They've got a new Friday night show called Sound Theory Live that runs from 7 to 8 p.m. and features live in-studio performances from local musicians across a wide range of genres. So far they've featured acts like Big Poppa E, Afrobeta, Nil Lara, People You Know, and Conjunto Progreso.
The man behind the show is Carlos Garcia, a partner in a local accounting firm who is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana, and has handled live music infrastructure for Art In The Park, Carnival On The Mile, and the Calle Ocho Festival.
I spoke to him by phone about what's coming up and how you can get your band on the air. Here's what he had to say, after the jump.
I met a lot of musicians doing the festival stuff and was looking for a way to do something with that. I pitched idea to WDNA back in December and by the end of February they contacted me and said they have an open spot and they wanted to give us a try.
I've been going about it by asking musicians that I've dealt with in the past, we have 2 months worth of shows already set up. This Friday we're featuring Lanzallamas Monofonica. I gotta check my calendar, hold on, let's see we got Electric Piquete, some boys out of Hialeah after that. June 5th we got Negroni's Trio, who've been nominated for the Latin Grammys. June 12th is Jacob Jeffries, Amereida on the 19th, The State Of on the 26th, Deblois on July 10th, Artofficial on July 31st.
"Bands who are interested should contact me through Facebook, Myspace, or email, I'll listen to it and if it's worthwhile we'll take it from there.
Joe Cassara who's the operations manager does the live engineering. When Conjunto was here it was 9 people in the studio so it can be challenging, but Afrobeta was just two people so it was relatively easy and it sounded great.
I like the music scene in Miami. I have a place in New Orleans, so I'm over there pretty often, and the music scene over there is something we should aspire to here in Miami. You see how they talk after the gigs and work together and we should do that here, and it's starting to happen. The modern music from Miami is impressive, it just needs to find a way to let people outside of here know about it so that when they come here they come for the live music.
WDNA has a history as an institution trying to promote local musicians, and this vehicle to have them come in and perform live on the air really lends itself to that. Also, the listener base has actually been increasing over last year or so.
I couldn't hold a note or play an instrument even if i wanted to. I like listening to music; it's been amazing to be a part of this thing for the last couple of months and see how it's growing and the increased caliber of musicians who're approaching the show. We got Ed Calle coming in on August 28.
People can send emails with questions they wanna ask and they've been starting to do that. I've spent a lot of time volunteering throughout the community and this has been great for the instant gratification. Poppa E tells me they were able to get more crowds at the club after his performance on the show. Some people from Europe were listening in their hotel room and decided to go out to Jazid and check him out just cause of the show."
Sound Theory Live airs every Friday from 7 to 8 p.m. on 88.9 FM WDNA. Go to WDNA.orgSound Theory Live on Facebook or Myspace. Or e-mail [email protected] for more info. Or go to
