EP 05: Sound of a City
What's your town doing with its government access television channel? Creatively, we mean. In Raleigh, North Carolina, city government is putting the spotlight on the local music scene with top-shelf live performances -- professionally produced, as good as anything you'll see on TV -- to in turn shine light on the city itself and humanize local government. Using city-owned or -operated venues to showcase public spaces or functions, Raleigh's government basically has its own Austin City Limits, with some extra, local flair to set it apart. The bands that perform even take the time to talk about their love for Raleigh. Could this be something your town could duplicate? Show notes: Oak City Sessions episodes - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0mTYYBl2CE_gwkMKoVomQr8Xxzw7icl9
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Transcript
On this episode of The Musical Equation. And I I really think, you know, we're as I keep saying, we're just beginning. I think the the potential for this is is really unlimited. As you mentioned, there's lots of different music shows out there. I think this can be different because, one, it's a city function, but, two, because of where we are as a community right now. We look at a local government that comes out with a professionally produced live music TV show that puts the spotlight on the city itself, and it's getting noticed.
My name is Ben Brown, and this is Municipal Equation from the North Carolina League of Municipalities, episode five. Right now, you're listening to a band called Season and Snare. They were the first to perform on a live music TV show that is city government, that of Raleigh, North Carolina, began to broadcast in March 2016. The show is called Oak City Sessions, named for Raleigh's nickname, the City Of Oaks. And its goal is generally to showcase the musical talent teaming within the city limits. It's city government boasting the art around it. Not only that, but they get the bands that perform on the show to talk about why they love Raleigh, why they think it's a great city. The show airs on a local government TV channel, but it's also online, hopefully benefiting a far flung audience. And if you're thinking about the kind of community access channel content where a blurry camcorder has pointed at the performers, think again. Oak City Sessions is professionally produced, and it stands up to anything else you'll see on TV. You're probably already thinking about shows like Austin City Limits at this point, and that's comparable. But Oak City Sessions has qualities that set it apart, says Damien Graham. He's the communications director for the city of Raleigh and the show's executive producer.
Damien, are are you a music guy? Is that part of your background? Or I wish it was part of I I'm a music lover. Mhmm. So, like, my my family will tell you that I always have a soundtrack going in one way or another wherever I am. Yeah. So I always have music on, and I appreciate all genres. That's a political statement. I just truly do love all kinds of music. Sure. I can't play a thing and I can't sing a lick, but I I just love it and I love having it, available to me. So it's
there's a spectrum sort of in the public mind, the different sides of the brain, you know, you've got the arts on one side and then you have government on the other, at least in terms of general perception. So, you know, government is the legalese and the revenues and then the arts are the fun and creative side. And that disconnect is is changing, and I think Oak City Sessions is a really cool part of that. Could you tell us about the show, what Oak City Sessions is and what the impetus was? I mean, it's this is something that the city of Raleigh is putting on, right? Correct. And so I've only been with the city a little over a year and literally on my very first day, I was approached by some council members,
wanting to have a live music show. Mhmm. That is on the heels of just doing a, inner city trip to Austin, where Austin obviously Austin City Limits has had a great long tenure and been very successful. And I I think in part, a reflection of just who this community is. We have a strong, music community in the sense that there's tons of music venues. I think we have more music venues than anywhere else in the state, and a thriving music community. Lots of great bands and artists are coming out of this area. And so is there a way that we could perhaps provide a venue to showcase this talent that already exists, sort of already authentic to Raleigh as this music scene. Why not try to highlight that in a more significant way? And so, you know, we're learning as we go, but it took a little while, but we've partnered with a local production company to help us, find the artists and and figure out how to put this together. But, there was just as soon as we started talking about it, there was definitely energy behind it. And folks were getting really excited from all over the country when they heard that the city might move forward with something like this.
