The Current: Minnesota Music Channels, Current Studios, and Local Events and Engagement

The Current brings listeners the best authentic new music alongside the music that inspired it, from local to legendary, indie to influential, new to nostalgic. We see our role as driving the local music ecosystem by discovering new, supporting emerging, and honoring the legacy of Minnesota artists.

Our Legacy-funded work highlights Minnesota artists through broadcast, digital, and live-streamed experiences. The Current collaborates directly with artists, providing direct support to the people making music in our community as well as freelance content creators who help us generate content. All of this work seeks to embrace the diversity of talent in Minnesota with a desire to connect audiences with artists of multiple backgrounds.

The effects of the Current's local programming are multiple. For artists, it helps build a following and helps them secure live performances, attention from the music industry, and airplay on other stations. At the same time, The Current keeps audiences informed of what's happening in our local music community, and helps make Minnesota a more favorable place to live as a music fan. Finally, The Current's focus on local music serves to document Minnesota's rich history of artists who have shaped the future of pop culture (i.e. the HBO documentary where you see content with Lizzo recorded in Current studios and at our events). This has a lasting impact on Minnesota's identity as a premiere music culture.

Minnesota Music Channels
The Current's commitment to local music includes:
' The Local Show, one of the State's primary outlets for local music discovery on the radio, offers two hours of broadcast programming on Sunday evenings alongside social media channels and digital content. Music news and history highlights give a local angle to noteworthy topics and events that shaped our local music identity.
' Radio Heartland Stream and HD Radio, focusing on folk music and Americana, including Minnesota musicians.
' Sessions, live performance content with local artists captured in The Current studios, which serves as documentation of our local arts community.
' The Morning Show, a weekday broadcast program hosted by Jill Riley that features local news breaks on music and culture across the region, including The Giglist, a curated list of local events and artists coming to local venues, music history, and interviews with local artists, community members, and local commentators.
' Carbon Sound Stream and HD Radio, our urban alternative channel that highlights eclectic mix of genres like hip-hop, R&B, electronic, afrobeat and local music. Carbon Sound has ongoing collaboration with KMOJ whose streaming channel The ICE' is featured on our website and App.
' The Lab is a multiplatform Carbon Sound video series with local artists, reaching audiences across social media channels.
' Purple Current Stream is a musical exploration of the legacy of Prince, one of Minnesota's most iconic artists.

In addition, in FY24-25, we will develop and launch a new program dedicated to music from across Minnesota to build off our regional broadcast signals and digital reach. This program will complement and expand on-air coverage and airplay of local music and events in Minnesota.

The Current Studios
This is the digital editorial initiative that creates weekly content posted at thecurrent.org and carbonsound.fm and on social media, including local profiles of artists, interviews, show reviews, coverage of arts and cultural events in Minnesota, and creation of playlist-driven content, often produced by hiring local content creators. The Current's coverage features artists from across Greater Minnesota and includes profiles of emerging voices, local events, and niche genres that are not included by other media sources.

Local Music Events and Engagement
This is the Current's work to increase engagement of our local music community through the activation, amplification, and promotion of local music events. This includes but is not limited to community engagement by Carbon Sound, the promotion of local events by independent promoters, and the production of local artist performances in front of live audiences. The Current creates our seasonal guides to local arts and cultural events, The Daily Giglist web feature, promotions, and giveaways on The Current, Carbon Sound, and Radio Heartland. This will be a special focus for Carbon Sound, as it uses resources and promotional inventory to amplify events across the metro including music events at BIPOC owned spaces and locally-owned business that support the arts.

The vibrancy of a local music scene depends on fans having a source to learn about where local artists are performing and the spaces hosting community events. By amplifying these events and spaces, The Current and Carbon Sound help to make Minnesota a destination for music fans and a place where people take pride in our independent music community.