CHLOE KOWALYK
News Editor
This year marks 10 years since The Local Lo-Down took to the FM waves at Fredonia Radio Systems (FRS).
However, after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down several clubs and activities for about two years, The Local Lo-Down was put on pause.
The Local Lo-Down is a college radio show intended to “promote and showcase the local music scene here in Fredonia and Western New York,” according to the show’s tagline.
The show was reignited by Mel Fajardo, a junior double majoring in music industry and business administration, Jordan Budd, a sophomore music industry major, and Alex Erwin, a junior double majoring in audio/radio production and video production.
Fajardo serves as the show’s executive producer and promotions lead, Budd is the artists and repertoire (A&R) lead (which is responsible for finding artists) and Erwin is the show’s technical director.
Fajardo and Budd are also the co-hosts of the show.
Each week, Fajardo, Budd and Erwin bring a different band or artist into FRS. The trio then interviews them about their music and have artists perform live sets during the show.
The Local Lo-Down has featured local artists such as The Burkharts, Saint Blind, Violent Graffiti, Jacob King and The Weather Might Say Otherwise.
The show is simulcasted to both FRS’s WCVF 88.9 and WDVL 89.5 stations and is also recorded on video, which is uploaded to the FRS YouTube page.
The Local Lo-Down is currently the only show at FRS to have a weekly video to accompany it.
For Erwin, the show has been “an excellent driver [in exploring] more about your passions and the stuff you’re interested in.”
“I’m very happy with what we’ve been doing with the show so far and what we’ve been able to learn from it,” Erwin continued.
Fajardo explained the heavy impact The Local Lo-Down has on the local music scene in Fredonia. She said that since they restarted the show, they’ve gotten messages from current artists, previous artists who had been on the show in years prior and SUNY Fredonia alumni who were previously involved in the show.
Budd said, “I think we’ve done a good job of showing some more experimental artists and just a diverse amount of genres.”
He added that one of the goals of the show next year is to “get a more diverse range of artists in terms of gender inclusivity [and] multiculturalism.”
The trio also wanted to give credit to their team, and explained that doing a show this complex and involved wouldn’t be possible without them.
The show’s production team is made of Dylan Rohr, Nolan Rosier and Max Sheedy and the A&R team is Cebastian Spisak and Erin Wagner. The promotions team is composed of Cascio Fonseca, Ash DeHarder, Justin Malinowski, Natalie Wilks, Yisel Fernandez and Owen Brandjes.
Be sure to stay tuned for future episodes and next year’s content in The Local Lo-Down.
You can find The Local Lo-Down on Facebook (@locallodown), Twitter (@TheLocalLoDown), Instagram (@thelocallodown_) and TikTok (@thelocalodown).
The author of this article, Chloe Kowalyk, is a member of Fredonia Radio Systems.