The production studio for New Normal Music, one of the top Internet radio stations playing indie pop in the United States, sits atop a hill overlooking sprawling Santa Ynez Valley ranches and luscious vineyards. More specifically, it’s in a room in one of those 5,000-square-foot ranches. Even more specifically, the studio exists on a laptop, which sits in a room with a view, in a ranch on a hill.
Since radio personality Tom Leykis launched it last year, New Normal Music—with its indie pop format—has gained several million listeners all over the world and has cracked the top five of Internet radio stations in popularity in the United States. With such a stellar rise, Leykis was prompted to launch Your Office Companion, a radio station targeting women 13 to 34 who listen to music at the office.
Leykis said the idea of a local radio station broadcasting out of one region, using a studio full of fancy equipment run by DJs, is giving way to a more streamlined process—but not everyone is embracing a new way of doing the old.
“When the Rolling Stones came out, no one ever said they wouldn’t work on 8 track or cassette,” he said. “Yet people have a hard time believing radio can work in a different format. That it doesn’t have to be done in a studio and with disc jockeys and lots of equipment.”
Leykis came to this realization only recently. He was in the middle of a five-year contract with CBS when the company changed the radio format, meaning there was no longer a place for his show. Leykis had the option to fulfill the remaining term of his contract—which, since he no longer had a show, required nothing of him—or get a job with another station and break his contract. He chose to fulfill his term, and with time now abundantly on his hands, he delved into a new venture, taking radio in a whole new direction.
Leykis launched New Normal Music in July. The station flips the typical radio format by making music available, like satellite radio, wherever a listener happens to be, but offers only music released in the last 12 months. It bucks the satellite radio trend by offering it for free. In November, he launched Your Office Companion.
His entire production back office is run from his laptop. Four disc jockeys across the country run their shows from laptops with WiFi capability. Leykis can load 36 hours of music and insert DJ intros or rearrange songs by simply dragging and dropping files on his computer. He’s streamlined the radio process, made it more convenient for listeners, and opened the possibilities of what radio can be.
“I have neighbors who have horses and cows out here, and they don’t even realize all this is going on here,” Leykis said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone remembers when video killed the radio star. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 3, 2011.