LUCIDMEDIA

AUX TV: Remaking Music Television in the 21st Century

Written by Catherine Kustanczy Tuesday, 10 November 2009 14:39

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Amidst a flurry of noise, light, and the pounding sounds of Canadian rock band Moneen, AUX Television had its official launch at Toronto’s Supermarket club in mid-September. Hosts and programs were introduced between noisy sets and the clang of cocktail glasses. The day after that launch, the real work began, though the station had already been around since November 2008 in its online form. The station had its official television launch on October 1st, and as if to highlight its music-centric credentials, featured the Canadian television premiere of “Radiohead: Live From The Basement” that evening. Begun online in November 2008, the station bills itself as “what’s next in music television.” Its roster has expanded from its online roots, but AUX remains firmly focused on music, and on serving the numerous Canadian music fans and bands who may have felt under-represented by, and disconnected from the content of main commercial rivals Muchmusic and MTV.
The main point where the CTV-owned station and AUX differ is in their programming. AUX’s programming is aimed squarely at the twenty-something music fan, though Raja Khanna, the station’s founder and President, says the demographic for AUX covers a large age range of between “18 to 49, male and female equally.” Khanna puts this down to the broad appeal AUX has, even as it retains its laser-pointed focus on music.

“(Viewers) cross all types and colours, and shapes and sizes,” Khanna says on the line one day from his office in Mississauga, just outside of Toronto. He stresses the importance of reaching mature music fans –by mature, he means twenty-somethings, including those in colleges and universities, calling them the “tastemakers” in popular music. “We’re not going much younger than that, which tells you, we’re about the people who love music, who are passionate about music.”

The station’s obvious rival, Muchmusic, began with a similar, musically-focused mandate in 1984 but has morphed into a youth entertainment station, providing a round-the-clock diet of light programming with reality-type shows, teen romances, and comedy routines. AUX, by contrast, places its focus 100% on music, and its programming, while varied, reflect this concentration. There’s a Countdown program, of course, and there’s also “Aux Live,” which has featured Canadian acts like K’Naan and The Stills. But there’s also lighter programming, such as “Band Foto,” which features bands on photo shoots, being aided in their visual representation; the entire notion of image-making has never seemed so innocuous. “Live From Juicebox Manor” features host Sam Sutherland in his own home (the “Manor” of the title), where he interviews bands and engages in silly, if occasionally entertaining questions. Balancing such lightweight programming are heavyweights like the British series “Later With Jools Holland” and “City Sonic,” a program that features short films exploring the links between artists and the local scenes that inspire them. There’s also “Alt.Sessions” which features artists re-interpreting their own material, and programs tied to CBC Radio 3 and Toronto music paper Exclaim!.

All of these programs were built around the idea of educating and expanding the minds of viewers, Khanna says. It’s an impulse that began in the 1980s, during what many perceive as the glory days of Toronto radio. “There was no other outlet to learn,” Khanna reminisces, “but the problem is different now. There’s too much information, too many places you can go on the internet, and so few of them are really have that homegrown feel…that’s part of the puzzle. But watching the channel, you’re learning there is a local connection to music culture –it’s being able to see a place for your band to break on television, these are the things that AUX hopes to inspire.”

In choosing to have education as one of its primary concerns, AUX hired hosts who could not only be entertaining and engaging, but who went the distance in attempting to bring new and relevant insights to their respective shows. Venerable Canadian music guru and broadcaster Alan Cross is one of the AUX hosts, a choice that is entirely in keeping with the station’s approach to both educating and entertaining its audience. His show, ExploreMusic, is a take-off of the Corus-owned website he and his team run. The show’s already been aired on AUX’s website, and is now aired Wednesday evenings. ExploreMusic is a weekly discussion of music-related issues, with topics ranging from illegal downloading to new album releases.

“The reason I got into radio is because I didn’t want to be on TV!” he says, his famous baritone breaking into a warm laugh. “I didn’t think I’d ever want to do it! And, now that I’m doing it…  I like it!” He and his Explore Music team had been given the opportunity to do a show “from the ground floor up” and he pitched an idea he says reflected something he felt “had been lacking in music television.” The idea was to toss around issues in a fast-paced, if equally informative, forum. “You want to get through a whole bunch of issues, and you don’t want to well on one thing unless it’s compelling,” he says, “so we’ve had shows where half of it have been focused on one particular topic like downloading, and we’ve spent time on another show talking about rise of Twitter. We think we can take it to a bunch of different areas.” By the Television launch at the beginning of October, Cross has taped 23 episodes of ExploreMusic, all of which were ready and waiting to be aired. Such a prolific output hasn’t changed the content in terms of quality one bit, he says.