Radio By Women, For Women
• For the second consecutive year, Minnesota Public Radio non-comm Triple A KCMP (89.3 The Current)/Minneapolis celebrated International Women’s Day by devoting its entire 24-hour broadcast day to playing music by women and artists that identify as women, all hosted by the women of The Current. The Current has a strong tradition of playing and supporting the music of women, and starting last year a new tradition was born — taking time to spotlight icons as varied as Nina Simone, Patsy Cline and Billie Holliday, through the likes of Debbie Harry, Ani DiFranco, Joan Jett, Sleater-Kinney, and Patti Smith, to contemporary and local artists like Courtney Barnett, Chastity Brown, Lizzo, Lucy Dacus Lucius, and hundreds more.
With the male hosts of the station taking the day out of the office to volunteer in the community, APD Lindsay Kimball organized the day’s programming, commenting, “International Women’s Day on The Current is all about creating space and celebrating the music, art, and creativity of women by crafting an all-woman playlist presented by the women on The Current.”
Besides the music and host focus, the day included special features like an in studio session and interview with Brandi Carlisle, an audio documentary The Making Of Chime, around the new album released by Dessa, and the playback of a live concert by First Aid Kit, recorded at the Palace Theatre a few weeks back. The entire staff also contributed 20 Music Head Essentials, two-minute audio biographies of iconic artists from Dolly Parton to Fiona Apple, which were featured hourly in the mix.
Jim McGuinn, PD of The Current, remarked, “I remember working at rock stations not too long ago where there were rules that you couldn’t play two female singers back-to-back. We play hundreds of women on The Current — I’m proud of Lindsay and our team for creating this now annual event to go All-Women every March 8th at The Current.”
• Pictured, (clockwise from top): Jill Riley, Mary Lucia, Lindsay Kimball, Jade, Andrea Swensson, Simone Cazares, Jesse Wiza and Anna Reed. Not pictured: Cecilia Johnson, DJ Shannon Blowtorch. [Photo credit: Jay Gabler | Minnesota Public Radio]
