For all musicians who release albums, it would be nice to know that your music is being received and appreciated—not only locally, but nationally and globally! That is one reason for the Philby Awards. Everyone likes recognition.

Well, for those not familiar with College radio or music charts other than Billboard, one of the standards for the industry was College Music Journal or CMJ. They held that spot for a number of years, until the magazine met with some problems recently.

Promoters, radio stations, and artists scrambled to find a new platform. This all happened rather abruptly and everyone was disoriented for a few weeks.

The new meeting spot that most people associated with the industry are flocking to is NACC or North American College and Community Chart. They compile the charts for everyone who is a member and reports to it, just like CMJ. This all happened during my current stint as Music Director at WHFR (89.3 FM) in Dearborn, MI. It was definitely a learning curve and I believe I pretty much have it down.

There are several changes and many that I am happy about.

First of all, all music styles are combined on their major lists. This includes “adds” and weekly lists. Americana and blues were very under represented on the lists at CMJ.

Now while CMJ allowed someone to report something that didn’t automatically prefill, it usually disappeared for the next week’s list. NACC will allow items in a drop down format to remain available for up to a year after an album’s release date.

And now I’ve got this figured out. I have added many of the missing artists that we play on WHFR. This is GREAT because it’s easier to fill out the list and it may help artists get that recognition elsewhere because someone may not know how to fill it out. Music Directors change often at College radio and many times it’s a volunteer position so they may not have the time or desire to figure it out.

Either way, the lists I’ve been submitting to NACC better reflect the music and artists not only on my own shows but most songs played at the station. I’m happy about that, and myself and the station will continue to work at keeping that information updated. Hopefully, it will help artists, particularly of local or lesser origin, get wider recognition!

Albums that I personally added to the database have an asterisk. (*) As you can see, I added more than just local artists. (20/30) Obviously, many artists were under represented even with a better system.

Here is the list I submitted today:

WEEK ENDING MAY 23

Don’t forget to catch my two weekly shows on WHFR!:

“Prime Time Theme Attic Show” (Mondays, 8P-10P ET)

“Theme Attic Show” (Wednesdays, 10A-12N ET)

Here’s a link: www.whfr.fm/images/stream_audio.html

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