Local Music stands for so many things: pure love for music, humility and community, just to name a few. Artists in this genre don’t have to contend with managers or influence from labels but are only concerned with pleasing their fans. Audiences find themselves in sparsely filled venues, not because they’ve come for the band’s popularity, but because they share a genuine passion for the art and want to give it support.

The “International Local Music Exchange” is a podcast partnership between a group of college radio stations that set out to encapsulate all these elements in beautifully edited episodes ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. It was originally created in 2020 by KBVR, KCSU, WLOY and The College Radio Foundation with the idea that college radio stations have the important task of introducing and supporting these artists.

Participating stations are invited to share their best and brightest by creating and submitting a 1-hour episode hosted by their students. There are instructions and a script provided on the college radio’s website. Shows will be uploaded to a secure shared drive in the cloud, where stations can download the shows for play around the world. This season, binge-releasing on November 1, will be the program’s second and includes music from our own Fort Collins, Colorado; Raleigh, North Carolina, as well as Ljubljana, Slovenia.

KCSU’s general manager, Hannah Copeland, commented on the show. “Sharing hyperlocal music with a national audience has always been an idea and passion of mine,” Copeland said. “It felt like all the pieces fell together when KBVR in Corvallis, Oregon, reached out on our college radio adviser list-serve asking to start a national local-music radio show. WLOY of Baltimore and KCSU jumped on board during the heat of the pandemic. The three stations have held so many productive process meetings to shape the show into what it is today. Now, it’s an international way for radio stations and podcasters to hear music from around the world. Rob Quicke, the founder of World Radio Day, has helped host the site at CollegeRadio.org and offered an international perspective, as he is based in the UK.”

Apple Podcasts has a solid five-star rating, and if you enjoy the show, be sure to head over and leave a review. In total there are 12 episodes with five of them belonging to the new second season. The most popular episodes according to the show’s Transistor are “The Best Of The International Local Music Exchange” and “Selections From Famously Hot Columbia, SC and WUSC.”

My personal favorites have been “A Look at Local Music from Ljubljana, Slovenia” and “The Best of Baltimore Unsigned from WLOY-FM in Baltimore, Maryland,” both of which had me looking for the featured artists from the episodes. One of my favorite parts about the show is the approaches each station takes in being inclusive of all genres. You really get a taste of the range of local music each location has to offer.

The structure of each episode is the same and lines up with what the show is trying to accomplish. A DJ leads you through nine songs with breaks every three to let you know the artist and song title. Intended to connect audiences with local music during the pandemic, the podcast continues to be a safe way to do that as the world navigates returning to normal.

I found so many great artists through the podcast, and I know you will too. The show can be found on all major platforms, and sharing it with the local music lovers in your life is a great way to support it. Be sure to stay tuned for the next season, available in spring of 2022.