Rock It Real: From Radio to TV!

South African rock, alternative and metal. An introduction to Rock It Real TV

It all started with the Rock It Real radio show that has been around for 8 years; hosted by Aidan Harper under his presenter name of DJ Squeek (Aidan was also the music journalist for Cape Times’ “Top Of The Times” for 10 years). He has interviewed the likes of Celine Dion, Graham Gouldman (10cc), Ed Kawalzyck (LIVE), John Lodge and Justin Hayward (Moody Blues), Gary Brooker (Procul Harum), Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden), Ian Hill (Judas Priest) and many more.

The show was created as a platform that mainstream media lacks and it focused on real music giving exposure to new bands and discovering new SA rock music while at the same time bringing undiscovered SA rock to the forefront and showcasing bands that would usually be passed over by mainstream channels. It began as a pre-recorded show and then to a weekly live online broadcast. The shows have uploaded to the Mixcloud.com podcast platform (https://www.mixcloud.com/aidan-harper).

Now… The radio show has evolved and we have assembled a quirky and fun production team to create an off-the-wall SA music TV show, ultimately providing a platform to promote the starving musicians!

Most music and lifestyle TV shows are pretty much the same format: A few music videos, a basic community gig guide, some news and the interviews are scripted along the lines of “where are you from”, “where did you get that band name from” and “how long have you been together” etc, etc… Rock It Real shredded that script and will be delving into the lighter and more unconventional side of music industry journalism.

In order to achieve this, Rock It Real’s TV show will be targeting the ‘funtrovert’ side of its audience using visually dynamic and exciting content while still giving valuable information and playing seriously good South African rock music. The show will air online for starters and once established, it will be pitched to satellite channels.

As the Rock It Real team has been an integral part of this scene for so long, it understands the musicians, the fans and the industry so it won’t be your normal run-of –the-mill music TV programme. Forget thinking out of the box… Rock It Real threw the box away a long time ago.

In order to be able to do this, the Rock It Real TV team needs funding for production and some operational items.

The deets:

Format: Weekly SA music mini magazine content TV show for online (YouTube / Webcast)

Rock It Real will have its own YouTube channel with push-through to its own website

30-second promo clips to promote each week’s show (2 weeks ahead)

Duration: Weekly TV show of 20 minutes (specials will be +/- 30 minutes)

Genre: Rock, Alternative and Metal

Focus: Promoting SA music, especially those genres that don’t have a mainstream platform

Content and features:

• Fun interviews with prominent SA musicians and industry people (scheduled international artist interviews if they perform in SA)
• Live performances (unplugged)
• The Gig Report
• Community gig guide (done as a ticker tape during the main feature)
• SA music videos
• This Day In Music History (including SA and international muso birthdays)
• Live gig and festival footage.
• Industry news knowledgebase… A sort of “How To” for musos and music peeps.
• Competitions / giveaways in the form of tickets, POS promotional material and more