Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 61

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 61
Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded
by: Andru Valpy, & Natty Somers
Air Date: 01/19/2011 on UMFM 101.5 FM
Download Location: iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg 

Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg

Rebroadcast: 1/26/2011 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM





Posted: January 19, 2011
Photo and story by: Andru Valpy

On this weeks show we introduced you to Geoff Thompson and Trevor Lux from Callida, a local band based in Niverville MB. Unfortunately, Drummer John McBride was unable to attend the recording.

I had met Callida back in October of 2010 for an interview for The Aimless & Andy Benefit Show that was thrown at Shannon's Irish Pub. We met this week to catch up on developments since the founding days and were happy to learn that Callida was working on their first full length album.

Geoff Thompson (Front), Trevor Lux (Back) of Callida - Photo By Andru Valpy

After introducing the 2/3rds of Callida that were in studio with us, Trevor and Geoff released a work in progress single called "Here Lies" which comes straight from their basement recording sessions. You can expect more from Callida in the months to come.

Along with our music news, we brought you up to date with local headlines.

I informed you of local city news, including the announcement of a 100,000 dollar surplus in the 2010 year end budget as announced by a report made available to City Council. We also noted that due to disputes with Manitoba Hydro, a ten million dollar dent may be put into the final statement which is to be released mid February. Expect more details at a later date.

As discussed, The MS Paddle-wheel Queen and MS Paddle-wheel Princess are both being appraised for sale from long time owner and operator Steve Hawchuk. Hawchuk made this announcement earlier in the week, leaving the future of the company and future "funk boat" events un-decided. According to a report from CBC Radio, Hawchuk hopes to have a young person carry on in his spirt by purchasing the two boats.

We touched on our thoughts on the Golden Globe Awards in which host Ricky Gervais went missing for an hour and a half.

And finally, On the lighter side of things, we announced the words that are to be banished in 2011 as determined by Lake Superior State University.

We are still looking for nominations for "The People In Your Neighborhood" in which we hope to interview those making a difference in your community. For more information, contact info(at)wakeupwinnipeg.com.

We will see you next Wednesday at 6:30 AM for a repeat of this show, and expect an all new episode at 6:00PM on 101.5 UMFM.

-Av

Track Listings for today's show:

1) Callida - Here Lies.
2) Circa Survive - Wish You Were Here.

  

Wake Up Winnipeg Gets Its Own Blog!

For immediate release:

January 15th 2011
Wake Up Winnipeg Gets Its Own Blog!

Local show host and producer Andru Valpy announced today that with the start of its third season, Wake Up Winnipeg would move to become its own entity and differentiate itself from The Aimless & Andy Show.

"With 2 successful seasons of Wake Up Winnipeg behind us, we feel it important to seperate ourselves from The Aimless & Andy Show to allow for proper growth and devlopment of our show" - States producer and host Andru Valpy.

"Though Wake Up Winnipeg will continue to be a division of Aimless & Andy Productions, our articles, pictures and stories will now be moved to their own web-pages in an effort to create and grow it's own brand awareness".

With this announcement, Wake Up Winnipeg re-designed it's web-page found at http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/ and has started to re-locate archived entries from the Aimless & Andy blog to a separate blog located at http://wakeupwinnipeg.blogspot.com/.

Wake Up Winnipeg also launched it's own Facebook Fanpage to encourage growth and presence in the online community.

Wake Up Winnipeg kicked off Season 3 in its new time slot on UMFM on Wednesday January 12th 2011 at 6:00pm on 101.5 FM and will continue to be repeated at 6:30 AM on Wednesday mornings. It was during this episode that a new co-host named Natty Somers will join the weekly news program.

The Wake Up Winnipeg twitter profile is still available at http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg.

For additional information, news tips, or story ideas, fans are encouraged to visit http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/ or contact our show hosts at info(at)wakeupwinnipeg(dot)com.

