?Bean? on Amazon?s AMP: The Exit Interview

[Colorado Media Newsroom]

From Radio Insight:

Of all the radio people who created shows for Amazon?s user-generated radio service, AMP, the two I enjoyed hearing most were Zach Sang and Gene ?Bean? Baxter. Sang was there from the beginning and was one of AMP?s celebrity hires at its launch. Baxter was half of former KROQ Los Angeles morning legends Kevin & Bean, and came to the service only through his fascination with the concept.
I was fascinated with the concept, too. I reviewed Sang on his second day, when he was trying to do a traditional show on a service that remained resolutely not like radio in certain ways (no talking over music, no easy way to include produced elements). Given the amount of time that podcasting had needed to spark, I wanted to take the 15-year view. And yet a few months later, I revisited AMP and still didn?t hear a lot going on.*
But AMP continued to develop. It began paying content creators. It created several format channels so that you could punch in and always hear a Top 40 or Hip-Hop station. It created the ability to archive shows. The offerings became more robust, particularly in Hip-Hop and Adult R&B, similar to how I continued to hear more about Clubhouse from R&B radio friends, even after its burst of initial publicity.
I was about to write the ?quiet as it?s kept? article about AMP?s development. Now, AMP is going quiet, having announced its sign-off at the end of October after 18 months. In a commentary earlier this week, Jacobs Media?s Fred Jacobs correctly points out that AMP is the latest example of a well-resourced tech giant that can still not make good on the promise to ?reinvent radio.? Tying AMP?s demise to the sale of AC WJBR Wilmington, Del., Jacobs declares that ?nobody will wax nostalgic? about the former.
Baxter came to AMP?s defense in the comments. ?Just like in ?real? radio, the quality across the AMP dial varied, but I heard several amateur hosts as good or better than most of what I hear on AM or FM these days, and most are certainly more music-knowledgeable.?
Bean?s own Friday-night shows were different each week. His last show before the shutdown announcement was ?then-and-now? twofers from rock acts with recently released albums. But there was also an hour of songs with ?boogie? in the title. It?s a distant memory now, but before Kevin & Bean, Baxter was a key member of CHR?s new generation of program and music directors who aggressively looked for new music in a way hard to imagine now. I liked hearing him curate music again.
Sang and Nick Cannon, another one of the big-name hires, will stay with Amazon in another capacity. On the night of the announcement, Sang came on after playing a half-hour of new music that is what I appreciate about the show, then deadpanned ?nothing special about this night.? The next day, I heard Cannon, who does have some produced elements, play ?the anthem,? namely Hammer?s ?2 Legit 2 Quit.? There was a show called ?The Pity Party? with ?Don?t Let the Sun Go Down on Me? and ?Bye, Bye, Bye.?
But it was Bean?s show that I wanted to make my Final Listen. Between Friday nights at 7 p.m. ET and pop-up shows, Baxter has done about 60 programs. He wasn?t planning on making it a regular occurrence until a month after the first show, when AMP asked for his banking information. But ?within a couple of weeks, I would have done it for free because I enjoyed it so much.? (Bean also had a fan in AMP co-creator Matt Sandler, whose career began at KROQ.)
my first job was @kroq.@christinefung hired me to screen calls & do admin stuff. i got a front-row seat to SEE radio.
made by incredible humans like @clydetombaugh. & @KatCorbett. & @NicoleFAlvarez @thekevinryder & @SluggoDoug.
now bean?s jumping @onamp!

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