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10 Questions with ... Cutter
November 3, 2020
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. There was also a moment when working at Chuck E. Cheese in high school (no I was not the mouse) that I was announcing the orders being up and one of the cooks said to me that I had a good voice and if I had ever thought about doing radio after high school.
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1. What was your first job in radio and any early influences?
My first real job was overnight weekends at WAPL at the old age of 19. I know I’ve been here a long time and the grey is starting to show up in my beard to prove it. My early influences were really Lou Brutus and Randy Hawke. When I was a kid Randy was on afternoons here and I used to make it a point to listen to hardDrive every weekend. As a teenager in the 90’s living outside of Green Bay, WI it was the only place to really get a dose of new rock.
2. Was there a defining moment, which made you realize that radio was for you?
First and fore most I’m a musician and have been playing guitar since I was 10 years old. When deciding in high school on a career I just kind of picked radio because I loved listening so much. Let’s be honest it’s very hard to make a living being a musician. So I thought at least with radio I can still be close to music and it would hopefully still allow me to play in a band. The moment I realized it was when my band was playing a gig opening up for The Donnas at the old Concert Café in Green Bay and I had the crowd eating out of my hands as the front man of the band. Between that and my love of the history of music I knew radio was for me. Ps…I’m the worst singer in the world, but it was punk rock!
There was also a moment when working at Chuck E. Cheese in high school (no I was not the mouse) that I was announcing the orders being up and one of the cooks said to me that I had a good voice and if I had ever thought about doing radio after high school.
3. You originally started working for WZOR back in 2002. Can you tell us what makes this station so special to you?
From the moment Razor was launched and I was helping load songs into the automation system for then Program Director Roxanne Steel in the year 2000 I knew the station was special. Hard rock music changed in the late 90’s with the explosion of nu-metal and Korn didn’t sound all that good next a Doors song, but on top of that Northeast Wisconsin hadn’t had a true current based rock station in so long and this was a chance for the area to hear all the music I had already loved. Coming on board officially in 2002 was my dream job coming to fruition.
4. You are also the Music Director for the legendary WAPL. Can you give us an update on how the station is positioned musically in the market?
WAPL is Wisconsin’s Rock Station because the station can be heard in about over half the state and it is the rock of the 20th century. Legendary hard rock songs from a few selections of the late 60’s to the late 90’s are played here. We’ve been on air for over 40 years, and we’ve been on the cover of Rolling Stone half a dozen times, and we’ve won station of the year for Wisconsin more times than I can remember and we’ve been named station of the year at the Marconi’s. Being the Music Director here is a big responsibility and one I’m happy to have.
5. Now let’s talk about the new Rock you play on Razor. Do you follow any particular criteria in deciding what new rock to play on the station?
Yeah of course. The sound of the radio station most importantly. Certain sounds just never work well with our audience, while others always work. I don’t like playing too many covers or ballads at the same time. I always try to balance how many harder leaning songs with how many more mainstream or even alt leaning songs. On Razor we’ll always lean a little heavier and upbeat. From there I use the Mediabase and Neilsen charts just to follow along a bit, but I also pay close attention to what’s streaming well, not just the song but the artist as a hole. Kaytie (who runs digital for us) and I pay close attention to what artists get more of a reaction via our social media channels. We have a rating system on our app and I do daily polls for new music using our Instagram and Facebook stories. Follow us @RazorWisconsin on all. I had to get in a shameless plug.
6. What's your take on the Rock format and Active Rock music overall?
Musically it’s better than it’s been in a long time, or at least it feels that way. There are more songs from more artists that seem to be getting bigger and bigger and not smaller and smaller. The thing that concerns me is that there are less and less radio stations willing to play new rock. There are so many active rocks stations that only play a handful of current songs. It’s really hard to break new artists and be able to young up the library with known songs when no one is willing to take a chance and play them. I’m concerned about our format. There are some amazing and legendary active rock stations, but more and more stations sound like a classic rock station then they do an active rock station and I think it’s starting to hurt us. There IS an audience for this music. Rock festivals, streaming numbers, and sold out tours (before Covid) prove that, but radio keeps going further and further away from it.
