Radio personalities want more local music

Entertainment Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange spoke recently at the launch of Rebel Salute 2017, urging local radio disc jockeys to play more Jamaican music.

Her words followed the revelation that for the past year, the Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers has paid more money for foreign music played on Jamaican radio than it does for Jamaican music.

THE STAR reached out to some of Jamaica's popular local radio disc jockeys, who all echoed her sentiments.

"I play nuff Jamaican music," DJ Nicco of Fame FM chuckled, but still agrees that local content is lacking. "I think radio on whole has become a little bit too international for my taste." He suggested some need to acknowledge the culture more.

"One out of 100 times, it's something local. Even foreigners think that radio down here sounds like radio abroad," he said.

He also placed some responsibility on the shoulders of radio station programme managers, and said they should at least "keep it 50-50".

"She's right," DJ Nikki Z contributed. "There needs to be more emphasis on the local talent that's here. Not just more focus, but more filtered."

Nikki Z believes that attempts at creating this filtration will assist in moderating the content disc jockeys choose to play by bridging the gap among producers and artistes and consumers.

"What artistes are doing need to be tracked in real time," she said. "We need to have a place where we can go straight to one site and see where the concerts are and all the releases. Right now, it's all over the place. What's in the street is not on the radio, or what's on the radio is not in the street," she said.

She added that access to production tools have opened up previous barriers to entry to the music industry.

Nikki Z also suggested that quality of music being produced does not encourage disc jockeys to add the music to their cycles.