Thank you. So we wanna welcome you to the first edition of Raleigh's very own oops city session. So, again, we're season and snare. We're from right here in Raleigh, North Carolina. We wanna give a quick shout out to RTN and Deep South. Thank you so much for everything you've done teaming up together. This is gonna be something really awesome, and we're really thankful to be a part of it. And the mayor and council were a 100% behind it, which helps,
and, and certainly city management. And so we we started putting the pieces together and, found our first first band in season and snare. They were local group, and they they were awesome for our pilot version. And it's just been, you know, again, we're we're we're we're working the kinks out. We've only done four or five shows so far, but it's it's really been, obviously, it's been a lot of fun, but I think in another way that really highlights and brands the city in a unique way that that demonstrates, that we have a lot of creativity here, we have a lot of innovation here, and certainly we have a thriving arts community here.
So, how how do you broadcast the show, and what role does city government have in that? Is it the government access channel, or how does that work? So we have,
RTN, Raleigh Television Network, provides cable access for the for Wake County. And so that is our reach, that's our scope, and we broadcast the the, the episodes on RTN channel eleven. But we also put it on YouTube because that's our real avenue to share this with the rest of the world. Sure. And that's where we think we'll be most successful with it. Season and Snare ended up being the perfect fit for that. They were named the Periscopers of the Year in the 2015 Shorty Awards, which recognizes the best content on social media.
Periscope is a globally popular app for streaming live video, in case you didn't know. It streams,
live on Twitter as well because Periscope's owned by Twitter. So Alright. This is Autumn Brand from Season and Snare. Yeah. It was kind of a kind of a big part of, what we do.
So what was it like on Ook City Sessions? I mean, this was the first time out for the show. Did you have a good time? Was it a good vibe? What what was all that like?
It was actually, we walked in, and we were, I mean, very pleasantly surprised at how organized and how professional it was. There was a huge team of just videographers and people organizing. It was cool because it was all, like, everyone was like, oh, you guys are gonna gonna do great, and this is so awesome, and thanks for doing this. And, it felt very local and very cool, and we both love Raleigh. Love living here, love being in the music scene.
It was just I mean, it was entirely good vibes. There's a segment in there where you're talking about your city, about Raleigh, and why you think it's a great place to live, a great place for music. Yeah. And that's a built in, I think, a standing part of the show, Evoke City Sessions, but it's a really nice touch. Oh, yeah.
Raleigh is the best city in the world because it's
a little big city. It's a little big city. It's got everything you want. Like, one thing, you know, I've I've lived in Raleigh for about three years now, and and you can you can get the big city feel if you want. And then also I can go out and run around Lake Johnson and get some and get just all the nature that I want and, and everything in between. It's got a great music community.
And people are so nice here. I moved here from Seattle. No disrespect on Seattle. I love my hometown, but I definitely call Raleigh home now.
I love Raleigh. There's something there's something just very yeah.
There's something you can just take pride in about calling Raleigh home, you know. It's like So who do you hope to reach with that kind of message that your city is a great place to be?
I mean, I guess, potentially, other musical cities, you know, like Nashville, LA, New York, Boston. Every musician knows every other musician. I I mean, I truly think that Raleigh could be on the map as, like, one of these music cities. And we all hang out as well. It's not like we just play music together. And I think and I think people should know that, and I think we have such a great music scene. And I mean, you know, even, like, right now, you know, the past few years, we have the, international, Blu Ray Festival, and, I mean, Hopscotch and, now, you know, OCD sessions, which I I mean, I feel like that's sort of the, you know, sort of the goal is to be like, hey. Our city is awesome. We have a great music scene. You know, look at us. Like, let's let's get on the map as a music city because I think I think we are. I think we're great. Studies from around the country make economic development cases from thriving music scenes.
A 2012 study specific to traditional music venues and events in Western North Carolina alone found a $20,700,000 impact. Raleigh, which is in more of the geographic center of North Carolina in a region called The Triangle, does have an historically thriving music scene, but numbers aren't certain, at least from what I've seen. If you're curious, Nashville, Tennessee, the center of the music industry, measured a $5,500,000,000 contribution to the local economy from music. That's according to a study from 2013. Autumn mentioned she was from Seattle, whose government has a dedicated office of film and music. So it seems like potentially good business to promote your city's sound if you think it's worth promoting. To keep Oak City sessions in the hands of people who know the business, the city of Raleigh assembled a board to help produce the show.
