Akron musician Ryan Humbert is the kind of dynamo/catalyst who makes things happen for himself, for other musicians and for the community. He became known first as a folk-infected pop/rock singer/songwriter with a series of solo albums before he formed his traditional country ensemble the Shootouts, first as a solo project, now as his main focus. He’ll be doing his benefit Holiday Extravaganza in a couple of weeks for the 12th year, featuring a whole host of his musical friends, streaming on the websites of 17 Ohio performing arts venues and organizations and Benefiting the National Independent Venues Assiocation Emergency Relief Fund.
He’s almost been doing a two-hour radio show called The Americana Roundup for more than three years on Akron radio station, WAPS-FM The Summit, even Sunday morning. But now he’s launched his own 24/7 online radio station of the same name, offering his own personally programmed blend of roots rock, traditional country, classic rock, blues, folk, bluegrass and more. Something good came out of the pandemic quarantine!
“A month or two ago I got the idea that while I’m spending time at home because of COVID, it’s time to expand it,” says Humbert. “At first I thought I might work on getting it syndicated to other stations like the Summit throughout the country. [Note: that idea is still in the works for 2021]. That takes a lot of time as well. I thought the most immediate thing I could do is expand it around the clock. We get so much response from people to my show on the Summit. So many people told me they wake up Sunday mornings and listen to my radio show with breakfast. It’s become appointment listening for them. They say, where else can I hear it or I wish I would hear it more often.”
While obviously Humbert won’t be hosting the station around the clock, he is programming all the music.
“I’m handpicking over 3,000 songs,” he says. “I’m putting them in different categories on a clock. I’ve got current, recurrent, miscellaneous, blues, bluegrass, holiday music. There are different parameters I’ve set up. It chooses songs for me on the clock I set. I spent a lot of time setting it up the way I want it. I double checked its work; I dialed in and listened to it. It’s amazing. It’s been a lot of prep work getting it ready to go but I’ve been babysitting it, making it sure it sounded the way I wanted to.”
Immersing himself in Americana/roots music was a natural direction for Humbert. While he became known for his poppier performances, he says that he really found his calling with the Shooters.
“I always loved country music,” he says. “When I was a kid, I would root though my dad’s records while he was at work — Waylon, James Taylor, Flying Burrito Brothers, blues, old country. When I first started playing guitar I would play for my grandpa and he’d sing and we’d play old country music. When my mom was driving me around back in the ’90s, we’d listen to the radio. And she’d listen to country — this was when it was still very listenable.”
“I always feel like there’s been a slight bit of twang in my music,” he adds. “I made some pop rock records but pop was changing. I was more Tom Petty/Bruce Springsteen top of pop rock, not Justin Timberlake. When I started Shootouts, it was meant to be a side project. But when we started performing out, I was hit by a bolt of lightning on stage — this is what I was meant to be doing, real traditional country music, not afraid to reach out fingers into other parts of the genre.”
For now, Humbert is funding the station himself, along with donations, but says that if the station catches on, he’ll look at bringing on some advertisers — cautiously.
“I still believe in radio whether it’s terrestrial or online,” he says. “I don’t want to turn it into a bank of commercials. I come from a public radio background so that I would never want this to turn into big, flashy, commercial-type thing. I always want it to be about the music.
You can listen to The Americana Roundup here.