Civic Pride---Portland Style

One of the “hats” I wear in addition to my little gig here at 94.9 WHOM is also being the Program Director of WJBQ, known more commonly as “Q 97-dot-9” . In the radio industry, the format is referred to as “Contemporary Hit Radio” or “CHR”---but to most of us, it’s simply called “Top 40”.

Being involved with the “hit music” station is incredibly fun—and has the side benefit of making me less of a dork to my kids, especially when the Q brings a big concert to town.

Today’s blog is about a video that WJBQ just produced—a parody of the hit Top 40 song “Empire State Of Mind” with rapper Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. This song extols the virtues of New York City---and in spite of the fact that Jay-Z praises the Yankees in it, the tune was a hit across the nation, including such Red Sox strongholds as Boston—and Portland.

Enter Seth Crockett.

Seth is a college student at Syracuse, a Portland native and graduate of Portland High School. Seth got the bright idea of re-creating the musical score from the original—and composing NEW lyrics specifically for Portland, Maine.

Seth did a terrific job with both the music and lyrics and vocals, so we knew that the video had to be handled by someone special.

Enter Shea Murphy-or “S.P. Murphy” in the credits.

Owner of “Fat Sheamus Productions”, Shea took the original video concept in NYC and adapted it perfectly for Portland. His attention to detail, his “eye” for appropriate scenes and overall professionalism made for an outstanding piece.

The Q Morning Show –Meredith Manning, Jeff Parsons and Lori Voornas were cast as the main characters, as were night jock Rob Steele and a host of friends and co-conspirators of Shea’s. Meredith also sings the chorus part (a la Alicia Keys) with Seth.

I think the result was clever—and visually brilliant. While the song may not be your cup of tea, even critics of the music will likely enjoy the tribute to Portland. See for yourself:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDUot-ajq3w


In case you are not familiar with the original song and/or video—here it is below. Again, this may not land on your “hit list”, but even if you turn the volume down, you’ll see that the Portland version was faithfully reproduced:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8


Regardless of your musical persuasion, all viewers will agree that Portland, Maine is a great town—and this video makes for a clever way to promote it!

If you’d like my blog in your daily in-box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com