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Broadcasting gatekeeper shatters music boundaries with Rhythm and Soul Radio
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Rhythm & Soul Radio founder Marko Nobles has given indie soul artists a platform to be heard.
It is a radio station that has embraced the independent soul music scene and found life in the highly innovative, yet highly competitive world of internet radio. It is a station that has evolved from a mom and pop broadcast beacon to an independent broadcast monolith, a gatekeeper for burgeoning and emerging artists trying to make their mark, along with established artists who simply wish to reaffirm it.
Since March 2008, on line users have been able to tune into rhythm and soul radio (www.rhythmandsoulradio.com) and hear divergent music genres such as R&B, hip-hop, soul, spoken word, reggae, soca, trip hop, drum n’ bass and much more, 24 hours a day, seven days week.
This isn’t the first incarnation for Rhythm and Soul radio (R & S radio), and is a testament to its growth from small beginnings.
“Rhythm and Soul radio.com comes from a weekly show [Rhythm and Soul Radio] that I created and hosted,” said founder and President Marko Nobles. “The show has been airing in New York for over 15 years now. It started on a community radio station in Harlem. We had the opportunity to do this show and feature different kinds of music – and that formula has stuck.”
Originally a communications major in college, Nobles cut his teeth on the college radio scene and parlayed that into doing public and media relations for various events and parties. Having spent some time in the commercial radio world, Nobles wanted to do a show that played music from all kinds of genres, with one common ingredient – that it be funky.
“During my college radio days, I was always in tune with playing different types of music and mixing up the genres, whether it included playing classic R & B from the O’Jays to playing rock from David Bowie to playing hip hop,” he said. “I was always trying to be all over the place, but in a way where it all fit together.”
Musical diversity is indeed a hallmark of the show as it has featured a fascinating collection of artists that run the gambit from the sublime to the ethereal and have included: Common, KRS-ONE, C.L. Smooth, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Laurnea, Maya Azucena, Alex Bugnon, Rashaan Patterson, The Emotions, Sarah Dash, Yahzarah, Maysa, Cuba Gooding Sr., Ola Onabule, Julie Dexter, Leon Ware & Omar.
It’s a philosophy that completely differs from commercial radio with its pre-set playlists and musical separatism.
“I’m a music fan first, so if I like the song or album, I’m going to play it,” he said. “We’ve been good about being broad and not boxing ourselves into any one genre. We don’t keep ourselves in just one or two lanes, but rather we strive to enjoy the full breadth of music and at Rhythm & Soul radio our mantra is ‘urban eclectic radio’ with a tagline that is ‘from black rock to hip hop.’
According to Nobles, Rhythm & Soul Radio’s influence can be felt on a multi-tiered level. In addition to the music diversity, artists don’t have to jump through the hoops that other artists on traditional or terrestrial radio must jump through to get their songs played – like sitting with a music director to find out whether their song is worthy to be played in the station rotation, for instance.
Secondly, because there is no pre-set playlist, it puts the selection of music back in the rightful hands of the DJ (disc jockey) or music personality who makes that determination. It’s a formula that veers noticeably away from the homogenized sound of commercial radio, and makes the DJ a central part of the transmission of music and not a lifeless or soul-less appendage of the process.
However, it’s the ability to go mobile with the station and have a presence at numerous events (in the contiguous United States and beyond) that highlights the ceiling of Rhythm & Soul Radio’s possibilities.
“We sound like a radio station and not like a jukebox, because you hear the personalities behind the music (DJs) and we cover various events,” said Nobles. “We’re one of the few internet radio stations to broadcast from live events and it creates a new experience for the listener and that’s a major part of who we are and what we’re doing.”
While independent soul artists are at the core of the station’s focus, it wasn’t always the case.
“The commitment to independent music wasn’t there at the beginning when we started the show. It (the commitment) started about 6-8 years ago,” Nobles said. “I felt stuck at a certain point and was planning on giving up the show because of time constraints, but then I got involved in the independent music scene and it gave me the motivation to continue. Without the independent music scene, I wouldn’t have launched the web site and the station as a 24 hour music station. It gave me more variety to spotlight and so much more music to play. You can go 48 hours without hearing the same song.”
It is within the independent (soul) music scene that Nobles, Rhythm and Soul Radio and the indie artist community have all thrived and forged a kinship.
“It shows you how much talent is out there and it has made everyone become more diligent in finding quality,” Nobles said. “One outstanding thing about the independent music scene is the willingness of people to work together and lift each other up. If there is some product that is initially not as strong, there’s always someone there to offer suggestions on how to make it stronger or work together to make it better. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Some of Noble’s future goals include further expanding the listening audience, heightening the station’s visibility even more at various music events and to continue making the web site accessible to users.
“We’ve made things really simple,” Nobles said. “You can go to the live page on www.rhythmandsoulradio.com and click on and listen live; you can go to the events page and check that out; you can go to the photo gallery and check out some of the events we’ve been involved with. There are also advertising and how to contact us pages, blogs, music reviews, politics, music and television programming and things that move people and feed their soul. We’re all well-rounded people no matter what we listen to, and our web site reflects that.”
Rhythm & Soul Radio is produced by Nobles’ InJoy Enterprises imprint and can be heard live every Tuesday Night/Wednesday morning from midnight – 2am (EST) on the web at www.whcr.org or for those who are in the NYC area listen on the radio at WHCR 90.3FM. Various other ‘urban eclectic’ shows round out the programming. To book Rhythm and Soul Radio for events email comments@rhythmandsoulradio.com.
Chris Campbell is a journalist who writes on progressive soul music and its impact on popular culture. His latest book is "The Essential Neo Soul," the definitive guide to the development of neo soul/progressive soul/post-soul music. Visit www.essentialneosoul.com for further information.
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