Airwaves

by Brian Goslow

A Worcester émigré is helping create the Internet's brave new world. Mark Zadroga, a former WCUW deejay in the mid-'80s and better-known as soundman for the Blue Moon Band, bassist for the Jennetics and rockabilly Dialtones (and more recently with Wighat, who visited the Espresso Bar last year), is executive producer of Static Channel at www.pseudo.com, an Internet-only community broadcaster that offers a variety of music, art, and spoken-word programming.

"Basically, we're re-thinking television. We're trying to provide TV without the mass-market filters. We can produce stuff aimed at very narrow genres. If someone wants to do a comic-book show, they can."

Currently, 90 percent of Pseudo's programming is produced in New York City. "We're trying to do stuff from different cities. We did a show from the Viper Room in Los Angeles, but it was non-stop profanity, which was overriding the content. We don't censor people, but we have to make sure the content is worthwhile." They're also looking at future connections with hosts in Toronto, Tokyo, and London. "We can potentially do a show from any home. You could do it from your bedroom with a mini-camera on top of your computer as long as you have Internet access."

How does Pseudo in 1998 compare with the beginning of the original TV era? "The only difference is everyone had a TV [back then]. It's getting that way [with computers]. . . . We're finding out a lot of people check out what we're doing at work. They watch it in the background -- the all-music shows have proven to be popular -- while they're working on their spreadsheets.

"People are just coming into awareness about what we're doing. A year ago, record companies, even independent labels, had no clue about us. Now they're checking us out since they found out we deal with the Internet exclusively. It's still in the novelty stage, so it's still freakish to some people."

Zadroga hosts the Rock and Roll Hangover, which broadcasts live every Tuesday from 7 to 8 p.m. and can be heard (and viewed) anytime during the week thanks to modern technology. While Pseudo.com has featured many live performances, that hasn't been the case on his program. "We feature artists, most who are dead." Other shows have been visited by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Misfits, Skeleton Key, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Marky Ramone, Dandy Warhols, Chris Whitley, and Judy Collins.

Audience participation is another aspect to the network. "The hosts gather questions via e-mail and a host is in a chat room as the show is going on. We also take phone calls, so there's a lot going on at once."

Since he's working with a fairly unknown product, Zadroga has to be creative in expanding the audience. "We try to get programmers to schedule four weeks in advance so we can promote it. We go to the search engines -- most have little areas for live shows -- and post notes in them. We also go to Usenet groups and try to find the ones most interested in the bands appearing. We e-mail a list of what's on each week." They also hit more traditional media like the Village Voice and New York Press.

Is Pseudo the wave of the future? "I'd like to think it's going to be very common very soon because it's on-demand. One of our biggest selling points is it's there when you want it, and you have a whole library of it. What's better than that?"