I sometimes wonder exactly what the words ‘local' and ‘community' really mean when it comes to music, be it on the radio or at festivals.

Once again, it was something that sprung to mind when I perused the programme for the Real Tauranga Festival, an event to be held in September and October in downtown Tauranga, presumably as some sort of consolation for the city not hosting any Rugby World Cup games.The slogan is: ‘Real People, Real Culture, Real Proud'.

Allow me to quote from the introductory blurb on their website:
'Tauranga may have missed out on hosting Rugby World Cup 2011 games, but during the cup period The Strand, perfectly situated in the centre of town beside the sea, will be humming with activity.

'This is where the REAL Tauranga Festival will showcase the Bay of Plenty people and region in a programme of music, fashion, art, culture, food, sport, children's activities and charity events – a rich variety of events to engage the local community and international visitors.”

Well that's a lot of stuff and a big mission statement. But it was, of course, the music bit that I was interested in. There are six days of musical events – including one for kids – two in the middle of September, four in the middle of October.

So I looked through the programme to see all the local bands featured…and I looked again…

It seems that of the dozen bands playing, there are two and a half from Tauranga – each playing opening support slots. The 'big draws” appear to be: an Eagles tribute band, a Joe Cocker tribute band and a Queen tribute band.

There are also some good bands from around the country: The Thomas Oliver Band (Wellington); Phoenix Foundation (Wellington); 1814 Band (far north); Patea Maori Club (guess where). And there are two 'classical crossover” acts – also not from Tauranga.

The local bands – by the way – are Nine Mile Stone, Kougar Sisters and Sweet Echo – half Rotorua – jointly playing for two hours and twenty minutes.

Now for a festival claiming to 'showcase the Bay of Plenty people and region” that seems like pretty scant coverage to me. One could even call it a blatant insult to the musicians and bands of Tauranga. A third of the shows devoted to tribute bands? Just kill me now…

The same approach to the Bay music scene has existed for decades on radio. We have had radio stations that pride themselves on being part of the local community, that happily sponsor music events and will send their DJs along to act as announcers at concerts and festivals which they have given advertising time to. But, while doing all that, they stubbornly refuse to air local songs.

Musicians are certainly welcomed onto breakfast radio shows to plug upcoming events. What musicians want most from radio however is for their songs to be played. That's how people hear them, that's how you build a fan base, that's how a music scene grows and thrives.

Isn't it the same everywhere? ‘Local' radio stations owned by the corporates with a few local hosts and a computer-generated nationwide playlist?

What about that every other city the size of Tauranga has a student radio and specialist independent stations – that independent niche allowing for real support of the music community by actually playing its music. Tauranga, by comparison, is a musical black hole.

Things have changed though. At least they have for Mount Maunganui. Little Kiss-FM has been revitalising the music scene by actively playing local music. They got behind it enough to produce a compilation album, ‘Kiss-Picks'. They take requests online. They have broadcast local concerts live and plan to do more of it. This is finally the radio station that Tauranga deserves.

But you can only hear it at the Mount. If only they had greater broadcast reach…

Well, it could soon happen. There is a new FM license available for Tauranga which would allow the station to go to full power and be picked up throughout the Bay. If Kiss-FM get the license it has the potential to be a game changer for local music, the most significant step forward for bands here that I can remember.
Keep your fingers crossed.