On Friday at 5 p.m. Milwaukee radio station FM102/1 teams up with the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) to #saveourstages with a 24-hour radiothon.
The event will raise funds for Milwaukee’s local independent music venues and NIVA members: The Rave/Eagles Club, The Pabst Theater Group, Shank Hall, The Cactus Club and The Cooperage.
“You’d be hard pressed to find anybody whose soul isn’t influenced by music,” said Jim Linneman owner of the Riverwest venue that bear his name.
“That music was written by musicians who got their start writing songs and performing in small independent music venues. Because of the pandemic, many of those venues existence are now threatened,” he says.
Like many businesses, the independent concert venues in Milwaukee have been hurting. They were among the first businesses to close and they will be among the last to reopen.
Before they became household names bands like The Lumineers, Imagine Dragons, 21 Pilots, Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White, Mumford and Sons and countless others were introduced to Milwaukee for the first time on small stages.
The venues and their employees have made Milwaukee an important tour stop for any band or comedian.
FM 102/1 will be broadcasting live from the empty stages of The Rave/Eagles Ballroom, The Pabst Theater, Shank Hall, The Cactus Club and The Cooperage through the duration of the radiothon.
“It is a great idea to include small venues as well as larger ones,” adds Shank Hall’s Pete Jest. “It is such a good idea to do this for the community. It is selfless, they realize it is more important than radio dollars.”
The Cactus Club’s Kelsey Kaufmann echoes his sentiment. “Events like the telethon ensure that we can support artists during this time through virtual programming, and that when it is safe and appropriate, we will have a space to invite you back,” she says.
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“Cactus Club has no intention of hosting in-person shows in 2020 unless there is a drastic shift in the trajectory of COVID. With that, we are shifting our focus to digital programming for live performances, DJ sets, film screenings, interviews, and workshops via a pay-what-you-can Patreon. It is vital to our long-standing mission that we continue to support our creative peers and provide a platform for independent musicians and artists to engage with the community at large.”
The radiothon will also feature an online silent auction running concurrently with the broadcast which will include music memorabilia donated by the venues and musicians to help raise funds. The program will also include Milwaukee memories from some of the biggest alternative music artists, listen to local celebrities talk about their favorite shows and be able to take virtual tours of these historic venues along with other special features along the way.
“Though we’re taking our first steps to invite the public back to Turner Hall, the rest of our venues remain closed and it will be a long time before live entertainment is back to the level it was pre-pandemic,” said Gary Witt, CEO of the Pabst Theater Group.
“While we are struggling to stay afloat, our thoughts go out to the small clubs in our city and their fight to survive. We’re thankful that FM 102/1 is using their powerful voice in the Milwaukee music scene to raise awareness and offer support for the independent venues in our city and we are hopeful that with their help and the help of music fans, Milwaukee’s music and entertainment scene will survive.”
The event will be streamed on their website or listeners can watch by downloading the FM 102/1 app on any smartphone or tablet.
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