Interview with Manny from Nekkid Radio

Nekkid Radio (http://nekkidradio.net) is known by its fans as an eclectic "raw" station with a leaning towards rock and metal (but open to other genres). I've listened for a while and have heard artists from the more mellow Bryan Adams and Pink Floyd, ratcheting up to Slayer and Rammstein, with a good measure of Black Sabbath in between. Another thing I really like about Nekkid is that they also play some excellent stand-up and spoken word. A few weeks back while listening around noon, Rollins' "I Know You" poem came on - which as a Gen-Xer is one of the most resonating poems I've ever heard.

While I love this variety, what intrigues me most about Nekkid Radio is the way the station is run.

Much of the diversity of Nekkid Radio stems from the fact that the DJs themselves are all located in different parts of the world. In my mind, this is the quintessential Internet radio station in that it is in essence a distributed project just like the Internet itself. As a friend pointed out, the Internet and Punk DIY culture have a lot of parallels. Coordinating something like this over the Internet can't be easy or simple, and must have some unique properties.

Nekkid Radio's station manager Bill Biles "Manny" has been kind enough to let me pick his brain with a few questions for this blog entry.
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Neil: Manny, what is the story behind Nekkid Radio? Was it always a collaborative venture with DJs around the world?
Manny: Well Neil it actually started as a fun thing in the Cu-Seeme Video chat room. It was started by Dan Brewington who now owns The Web Radio World Network based in Chile, as Bouncer Dan Radio. Dan and another party turned it into Naked Radio until Mike Colvin came aboard. Then the 3 of them created NEKKID Radio as it is today.
Then gradually more and more wanted to join in, soon it was 5 DJ’s then so on. And being on the Internet it couldn’t help but be collaborative with DJ’s around the world as time went on. Through the years we have had DJ’s from the UK, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Japan the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Chile and Germany I am sure I missed a couple its been 6 or 7 years for me

Neil: How do you co-ordinate everybody, and what kind of rules do you have in place to ensure things run smoothly?
Manny: Well through the years we had a plethora of rules it seemed, a management team etc. and even those seem good idea sometimes it became more of a hindrance that held us back so we took a step back got rid of the rules, got rid of titles except one. Rules now Rule 1 Have fun Rule 2 respect and have fun doing it. Rule 3 if you can’t make a show post it cover some one post it. Makes it pretty simple really. Coordinating everyone well having DJ’s in different time zones can make it tricky so we use GMT. GMT makes it universal and no daylight saving time to deal with so the hardest part is sometimes doing the math for the schedule.

Neil: How many DJs are there, and where do they reside?
Manny: We at the moment we have 21 DJ’s it’s a Global party Neil

Neil: Can you summarize some of the higher profile DJs in terms of what they play and how they differ from the others?
Manny: Well Neil that’s hard for me I consider all my DJ’s as awesome. They each have something to add to the unique diversity to the station. Most play a mixed genre only a couple does a central genre.

Neil: Do you DJ yourself?
Manny: Yes I do. I do a all blues show every Friday night and Sunday evening Manny’s Blues at the Tiki bar through the years I have done everything from Classic rock, to Reggae except country

Neil: What does the future of Nekkid Radio look like?
Manny: I think with the great crew we have now looks Great, Great DJ’s awesome web designer just over all a awesome bunch to work with. I think the future for NEKKID Radio looks the best it ever has.

Neil: If there was a theme song for Nekkid Radio what would it be?
Manny: Well since you asking me I might say Robert Earl Keene, The Road goes on forever (but the party never ends). But there are several that would fit.