Hello Asia editor Johnny Au speaks to the presenter of Asian Pop Radio Australia Jason Gipps. Jason talks about his interest in Asian music, how the radio show began and where he sees the industry heading.
Please introduce yourself.
Jason Gipps (aka J-Jon), I'm 30 years old but I can still move like Jagger, wait a minute... Jagger is a lot older than I!
How did you get started in the broadcasting industry? What's your background?
I made my radio debut on JCJ FM back in the 90's. It was a mock radio station I used to have with my two younger brothers that basically involved back announcing tracks on a cassette with songs we recorded of the radio and then forcing mum and dad to listen to them when we went on long drives.
In 2004 after the completion of my Diploma of Graphic Arts, I knew that radio was my passion and set about to learn more. Luckily I received a funded placement in a certificate course at JOY Melbourne. It is here where I learned the basics. JOY has always provided outstanding training to those who want to get involved in community radio and still do today.
With the skills I developed during this training and through volunteering my time on air on JOY 94.9 (my first show was a contrast to my current show, it was an all Aussie music show called 'The Local') I landed myself a spot in the Swinburne Commercial radio course. (Post Grad Dip - Commercial Radio) in 2007.
I became JOY 94.9 production assistant in 2007, production manager at '4 People Media' advertising agency in 2011 and in 2012 moved in to the Production and Junior sponsorship manager role at JOY.
How and where did you develop your interest in Asian Pop music? Have you been to Asia? Do you have a favourite artist(s).
I never dreamed of travelling when younger. The idea of the 2.3 kids and the nice house in Narre Warren with the picket fence was a goal. In December 2007 a friend talked me in to a trip to South East Asia. First stop was Ha Noi in Vietnam, a grand entrance to overseas travel for a newbie.
By the time I hit Hoi Ahn, Vietnam I had fallen in love. Over the next 5 weeks I traveled through Cambodia experiencing Ankor Wat, the sad history of the killing fields, weeks later I found myself in the night markets of Bangkok, where I make the most of 300 baht mixers!
We spent new years eve in a resort watching a Thai performance with a bunch of older travellers, complete with an outdoor buffet that got drenched during a down pour, with music on a dodgy sound system the evenings entertainment finished before midnight.
MTV Asia was my first taste of Asian pop music and when I experienced it for the first time, I just felt a whole new world of entertainment open up to me. The colour, the dance moves, the different hybrids of Asian languages mixed with English lyrics... the endless line up of girl and boy bands when the western world had turned their back on such ventures labelling that concept as 'uncool'.
On my return to work, a colleague introduced me to Korean group Super Junior, in turn steering me toward another group by the name of Big Bang. I can proudly say I have been a VIP ever since.
I have travelled to Asia each year for the past 5 years proud to have experienced Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Taiwan, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Macau.
How did you come up with the concept of Asian Pop Radio Australia? (APRA)
From the moment I returned home from my first overseas trip in 2007, I wanted to host an Asian pop show. I was sick to death of hearing stories of local Asian artists not getting representation when their work was frigging awesome.
I always felt that commercial radio stuck its nose up at Asian acts for sounding 'different' when a number of European acts were given the thumbs up when they sounded just as different.
So I set out to introduce Melbourne to Asian Pop by hosting a show on JOY 94.9 titled 'Asian Pop Experiment' (This ran from 2011 until mid 2012).
After an extended break I developed ASIAN POP RADIO AUSTRALIA and applied for the concert to be picked up by the community radio network.
Tell us about the format of the show. Who is on the show?
The 1 hour weekly program is hosted by myself, (hums to Jason Derulo's riding solo) its completely pre recorded across the four days leading up to the show airing. The ultimate goal of ASIAN POP RADIO AUSTRALIA each week is to share a slick, professional, energetic and informative fun show, so I really take a great lot of pride in the production quality of this. There is no awkward silence, no long pauses between tracks and there is a very structured plan of attack for each episode. As presenter/ producer of APRA, I do my utmost best to represent popular music from all corners of Asia, not just the usual J and K pop.
In contrast, we also provide bonus content on our podcast feed such as our regular "Kpop Raw Show". Raw is the opposite to the full weekly show, its more laid back and random, very random. Kpop Raw is hosted by 'The Vince Russo of Kpop - Henry Daunt" who is based in Sydney along side "Jedi Skuff" who joins me in studio from Melbourne with our new addition to the team Sira Sous of Hellokpop.com. These guys are just nuts, I am glad I found them, they are my close friends now. They are very passionate about Kpop as are the vast majority of our listeners and anything can happen really... we don't like to edit Kpop Raw, but we often have to bleep the odd f bomb when the boys get a little too enthusiastic.
Discussion usually takes a turn for the worse when both Henry and Travis begin attacking each others A League soccer teams, not seeing eye to eye are the two boys who are Melbourne or Sydney fans.
Where can we listen to APRA?
We are now in to week 7 (Feb 14th) of presenting the show on the community radio network. There are 150 radio stations across Australia who are a part of this network with a chunk who are choosing to play it on Friday nights 9pm AEST.
The podcast is also available by subscribing to our iTunes page and each episode gets posted on our Facebook page as soon as its available. We often share new content with our Facebook and Twitter followers before it heads to radio, as a little thank you for their support.
Is there a particular region of Asian Pop that you are focusing on at the moment
We are really trying to focus more on South East Asia - Malaysia - Vietnam - Indonesia. There are without a doubt some amazing club tracks coming out of Vietnam that have blown us away and the Vietnamese listeners of our program have been very vocal and very supportive.
Do you think there is an area of Asian Pop music that is under represented and under played?
