WRIR SHOW PROFILE: Cause and Effect

Posted by: Tony – Jul 20, 2009

In the early planning stages for our music issue, all of us at RVA magazine were certain we wanted to cover several aspects of the city’s independent radio station WRIR. As an addendum to our article about the history of WRIR, we have organized a series of show profiles. With these profiles, we hope to help spotlight the eclectic nature of the station’s programming as well as make mention of a few programs that you may not be familiar with. Accompanying these articles are links to past playlists, podcasts and more. All just to show that WRIR is, and has always been, radio for the rest of us.

SHOW PROFILE: Cause and Effect
Air Time: 7-9pm on Thursdays
DJS: Alex Kurth and Tracy Wilson

Have you every wanted to know more about your favorite contemporary Alternative artists? Who inspired them? Who their peers are? When they went in to record that one song what they wanted it to sound like? WRIR’s Cause and Effect as hosted by Alex Kurth and Tracy Wilson has the answers to these questions and even more.

Cause and Effect is a weekly program that does its homework, so you don’t have to. Kurth and Wilson examine each week’s artist discography and history for links to how the band became what we know today. The show brings the music nerd out of us all and makes it alright to admit that sometimes that new Dirty Projectors reminds us all of an old Mariah Carey song.

Shannon Cleary: What prompted you to want to participate in radio programming? Were there particular memories you associate with music and radio that installed a desire within you to want to be a DJ?

Tracy Wilson: I grew up with a genuine love for radio. I loved music as a kid and it was the only way at the time (pre Internet) to hear it for free. I started with top 40 stations, moved over to an all alternative radio station in my early teens and then fell head over heels for WFMU in my late teens. Even though I moved out of NYC eight years ago I still listen to that station weekly. They are one of the greatest non-commercial stations in the world and are a constant inspiration to me.

Alex Kurth: When I returned to Richmond from living in Norfolk for seven long years I met DJ Stu, of The Secret Stash on WRIR. We met on the pitch, both sharing a passion for soccer, and started to talk about music. Our friendship quickly formed and he asked if I would join his show. I grew up in Northern Virginia and most of my music experiences involved riding shotgun in friends' Beetles and Tercels, listening to the latest mixtape, while causing merry prankster mayhem through the suburbs and venturing to D.C. to see music shows at the old 9:30, Bayou, and various church basements. I have always had friends who have great tastes in music. Rob (green Beetle '73) scored the latest Dischord releases. Andy (red Tercel '88) blasted Mudhoney at all hours. Gary (yellow Beetle '75) ranged from the Grateful Dead to Voivod. Joe (black Grand Cherokee '90) never left home without the Misfits. Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique frequently rotated between cars.

How long have you been doing a program at WRIR?

Tracy Wilson: I started doing Cause & Effect with Alex right at the turn of this new year. I had a late night slot on Tuesdays from 1AM to 3AM several years ago called Wrapped In Plastic. I mostly played new indie rock but used the show as an excuse to dust off my record collection and play some long forgotten favorites as well. The hours were really tough for me since I had a full time job with regular 9 to 5 hours but what I find most comical looking back was my fear of talking on air. I have no idea what happened but just a few years later you can't shut me up. Just ask Alex.

Alex Kurth: I joined DJ Stu with The Secret Stash in May of 2005. This was one of the first shows on WRIR. Every Thursday night from 7-9 pm, we played a variety of indie rock from our personal music libraries and pulled from the studio shelves. We would each bring an hour or so of music each week and mix it up, and also dabbled in music genre/theme shows from time to time. DJ Stu moved to Roanoke with his beautiful wife last year to eventually start a farm and family. Running solo Thursday nights with The Stash and feeling like the wick is about to expire, I asked Tracy if she would join me and we started collaborating on ideas for a new show. Tracy and I first met over a Hanover Tomato BLT at Bamboo Cafe four years ago and have been good friends since then.

With the popularity and advent of podcasting and internet broadcasts of radio stations, how do you think this changes the medium?

Tracy Wilson: Speaking on a totally selfish level, I love podcasting because it allows our show to be heard by friends and strangers alike from all over the planet who can't listen to us during our regular show hours. It's really fantastic to have an old friend who lives across country tell you he commutes to your show and how we may not be in touch all the time but there I am in his car with him for two hours a week. The same goes for internet broadcasting...knowing that anyone in the world can tune in if they want to is really exciting and certainly breaks open the boundaries of our signal only reaching people in a certain radius of our antenna.

I think the disadvantage of podcasting is it makes the show something you don't have to tune into as it is happening which in turn steals some of the thunder of us doing it all live and in the moment. That moment can be delayed until someone gets around to listening to it but because our show isn't covering news- our kind of themed show doesn't really have an expiration date. I think we fare better than other shows who focus more on the hip and happening for that reason.

