winter Olympics. I'm glad we have
artists becoming bigger, and getting out to spread the word of what
they have to say to the world. There's nothing wrong with the local
scene we have in Salt Lake City, but there can always be improvements
to it, nothing wrong with improvements, as long as their headed in
the right direction.
Gavin:
Is there anything you believe could be done to make it
better?
Daniel:
The local and indie scene has been growing and still is. There's no
need to change things, but if I had to name one thing that could be
changed, that thing would be to have more local free shows. Like for
example, Music@Main, which is a new thing that The City Library in
downtown Salt Lake City has been highlighting Utah's best local
talent that Utah can offer. It's held every third Wednesday of every
month. Located on the 4th Floor in one of the conference rooms. This
is the 2nd year that The City Library has
been doing this, and so far their getting a great turn out for it.
Hell, the best part of it is, now get this, I'll only say it once, its fucking free!!!! One more thing I should add, if you can't make
it to the live performance at The City Library, just tune into UtahFM for a live broadcast of the show during
it.
Gavin:
What's your overall feeling on local radio, both corporate and
community?
Daniel:
Well there's pro's and con's about both areas in radio broadcasting.
With corporate radio you have all those damn commercials ever
15 minutes. The music they play is pretty good, but not when you hear the
same song practically every hour or two. Now with community radio
you have a voice to the community, instead of going on air saying a
30 second bit before playing the song from a synchronized playlist
that the station has made. Community radio also involves the
community with what happening in the community around them and what
their doing as well, and I like that. Now in this era where we live
in nowadays, where everyone has iPods or MP3 players. You can't just
play music and expect people to listen, you gotta offer something to
the listener that they wouldn't normally get from those. So, with both types of radio broadcasting, you gotta
brainstorm and always think of good ideas to spark the listeners
interest.
Gavin:
What are your thoughts on local labels, and do you believe they help
or hinder musicians?
Daniel:
I don't have much of an opinion on local labels. All I can say is,
if their supporting local music and getting their voices heard, then
I have nothing against that.
Gavin:
What do you think of our current venues, and are there any changes
you wish they'd make?
Daniel:
Well all of our venues could get changes done to them. But one thing
that needs to be fixed, is to have better booking agents. Some
teenagers want to see bands that are playing bar shows, but I do
understand that bars make more money off beer and alcohol than they
would with ticket sales. What venues here in Utah need to change is
to have the bartenders actually check their ID's every time they buy a
drink. Why is it so hard to ID after each drink? Oh ya... maybe
because they're just too damn lazy to ID, so they just ID at the
doors. Well in my opinion, I think venues would make more money if
they opened the shows down to 18 . I would think that if bar shows
did that, they'd get a better turn out. But then again, I could be
wrong.
Gavin:
What can we expect from you the rest of the year?
Daniel: Lots of new music music that you won't normally hear
anywhere... unless you go on a new music binge like I do at times. If
not, then expect great music to be played each week. As well as some
special guests like indie and local artists. I'm hoping to get
some of the indie artists that are planning to come this summer to do
a small interview, either in studio or on the phone live during the
show.
Gavin:
Aside the obvious, is there anything you'd like to plug or
promote?
Daniel:
Yes I would. Portia's show, "Unsigned Uncensored"
Monday's 3-6PM. You can also listen to
all recent UtahFM broadcasts on the archives on our website, so
if you can't tune in that day you can listen to it later. Gotta love
technology. Add me on Facebook and my
fan page as well.
A couple bands you should check out are Delta Spirit, As Tall As
Lions, and local artist who was formally called Vicious Starfish, but
now their called The Black Arrows. My friend Victoria's hair
salon she just barely opened. Changing Seasons Salon, 8846 S Redwood
Road. She does one hell of a good job on cutting hair, her number is
801-560-4242, she'll give you a hell of a scalp massage with every
haircut and shampoo is included as well. Its nice to get that after
a long day of work. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICTORIA!!!!!! And last
thing, a big thank you to Gavin for everything he does for the local
scene, as well as everyone else that has helped me along the way so
far. Thank You!