This past week a surprising announcement was posted on local music message board Slam Omaha. The announcement stated that both Kat 103.7 and Twister 93.3 were looking for bands to submit music for local music radio shows that the station were going to begin producing. I haven’t heard anyone complain in recent years about local commercial radio stations not promoting local music with a designated show, mainly because everyone gave up on the idea of that happening a long time ago. I suppose what is also surprising is that it is the two popular country stations in town that are going to come through and make this a reality. The local music shows will air Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. on Twister 93.3 and Sunday nights at 8 p.m. on Kat 103.7. Both shows will be hosted by longtime Omaha DJ Ritch Cassidy.

I immediately sent off an e-mail full of questions to Matt Tomkins, who had posted the message on Slam Omaha. Tomkins is a local musician and one half of the Matt & Ben show that airs afternoons on Twiste r93.3. My first question to him was to ask him what his involvement in these projects were. He answered, “I’m just helping Ritch to reach out to as many different genres and musicians/artists as possible Ritch has different connections to artists/musicians and the same goes for me and for our Music Director Craig Allen. Basically, we thought the more input the better. Ritch will be the driving force behind the show, making the final decisions on what and who goes on each week, but at the same time we want to keep the doors open to all of the great talent Omaha has to offer.”

Local music shows in the area are not a new concept, as 89.7 the River’s “Planet O” has been on the air for over a decade and it is still going strong with it’s two-hour Sunday show that starts at 7 p.m.. It has been a rarity on commercial stations though with only a few stations such as Z-92 and the now defunct the City making an honest attempt at it. Tomkins and Cassidy collaborated on some e-mail responses to questions that I had about the format of the show. I asked who came up with the concept of doing the shows and they stated, “All five stations with Clear Channel Omaha have strived to help local artists in the Omaha community and the addition of these local music programs will only further our involvement. This was a project in the works for quite sometime and we now have the resources to make it happen.” The shows currently will run a half-hour each on their respective nights and according to Ritch and Matt they will have a much different format than other local shows have in the past, putting more focus on one act and having a bigger impact on that artist.

They explained, “The show will be a little different than most local music programs in the past. We will have featured artists each week on the air and on the Web site. Some weeks we could have a couple featured artists, maybe some weeks we have more or less. The format will vary week to week, but overall it will consist of in-depth interviews with local artists, regional artists and the occasional national artists with Omaha ties. Ritch will also be playing music from local artists and music from local artists will be featured on the Web site as well. Ritch brings a lot of experience and talent to the table, so I really look forward to his interviews and artist features.”

Running these shows on country music stations might raise a few eyebrows amongst the local music scene, and I asked the guys about the styles of music they were looking to feature. They responded, “Traditionally local music programs have leaned more towards the hard rock or metal genres in Omaha while this new program will lean more towards the singer/songwriter style of music that Omaha is also famous for. We will keep the doors open for all the great music Omaha has to offer, but in the end we have to also consider what our regular listening audience will respond the best to. That being said, we will also have a great feature on our Web site to highlight other genres and local music.”

I asked Tomkins why Cassiday is a good choice to host the show and he said, “Ritch Cassidy has been involved in the local music scene for nearly 15 yearsin both Lincoln and Omaha as a musician himself, promoter, manager and radio DJ. Ritch also works regularly with record labels and artists on a national level so he is the perfect choice to shine a new light on Omaha’s local music.”