You know, when we're thinking about how to create the show, how to craft it, we immediately reached out to folks who are in the industry, musicians, folks who represent musicians, even the attorneys, to help us understand what the copyright issues might be. But what was important was that we find folks who have connection to the city of Raleigh, whether they're from here or they perform here regularly or even went to school here. We wanted to make it more of a of a local, truly authentic Raleigh production. But we also debated things like should we have a host? And part of our conversations, we discussed, you know, is it to me that sort of changes the dynamic of it and what I like about it is that it's it's a little more real, more authentic to the artist because it's more about the music than it is anything else. And I think that's what gives it the quality that we're we're hoping for. Sure. That we're really just there to highlight them, not a flashy spokesperson. What's nice is that we can use city venues to have the performances. So we've shot one at our city of Raleigh Museum. We've used our performing arts center a couple times. We have hopes if the weather ever cooperates to have it at some of our parks, or even the oh, Lake Wheeler, for example. So we have a lot of options there and and so in a way, it's nice to have those city backdrops that might educate folks about, you know, they didn't know that that was actually a city property or city function. Sure. But it also just shows, you know, helps paint the canvas, if you will, about what all the different, aspects of our city are. And so you're doing that through music and also through the video component.
And you you talked about the different audiences using YouTube to reach out to the rest of the world. You're impressing locals about the volume of the local music scene and the art scene, and this is also something that might catch the eye of the outside world. Who do you envision as the core audience to Book City Sessions?
It's a great question. You know, to me it's more just a way to, show broadcast the talent of the folks who live here. Sure. And perform here. Mhmm. And so it it helps position the city as a, as a creative, place, creative community. And so, you know, I don't know we're necessarily targeting millennials, for example, or just, you know, Wake County, for example. We've had interest from a couple different, media outlets, so they wanna broadcast this on a more on a bigger stage. So that may be in our future as well. But again, is the more that we can provide an avenue for our local talent to share their their guests, with a larger audience, I think that we're doing our job. So what goes into the production of, of an episode, and how are you booking the bands? I think you mentioned partnering with somebody for that. We did. Yeah. We do. So we've, we put out an RFP, and we we went through that process and identified a local, production company, called Deep South Entertainment. Mhmm. And, they have helped us basically put this together. So the city already had in place, we have the cameras, we have the production crew, the the personnel to come in and and shoot, the actual performances. Our our production partner comes in and helps us with the audio and really gets it to the the quality that we want it to be. Sounds great. And, I think that does separate it from some of the other shows or just even just like putting a camera in front of a concert. The audio that we have is actually truly reflective of something that you might see, you know, out of a more national network.
Yeah. I mean, I thought it like, video wise, audio wise, I thought it turned out really, really great. I I agree. And you guys were already pretty well known locally, but do you think, awareness of season and scenarios expanded a little bit since the the show aired? Oh, yeah. Definitely. I mean, we've had people come up to us just, like, walking around Downtown Raleigh or, like, on the Internet who have emailed us or messaged us or, like, even, like, weird places like the grocery store or, like, in the salon or something. Mhmm. People have been like, oh, we saw, we saw you guys, did the OC sessions. We saw your, the article about you in the indie or, like, I saw you guys actually on TV or I saw your guys at YouTube. So I think it definitely reached a broader audience than, or maybe, like, a different demographic even than what, we had been, reaching. So
That being the case, Damien Graham said the board is looking for all kinds of genres to feature, again, with all local talent. And remember, the city hired a private production company to book the individual bands.
And what's great is that, it's really made an impression on me that regardless of the background, so whether it was an attorney or whether it was a PR agent or whether it was someone who works in video, when they were talking about the kinds of artists who we could potentially put on the show, they all knew about them. It didn't matter if it was country, hip hop, Right. Or polka. Yeah. They're all like, oh, that would be great or, you know, maybe that's not the right fit for us, but they're, you know, they're doing great on their own. And and I was just really blown away at one, just how all connected they were, and two, just how much talent is out actually out there. And and and folks would really love to be part of this, this new program.
So are is it to the point yet where word is out enough to where artists are approaching you guys instead of you having to go out and recruit people? Or Yeah. That's what's been amazing to me as well.
