Second in our series of profiles of the DJs and shows that were on KTRU is . . .

Show: The Local Show, The Revelry Report
Fare: Local music, culture
DJ: Ian Wells

29-95: How long have you been doing The Local Show and Revelry Report?

A: (Wells by email) I was added to the Local Show rotation in 2006, working with Scott Walcott of the Mutant Hardcore Flower Hour and Kirston Otis since he joined from the Post Punk Show a few months ago. I tried tracing the lineage back to the start of the show, but my predecessor's predecessor's memory gets hazy around the late 80's. The Revelry Report is a much newer show, and I've been hosting that with Matthew Wettergreen and Philip Beck for around three years now. We've been hosting live performances by bands on both shows for the last 3 years, something we revived from the mid '90's.

29-95: Blues in Hi-Fi DJ Clint Broussard talked about how some of the now-obscure musicians he plays on his show were big in this region decades ago. But is it safe to say KTRU was the only terrestrial radio outlet for local bands to get played?

A: Haha, it's the other way around with the Local Show! We play some relatively obscure musicians now, but instead of them having been big in the past, I look forward to them being big in the future.

Locally speaking, I think KTRU is an entirely unique outlet for underexposed musicians. My shows are dedicated to it, but every show on the air includes local music from a wide variety of genres. Most commercial radio won't touch anything that hasn't been vetted by the industry, and big public radio like NPR isn't close enough to the ground to hear about bands before they've already gained a lot of momentum. Since KTRU is entirely grassroots and isn't beholden to advertisers or public donors, we can move quick and really take risks with the musicians we present to our listeners. On several occasions I've gone to a show on a Monday, liked what I'd heard, and put that band in the studio on Tuesday. But KTRU's not just a stepping stone for ambitious bands - making music is fun, hearing your song on the radio is an irreplaceable feeling, and I really enjoy using the show to let musicians spread their art towards whatever ends they desire.

29-95: How have you seen the local scene change during the time you’ve done The Local Show?

A: I've been lucky enough to host the show during what I consider a renaissance for local music. We've seen the rebirth of the Westheimer Block Party, the birth of Summerfest, the rise of some great labels and bands. Some of the bands that were big in the '90s and the early 2000s are starting to get noticed as more and more people around the country start to get more and more involved in music and dig deeper into all the records out there. Houston's always been known as sort of a hidden gem, but now people are really starting to believe in it, I think.

29-95: What are your thoughts on KTRU’s possible future as Internet radio? There are some who say it’s a perfectly viable medium, Clint pointed out that you go to the radio for one specific purpose, but you go to the Net for a million, one of which might be radio.

A: There are a lot of ways that a refocusing of KTRU's energy into the Internet could be a good thing. I don't think that it'll work if it's just what it is now, except only streaming online. I have a lot of ideas about possibly turning the show into a podcast, or doing something similar to Daytrotter, hosting MP3s recorded live in our studio, or Sugar Hill's YouTube channel. Ultimately though, the station's going to fundamentally change, and I'm afraid it will lose its local intimacy.

29-95: I’m asking everybody this one: In a nutshell why do you think it’s important for the music you’ve been playing to be on the radio?

A: So people can hear it. If the Internet and radio were interchangeable, I don't think we'd in the situation we're in right now.

29-95: Is there one single favorite song you’ve played in your time there?
A: There's no way I could even begin to figure that out - but a lot of my favorite recordings of performances are on our KTRU Live compilation albums, I'm really glad we were able to make those.