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| Adam Webb |
Adam Webb - WSFM
Wilmington, NC
How
did you get your start in radio?
I
started as an intern in the promotions department for a cluster of
radio stations here in Wilmington, NC, during my senior year at UNCW.
After a while of cutting out, filing, hanging up banners ec, I
started sitting in on our Top 40 station’s morning shows as
“Intern Dizzle” ….yeah I know – I didn’t
get to pick my name. Luckily my current PD came to my rescue and
hired me on WSFM Surf 98.3 to do weekends. I held down Saturday and
Sunday for a while, a night spot opened up and they gave me 30 days
to see if I could handle it. I was still in school full time and was
used to being on the very-active-top-40-morning show, so when they
finally got me to stop pounding Red Bulls before I went on the air
and stop yelling at the mic I got hired on before I graduated school.
It’s very lucky, I know.
Describe
your market.
Wilmington,
North Carolina is a beach town right on the coast, sandwiched between
the beach and the Intercoastal Waterway, which brings in a lot of
tourists and keeps a lot of local surfers and people with the beach
living mentality.
Tell
us about the features that you have on your show.
I
start at 7pm with “Slapface” – Two bands are put
into the “pit” and people call in and vote. If a band
makes it all week in the pit they have to go up against our PD “Mud”
singing a portion of Biz
Markie’s
“Just A Friend” – yeah I caught him singing on a
call in one time and have been torturing him with it ever since –
he is undefeated though!
The
5ive @ 9 – 5 most requested songs played back in no order.
The
Final Hour – 11p-12a – Specialty show that features
Metal, Punk, Debuts, Deep Cuts, Rare Tracks, Mashups etc.
How
do you go about choosing your playlist?
I
try to keep an even blend of everything that I mentioned above. I try
to make it as unpredictable as possible so train wrecks are bound to
happen! Sometimes it depends on my mood too. My listeners call in
with some of the craziest requests that they don’t ever hear on
the radio so sometimes I throw in some of those as well.
What’s
the craziest promotion you have ever been a part of?
I’ve
been a part of crazy-fun types – like burying prizes for people
on the beach (Big Dig) and mimicking our own “Let’s Make
A Deal Gameshow” at a local play house, but the true craziest
for me was definitely the 50 hour food drive that I took part in. I
represented WSFM for 50 hours freezing and sitting in front of a
grocery store collecting food and money donations. I stayed awake the
entire time, nearly broke my finger playing football in the parking
lot in hour 18, went to the hospital when my finger turned completely
dark blue in hour 30, got a shot in the ass and was taken back to my
post in front of the grocery store. By the end of the food drive I
had completely lost my voice, had a wrecked finger, and felt like I
was terminally ill with something. On the bright side we raised twice
as much food this year and raised a 100% more money then we did the
year before.
We’re
giving you a magic wand to change anything in the music business.
What one thing would it be and why?
I
think it’s sad where “hit music” is at these days
with corny one-liner lyrics that make a hit for a week and then
nobody thinks about it anymore are so prevalent. Can you imagine 20
years from now on some billboard show – Let’s see in 1964
the Beatles
had the top songs and in 2008 – Flo
Rida
Feat. T-Pain…WTF?
So I guess I would wave the magic wand and put bands that actually
can play instruments and write their own songs back on the top.
Any
last words?
Check
out our website www.surf983.com.
We are streaming online and have a bunch of cool podcast interviews.
Random
Question Time
Best
concert you’ve attended:
Ah man, that’s a tough one. Hmmm I don’t know- might have
to be when I saw Coldplay
a couple years ago in Charlotte. I was expecting a chilled show where
I could bring a pillow but they killed it.
Name
one guilty pleasure:
Playing Playstation 3 and while drinking a pot of coffee
When
is the last time you had dead air:
Two
weeks ago, something happened technically and they tried to tell me
it had something do with the warm air and the cold air and smurfs
jumping out of pumpkins blah, blah, blah.
Macarena
or Mambo No. 5:
Definitely the Macarena – it’s the Spanish Hokey Pokey!
CD
you are looking forward to hearing this year:
Thrice’s
“Alchemy Index Volumes III and IV” Air & Earth. They
can do no wrong.
BASSBOOSA
– “Succumb EP”
(Champion Records)
THEY WILL POSSESS
YOUR CHART: That would be Atlantic Records’ Death Cab for
Cutie, who ascend to the top spot of both the Mediaguide Alternative
Specialty Song chart and Album index with “I Will Possess Your
Heart,” the first single from the forthcoming album Narrow
Stairs, which hits retail and cyberspace on May 13. Before that,
though, the Seattle-bred quartet will be playing the second day of
the Coachella Festival on April 26, preceded by a six-gig West Coast
tour that’s already sold out stops in Bremerton, WA; Eugene,
OR; and Arcata, Davis and San Francisco, CA. Don’t worry if you
can’t see them on this jaunt, though--they’ll be hitting
the road again, accompanied by Rogue Wave, in late May. Top debut on
the Song side this week belongs to Tokyo Police Club with
“Tessellate,” the first single from their initial
full-length album, Elephant Shell (due later this month
through Saddle Creek). It bows at #4 on the Song chart while picking
up enough spins to qualify at #7 on the Album end. Also enjoying a
Top 10 debut on the Song chart are the Kooks, who check in at #8 with
“Always Where I Need to Be,” propelling full-length Konk
(Astralwerks) to a #12 showing on the Album end. Debuting just
outside the Top 10, meanwhile, are new Universal Republic signing
Flobots, who make their first appearance on the Song chart with
“Handlebars,” which comes in at #11. Look for further
info on this consciousness-raising Colorado rap collective in next
week’s newsletter. Finally, despite not having a single tune
chart on the Song side, the new one from the Raconteurs, Consolers
of the Lonely (Third Man/Warner Bros.), bows at #2 on the Album
end…a sure sign that Specialty programmers are enjoying the
entire disc.
April Fools!
