On New Year’s Day, music promotion company Make Sure You Have Fun launched its new online radio platform, MSYH.FM, from Pittsburgh. But the inspiration for the idea came from some 9,000 miles away in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
MSYHF owner Ryan “RB” Brown and his partner, Sarah Kochin, are longtime fans of online radio stations and discovered the popular Malaysian station Dua Radio.
“We fell in love with the structure and how it felt,” says Brown, “And we were like, ‘Well, we have the people for that here in Pittsburgh, let’s try to do something similar.’”
Dua Radio is broken into multiple shows, such as Late Night Drive and Malaya Disco Show, allowing for different DJs, personalities, and styles to each have their own time.
Dua’s goal is to use its shows and listening parties to strengthen the music communities locally in Kuala Lumpur, as well as internationally. MSYH.FM follows suit with shows featuring local DJs like DJ Yamez (Phonk In Da Trunk), pvkvsv (Currents), Formosa (Wave Galactic), and TJ Groover (The Corduroy Boogie), in addition to DJs from outside of the city. Some of the shows are recorded as close as Dover, New Jersey (Tribe and Vibe Radio with KILLGXXD), and as far away as Belgium (Afroplug Radio with ms mavy).
MSYH.FM plans to release a few shows a week each month, but on Jan. 1, the team dropped nine shows — 11 hours of music — at once. Brown and Kochin drew inspiration from Soulection Radio, a radio show housed on Apple Music Beats 1. Every New Year’s Day, Soulection takes over Beats 1 Radio, and different DJs play two-hour sets for Soulection All Day. It’s a tradition for Brown and Kochin to tune in when they wake up and listen throughout the day.
“We thought, ‘This is like an unofficial holiday for people to, like, stay in the house and either recover or do nothing,’” says Brown. “We wanted to capitalize on that unofficial holiday space and make a big impact.”
Shows on MSYH.FM, like the promotional entity MSYHF, cover a variety of genres, and the format for each ranges from traditional radio to shows with hardly any talking.
The House That Disco Built by Pittsburgh-based DJ Samuel Andres, for example, begins with Andres giving background information on house music, a few facts about himself, and an overview of what to expect on the show before launching into tunes for two hours straight. Curated by Arie Cole, another Pittsburgh-based DJ, is the closest to a traditional radio format.
“He does a good job of setting up what the show is, what it’s going to feature,” says Brown. “He produces, so he plays one song he produced that month, and is good at featuring Pittsburgh music and saying ‘Hey, the song you just heard is this.’”
On the opposite end of that is Flowbot Mela by Kerim The DJ in D.C. It’s described as “a sonic montage. Audio time capsule. Collections of sounds that represent his human experience and Kerim’s own instrument, used to improvise the entire show.” Brown says Flowbot Mela is exactly that.
“[It’s] a very creative mix that includes not only Kerim DJing,” he explained. “But he includes sound bites, comedy, memes — in the first episode he had clips from the president as it concerned the impeachment proceedings.”
In the short time it’s existed, MSYH.FM has drawn in audiences from across the globe. At the time that Pittsburgh City Paper spoke with Brown, New York, L.A., Islington (UK), and Toronto ranked among the online radio’s top streaming cities after Pittsburgh. After the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Russia, and France rounded out its top streaming countries. MSYH.FM has different shows for different moods, no matter the location.
“Music for me is about moods,” says Brown. “Getting ready to head out? Put on Curated, The Corduroy Boogie, or FUEGO: Tropical Heat. Wanna chill with something more mellow? There’s Currents, Tribe and Vibe Radio, and Wave Galactic.”
MSYHF launched its first event in November 2017 and is mostly operated by Brown and Kochin. But MSYH. FM’s team includes Brown, Kochin, Stephanie Tsong (Jellyfish), and Nate Roots.
“We could not operate without everyone’s energy and excitement and input,” says Brown. They are also open to newcomers joining the team, no matter the skillset. Just reach out to Brown.
MSYH.FM is available to stream on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, and Apple Podcasts.
