By Michael Piwowarski
UNIVERSITY CENTER – As country musician George Strait once said: “You know, traditional country music is something that’s going to be around forever.”
And an alumnus of Delta College’s Electronic Media program is doing his part to keep it around.
Mark Grzegorczyk attended school out of interest in television broadcasting, but soon “got hooked” on radio, getting experience as an intern at Delta’s WUCX-FM (Q 90.1) and working at Gladwin country station WGDN-FM (103 Country).
Less than a year after graduation, Grzegorczyk took what he learned at Delta and applied it to his new internet radio venture: a country/polka station called Grizzly Radio.
“My inspiration for an internet streaming station was more or less a random idea,” says Grzegorczyk. “I had a few internet stations that were inspirations as well as XM radio, but I started looking into what it would take and the idea stuck.”
Officially launched to the public in February, Grizzly Radio primarily plays country music from before the 1990s. This format runs from Monday through Saturday, and on Sunday, the station plays polkas all day until midnight.
The idea for Grizzly Radio’s format came up when Grzegorczyk’s friend, Dave Carr, reminded him that a lot of people who listen to polkas also listen to classic country. Historically, the polka and country genres have been commonly intermingled, with polka bands including country songs in their repertoire.
One notable example is country superstar Willie Nelson performing with polka legend Jimmy Sturr on the album “The Greatest Hits of Polka!”
“So many of my regular country listeners look forward to polka Sundays,” says Grzegorczyk. “In fact, I’ve had many Sundays that had better listenership than any day playing country. It’s just a breath of fresh air.”
Behind the scenes, the setup was a lengthy process, with all the microphones, sound boards, hardware, software and a computer required to run everything. As Grzegorczyk puts it, “you really don’t realize how much you’ve researched ’till you’re running it.”
“My friend Ryan, whom I met at Delta, was a major part in it too,” says Grzegorczyk. “When he found out I was trying to start an internet station, he came in and helped put most of it together. I call him my engineer because he is crazy smart with all this stuff.”
After all the software was set up and everything was put together, and the licensing to play the music was set up via SOCAN, Grzegorczyk’s station went “on the air” in late November 2019, a few months before its official public launch in 2020.
“Overall maintenance now isn’t that bad,” says Grzegorczyk. “The largest hurdle was learning how to use all of the software. When it comes to low-cost software, I would say you get what you pay for. In terms of user friendliness, of course.”
Grizzly Radio is ad free and is on the air 24/7, playing a constantly running, randomized playlist of music from Grzegorczyk’s library. For polka Sunday, he will load up a polka playlist which is shuffled randomly.
On several occasions, Grzegorczyk will get behind the microphone and host a live show, taking listener requests.
“I do request shows whenever I want a break, really, so no specific schedule,” says Grzegorczyk. “The majority of my time spent in the studio is adding new music, and it can be a drag and tiring. I’m a pretty social guy, so live shows are the closest I can get to talking to people from all over, playing what they want to hear.”
Current plans are to continue with the current no-interruption format and to gain more listeners, as well as expand the station’s social media base.
For anyone else who may be interested in starting their own internet radio station, Grzegorczyk says it’s important to find your best fit.
“Find a genre/style that no one else is doing,” says Grzegorczyk. “I partially failed at that, because you can find other internet stations that play classic country and others that play polka. Also, get as many techy friends as possible.”
Although Grizzly Radio is free to listen to, that is because the station is run on donations, which are accepted via PayPal on the station’s website. Listeners are encouraged to donate so that the station can remain operational and ad-free.
In addition to their web presence, Grizzly Radio currently has a Facebook page, which can be followed for updates.
