When seeking producers who are truly independent, you'll find few who are more autonomous than Tom Boyd and Ann Sternberg, the host/producers of Rock 'n' Roots Radio. Maybe it's their prior experience in the corporate world or their bridling under commercial formats that drives their resistance; maybe it's just circumstance.

Both Ann & Tom have extensive experience as producers in the world of commercial radio, television and video. Ann was music director for CBS-FM syndication and WPLJ-FM in New York City as well as a documentary producer for NBC-TV; Tom has developed videos for O.D.N. productions, served as a morning man on the Jersey shore and produced a program called Sex, Drugs and U Can Dance to It for Harlem Community Radio in New York.

Since April of 1998, they have joined forces and their passion for diverse musical styles and genres to create Rock 'n' Roots Radio, a weekly one-hour program featuring blues, jazz, rock, country, swing, r&b, world and folk music from the 1920s through the present. They develop the weekly themes, prepare the research, select the music, host and produce the program with the help of a studio engineer. After spending between 35-40 hours preparing each program, Tom & Ann ship the program to PRSS for uplinking. (They also offer program CDs to stations that lack satellite access.)

Frustration with the categorization of music by record companies, record retailers and radio provoked the development of Rock 'n' Roots. Is Bessie Smith a blues singer? a jazz artist? What about Ry Cooder? Bobby McFerrin? And how to categorize Emmett Miller? Professor Longhair? Susan Werner? Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown? Jelly Roll Morton? And why doesn't anyone play these artists in the same program anyway?

Tom and Ann's motivation in producing and presenting Rock 'n' Roots is to expose music regardless of its age, genre, style, era, form, or country of origin and to demonstrate, through careful segues and commentary, the cross-fertilization of musical cultures. (Neither host is a musicologist; they identify themselves as "well-informed" fans.)

Each program focuses on a theme, either musical or lyrical. Recent musical themes include "The Voice as Instrument: From Tuva Throat Singers to Rappers," "Memphis: Celebrating 100 Years of Music" and "Ry Cooder: Musician, Composer, Curator, Producer." Lyrical themes includes "Politics," "Spirit," "Animals," "Food," and, because so much musical literature is dedicated to love, an ongoing series of love programs from "Blissful Beginnings" through "Rueful Remorse." (For playlists, visit their website at http://www.rocknroots.com)

In their spare time, they are developing their website and marketing the program to new stations and underwriters. So far, they are pleased to report that Rock 'n' Roots airs in over 50 U.S. markets...and is the first and only U.S. produced musical program to air on Australian community radio.

AIRSPACE

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