Musical Ramblings & Idol Waves featured in Louisiana Paper

Ken sent me this article that featured his station, as well as a rather flattering mention of me, so being the fabulous person that I often claim to be, here you go!:

(from the Houma Courier)

January 13. 2007 11:54PM

Local enthusiast streams 'American Idol’ to the world

By NATHAN FOLSE
The Courier

For the past five seasons, the phenomenon that is "American Idol" has swept the country in its search for the next pop superstar. Millions have tuned in each week to see the nation’s new talent (and talent-less) compete in a gauntlet of fiercely rehearsed and critiqued auditions for the chance to be signed with a major record label.

The sixth season airs on Fox Tuesday night, when a new cast of hopeful contestants will follow their dreams on the national network. It is no secret that the success of A.I. has given countless singers the exposure and feedback needed to jumpstart their music careers, but a majority are forgotten after the show, their songs never to be heard or played again. Thanks to the Internet and the entrepreneurship of one local dreamer, however, this may no longer be the case.

Kenny Boudreaux (aka DJ KennDawg) from Bayou Black is the sole creator, producer and disc jockey of IdolWaves.com. Idol Waves is a live Internet radio station that streams music from past and present contestants of A. I. with a weekly top 20 countdown show hosted by blog-master J.D. Matthews (jdmatthews. blogspot.com).

Boudreaux opened the site in October 2005, and what began as a simple hobby is now a booming nonprofit operation that sends music from more than 90 former contestants of the show to listeners around the world. Since its conception a little over a year ago, Idol Waves now boasts 81,450 listener hours, with fans logging on from as far away as Mozambique, Egypt, Austria and Brazil, along with at least 28 other countries (three listeners from Israel have even tuned in during the past 30 days).

Perhaps the main reason for the site’s success is its complete lack of competition on the virtual airwaves. Kenny’s life-long love of music and his huge collection of CDs convinced him to start his own site when he saw the possibilities of Internet radio offered by Live365.com. At the time, the online network had roughly 5,000 stations for various genres, and that number has doubled since then. Kenny knew that his station would need a unique angle if it was to stand out among so many others. He was a big fan of contemporary Christian and country music, but he had also been hooked on "American Idol" since the first season, and that, as DJ KennDawg puts it, was when "the lightbulb went off." Boudreaux decided that his station would play only music from AI. contestants, focusing on their pre-Idol songs and the work they’ve accomplished since competing. Surprisingly, no other Internet DJ had ever thought of providing this service, and Idol Waves remains the sole source for "American Idol" fans on the net.

A great deal of the music on IdolWaves.com cannot be found anywhere else, since only the winners go on to produce with the major record companies. Most of the songs from Idol Waves do not appear on any of the show’s episodes or compilation albums, since the goal of the site is to give listeners a wider selection of rare Idol tunes and to give more A. I. artists the chance to be heard.

After a slow beginning, Idol Waves has continued to grow with the popularity of the hit series. The site’s first big break happened when celebrity blogger J.D. Matthews contacted Boudreaux and offered to produce and host a weekly countdown show on the site every Tuesday for free. The countdown is decided by ratings and requests and has become a valuable tool for ensuring that the site plays what the fans want to hear.


"Since I was about 12 years old," Boudreaux said, "I listened to as many countdown shows as I could and have since followed all of the music charts like an eagle seeking prey. I’m not satisfied with knowing the song or just listening to it; I want to know how well it’s doing on the charts."

Though the outcome of this season is sure to affect the rotation of songs on Idol Waves, the station does not practice favoritism for any contestants during the course of the TV show. Those finalists who don’t make the cut and even contestants who don’t make it to the finals will all have an equal chance of being played on the Web site.

In fact, several singers from "American Idol" have enjoyed more success on Kenny’s site than they ever did on the actual show. Currently, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson have dominated the Idol Wave charts.

Unlike most radio stations, which typically cater to a specific age group of listeners, the Idol Waves fanbase is made up of two separate but equally influential audiences. During the day, the listening hours are accrued by thousands of adults listening in while at work, and then sometime after 5 or 6 p.m., the ratings are taken over by kids winding down from the homework and chores of another day.

"You can tell the difference by the e-mails," says Boudreaux.

He has received a great deal of support and music from the producers and several contestants of "American Idol," including some of the finalists. "We’ve gotten major respect from the singers who are self-produced or who are with independent labels," says Boudreaux. "I used to search and search for music, but now the independent singers and managers are sending stuff to us and contacting us first. We still aren’t thought of highly by the major labels, so we have to buy those CDs once they are released. That’s to be expected, I guess."

Despite these encouraging connections and a rapidly growing worldwide fanbase, Boudreaux has not been able to gain any financial support from his listeners and has to pay the entire bill for running the site himself. He is currently planning an auction on eBay to serve as a fundraiser for the station.

As for the future of Idol Waves, Kenny envisions the site as a long-term investment in American entertainment and plans to continue broadcasting with each new season. His next big dream is to take the station to satellite radio, but that will take both time and money to accomplish.

"It’s difficult to get support from a local company with international services," says Boudreaux. "I could also use financial backing from someone already on satellite radio, but as of now it’s only a dream of mine."

Demand is certainly not a problem for Idol Waves radio, since Kenny receives lots of feedback from fans who regret that they can’t tune in to the site while in their cars.

Another plan for Idol Waves is an updated and remodeled look for the Web site itself. Since the bulk of DJ KennDawg’s time has been spent adding to his library of Idol music, he now wants to add more to the look of the site. As of now it serves mainly as a launchpad to the radio with a shorter address than the one provided by Live365, and it still wishes all visitors a happy new year.

A year before starting the site, Boudreaux worked as a freelance writer for The Courier. He decided to attend the auditions for "American Idol" held in New Orleans that year in order to gain a first-person perspective for an article on the inner workings of the "Idol" selection process. Like most of us, Boudreaux is a closet singer, which meant that he sang mostly in the car/shower/etc. and had never seriously considered performing for an audience. His friends encouraged him to try out for the show, however, and he actually made it to the second round of auditions, which was judged by the show’s producers. He received good comments on his potential and nearly made it to the third round with the actual judges of the show. Of course he then had to explain to his boss why he couldn’t finish the story on time, but singing was never one of his biggest dreams.

Boudreaux has a bachelor’s degree in mass communication with a focus on print journalism and a minor in creative writing from Nicholls State University. When he’s not working on the site, he works full-time with his father at Boudreaux’s Woodworking, a family-owned furniture store in Bayou Black. He will also be the editor of an upcoming human-interest magazine on life in southeastern Louisiana.

The producers of "American Idol" have already sent Kenny some of the music from the new season. It can be heard online starting this week, after the season premiere airs on Tuesday, which is the earliest that new music from the show has ever been available on the site. Also new to the Idol Waves playlist are songs from former "Idol" contestant Jennifer Hudson’s film debut in "Dreamgirls," which hits the Houma Palace Theatre this Friday.

Listeners need not worry about piracy or copyright issues when logging on to Idol Waves. Even the songs produced by major record labels are legally aired through the licenses held by Live365.com.

Also, those tuned in to the station have the option of buying the album on which each song appears via a link to Amazon.com. Boudreaux also provides information on the site to let fans know where they can buy music from singers who aren’t currently signed with major labels.

In this way, DJ KennDawg continues to offer a fun and free service to both artists and followers of the A.I. Revolution, bringing them together with the Idol Waves of the Internet radio network.