Without a doubt. If its not Japanese, Korean, or Chinese, there is very little support for the music locally. The three countries mentioned DO have success here because they have well structured industries and the support of their governments to promote their music in other countries. Though pop industries are further emerging in Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, there isn't a level of support available to encourage media outlets in Australia for example to play tracks on their radio and tv stations. If you want to play tracks from these countries, you have to work bloody hard and research until you find them.
Our recent interview with Vietnamese boy band 365 is proof of the work required to locate these tracks. Our Facebook likes jumped about 200% in one week and moved our podcast feed on Podomatic.com up around 400 places to 13th most listened to podcast on the site, this being out of over 100,000 podcast feeds. I have been told that 365's tracks are now getting played on SBS PopAsia TV, which is good to hear . My personal interest in the Malaysian music scene also contributes a great deal to the songs we choose to play on the show each week.
Do you see the rise of K-Pop in Australia contributing to the growth in your audience numbers? Why do you think K-Pop has been so successful? And what's your thoughts on J & C-Pop? It seems they are being left behind?
With the help of PSY 'Kpop' is a household word in Australia which is brilliant. It is defiantly a market that is opening up in Australia so yes it does contribute to listeners, but to be honest, we are more focused on being an alternative to what's already being offered on radio. There are digital radio stations that play a good loop of K and J pop already, we are doing our best to showcase tracks unheard by Asian pop fans in Australia. Japanese pop may have fallen behind a little bit but there really is a very unique scene there that Kpop can't match. There is nothing like AKB48, Purfume, or Kyary Pamyu Pamyu outside of Japan and its an area I am personally finding myself being sucked in to, especially the film industry of Japan. The Japanese entertainment industry has always been 'out there' and they still find ways to surprise us!
How do you find the special guests for your show? Is there an artist you would love to interview?
I have found it easier than I expected to make contact with Asian acts, most are very thankful for the chance to promote their work in a different market, even if we are little old Australia down the bottom of the globe. The first Asian artist I interviewed was Iz Sulani, three years later we are good friends. I came about him in an unusual way, my house mate a few years ago wrote a song for a bit of fun, and through contacts in Malaysia Iz ended up with the song and released it. The track made its way to number 5 on a local pop chart.
Usually it's researching new releases on music blogs, charts, newspapers in various countries and streaming radio from Asia online where the music is sourced. Ultimately, I would sell my kidneys to interview Korean artist G Dragon, leader of Big Bang. No one entertainer has kept me as riveted as he has over the last 5 years and it would be a dream come true to spend some time with him and help him promote in Australia. He has done so much at his young age as a group member and solo artist and I think still have the potential to be huge in the western market.
Do you have a favourite interview? And what made it special?
Wow that's hard. Many of the artists I have interviewed over the last three years I have become good friends with and they all hold a special place for me. If it was the ability to interview a big name, my interview with Vietnam's 365 was pretty huge, but nothing was better than sitting on the couch with Jay Park in his hotel room in mid 2012, but boy do those abs put me to shame!
APRA seems to have quite an active social media presence via Facebook. How important do you think social media is in growing your audience?
Its everything to us. We have no budget for marketing, design, promotions. Again, its EVERYTHING. We join active Asian pop fan groups on Facebook, build on relationships, help them promote fan gatherings, flash mobs and concerts, in turn they allow us to regularly share our work with their groups. we build on this relationship by interviewing their admins on our show such as our recent interviews with 'Adelaide Kpop Fans' or 'Asian Pop Conquer the World'. The feature of sharing posts on Facebook is a god sent.
Asian pop fans are very loyal to their bias' if they know we are promoting their favorite artist on our program, they want to reward us by telling their mates to listen. I often dream of having a marketing budget but at the same time I am proud of what we can achieve without spending anything and the support of the team of volunteers I have who make the show work behind the scenes.
What is your plans for APRA? Where would you like to see the show in the future?
I'm very proud to be airing the show on Community radio. I am especially proud to have it air on JOY 94.9, the station who employee me as production manager for my day job. Our broadcast managers have always been very supportive of my work, even if they don't always 'get' the music. They respect our listeners and the diversity of our audience and that's a great quality to have. That's why the station is successful. This sector supports new ideas, different ways of thinking and gives a voice to different backgrounds of our diverse community of Aussies.
Where do you see Asian Pop in the next 12 months? Do you think it will get more recognition in mainstream Australia? Would it be still dominated by the big three of K, J and C - Pop?
We are doing our best to represent music from all Asian countries and will continue to do so over the next 12 months. We are hoping to take a more active role in bringing artists to Australia, especially to Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane where fans often miss out on the action. Melbourne for one has a huge Vietnamese community and is already experiencing some great local concerts.
In July, we hope to host our first live music event to celebrate the first 6 months of ASIAN POP RADIO and an offer will be extended to all artists we have interviewed including Jay Park, Mizz Nina, Nadhira, Iz Sulani, Ze!, Y Thanh, 365 band, Hoai Ahn Kiet, Busco, Darren Ashley and Sophia Mock. We are looking in to ways that such an event could take place to promote the diverse Asian pop industry locally and we are working hard to make that happen.
Do you think there will be more Asian artists holding concerts in Australia? And what's your thoughts of Korean entertainment companies holding auditions for talent in Australia?
No doubt. There is a great deal of talk already about possible artists heading down under in 2013, 2014 and they'd be crazy not to. As for those Korean agencies... bring it! We are oozing with talent, passionate kids ready to take on the world and show what Aussies have to offer.
You can hear ASIAN POP RADIO AUSTRALIA live on selected community radio network stations at 9pm on Fridays AEST and listen to the podcast from 10:30am AEST Sundays available free on iTunes.
Asian Pop Radio Australia Facebook
Asian Pop Radio Australia Podcast
