Red 94.5 to host local talent

Local radio station Red 94.5 is now giving all Lincoln musicians the opportunity to earn radio play. Artists will have to compete weekly for airtime during Saturday evenings, starting in February.

Red 94.5 Program Director, Caleb Farnell, thinks it’s time to give local artists a chance in the spotlight.

“This past football season, I was really looking for a good Husker anthem to pump people up,” Farnell, who goes by Caleb James, said. “I came into contact with Chris Phipps, and got his song, ‘Bones On ‘Em,’ played on the station. After that, the floodgates opened, and people were constantly approaching me about getting their songs on the radio.”

Local rapper Chris Phipps, known on stage as Phipp Phippa, says getting the chance to be heard on the radio boosted his fan base.

“It really caused a lot of people to become familiar with my name,” he said. “Many people may not know what I look like, but they know the name Phipp Phippa or they know the song ‘Bones On ‘Em’. Then I can make the reference and they are able to make the connections from there. This helps me because now I have a bigger fan base, through all of the conversations that I’ve had since the airing of my song ‘Bones On ‘Em’ on Red 94.5.”

As a station, Red 94.5 prides itself on being the first to do things, Farnell said.

“We like getting to be the first ones to play a certain song, try new genres, and be live on the air in the clubs downtown,” he added. “We are going to be the first to put local talent on our station here in Lincoln.”

However, the idea behind the local artist spotlight is to support local talent.

“This is really just to benefit local musicians,” Farnell said. “It’s about getting the artists to not only get airtime, but to connect them with each other. I think if they can hear some other local artists music, they’ll come together more.”

Phipps agrees that giving local musicians the opportunity to be heard on the radio is a major career move for those pursing a future in music.

“I would say that getting radio play is a big career move simply because more people hear your music at once,” Phipps said. “It really helps with exposure and building a fanbase. Once you build a fanbase, then you are able to provide your fan base with music. It’s like a snowball effect. You must build a fanbase before you start distributing your music.”

To enter the contest, local artists will have to go to the Red 94.5 website, read the contest rules, and send in their best work.

Out of all the submissions, three different artists will then have their work featured on the site, where fans will vote for which artist deserves the radioplay. Each contestant must earn a total of 500 votes within one week.

In order to vote, voters must create an account on the website, and the winners are encouraged to market their airtime. Those who don’t make it onto the radio will have their song put back in the pool of contestants.

“I think some artists are going to find the process of entering to be a little much, but that’s how it works for everyone,” Farnell said. “Even big artists are still going through long processes and fighting for their songs to get on the radio.”

“I think 500 votes is a fair number,” he added. “Some of the local artists already have thousands of followers on social media, so getting 500 votes is right in between already having the votes and having to work for it.”

Phipps agrees that getting the 500 votes won’t be problematic for him.

“When it comes to getting 500 votes for the contest, I don’t think that it will be a challenge,” he predicted. “I do think that everyone will be challenged to promote him or herself to get more votes, but that’s the fun part. Pushing oneself in the realm of marketing and pushing your music to be heard really shows how bad you want it.”

The contest will be starting this week, and the winner’s song will be played on Saturday evening.