-30-

  

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 60

Wake Up Winnipeg's - Episode 60
Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded
by: Andru Valpy, & Natty Somers
Air Date: 01/12/2011 on UMFM 101.5 FM
Download Location: iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg 

Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg

Rebroadcast: 1/19/2011 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM





Posted: January 12, 2011
Photo and story by: Andru Valpy

After a brief hiatus, we are back and ready to attack the airwaves in an effort to wake you up to events, news and topics of interest within our city and outside the perimeter.

On Episode 60, I introduced my new co-host "Natty" who has replaced the long standing "king of co-hosts" Paul (host of Drifter in the Dark on UMFM).

Natty will bring her artistic talent and knowledge of the city to the Wake up Winnipeg team, while maintaining the standards that you have come to love from our show.

On tonight's episode we talked about upcoming events in the city and included a track from "The Liptonians" who are playing at the WECC on February the 6th.

We also eased you into upcoming stories that we are working diligently on for this season, including our upcoming visits with Mayor Sam Katz, Councillors Gord Steeves and Jenny Gerbasi in which we will discuss the current state of the city, and their plans for a future Winnipeg.

As stated on today's show, The Filthy Animals have had run into problems with a local radio station while attempting to promote singles from their newly released CD. In episode 61 we will be talking to Jeff Bromley from the group to discuss our investigate report which you can read by clicking here.

LOCAL HIP-HOP GROUP TAKES THEIR STORY TO THE STREETS.
By Andru Valpy - read more by clicking here.




Being that we were on holidays since October, we caught you up on stories you may have missed

Finally, we announced that we will be seeking submissions for an upcoming segment entitled "The People In Your Neighbourhood". If you would like to nominate or suggest a leader in our community who makes a difference on a daily basis, please feel free to e-mail us at info(at)wakeupwinnipeg(dot)com.

Please be sure to include your contact information and the reason why you nominated the individual.


If you missed today's episode, you can catch us next Wednesday morning at 6:30am on 101.5 UMFM.

Thanks for listening,
-Av


Click here to read older posts...

  

 

Wake Up Winnipeg (Exclusive) - LOCAL HIP-HOP GROUP TAKES THEIR STORY TO THE STREETS.

LOCAL HIP-HOP GROUP TAKES THEIR STORY TO THE STREETS.

December 27th, 2010
Photos and story By: Andru Valpy

The Filthy Animals showed their home-town fans just how easy it was to take their music to the streets of their city during the 2010 Winnipeg Zombie Walk.

Member Jeff Bromley teamed up with various members of the community to help organize and promote the event in an effort to help film a music video for an upcoming single.

But when the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award nominee band took their music to local radio station Streetz 104.7 things seemed to get complicated.

"To this day, we have NEVER posted the REAL reason why our music isn't in rotation on STREETZ FM"

writes Jeff Bromley, in a letter sent to Wake Up Winnipeg,

"A lot of people have asked us in the past, on Facebook, at shows, on the street, why we don't get play on STREETZ 104.7. Our fans and friends have never been able to figure it out."

Jeff's story starts earlier this year prior the release of their first album "Sounds of Nature" which was produced on Deep Cave Records. He was approached by a Streetz FM representative by the name of Mellisa Spence who claimed she was the program director for the Winnipeg based station.

It was suggested to Jeff that the band release a few singles for air-play on the urban radio station in an effort to promote the band and their talent.

Though the Animals had not released or mastered any of their tracks, they worked diligently to mix and master their single "BIZNESS AS USUAL" specifically for radio release to ensure they did not miss out on a opportunity.

As promised, the station played the single for what Jeff simply describes as a few weeks.

"I gotta say, being played on the radio was a real cool feeling. It Felt good to hear our music on there, I'm not gonna lie."

After a few weeks on rotation, Mellisa approached The Filthy Animals a second time and requested some additional tracks to add to their growing collection.

"We didn't have anything else mixed and mastered but Big Bear finally caved in and mixed, radio edits and masters three songs specifically for Streetz, and hand delivers them to their studio along with some giveaways, namely the old Deepcave/Factor album".

