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"Erockster is giving all fans an outlet to listen to a wide variety of music, discuss bands, concerts, and really anything that we have an opinion or comment on that’s music-related.”
—-Eric Szmanda, Erockster founder

CLEAR CHANNEL DEBUTS EROCKSTER

New Online Radio Station Takes Off From Coachella Debut With Eclectic Playlist

Erockster is on.


Clear Channel Radio
officially launched its vast collection of on-air, online and on-demand content today, which will reach some 5000 songs over the next month, adding 1000 songs per week to a site that will also encompass blogs, a social network and user-created content for 13- to 34-year-olds.


Erockster is helmed and produced/inspired by CSI star Eric Szmanda, along with his childhood friend and business partner Tyler Malin.


“Our main focus will be on quality and we’re going to give a lot of bands that don’t have a chance to be heard on the radio that opportunity,” said Szmanda, who plays Greg Sanders on the hit TV show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. “We want to be playing everything from indie rock to hip-hop to classic rock to soul to dance rock.”


The wildly diverse group of artists, inspired by the recent Coachella festival and already being featured include Radiohead, the Ramones, My Morning Jacket, the Rolling Stones, Grandmaster Flash, Johnny Cash, Hot Chip, Prince, the Beatles, T Rex, Al Green, Jane’s Addiction, Daft Punk, Pink Floyd, the Kinks, Bjork, the Who, Arcade Fire, Ray Charles, the Verve, Air, Otis Redding, Pharcyde, Velvet Underground, the Clash, Pavement, the Roots, the Police, David Bowie and Kraftwerk.


The erockster content streams online at www.erockster.com; and starting May 2, it will also stream from Los Angeles (KYSR-FM), Washington DC (WWDC-FM) and Philadelphia (WRFF-FM) as well as broadcast as an HD2 channel. As additional stations are added, the show will also be syndicated as a two-hour program on FM stations.


This past weekend, erockster previewed at the Coachella music festival, pirating independently-owned station KAJR FM 95.9 in Indio/Palm Springs and streaming online at erockster.com. The preview included more than 1000 songs over the three-day festival, with no repeats and no commercial interruptions, focusing on current and past Coachella artists.

To add to the pirate theme, and to place the focus of the broadcast on music and the festival, Szmanda used a vocoder to disguise his voice and allowed exclusive artist and fan interviews to tell the story of the weekend.


Artists featured for the Coachella weekend were those currently or previously playing the festival, including Fatboy Slim, Raconteurs, LCD Soundsystem, the Breeders, Cut Copy, Tool, Chemical Brothers, Coldplay, NIN, the Pixies, Justice, Kanye West, Beck, Oasis, Portishead and MGMT.


“Eric has an unparalleled love and appreciation for a vast array of music,” said Clear Channel EVP Evan Harrison, head of the company’s Online Music and Radio unit. “His talent will absolutely resonate with like-minded fans.”


“Clear Channel came to me with the chance to be a kid in the candy store,” added Szmanda. “Now, erockster is giving all fans an outlet to listen to a wide variety of music, discuss bands, concerts, and really anything that we have an opinion or comment on that’s music-related.”

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