Musicians take center stage on new show
By Ben Rodgers
Local and regional musicians have a new place to be seen and heard.
Waupaca Local Live is a new program that reaches out across radio, the internet and TV and brings people in the area a first-hand look, along with some discussion.
“We don’t have a college but we have the mentality and creativity,” said Marci Beaucoup, one of the show’s co-hosts, and a representative of the Waupaca Community Arts Board. “It’s here, it just doesn’t have a way to express itself except through these nooks and crannies.”
Beaucoup is joined by Wes Powers, and no that’s not a radio name.
“I’m out and about on the weekends going to local establishments and it’s not hard to find live, original music,” Powers said. “Anywhere you go there’s a local musician pouring his heart out for you to listen.”
Waupaca Local Live features a local or regional band, followed up by some discussion from the hosts ranging on a number of unscripted topics that come from the music.
The two are complete opposites, but their drive and passion to provide another free outlet and help musicians give the program a unique chemistry.
“It’s really organic, it’s unfiltered, it’s barely edited,” Powers said. “What you see is what you get on the TV and radio.”
The logo even came from a listener who happens to be a graphic designer.
The show is produced by Josh Werner, IT and community media director for the city of Waupaca.
Werner spent four years on WRST at UW-Oshkosh. He understands the importance of local, original music.
“I wanted to get local music on the air, but didn’t necessarily have a method to do it,” he said. “They took that and ran with it.”
Right now Waupaca Local Live is recorded each month. Powers already has talent booked each month through the early part of 2018.
“The sky’s the limit when it comes to local musicians,” he said.
His only restrictions are that the music must be original and done in a radio friendly format.
So far they have had bluegrass, folk and rock featured on their first three shows. The show that debuts Friday, July 28, will be a set from the heavy metal band Of The Earth.
“We want to be able to express what these genres are and why people listen to them,” Beaucoup said.
The videos from the live show are uploaded on Facebook, on the Waupaca Local Live page.
“It’s a great promotional tool,” Beaucoup said. “We give them a link to the video and for a lot of bands that’s not something a lot of them can afford.”
The show is also on 96.3 WILW at 10 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month, at noon the third Friday of the month and at 5 p.m. the second Sunday of the month. It also airs on 99.1 WAUP. Videos of the show can be found at waupaca.tv.
On TV Waupaca Local Live airs on WIN-TV, channel 991, at 9 p.m. Fridays, at 6 p.m. Saturdays, and at 4 p.m. Sundays.
But the easiest way to see the show is through Facebook, where tickets also happen to be given away.
Waupaca Local Live also has 12 seats in the studio for each performance.
Beaucoup would like to see a cult following grow online and more people trying to get tickets to live tapings.
Werner would just like to see it continue for as long as possible.
“If the show is going strong two years from now, that’s a pretty good goal,” he said.
Any band that wants to be featured on program can message the show through Facebook.
Werner also airs local music on the radio from 8-10 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays and from 6-7 p.m., Sundays.
He encourages groups to drop off any CDs to City Hall, or call him at 715-258-4405.