But after three weeks, the band had not heard any of their edited songs on the station.

It was only then that filthy animal Big Bear, e-mailed the contact at the station to inquire about their songs.

The response received from Streetz representative Mellisa Spence followed:

"(you) should up (your) sound quality and production values" and submit music with "studio production quality"

To which the band was not impressed.

After having spent the time to produce the tracks specifically for the station, member Big Bear e-mailed what Jeff states is a plain tone e-mail to the station to express his concerns.

The band admits the initial reply between Big Bear and Mellisa could have been approached differently, but letters of understanding and apology were later exchanged between Jeff and Mellisa and everything was what she described as "all love".

" I said in a reply e-mail to Melissa that if 'everything is all love' like she says it is, then we were good with that. I also apologized for Bear's overall tone in the original e-mail that he sent her".

What followed two days later however was a surprise to all of The Filthy Animals according to Jeff,

"Two days later one of our fans tells us that Melissa and fellow co-host Jules were talking about us on their Twitter page saying that 'The Filthy Animals need some tissue' and that we were 'just crying because we didn't get played.' "

But it was the final strand of tweets that upset the band and their image.

Messages were posted on the twitter profiles of both station representatives which read simply as followed:

"YOU WANNA KNOW THE TRUTH....YOU GUYS SUCK!!" "STEP UP YOUR RAP GAME".

At that point Jeff reached out to station representative Melissa Spence and asked her about the messages, to which she denied the allegations.

Moments later, the tweets were removed from the social media website in what was later learned to be the request of Streets FM management and program directors.

Jeff continues:

"So basically, we told Melissa that we did not want to do business with them due to the public slander and would not confess to the postings. We thought that the comments were corny, and we felt disrespected.. All we wanted or needed was an apology. But six months later, we still haven't heard one."

After speaking to Wake Up Winnipeg, Jeff and the rest of The Filthy Animals decided to go viral with his now six month campaign to raise awareness to the situation.

He hopes to finding a solution to settle the dispute, and bring the music of The Filthy Animals to the streets of Winnipeg.

Since launching his awareness campaign last week, fans across the city and the world have been advocating for The Filthy Animals by posting messages of requests, support, and love on the Streetz Facebook Group Page, text messaging systems, and various social media outlets.

Jeff continues to reminds his fans that the campaign is about more than airplay, but about the basis of fairness and equality within the music industry.

"This is NOT about radio play, but rather about what's right and what's wrong and we owe it to our supporters who have backed us 100% throughout this entire ordeal to stay true to the cause and see it through no matter what the costs are to us".

Though the battle has been going on for nearly six months, the awareness campaign has only been in effect for seven days. When asked about how he feels about the success of the campaign, Jeff humbly states,

"The community response has been "overwhelming".

With the help of the community Jeff and the rest of The Filthy Animals have managed to meet with mediators for discussions with Streetz Mellisa Spence.

Local contract DJ Dow Jones played a Filthy Animal single on his outsourced weekend show entitled "The Pre-Game" which as a result has Jeff hoping that a meeting with the station may come soon.

Jeff and The Filthy Animals are currently waiting to hear back from station administrators to see if Streetz are interested in addressing the issues in person to resolve the disputes.

Though The Filthy Animals have publicly stated they are not interested in having their music promoted on the radio station, they have decided to pursuit the matter for the best interest of their fans.

Jeff ends by telling us:

"No matter what the outcome, we will likely request that our music is not played on the station unless it's on Dow Jones show. We do however hope that Melissa might find it in herself to apologize to our supporters for deleting their requests and blocking them from posting on the STREETZ FM Facebook wall, as well as for hanging up on them when they would call the station to request our music."

When Wake Up Winnipeg received Jeff's initial letter we attempted to contact Streetz FM to inquire about the allegations against them and to date have not received a statement regarding this story.

