XENIA — While working on a show for an online radio station a friend of his started in Troy, Todd Hollst had a vision.
“It just dawned on me, that what we were doing in Troy, I could do here in Greene County,” the Xenia resident and 1988 graduate of Beavercreek High School said.
And with that, mygreeneradio.com was born.
Hollst combined some on-hand equipment along with some gifted items and put together a broadcast studio in a spare room in the house. It’s complete with microphones, speakers, a turntable (those under 35 may need to Google this), a mixer and a pair of computer monitors.
“On the air” since February, the playlist is an eclectic mix of music from today’s country stars like Blake Shelton and Tim McGraw to classic rockers like the Eagles, Tom Petty, Van Halen and Lynyrd Skynyrd to older music like the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Patsy Cline.
“I love country, I love rock and roll, to quote Joan Jett,” Hollst said. “We’re really trying to appeal to a wide spectrum of listeners. A lot of the Dayton stations, because of conglomerates or corporate stations … they don’t have the ability to serve the community in their listening area as they used to. You need the local outlets.”
Thanks to the local library, Hollst downloaded nearly 7,000 songs onto his server.
“I checked out many CDs,” he said. “They’re all hits.”
But giving local listeners the power of music is only a small part of what Hollst is trying to accomplish from his makeshift studio.
“It’s really the podcast that were trying to build,” he said. “Local voices, talking about local things, local events. Good music will keep people tuned in to a degree. I’m not going to win the competition for music listeners. There’s a million ways to get music. It’s the local content that will win the day.”
That’s where the podcast comes into play … literally.
Hollst — who has nearly two decades of broadcast experience — has been doing a show with former Xenia councilman Josh Long where the topic is anything and everything Xenia.
“We talk about whatever is affecting our lives,” Hollst said.
Former Fairborn resident Mandy Radeline contributes a “slice of life” type of podcast where she writes a story and then “performs” it on air. Hollst has also gone solo with a series telling his adoption story. He is also hoping to add podcasters in the future.
This type of format hasn’t been used on the radio in years as everything now is mostly syndicated and national.
“Local radio used to be sort of a menagerie of different voices, different shows, different music,” Hollst said. “It wasn’t a cookie cutter project.”
But he’s not trying to turn the station into a typical AM station of the past.
“I don’t want a morning guy, I don’t want a midday guy or girl,” Hollst said.
Once the station has been fine-tuned to his liking Hollst is hoping to add other elements, such as local advertising, live local sporting events and live remote broadcasts. Hollst is also in the process of building a production area for recording commercials and promotions.
“I don’t know where it’s going to go,” he admitted.
But in reality, Hollst kind of knows that already. According Belgium-based Radionomy — which is mygreeneradio.com’s streaming service — the station has been accessed in 18 countries in addition to the United States. Included in that list are the UK, Mexico, France, Germany, Austria, Canada and the Czech Republic.
Well, Hollst did say he wants to appeal to a wide spectrum of listeners.
