The final post based around getting a song played on the radio will focus on the application process for some of the stations as well as the process you have to go through to get a song played. I am focussing mainly on three stations, BBC Introducing and Siren FM and Brayford Radio, the latter of which is fairly simple.
BBC Introducing:
The process that you have to go through is fairly short to begin with. You must fill out some information on the band, your influences and also give personal information in case they want to get in contact with you. You then upload your songs and can choose which station you would prefer to be played on, however, you can just choose no station and it will be based on your location (specified by your postcode) and go to the local BBC Introducing channel if they wish to play it. You can only have three songs up at a time that haven’t been listened to and then you may add additional songs as slots empty. The BBC have fairly strict guidelines about what can be played on the radio and I will make sure I follow all the terms and conditions talked about in a previous blog post.
This is the route I will likely follow first, I will converse with the band to see which of the three songs (or less) they want to be uploaded, I will create radio edit versions of the songs and then upload them to the site. I will keep them updated on the process of the songs and make them aware of any airplay that they will get.
Siren FM:
Siren FM is a community radio station based out of Lincoln, aiming to reach an audience of 9-25-year-olds. They are very happy to play new and upcoming artists, especially those that have been recorded in the university as that is where they are based. The application for this is fairly simple and involves contacting the station and sending them the songs for them to review and see if they are radio ready. After that, you will be told whether you will be played on air and given a time so that you can listen to it live.
Brayford Radio:
Brayford Radio is a student-run radio station based in the university building and getting your music on air is fairly straight forward if you know someone that has a show. I, fortunately, know someone who currently runs a rock show on a weekly basis and I am going to ask him if he would feature the song on an episode of his show. Although this is not a very widespread station in comparison to the BBC radio stations, it’s a start.