7. Razor 94.7 has long had a reputation as a “tastemaker” station…especially when it comes to new rock and metal….how do you balance that so it doesn’t adversely affect the station’s cume and TSL….especially during the day?
Well first it’s Razor 94.7 / 104.7 now. About two years ago we started simulcasting on a second signal. Our market is unique as it’s actually two different radio markets in Green Bay and then also the Appleton/Oshkosh market which is actually much larger than Green Bay. So now we cover all the above, but anyway what was the question again? Oh yeah.
Rock music is all encompassing. In the modern age more and more people can get down with a metal band just as much as they can with a pop artist. I love that diversity and allows you to be able to play bands like Architects, Bring Me the Horizon, Falling in Reverse, Killswitch Engage or Parkway Drive next to Muse, Badflower or Highly Suspect. While still having your mainstays like Korn, Shinedown, Three Days Grace or Breaking Benjamin as examples. The balance is the sound of each particular song not necessarily the artist. Remember when Slipknot released a ballad? Maybe Wait and Bleed sounds weird next to The Black Keys, but Snuff doesn’t. I also pay very close attention to our listeners, and if they want to hear a song I’m playing it. I don’t care what it sounds like in that situation. Play the currents the audience wants and the cume will build. Play the great songs they’d expect after and TSL will grow.
8. What are your three favorite artists or songs of this past year and why?
Can we just talk about how insane this Falling in Reverse song was? I mean this band that no one had really ever played ends up with the biggest song of the past year and only cause the universe made it so not because anyone was trying to make it the biggest song of the year. Incredible, so ok with that being said “Popular Monster” by Falling in Reverse is number one. The album Trauma by I Prevail doesn’t have a bad song on it and over a year after it’s released I still absolutely love the entire thing. Next two are a tie for personal reasons. Crobot’s “Lowlife” going top 10 was so well deserved for a band that is just the definition of rock and roll. Then Motionless in White finally having the mainstream success they so desperately deserved. MIW are the most popular hard rock band in the world that most radio stations wouldn’t play until the song “Another Life” and even that should have been a hell of a lot bigger.
Honorable mention to Ayron Jones, wow is all I have to say. So good.
9. Besides your work with WAPL/WZOR, you also host and produce a weekly Rock countdown show called the Cutting Edge Countdown. Tell us about the show and who are some of the stations running it?
Ahh yes my labor of love. The show is 100% independent, hosted and produced by me. It’s a top 21 rock countdown show with a weekly artist spotlight that coincides with my podcast Cutter’s Rockcast. It’s FREE for anyone to air between Friday evening and Sunday night every week. It’s also commercial free but with room for local spots obviously. Currently we are on 10 stations across the country and looking for more. Did I mention it’s FREE with no barter either? Get a hold of me, tell me when you’re going to run it and I’ll send you the show every week. The countdown list is something I come up every week using the Mediabase published chart and both the Billboard Mainstream and Billboard indicator charts. I total up all the spins in a spreadsheet to make sure I’m counting as many of the spins across the country as possible. If you’re interested (internet stations too) just email me cutter@wcinet.com or message me on social media @cuttermedia.
10. Finally, 2020 has been an unprecedented year with Covid-19. I know you’ve had a personal experience with it as well. How is Razor and WAPL handling the pandemic both on and off the air?
Yeah this thing is no joke man. I had it six weeks ago and I’m still getting fatigued more often and I'm still losing my breath quicker. The brain fog seems to be gone now though, thankfully.
For the stations it has of course hit us very hard. In the beginning we were lucky but lately the financial hardships has hit the company harder than anyone could have imagined and changes had to be made. (I miss you Elwood!!!)
For Razor so much of our income comes from the concert market and that’s just not there now. I feel so bad for all my friends and everyone else that works in the touring world. I have so many friends that are hard up right now and it sucks so bad. The annual festival that we sponsored Rock USA filed bankruptcy and is no more. For WAPL it’s kind of the same, those advertising dollars are hard to come by right now. The unknown from day to day of what can be open and can’t be doesn’t help. It would have been pretty awesome if our Political leaders could have come up with a plan and stuck with it instead of either pretending the virus isn’t real or fighting with each other the entire time.
Quick question for everyone else: What is everyone wearing to the Civil War this week? I’m going with the Motorcycle and Crossbow look!!
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