Wake Up Winnipeg will continue to follow this story and will meet with The Filthy Animals for an interview in Season 3 of our radio program on 101.5 CJUM FM in Winnipeg.

-Av

(ED Note: Additional information about The Filthy Animals may be found online at: http://www.myspace.com/deepcaveproductions)

Wake Up Winnipeg's Return

Wake Up Winnipeg's returns with a new season on January 12th 2011.

Wake Up Winnipeg moves to a new time slot on Wednesdays at 6:00 PM CST.



Posted: December 8, 2010
Photo and story by: Andru Valpy

After a brief hiatus, we are happy to report that your favorite independent local talk show will be returning to CJUM 101.5 FM (UMFM) on January 12 2011 for a brand new season.

Join us for episode 60 with a all new special guest and a review of events and happenings occurring within the perimeter and beyond.

We will continue to deliver the same cultural stories you have come to love and respect from Wake Up Winnipeg, and look forward to our new season with the launch of Episode 60 in it's new time slot on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 PM.

Keep your dials tuned to 101.5 FM as we are pleased to announce the return of Wake Up Winnipeg on CJUM 101.5 FM in Winnipeg, and world wide at http://umfm.com.

In the mean time, you may follow us on twitter for instant Wake Up Winnipeg announcements by visiting http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg or follow your host Andru Valpy on his twitter at http://twitter.com/aimlessandru.

We look forward to waking you up to your city of Winnipeg in 2011 and appreciate your continued support!

-Av

Wake Up Winnipeg - City of Winnipeg Emergency Preparedness Drill - Operation Ex-Ice 2010

Operation Ex-Ice 2010.
Film and story by: Andru Valpy

On Thursday October 14th, 2010, The City of Winnipeg in conjunction with MTS, Manitoba Hydro and Westman Communications, conducted day 3 of their emergency preparedness drill entitled "Operation Ex-Ice".




300 employees and city officials worked together in various locations to simulate the ability to work through the effects of an severe ice storm, which causes a disruption to Winnipeg’s electrical supply.

This drill was based on the real life ice storm disaster that took place in Quebec ice storm of 1998.

(c) 2010 A. Valpy - http://wakeupwinnipeg.com - twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg

Wake Up Winnipeg - City of Winnipeg Media Release - Advance Voting Information

............................................................
City of Winnipeg Media Release
............................................................

ADVANCE VOTING BEGINS OCTOBER 4TH at City Hall

Advance Voting for all eligible voters is now open at City Hall, 2nd Floor, Council Building, 510
Main Street and will run through to 4:00 P.M. on Friday, October 22, 2010.

HOURS OF VOTING – City Hall Advance Voting

Voters who wish to vote at City Hall can choose from a variety of voting dates and times, as
follows:

9:00 AM – 4:00 PM: October 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, and 22
1:00 PM – 8:00 PM: October 5 and 13
8:00 AM – 8:00 PM: October 21
(CLOSED on Thanksgiving Day, Monday, October 11, 2010)

Advance Voting also begins today in numerous Seniors’ Residences, Personal Care Homes and
Health Care Facilities throughout the City for eligible voters residing within the respective voting
place. For information on dates, times and locations, please refer to the Election Website:
www.winnipeg.ca/2010election

Other advance voting opportunities will take place imminently at designated Shopping Centres
including Garden City, St. Vital Centre, Grant Park, Portage Place, Polo Park and Kildonan
Place; at the University of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg, Red River College; and at
Community Centres.

Use of Ballot Marking Devices for Persons with Disabilities

Ballot marking devices are offered at City Hall Advance Voting. The device is designed to
provide privacy and accessibility to voters who are blind, vision impaired, or have a disability or
condition that would make it difficult or impossible to mark a ballot independently in the usual
way.

Voters who are visually impaired or blind will also have the option to use a Braille template or
receive assistance.

Information regarding this and other election information is available by calling the City of Winnipeg Contact Centre at 311 or by visiting the City of Winnipeg’s Election website at
www.winnipeg.ca/2010election.