WESTERN WAY
The Official Publication of the
Western Music Association
Western Air
Page 14 / Spring 2004
by Rick Huff
Interesting stuff! Just plain ol’ fascinating… I mean to talk
with Ken Overcast about his radio show, his music, his unexpected trail of
self-discovery and a neat trick of wearing two hats and trying to keep them
both “Cowboy!”
Y’ see, the guy with the Cadillac-grill grin who wins friends
and fans far and wide with his energetic performances decided a while back
to ply that same energy into launching his own Western music radio show.
And six months and thirty-some-odd affiliate stations later….
“We’ve had good luck,” says the jovial master of understatement,
“But we worked at it really hard too. My wife Dawn is on the phone half the
day everyday!”
What she… and he… are doing is engaging in that all-important,
make-or-break activity called personal contact. It’s an integral key to getting
airplay for albums OR radio shows… a key Ken Overcast has used effectively
to open some daunting locks.
“Fact is, with the first half-dozen or so affiliates we signed…
every one of ‘em had turned us down on the phone,” Ken admits. “I took off
down the road in my car. I went to see ‘em and visited with ‘em and changed
their minds!” It seems that medium to small market stations are not often
courted in person by hosts seeking to gain airtime and, in the case of Ken
Overcast and his program The Cowboy Show, extra effort put forth has let
him rope the head and the heels!
Ken tells us the formats of The Cowboy Show’s affiliates include
Classic Country/Country Gold, a scattering of “Hot Country” stations whose
programmers may finally realize the national downtrending of their “rock-us”
format warrants a little experimentation, and some outlets that might be
best described as Down-Home Variety!
But the miraculous point they all have in common is that they
are all “Commercial” frequencies, rather than “College” or “Public Access!!!”
Gentle readers, that is worth taking special note of, as is this…
In developing The Cowboy Show, Ken found himself considering
a new set of requirements for assessing Western Music as he went to get measured
for his double set of hats! “The music I’m really shooting for,” Ken starts
by saying, “is something that’s not quite Country but it’s not real traditional
stacked harmony either, I’m trying to suck the Country crowd over with something
that’s a little bit different from what they’re hearing, maybe a refreshing
change, but not so different that it really bounces out of the radio at ‘em.”
Hence, on his hours you’ll hear Western Swing from a Nolan Bruce Allen, contemporary
tempo-driven Western from a Kip Calahan, folk laced Western ballads from
the likes of Joyce Woodson, the genuine if gently eccentric fresh trail ridden
by Dakota cowboy singer D.W. Groethe and plenty more. But a second musical
revelation lay in store for Ken. This one many performers never experience,
but they should for their own good.
“When I look at this from the perspective of producing a radio
show, some of my own stuff doesn’t make the cut! All of a sudden I’m looking
at it through the radio guy’s eyes and I’m saying ‘there’s something about
it that doesn’t fit the sound I’m trying to get’… and here it is my music,
for cryin’ out loud!!!” The fact that Ken Overcast’s radio show was born
of his Western-performer frustration at trying to get airplay opportunities
makes his statement all the more remarkable and admirable. Even the music
from his CDs that is of the caliber he loads he limits, lest his show appear
to be a mere ego shot. His careful attention to shaping his show’s sound
has also honed his devoted, activist audience across Arizona, Colorado, Idaho,
Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, the Dakotas, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, the
Virginias and Wyoming… and if you don’t pick him up yet, try www.kenovercast.com
where his Cowboy Show is streamed on the worldwide web.
All of this delights his underwriting advertisers for whom he
is demonstrating “target marketing, delivering more of the people they’re
looking for instead of just more people.”
Ken sells his sponsors six of the hour’s twelve commercial minutes.
The remaining commercial time is available for stations to sell. Even here
Ken Overcast’s personal touch has had to be applied. Ken recalls: “One station
called and said ‘we’ve had this show on for about six months and haven’t
landed a sponsor.’ They were ready to drop us. We made a few phone calls
to their hometown and within two or three hours we had ‘em a sponsor! ‘Sold
the darn thing ourselves! It didn’t make us an additional nickel, but it
kept the show on!”
“Seem like a drag to you??? No, Cowboys… just think of it as
“riding” drag!!!
14 / Spring 2004
The Western Way