The Abridged version:
- A new radio antenna is helping KUTZ FM broadcast across a wider geography, stretching from West Sacramento to Auburn.
- The station goes against the grain of commercial radio, by allowing DJs to play almost any music they want.
- Collaborations are in the works with local venues to help showcase local independent artists.
If your radio dial is set to 95.7 FM in Sacramento, the only thing you can predict coming out of your speakers is the unpredictable.
One hour it’s death metal, the next hour it’s folk. One show takes a retro journey into the 1970s and another show rides the ambience of synthwave and industrial rock.
At the root of it all is Sacramento’s freeform radio station, KUTZ FM, which is making strides to broaden the region’s access to local bands and underground music.
Freeform radio stations allow their DJs to hand-select almost any music to play on air, as long as it doesn’t violate the Federal Communications Commission’s guidelines around profanity.
While KUTZ has been on the air on smaller transmission antennas since 2017, the station recently powered up a new antenna that gives it the broadest reach yet, stretching from the edge of Auburn to West Sacramento.
KUTZ is a low power FM radio station, or LPFM, with a license reserved for noncommercial stations with an educational focus. The station’s general manager, John Ellis, said he wants to put artists on the airwaves that may not have a record label but represent the Sacramento’s independent music scene.
You’ll never hear the same song twice in a day
“One of our other goals is to be the exact opposite of a commercial station,” Ellis said, adding that it’s common to hear the same song, at the same time of day on the region’s corporate-owned stations.
When Ellis joined KUTZ as a volunteer in January, he thought he would simply run a show dedicated to jam bands. Within months, though, a fire took out the station’s main computer and there was a falling out with the owner of the apartment that housed their old antenna in Midtown, he said. A string of longer-term volunteers left. Ellis found himself becoming KUTZ’s general manager.
The station recently secured a new antenna, atop the condo building at 4100 Folsom Blvd., and has new partnerships in the works with Sacramento’s Warehouse Artist Lofts on R Street. At the lofts, Ellis wants to bring in new studio space for DJs and open a venue for musicians in the basement, Ellis said.
Today, most of the shows are prerecorded and then queued up to air on KUTZ. The station currently has a lineup of about 20 shows and a list that includes 30 DJs. Ellis is looking to grow to help the station have a curated lineup 24 hours a day.
Local DJs strive to make every show unique
Local DJs Raina and James LeGarreta prepare their show by bringing crates of vinyl records into the home studio.
The married DJ duo produce their show, “Vinyl Vibrations,” in one take each week. The show takes a call-and-response format, where the two take turns selecting songs.
The overall theme is retro, featuring music from the 1950s through the 1990s, but almost any genre or any song can happen, explained Raina LeGaretta.
“Not only do we play B-sides … we play things people may not have heard in awhile, forgotten favorites,” she said.
Look for an ‘organic feel’ with each show
James LeGarreta said he aims for an “organic” feel with each show and doesn’t memorize his setlist, instead looking rapidly through the crates for the perfect track.
“They’re a time capsule,” he said, referring to the records they use. “When there’s skips and scratches, we leave them in there.”
Raina LeGarreta will occasionally throw in a vintage advertisement, a stand-up comedy bit or a cut from an old TV show for extra texture in the mix.
During the course of a show, James might throw out a couple German drinking songs from a vintage Oktoberfest album, before turning to ’80s punk or a country track.
“Whatever he’s doing, I match it in terms of it all coming together,” Raina said. “We can’t do it so it’s too polished on my end or too crazy on his end.”
The two have patched together setlists since their student days at Fresno State University in 2005, then DJs at student radio station KFSR. Through those years, independent radio stations have always been their calling.
“Freeform radio gives our community an opportunity to play things outside of what you’ve heard 10 times a day,” Raina said.
Supporting the local musician economy
Ellis said he’s beginning to work with local venues to help create recordings at local shows.
For bands that may not have the resources for high-production recording, high-quality live recordings can get them on the air, he explained.
KUTZ recently invested in a mobile recording booth that would help capture those live recordings.
“The way artists get paid is so messed up right now,” Ellis said. “I’d rather work to create this circular economy within our own community.”
The intent is to provide a larger platform for the venues, so that they can in turn support the artists, he added. KUTZ is currently working with the Sacramento Bike Kitchen, DNL Studios in Carmichael and the Library of Musiclandria.
“I want Sacramento to determine the feel of KUTZ,” Ellis said.
Felicia Alvarez is a reporter at Abridged covering accountability. She’s called Sacramento home since 2015 and has reported on government, health care and breaking news topics for both local and national news outlets.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the circumstances around the loss of the station’s antenna. Corrected 4:46 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 1.