Anthology Hits the Airwaves

Starting on October 9, Little Italy venue Anthology will join forces with KPRI (102.1 FM) to broadcast a live, two-hour music show, Homegrown Fridays Live.

Airing from 10 p.m. to midnight, additional concerts will take place on October 23, 30 and November 6 and 27. Then, starting in January 2010, the program will become a weekly affair. The first program is set to feature Endoxi, Nova, and Tori Roze.

Though Anthology books a variety of music, it is known primarily as a jazz club. Michael Pritchard, the venue’s director of music operations, sees this program as a way to alter that perception. “It’s a way to expand our audience base,” he said. “But, it’s also a way to showcase what we have to offer here, musically, in San Diego.”

Pritchard notes that Anthology and KPRI have co-promoted concerts in the past. “We’ve been associated with them for various events since we opened two years ago. Basically, we really wanted to partner more with them and do something special on a regular basis. In fact, we initially talked about this idea a year and a half ago, but the timing wasn’t right.”

Pritchard will be working with Cathryn Beeks, host of KPRI’s Saturday-night Homegrown Hour, to book performers. As for the type of music to expect, “We’re looking for bands that fit into the KPRI AAA [adult album alternative] format; though, down the line we may expand that,” Pritchard says. “The first few dates will feature three bands, and then in January, we’ll go to two groups per show.”

According to Beeks, the program is open to all genres, but a performer’s draw is a consideration. “There are a lot of artists that want to play on-air, and it’s not that they’re not great live, but for this, I’m really trying to get the higher-drawing bands so we can keep the thing going.”

While the show will be a live concert broadcast, there will be commercial breaks. Although the club will use a backline to facilitate quick artist changeovers, Pritchard considers the downtime between bands to be essential. “During that time, we’ll be doing interviews and background stories on the performers,” he says.

According to Pritchard, setting up the venue for a radio broadcast wasn’t difficult. “Anthology is [a] state-of-the-art [venue] and was constructed with this sort of thing in mind. All we had to do was add one piece of equipment, and we were good to go.”