The end of world as we know it and we don’t feel fine

In the last few months I have experienced some great personal loss. I will go into this at another time. On a smaller scale, I have experienced the loss of one of my favorite radio stations. KMTT The Mountain. Sure the station exists but in name only. Our friend Shawn Stewart who I have interviewed and spoken with at length about the radio business and music was let go on November 18th. The format has changed to another Classic Rock format. I am a fan of classic rock but don’t we have enough stations dedicated to the genre? I think we do.

Back in the day KMTT stood out from the crowd. When they had full on air staff and were on top of their game they were one of the best stations in the U.S. In 2006 Rolling Stone thought so as well and recognized them as being one of the best in the land. The bond that long time listeners had with The Mountain has been broken, perhaps forever.

I wrote a piece on examiner.com so you can read more about it here…

KMTT ‘The Mountain’ comes crumbling down

Shawn Stewart is a class act and truly has a passion for the music. In my humble opinion she was the heart and soul of KMTT. I will always appreciate her giving me a personal tour of the studio back in 2009 when I was writing a piece on the station as well as talking to me at SMI Radio. We have now doubt that she is destined for greater things if that is her wish. Perhaps in the future and if she is willing we will have her on again to talk about KMTT and the state of radio in general. In the meantime she is keeping busy and being very creative. Check out her new blog. 

On our website, I list links to some of our favorite radio stations. The category is GREAT RADIO. Now that Shawn is gone and they have abandoned what once made them great. I no longer consider KMTT great radio and thus I have removed the link. Shawn Stewart and long time listeners deserve better than the current version of KMTT.

I along with my friends at NWCZ Radio and Night Out / Wave Radio are going to do our best to shine the spotlight local artists and quality music throughout the region and beyond. It is our passion that drives us. We are not beholden to big corporations or focus groups. We are beholden to you the listeners and the artists that we champion.

KMTT’s old slogan was “Passion for the Music.” This no longer holds true for them but it still does for you and for us and that is why we do what we do.

 

Not only is he a multi-media journalist, he is also an accomplished musician. He is the founder of SMI and drives the creative look, feel and branding for the publication. His years of writing, arranging, and performing live music in a variety of genres inform his ability to communicate the message and the mechanics of music. Roth’s work on SMI reflects his philosophy that music is the universal language, and builds community. He believes it has the power to unite people of every race, religion, gender, and persuasion.

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