The Insider

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Thursday, March 17

WHO: Host of KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, Nic Harcourt is widely regarded as one of America's most influential deejays.

Austin Chronicle: Is radio as bad as we think?

Nic Harcourt: Yeah. There's a couple of things shaking it up a little. And obviously, the most important for me is noncommercial radio. You have stations like the one I work at that are making a difference in their communities by playing music that's not getting heard on commercial radio. Austin is a little different because you have reasonably good commercial radio, but in general, commercial radio is in the toilet. And you can't discount satellite and the Web.

AC: All of which adds up to a batch of new opportunities for independent, or what might be considered noncommercial, musicians.

NH: Sure. KCRW was traditionally only heard in Los Angeles and now with more and more people getting broadband connections they can hear stations like ours in parts of the country where they don't have a KCRW or KUT. It's another avenue to get the music out there.

AC: You've become somewhat infamous for promising that you open and listen to every piece of mail.

NH: Yeah. And I get around 300-400 CDs a week. I can't possibly listen to every track on every CD. You have to learn to trust your judgment; after a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes of a couple of tracks you can decide whether it's something to go further with. In truth, the majority of stuff I get goes through the CD playing in less than a minute. But every now and then there's a reminder of why you do it – something that keeps you passionate about new music. And because I do a free-form radio show I can go to work the next day and play it on the radio. That's a buzz.

AC: And if I'm one of the 1,300 bands here for SXSW, what can I do to get to top of the pile?

NH: I always say don't put a whole press package in. Give me one piece of paper that says who you are, where you are from, and "Try tracks two, five, and eight." That's the easiest way to get me to listen to the music you want to represent yourself with. But I always think it's good to put your strongest track first on the CD. It may be the only track somebody gets to.

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Morning Becomes Eclectic, with host Nic Harcourt, broadcasts live from the studios of KUT-Austin during SXSW on Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18.