I've had a couple artists reach out to me specifically who, you know, I just happen to be a fan of. And Mhmm. I don't you know, I guess they looked me up on the website or something and and said, hey, heard about this, want to be a part of this and, so, you know, we'll we'll try to work them into the equation if possible. But, it's nice to have, a separate entity identify the artists separate from the city so that doesn't become a political thing. Sure. Yeah. You know, the nephew of of a council member who's great with the cello would really love to be on the show. Can you make that happen? Yeah. That's not gonna be an issue for us because we separated that, from the city specifically.
How about the audience? How do people become aware of it? Is it free? Are there tickets? Is there a a cover charge? Or how does that work? Right. So so far, we're still trying to figure all that out, to be honest with you. We've had some small audiences,
in the initial couple shows, just so it could truly be a more of a performance as opposed to just a recording. Right. Yeah. I think moving forward our hope is to develop either some kind of contests or a process by where the community can sign up and attend. It won't be a charge, to attend and then the shows are pretty quick. It's usually about thirty forty minutes in total. Four or five to six songs, you know, depending on the length of the song. Right. But, I doubt Well, I don't know, you know, the future will sort of, tell us what, you know, what this is gonna look like, but, envision right now, for right now smaller audiences, thirty, forty people who may have some affiliation with the band or just know about the band that's performing and and get them in there to see it. So you you mentioned,
the variety of venues around town, the volume of venues around town, and then, city owned or city operated facilities as well, you having access to that. As it moves from place to place and that being part of the showcase, has it been easy to to get venues to partner up with you if that ends up being the case? Or Well, it does when they're city venues. So Yeah. That's gonna be easy. Yeah. It sure does. So As far as the private ones, is that So we haven't really gone private. We've only we have,
that's one exception. We went to the Contemporary Art Museum. Mhmm. It's been a nice partner with the city for a long time anyway, and, we really liked the idea. In that case, we had a bluegrass band play, Hank Paddy and The Current, who were just fantastic. Yeah. Sounded great. And we'd like sort of the juxtaposition of having this contemporary art with this more traditional bluegrass, as the as the, you know, as the canvas that you're looking at. So in that so to answer your question specifically, no, it hasn't been that difficult because we just do stick to city venues and there's a department that we can call up and coordinate with. The bigger challenge is really working with the artist because most of these folks have other jobs They're teachers and every other kind of walk of life. So we often shoot after hours, and there's always a, you know, a good, six or seven hours the day of in terms of setting up and tearing down. Sure. Reserving the space, making sure that we do walk throughs and know how to position the cameras just right and it changes from artist to artist. You know, we had we had a our second show was with a a really sharp, hip hop artist, Charlotte Ammons. And so in that case, we want to focus more on just her, and then we've had more ensemble pieces where we want to showcase everybody. So it changes from from, from, you know, act to act, if you will. And that just takes some coordination working with the artist themselves to see what how they normally set up, what kind of songs they're gonna use. And then we try to become familiar with their music just so that we can try to anticipate, you know, if this if one person's doing this great guitar riff in this particular song Oh, yeah. We wanna make sure our camera's on it to capture it so that, you know, we don't miss a special moment. So there's a lot of logistical movement in each episode.
Lots. At the time of this recording, they've aired just a few episodes, though they have more in the can and more in the works. But Damien said the buy in from the city's elected officials and then from the music scene itself has given the show tons of fuel. And that's made the difficult stuff a little bit easier than it otherwise would be. And if it's this good in the shallow end, it's easy to picture how big the show can grow to be.
And I I really think, you know, we're as I keep saying, we're just beginning. I think the the potential for this is is really unlimited. You know, Austin City limits set the standard, and that's great for them. Mhmm. Obviously, we wanna we're not just trying to copy that necessarily, but we wanna find something that represents the city in a in a way that's true to who Raleigh is, and, and and showcase our artists and and, you know, be true to who we are. I I think, as you mentioned, there's lots of different music shows out there and have been forever. I think this can be different because, one, it's a city function, but, two, because of where we are as a community right now.