Alex Kurth: Many DJs podcast their shows that I personally download regularly and find “essential listening” on long road trips for work. Imagine, a collection of music tracks selected by a local DJ with the sole desire to rock your world with a playlist. I can live with that. Many friends have noted that they would love to catch our show, though the time never works out for them. With the advent of podcasting, they can listen at their leisure. Low Power FM has inherent limitations in watts and overall radius of radio signal. WRIR provides web streaming of music and news programs, detailed information of their programs, including playlists, and a wide range of musical genres and news programs to choose from. The option to download podcasts further supports our dedication to the provide quality programming to our listeners, regardless of their ability to tune into a specific time.

How did the idea of Cause and Effect come about? How do you decide which bands to showcase? Is it determined on the proximity to a local show happening in the area, a new release, or do you receive requests constantly on which artists to focus on?

Tracy Wilson: I am a fan of music websites that list influences, peer groups, and followers so I basically just applied that concept to a two-hour radio show, named it, and luckily when I pitched it to Alex, he said yes. I was afraid he wouldn't be into a show that requires so much prepping but again lucky for me, he was up for the challenge. How we pick our bands really varies from week to week. It could be just a band we like and know inside and out. Sometimes it could be an artist on tour and coming to town and occasionally it reflects the recent new release. We truthfully don't get many requests for a show which means we are either doing something right or that nobody cares, ha!

Alex Kurth: Originally, I considered inviting artists, fellow DJs, and music enthusiasts/geeks/friends to share an hour or so of the music that inspired them and we would play tracks that would fit with their playlists. I love hearing about how the passion of music develops in artists, that “click” moment where the song you are listening to strikes your core, how you've heard that track a hundred times and it continues to kill. Tracy pitched her idea of Cause & Effect, which has a more central focus on the roots of artists and their influences and it was an immediate “Go!” We try to match our shows with upcoming events in Richmond or in the indie music world and new releases. Each week, I learn so much about new bands.

What methods do you use for your research?

Tracy: The Internet is a huge aspect of our research but sometimes we have a personal relationship/friendship with a label or an artist which allows us to get a list of influences directly from the source. Traditionally however we spend hours reading interviews and articles on the bands we pick in an effort to uncover any artists they claim as an inspiration spanning from their childhood to their song writing process in the now as well as production value when they record their music in a studio.

Alex and I are uber-fans of a few artists so from time to time we have a chance to show off our personal knowledge and my new favorite method of building a show set list is asking my friends (who are mostly all music fanatics) to offer their input on the artists they know inside and out. Our recent Lemonheads show was created this way and we have a Sigur Ros show that will be almost exclusively thanks to an uber-fan who has an incredible collection of rarities to share. In the end I think our friends might turn out to be the show's secret weapon.

Alex Kurth: We scour the Internet for information and interviews of our featured artists. On two occasions thus far we have had direct input from an artist and founding member of a record label. Chad VanGaalen & Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop both gave information regarding music that influenced them.

It seems like a lot of the bands you showcase exist in the world of indie rock? Would you ever consider expanding from that genre to focus on other artists who have done remarkable things to change the way we view a particular genre or music in general?

Tracy: Absolutely! It will happen over time, I am certain of it. For now, since the show is still new, it is easier to focus on the music we know best. As we getter at it though and the longer we do it... the more adventurous I am sure we will get. I love and collect so many kinds of music that it is just a matter of time before we do a Black Metal set or an ambient soundscape spotlight. The sky is pretty much the limit there...but one other thing to keep in mind, our goal is to also pick artists we think our listeners would be excited to sit through two hours of. If you have some ideas for us Shannon I say bring em on!

Alex Kurth: Interestingly, over the past 7 months Lightning's Girl and I have found several salient artists who have caused seismic waves in various music genres. Expect several shows in the near future that profile these artists and the impact they have on the music we listen to today.

I think you should do a show focusing on the Dirty Projectors...that new record is pretty fantastic.

Tracy Wilson: I don't know man, that first single sounds a whole lot like Mariah Carey to me but it could happen - heck maybe I will include MC in that set list just to remind people how Top 40 R&B fringe that group really is. Alex you have some Mariah in your collection right? Oh yeah...I should mention that all the music for the show comes from the combined collection of Alex and myself. No joke. We don't use the WRIR library at all so I think the show really reflects the two us because it is rooted from our own personal collections.

Alex Kurth: I regret missing them for the TVOTR show. Bitte Orca, as well as many other releases, is on my "To Listen" list. Who knows?

To keep up with Cause and Effect, please visit http://wrir.org/x/modules/news/index.php?storytopic=176
Here you can find playlists, podcasts, updates on the upcoming episodes and more!