W catch up with Jarra from UPFM before this weekends Solar Series event. Check out what he has to say.
Yourself and the crew there at UPFM seem to have just as much passion for the industry as you did when you first got involved. What do you think keeps it alive? Why are you so passionate about it?
Simple surround yourself with passionate people! I have always had a policy of hiring people who have that same love of music as I do and we have a simply amazing team right now at UP FM. Things revolve around Nick Collings who has more passion for and knowledge of dance music than anyone else I have met, we also have a team of 60 amazingly talented DJs some of whom have been playing for us for 8 years. Lately we have had Hadyn Curtis, aka Flick, join the full time team and he has been doing an incredible job too. So it’s easy to stay motivated when you have such enthusiasm around you.
The last Solar Series was absolutely off the scale. When and where is the next one? Who will be playing and what type of music will there be?
Every Solar Series this season has really blown me away with the number of people who have come along as well the great vibe, and they just keep getting better and better. The next Solar Series is back at Coyle Park in Point Chevalier, where we held the first one in December.
The line up this Saturday consists of Daniel Ro & RP, Claude Sabatier & Darren Knight, Apex & Joe Revell, Chris P & Bing, Jamin, Doug Rawson & Rowie, Nick Collings & DJ Shay. So the day will start out with some House, followed by some DnB, Dubstep, Electro, Trance and ending in Hard Dance.
UPFM has been going from strength to strength lately, what do you think this is due to?
There are a number of things that I believe have come together to help the Solar Series to get bigger and bigger. Firstly, ever-changing technology is making it easier for people to listen to us online, which means that our listenership is constantly growing. In fact, our internet traffic increased by over a hundred percent last month and that was after starting the month with our highest visitor numbers ever!
Bringing in the fantastic Nick Collings as Programme Director has also encouraged more listeners, he has such an amazing knowledge of and passion for dance music, and he has really helped to streamline our music policy and make sure the station is ahead of the pack with all of the latest and greatest tunes.
And finally, because UP FM has such a great track record with keeping the parks tidy and with such good behaviour from those who attend, and because we have a strong community focus with the Don’t Drop and Drive & Need Help Getting Home campaigns, we have been able to get permission from the Council to keep holding the Solar Series this fantastic series. The challenge now is to keep our great track record as the number of people at the events grows, we really rely on our listeners to be on their best behaviour so that we can continue to throw great parties.
Is there anything events wise apart from the Solar Series that we can look forward to in the future?
Of course! The most important event we have on this year is UP FM’s 8th Birthday Party, on Saturday 27th March, it is going to be held across 3 rooms at Fu, Zen and Devo, it is going to be a massive night 3 zones covering, Breaks, Dubstep, DnB, House, Electro, Trance, Techno, PsyTrance and Hard Dance! We also have our Spring Break parties up at Parakai Hot Springs, which we put on every spring. And on top of that we are looking into putting on some winter parties, I just have to find some good venues and work out how we can put on events in winter that people can enjoy as much as the Solar Series! We are also aware that the Solar Series are no longer as family friendly as they once were because of the crowds, so next summer I would like to put on an UP FM Teddy Bear’s Picnic, so that all of the families who listen to UP FM can come along and have a good time.
I often notice UPFM getting right behind Road Safety and promoting this at the events which is great. Do you think more promoters and media should be making more of an effort and what should they be doing?
I definitely think that there is an opportunity in the dance community to further encourage safe behaviour. Promoters know that their punters are going to be drinking, and possibly taking other substances, and if just one person sees or hears a message about driving safely and decides to catch a taxi or organise a sober driver, then it is well worth it because that could have saved someone’s life. I was really impressed at the last Solar Series to hear that there were a number of cars with UP FM stickers still parked outside Tahaki Reserve the next day, as that says to me that people are getting the message and choosing to change their behaviour. If there is anyone out there, promoter or otherwise, who would like to help us by getting behind this campaign, please feel free to drop me an email on jarra@upfm.dj.
You were ahead of the pack by implementing the ‘Dont drop and drive’ campaign. Do you think we will see more get behind this initiative now there are laws in place?
I would like to think more people will come out in support of this message as I think it is very important. The ‘Don’t Drop and Drive’ campaign actually came about when my old business partner, Terry Wizz, was worried about all of the people that he would see driving impaired after a night out on the town but thinking that is was fine because they had not had anything to drink. We put an ad on the radio to encourage safer driving choices, and the ‘Don’t Drop and Drive’ campaign took off from there. Since then, the Auckland City Council has helped us with funding to promote the campaign at our events, and it even won us a Community Safety Award which was presented to me by the Mayor of Auckland! Hopefully the new laws will help people to think twice before getting behind the wheel, but I personally think that we can have more of an impact by denormalising the behaviour. If some of our listeners get the Don’t Drop and Drive message, and then discourage their friends from dropping and driving, hopefully we will end up with less people driving while impaired.
What is the deal if someone is stuck at the Solar Series and ‘needs help getting home’?
If someone finds themselves at one of our events and realises that they shouldn’t be driving but hasn’t organised any other way of getting home, we encourage them to approach any of the UP FM staff and we can help them to find a way to get home. This may involve calling them a taxi or dial a driver, getting them on a bus, or perhaps finding someone who is going their way who can drop them home. We want people to get used to thinking about their options when it comes to getting home safe. There is always another party next weekend, we just want people to have fun and get home safe.