Revolution Radio Miami Is Making Electronic Music Accessible to the Masses
“I was there with my feet in the sand,” 33-year-old Miami native Ubi Hernandez remembers of attending the first Ultra Music Festival in 1999, before the festival evolved into a massive international enterprise. Given Hernandez’s commitment to the electronic and Miami music scenes, it’s no wonder he’s landed the much-coveted music director position at the city’s brand-new, all-electronic FM station Revolution Radio.
“I was always into all the clubs. I was always helping artists come up, whether it be trying to get them booked at parties or at clubs,” he says. In his current role, Hernandez continues this practice by putting newer artists on the airwaves alongside the powerhouse DJs they admire.
Formerly Evolution Radio, where Hernandez once scored a broadcasting internship, the station added the “R” and a facelift last November. The program director and general manager, Marco Mazzoli, is a radio personality with a big following overseas. Hernandez describes him as a mix between Ryan Seacrest and Howard Stern, but from Italy. He’s bringing a “European vibe” to the station, Hernandez observes. “Radio in the US has failed a lot—too many commercials, not enough organic inclusion with the artists or labels,” he adds.
The support of labels and local clubs provides Revolution with its revenue stream. The funds bankroll 13 employees who work on two floors of a loft space in Miami’s Wynwood Art District.
Hernandez spends a lot of time researching what people are listening to and what’s popular. There’s a focus on the underground, with tech house serving as an of-the-moment trend. “Miami usually is a telltale sign of where the scene is going,” Hernandez observes. “Anything that comes from Europe is usually going to touch either New York or Miami. That’s why Miami is a hub for a lot of these DJs. A lot of them live and produce music here, and the biggest festival in the United States is arguably Ultra Music Festival. It’s in our backyard.”
Revolution works with both local and international artists to round out a robust timetable, featuring a variety of subgenres and voices in the electronic scene. The station plays mostly music. If you hear an interview, it’s likely the artist whose music is being played at that moment. “If you look at our programming schedule now, we’re so diverse,” says Hernandez. “We have [anyone] from Nicole Moudaber and Adam Beyer and the techno scene, to Don Diablo and Laidback Luke when it comes to future house and electro house. We’ve got Michael Calfan [deep house]. We’re going to get Claptone soon.”
Half of Revolution’s artists are DJs in residence, and the other half have shows around the world, like BBC Radio or Radio 538. The content is original, created specifically for the station. There are also prerecorded sets, both live and not, which amount to about a third of the lineup, with support from Miami megaclubs like Space, LIV, and Story in acquiring these live sets.
It’s hard to believe that with the ease of the internet, Revolution would set its roots down on terrestrial radio—it’s 93.5 FM in Miami and 104.7 in Fort Lauderdale. Hernandez claims there’s no other like-minded EDM station you can just tune in to from any old clock radio. But these folks have the resources to cover all markets: You can stream Revolution online, download their app, or catch them on 100.7 HD2. They average 2,200 podcast downloads per week, and 30 percent of their app downloads come from international locations, from Tokyo to Canada to Chicago to L.A. “Believe it or not,” Hernandez says, “we have a really big following in Albuquerque, New Mexico.”
The Revolution music team listen to every demo that’s submitted cold, and they play them on air if they feel the quality is correct. Local DJs are featured Monday to Thursday from 11pm to midnight. Revolution Radio is the only electronic station with a morning show, Madhouse in the Morning, which Hernandez calls “your typical morning-type radio show, but in the realm of EDM.” They also premiere new music like Kevens’ single “Bright & Beautiful,” a dub-heavy drum & bass fusion track played with actual instruments.
The station is also set on reeling in festival audiences by working closely with EDC Orlando and Ultra Music Festival. In 2015, EDC and Revolution helped bridge the gap between North and South Florida by bringing the EDC experience to Miami through the FM airwaves. Hernandez says EDC “pretty much made us the official radio station for the festival.” A partnership with Ultra Music Festival is in development, with the hopes of Revolution becoming its actual official radio station for 2016.
Since launching, Revolution has received some interest in syndication to new territories, including New York, Toronto, Orlando and Jacksonville. “We just don’t want to rush and jump the gun,” Hernandez says modestly. “We want to make sure our product is solidified and that we’re crossing our T’s and dotting our I’s down here.” With this trajectory, it seems the electronic revolution will not be televised, but rather aired on FM radio.
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