Dear Station Manager – I represent Smokestack Lightnin’, a FREE high quality syndicated Blues program that has been a highly successful radio fixture in Orlando since 1991, and on NPR station WUCF since 2002. Prior to that the show had a long successful run on WLOQ FM in Winter Park, the Orlando area’s #1 commercial jazz station. If you want to listen to a sample of the show, please go to www.smokestacklightnin.com . There you can listen to the show that was broadcast last Saturday night on WUCF. You can also learn all about the show by visiting the “history” page. If you listen to the show online I believe you will find it to be highly professional while at the same time having a loose, friendly feel. We utilize four different DJs, who each bring their unique perspective to the music. Each DJ appears once per month.

Smokestack Lightnin’ differs greatly from many blues shows you find on NPR, College or University stations which tend to be mostly retrospective. Smokestack Lightnin’ features 80% or more brand new music. In fact, each new show begins with our Top 10 New Blues CDs for the week, and the last week of the month is always reserved for our Top 25 New Blues CDs for the Month, which we report to the prestigious Living Blues Magazine. Our show is serviced by every major blues label in the world. We receive 10 to 20 submissions from blues labels and independent blues artists every week. We preview everything we receive and play for our loyal listeners only the best of what we refer to as “The Best Blues In The World from all around the world.” If you like Jazz or Blues or both, I expect you will really like Smokestack Lightnin’.

We are currently providing Smokestack Lightnin’ to WUCF (The University of Central Florida) and 8 other stations across the U.S. digitally using FTP download technology. The show is provided in 3 segments of 53 min., 59min. and 59min. WUCF airs it on Saturday nights, but it can be aired by your station at any time after the target Saturday night time slot. The show may be downloaded from our server using FTP software in either WMA or MP3 formats. Both versions are recorded digitally at 192 kbps which is more than air quality. We provide our approved network stations with our IP address, a user name, and a password. Each station then downloads the show to its program computer at its convenience.

Why FREE? We are trying to increase traffic on our website. We have several spots inviting listeners to visit www.smokestacklightnin.com imbedded in the show. As long as you run the show with the spots in place, it is free. The spots have been thoroughly vetted by WUCF and the other stations on our network, all of which are NPR stations. We are a not-for-profit entity. Our web site is our only source of revenue. Although it has never paid all the bills, it is our goal to use the web site to at least achieve break-even status. The more listeners we can bring to the radio show, the more money we can raise through the web site, so adding stations for free makes sense. Being able to deliver the show digitally has, of course, made this possible. Previously the cost of delivering the show to other stations was prohibitive.

Please either respond to this email or write me at blues@smokestacklightnin.com or call me at 407-620-2246 if you have any interest. Sincerely, Tommy Thompson, Program Manager of Smokestack Lightnin’


The Smokestack Lightnin’ Family of Radio Stations as of 07/11/09:


Station/location date added

WUCF, 89.9 Orlando, Florida 4/28/02
KJZA, 89.5 Williams, Arizona 5/03/09
KJZP, 90.1 Prescot, Arizona 5/03/09
KJZK, 90.7 Kingman, Arizona 5/03/09
KJZA, 89.5 Flagstaff, Arizona 5/03/09
KJZA, 91.3 Flagstaff, Arizona 5/03/09
WPRL, 91.7 Lorman/Jackson, Mississippi 6/13/09
City Sounds Radio Blues (http://blues.citysoundsradio.com/) 6/20/09
KASU, 91.9 Jonesboro, Arkansas (Memphis market) 7/11/09
WVAS, 90.7 Montgomery Alabama pending
WBRS, 100.1 Waltham, Massachusetts pending