Aggie Radio amps up Logan music scene with weekly live broadcasts from the Hub

Students at Utah State University may have the anthem of “there is nothing to do in Logan,” but the directors at Aggie Radio aim to change that.

Starting last Wednesday, Aggie Radio began broadcasting live from the Hub in the Taggart Student Center during Common Hour. Students can attend and listen to free, live music sessions with local artists.

“We will have people come play acoustically or in duos, and just play on and off for the hour, interview them, find out their stories, find out where we can get their music, and just promote them live from the Hub,” said Nate Dukatz, programming director at Aggie Radio.

Students may have noticed the addition of a stage in the Hub, built specifically to suit the new weekly events.

“The Hub used to be the place that people would come hang out when the building was newer,” Dukatz said. “We want to bring that back, bring live music into it and add something that people enjoy having there all the time and that is why there is a stage that is permanently there.”

Dukatz said that one of his goals is to create a culture of live music in the Hub and hopes for more weekly events in the future, such as an open mic night, where anyone can come and perform their musical talents.

“It’s always more fun to see music live than listen to it on an iPod,” said Preston Grover, a sophomore in theater education. “Seeing local groups would be great.”

Aggie Radio music director Conor Flynn said many talented musicians attend USU.

“There is a lot of good talent in Cache Valley,” he said. “A good reason to do this is just local acts, new, good music.”

Tyler Dove, a junior in management and information systems, said he dabbled in a local band for a while and is passionate about music.

“Some of the students I hear on campus are as good as or better than the bands Utah State brings to open up Homecoming or the End of Year Bash,” he said. “Utah State is paying for these bands to come up, when the local stuff is free.”

However, Dukatz said there hasn’t been solid reception to the music scene in Logan for a while.

“I know a lot of bands who did not want to come here anymore and I’ve talked to them about it,” he said. “Provo bands, when they came up here, said it was horrible, no one came, and I’ve seen that. As a freshman, I would go to shows here and no one would be there.”

Dukatz said he hopes to change the culture he sees.

“I want to ruin that culture and create a new one of ‘music is cool, let’s go see concerts,’” he said.

However, giving people something to do is not the only goal of the live broadcasts.

“We have good talent in Logan, I want to create events that bring in good talent to show people that Utah is a great place for local music,” Dukatz said. “College radio is different than regular radio, we promote things that aren’t the top forty that don’t need us to promote them, we are going to promote things that deserve it but aren’t going to get it any other way on this scale.”

Both Flynn and Dukatz are heavily involved in the Logan music scene. Flynn is a guitarist and Dukatz drums, both for two bands, Kitfox and Bronze Museum, and they take their music seriously.

“We need more events that are consistent on campus, that people can think ‘what can we do tonight’ and go ‘oh, hey, there’s the open mic night, we can go check it out,’” Flynn said.

Dukatz agreed.

“In Logan you have Why Sound, and then on campus and that is about it,” he said regarding venues for live music. “I just want to get more places that are consistent.”

Last year, Aggie Radio hosted a couple of similar events in the Hub, but struggled to promote them and get an audience. Dukatz and Flynn agreed that one of the biggest problems was not having a consistent time for live broadcasts.

“Aggie Radio didn’t have its own equipment,” Dukatz said, adding that he used his own last year. “Now we have a mixer, speakers, that stage is permanently there. … Where it used to take four hours from beginning to end, now we will be able to just come down and do it in the hour that we do our show. That way we can do it every week.”

When it comes to getting artists on stage for live broadcasts, Flynn said he’s not worried.

“We’ve been getting a lot of requests from people who want to play in it, so there is no shortage of musicians who want to be there,” he said.

Dukatz added, “We are always looking for new local artists.”

— zachary.wilson@aggiemail.usu.edu