| "These are the established artists I listened to growing up, as opposed to the people that have only put one or two records out." That’s how Bill Welychka describes the balance of the music personalities he interviews for TV’s MuchMoreMusic. Welychka made his on-camera debut as a MuchMusic VJ in 1992. In 2000 he shifted to the older-demographic-driven MuchMoreMusic, where he has continued to grow his reputation as the Canadian go-to guy for music interviews.
"Some of the first interviews I did for MuchMore were Jimmy Paige and John Paul Jones (both of Led Zeppelin fame) within a month of each other and Robert Smith from the Cure," says Welychka. I had posters of these guys in my bedroom growing up as a kid. So, that was a huge kick and made me realize you really can’t beat this job if you love music."
Welychka, who serves as the on-camera host and behind the scenes editor and producer of the retrospective series Story of…, is an accurate reflection of the target audience of his music net.
"MuchMoreMusic is a channel aimed at people who grew up with MuchMusic in the ’80s and ’90s and still have an interest in music videos," says David Kines, station president and general manager. They want to see some of the stuff from when they were growing up as well as current stuff."
While conventional banks of music videos are definitely part of the lineup, MuchMoreMusic is driven predominantly by series like Listed, which features rundowns of such things as the 20 Top Divine Divas and the 20 Hottest Men in Music. In case you’re wondering, no, Neil Young did not make the list.
There’s also the quality retro-based stuff like Back In… which recaps an entire year of pop culture from the ’80s or ’90s in each episode, and Bands Reunited, a nostalgia-laden export from VH1 in the U.S. The show brings together past acts like the Motels, Haircut 100 and the English Beat after many years apart to see if they can pull off one last gig.
It’s solid reality-TV material that Kines is glad to have in the MuchMore program lineup. "We were getting a lot of requests for it before we had it on the air," he says. "We‘ve only been running Bands Reunited for a few weeks now and I really don’t know what the viewer reaction is except for knowing the ratings have been very good."
While the channel knows the value of dipping into the past it doesn’t want to live there. The belief at the station, Welychka says, is "That just because you’re in your ’20s, early ’30s or older, you don’t necessarily stop listening to music, buying music or stop getting into edgy new music. We want to provide a platform for the nostalgic and retro stuff while letting people know there is nothing wrong with the new Billy Talent or Rheostatics record." When it comes to balancing the old with the new, he adds, "It’s a delicate balancing act that no other TV station wrestles with as much as we do."
Welychka, who is always looking for music from new artists and new material from established acts, is not a fan of the classic-rock-radio mentality, "I feel sorry for the (record) labels because the classic rock retro formats mean they aren’t getting their new artists and new products promoted. You couple that with a huge generation downloading songs that has never bought a record for as long as they’ve lived, and it’s a scary time for the music business." |
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