Inside Cheese Radio with Bill DaButler
Thanks for checking us out. I hope you like the depth and variety we can provide to you, in terms of programming and personalities. We have lots of experience behind the microphone, well over 250 years, as a matter of fact!
One of the newest members of our lineup is Cheese Radio. It’s the brainchild of Bill DaButler, a well-known musician, business owner, and DJ in Downeast Maine.
The station’s sound is a great blend of music, which Bill describes here:
“Cheese is filling a niche that is not being served fully by local radio. At one point in the early 2000s, rock and roll became more metal and extreme than it once did. Lots of rock fans and artists found themselves without a home. Artists like Tom Petty found themselves without a steady radio home. Their music started to see a loss in sales, not from a lack of talent, but a lack of exposure.
The Cheese mix is a targeted amalgamation of three specific stations and two specific formats. We have a great local rocker in the Bangor market that plays Rock, Classic Rock, Alternative, and Blues. Because that is also a broad range, the music is actually more stretched out than Cheese is.
I want to serve the listeners that don’t get exactly what they want from this station, which is very popular with people ages 35+. There is an XM station that plays 90s Alternative. It plays a shortlist with too much 90’s rock-rap that is a turn-off for some listeners. Still, it is very popular with men over age 35+.
A third source is an Alt-Pop, if you will, from XM as well. Sometimes it gets too poppy for the older demos, but it is popular with people ages 25+. The idea is to make a AAA/Rock station that focuses on those audiences not being served by the three closest and popular matches. Since it is targeted this way, it is not eclectic, but more expansive compared to its three other cousins.
Even Saturday’s “Cheese and Chill” is alternative rock/AAA heavy, just more relaxed. Sunday’s Christian music is rock-based. So you see, Cheese Radio is not deriving from a broad and diverse range of sources, but a very solid singular source. Rock/Alternative/AAA are all from the same family and have a massive crossover appeal.
Most people do not choose a format as their only music, country excluded. While Cheese may bridge three formats, they are very much the same artists. Pearl Jam for instance has had a #1 AAA, rock, and alternative hit. Not just one format because music is broader than the categories that most programmers label them as.
Finally, we don’t want to program our stations to be like a typical FM. We want to offer something they don’t so that we give our audience more reasons to listen to us. We do that with a deep library highlighting what makes us different.
Well, there you have it! Right from Bill himself. Make sure to check out Cheese Radio anytime here on maineinternetradio.com. Enjoy this wonderful summer weather here in Maine.
Have a great week!
Kimball Mitchell
President/Owner
Maine Internet Radio
