By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The Burlington High School radio station WBSD prides itself on playing new artists – ones that may not be heard otherwise.
“I truly believe that stations like WBSD come into play,” said WBSD General Manager Tom Gilding. “We just really like helping them out.
“About a third of our playlist is new artists,” Gilding added.
And in that decision-making process of who to play, there’s one critical question – a simple one.
“Does it sound good?” Gilding explained.
Gilding and staff at WBSD made a call in August of 2012 to play a group called Passenger, with its debut single – “Let Her Go.”
Gilding said Sawyer, his grandson, really liked the song when he heard.
“When he likes it, and I’m saying, ‘He sounds like Cat Stevens,’ you know you’ve got something,’” explained Gilding.
The album, “All the Little Lights,” has since gone platinum, and the record company that produced it – Nettwerk Records – recently sent WBSD a plaque commemerating the accomplishment.
Jack Heine, the Radio Promotions Director for Nettwerk Records, wrote, “No station in America has done more to promote Passenger’s music, and we at Nettwerk Records are greatly appreciate.”
To date, the album has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide.
“You were the station in America that really promoted the album the most,” Gilding said the group’s leader, Michael David Rosenberg, wrote him.
Gilding said it can be hard for artists – ones successful in other countries – to break into the American music scene. Many of the artists WBSD plays, Gilding said, are hits in Canada, Australia and the U.K. – but not yet in the United States.
It’s why the station works so hard at playing different and new music. Even as other stations were backing off the “All the Little Lights album,” WBSD stuck with it, playing other tracks from it.
“We played several off that album, and that’s what got the attention from the label,” Gilding said.
A few weeks ago, Gilding got a package, including a copy of the platinum album award.
It’s stories like that keep Gilding involved in the radio station – and why others keep contributing new music and their time to the station.
“We owe a lot to the community, giving money to us,” Gilding said. “We play what we want to play.”
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