So you might be listening to this wondering how you can get an Oak City Sessions kind of show in your hometown. And if your niche isn't music, then maybe there's something else special about your city or town that's worth broadcasting to the outside world.
Something a little bit more cultural and artistic than just the classic programming of city council and planning board meetings. Not that there's anything wrong with that because that's important access too. But what does it take? What are some of the basic ingredients if, say, someone else in another municipality is listening to this and they think, wow, that's a great idea. I'd love to do it here, but I have no idea where to start.
Technology has improved so much in the last couple years. And as such along with social media, there's the growth of that. I think that everybody now has the opportunity to broadcast whatever it is they wanna broadcast, obviously so much faster, but it's it's more accessible and the quality is so much better. Oh, yeah. So and I think you talked about, earlier, you know, the show is more geared towards it's not so flashy. It's more true to the, you know, the musician just performing Right. As opposed to a a glitz and glam production. I think because there's so much content out there in the social media space, people sort of expect it to be more raw. Sure. The more polished, the sort of, more doubt that comes along with it, particularly from a government standpoint. So the more the more that we can show ourselves as, you know, as real people who are trying to make tough decisions, and just do it in a in a way that speaks to them, you know, to to the community that they represent, the better off we'll be. And so all you need is a is a cell phone and a and a few minutes, frankly, and and and you can get whatever message you want out in a pretty quick fashion. So, and the same is true if you're trying to brand your community as whatever. You know, let's say it's the best pottery, you know, and we have some out here in North Carolina. Oh, yeah. You know, it would it would takes nothing just to videotape a local potter and and talk to them about what it takes, you know, why they live here, what makes pottery so great here, how did you and that's just one example, but there's a lot of people around the world who would love to learn more about pottery. Exactly. It's a big thing. Very niche. Yeah. And it all it just takes is a five minute video and a conversation, sort of like you and I are having right now about music, that could really help enhance a community's awareness and and and their branding and how they position themselves.
So you mentioned being kind of in the shallow end of it right now. Just a few episodes, out there at the moment. I'm sure you have more in the can, but when it comes to a long term goal, what do you hope happens in the end?
I hope this thing just really takes off and and takes us to a whole another level and so what does that mean? We're we have funding for a full year's worth of shows, so that is sort of a guarantee at this point. Mhmm. Obviously, we wanna keep that going in perpetuity. We'd like to see this grow and I think that I keep saying the possibilities are unlimited. It's because I I'm not smart enough to figure out what all the possibilities are. What I I can think of is that you have, you know, potential internships or mentor programs of the artists that perform, you know, maybe a condition could be that if if the Benz band performs, then, you know, he's gotta give, three hours of his time at a local school to talk about, you know, what it takes to be a musician or what inspired you to become a musician, guitar lessons, whatever. Yeah. Great idea. There's just ways that that that this can the community can begin to
enhance itself and build up the the quality of musicians and opportunities in the community. Everyone you see on stage has a band of their own, if not multiple. And, you know, to be able to take time out of all of our projects to get together and do something, no matter if it's this or if it's another project. It's it's you know, that's not something you get out of every town and out of every city. So we're really thankful for that.
You can see full episodes of Oak City Sessions on the City of Raleigh's YouTube channel. You can look it up or I'll include a link with this episode of the podcast. That's at soundcloud.com/municipalequation. I gotta say, my favorite part of that episode is when Damien said the show helps to humanize government. To paraphrase, he said that the more local government can show itself as real people trying to make tough decisions in a way that speaks to the people, the better off we're gonna be. And you might have noticed that my voice got a little bit hoarse during my interview with Damien. There's a good reason for that, and it happens to tie in with the topic of conversation from episode four, the Science of Place Attachment. Not Not to be cryptic, but I should have a pretty cool update about that on the next episode of Municipal Equation. And does your city or town already do something kinda cool like Oak City Sessions? Please reach out. Let us know. I'd love to talk about it on the podcast. You can reach out on Twitter at muni equation. That's at m u n I equation. Or you can send me an email at bbrown@nclm.org. NCLM stands for North Carolina League of Municipalities, which makes this podcast possible. We're online at nclm.0rg. Thanks again for listening, and keep in touch. This is Ben Brown.
