“It makes you believe that people in New York have interesting, off-the-wall interests,” said Caitlin Phillips, publicist and host of Montez's “Insider Baseball” show. . (She doesn't promote radio stations.) “The age of the Internet can make you forget that people know things that you don't know. I always wonder, 'Where did they find this person?' “Will they find us?” I thought.
One night, during an ambient music show at the station, Laprade, 33, heard rackets coming from the sidewalk outside. It was “a young guy wearing K-Swiss sneakers and JNCOs, playing NSync on an amp in the corner,” he recalled. “I thought about telling him to shut up. But I thought, 'Whoa, wait, what are you doing?' This is really cool. ”
Mr. Laprade invited him to the studio and to perform on the air. That's how he met outsider pop musician Matt Castella. Inspired by his itinerant touring style, Mr. Laprade and Mr. Skolnik organized a concert in which Mr. Castella and a crew of backup dancers performed on a stage inside the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
So while Montes may be something of an anachronism, it has arrived at exactly the right time for the city's young artists and writers. Community radio, once a vibrant ecosystem in Manhattan, had struggled to survive for years. Know Wave, a broadcaster with ties to the art world, ceased regular broadcasting in 2018. East Village Radio was closed in 2014 (but is expected to reopen next month). These online streaming stations were the beacon of his halcyon days from the late 1970s to the early 80s. At the time, community radio was a way for New Yorkers to find out what was going on in the city's underground cultural scene.
Donald Miller, who hosted an experimental music show on Columbia University Broadcasting Station WKCR from 1978 to 1982, described the experience in an email as “two tons of fun and a great hang.” This station led to him becoming a member of the pioneering free jazz trio Borbetmags. Two young saxophonists who would later become bandmates contacted Mr. Miller after hearing a record he played on the air and being captivated by it.
The creative ferment of that era inspires today's downtown residents. “What Montez is doing reminds me of what I read about the Mudd Club and Danceteria,” said Adrian Liu, an East Village record store owner who hosts Montez's shows.