James Duval

How did altradio.org get started?

In 2001, my boss was the Chief Content Officer at our sister station, WHRO. He started seeing the potential in streaming radio stations and independently launched an audio service called ‘radioNtenna”. Around 2003, it became evident that radio streaming had a future and WHRO had begun broadcasting on three HD frequencies, which required content. I was volunteering at WHRO helping with pledge drives and various events and agreed to help expand the musical content at radioNtenna and signed on as an intern. In 2005, radioNtenna rebranded as AltRadio.org with my boss becoming the PD and myself becoming the Music Director. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of AltRadio, which currently features a library of 50,000+ songs in rotation.

Tell us about the duties of your job as MD and what part of it you love the most and what you find the most challenging.

My duties as MD include adding the new music into our library, properly categorizing tracks based on genre.charting to NACC each week, and making the difficult decision of when to move a track out of heavy rotation or culling it from the library if our heavily rotated tracks are growing stale. The most challenging part of the job is making that decision as sometimes a high profile artist or release may be dominating the NACC charts or taking up a huge amount of “space” in the press or other forms of media. Part of the job as an MD should be handling that balancing act of featuring the artists of the moment, but also providing opportunities and airtime for up-and-coming talents that excite you and are just as worthy of your listener’s attention.

What is the process for reviewing new music and what sort of commitment does the station have to exposing your listeners to new releases?

When I add an album, I try to spend as much time with it as possible. Obviously, I can’t listen to everything that hits my desk, but I’ve grown to trust the tastes of certain promoters or labels. We don’t always agree on an artist on their roster, but oftentimes something about a band, a song, or an album just “clicks”. When something gets an add or is featured as an Album of the Week I listen to multiple tracks or possibly the whole album in order to decide what tracks to feature from it and what to move into our general rotation. In our station library, we have a category of around 100 cuts that come from albums that have been recently added which are rotated on typically a two-month basis (see the answer above).

I also come from the mindset of albums being consumed front to back, so while focus tracks often provide a good example for the feel of an album, sometimes I may choose to include a non-focus track in this category. Maybe it’s a particularly strong opening or closing track, maybe there’s a particular lyric or instrumental passage that resonates with me. Whatever the case may be, I feel that reducing an album to one or two tracks saturating the airwaves isn’t always a strong representation of an artist’s vision.

Who is an artist or band that you’ve discovered in the past year or so that has become one of your favorites? What is it about their music you love?

I have to give this one to Ben Katzman and his band Degreaser. A friend of mine is a *huge* Survivor fan and became aware of his music and started attending his shows, based on her Survivor fandom, not necessarily the music. Ben and Degreaser is very much a ROCK band – all caps necessary – which isn’t really a genre she and I delve into much. He shreds guitar solos and uses words like “sick”, “brah”, and “stoked” 100% irony-free. He loves Creed, Van Halen, 80’s hair metal, and plays a flying V style guitar. What I didn’t realize until a few weeks ago was that he’s also had a hand in putting out early releases by or playing with bands like Illuminati Hotties, Mannequin Pussy, Guerilla Toss, and Colleen Green.

But the thing that draws my friend and I to Ben’s music is his personality, which is absolutely genuine. He wants to give you his all, whether he’s rocking to 450 people or 45 people. To paraphrase my friend, he’s the real deal: great guy, contagious energy, and true talent. And in my words, in a world devoid of the “positive party” vibes of Andrew W.K., he’s the spiritual successor

Do you have an all-time favorite artist or album you never get tired of listening to?

Anyone who knows me knows that the answer to this question is the long-running Brooklyn band They Might Be Giants. From the moment I saw them on MTV, something about their music and style connected with me and as soon as I’d saved up enough money, I purchased their album “Lincoln” on cassette. They were my first concert way back in 1992 and I’m still buying every album they release without question.

What upcoming 2025 release are you anticipating the release of?

This answer is kind of cheating, but I’m hoping that 2025 brings a full-length album from Community Witch, a local band in our area. Their blend of psych-rock and surf music follows suit with bands like La Luz, Habibi, and can even reach into the realm of shoegaze at times. They’ve been playing shows around the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area for several years now and have built up a solid repertoire of songs that I never get tired of hearing them play. So far they only have a 7″ EP which you can stream on Spotify, but hopefully they can book some studio time this year.

Who is an artist or band totally outside the realm of the music you play that people might be surprised to know you love?

Recently, I went to see Babymetal perform live and even though I knew exactly what I was going to get left feeling like I’d experienced a fever dream mixture of J-pop vocals, tight choreography, and absolutely brutal riffs. Driving home, I decided to finally listen to Olivia Rodrigo’s two albums and feel that, even though she’s labeled a pop singer, at times her music has more in common with female-led bands like Beach Bunny, Charly Bliss, or Cherry Glazerr. Also, anyone who takes The Breeders out to open for them on a stadium tour is A-OK with me.

If you had the power to instantly change one thing going on in the world at the moment, what would it be?

Due to my love of music and the people who create it, I would have to say the business model of the current music industry. The stress of taking a full band out on tour shouldn’t be rewarded by showing a loss or just breaking even at the end of a run. If streaming is to become the primary way music is consumed, an artist shouldn’t see literal pennies in return. Having taken a course on the music industry in college, I understand that there are a lot of hands in the pie, as it were. But if the primary creators of the art you’re consuming are saying these things publicly, it feels like something is askew.

What event in your life would you say has shaped you the most as a person?

I would have to say joining the college radio station, WODU at Old Dominion University. My love for music was no longer a secret by that time and finding an outlet for that was the moment where it clicked in place for me. When I signed on to be on-air talent, we were limited to four hours a week, which could be spread out however we wanted. I opted to take all four hours in one day and I have to admit that finding a way to create a four-hour program week after week was absolute insanity on my part. I can recall a whirlwind day of interviews when I brought multiple acts into our studios while a music festival was happening on campus. During a break from all the madness, I said out loud, “This is it. This is what I’ve been wanting to do and I just didn’t know it was possible in this region.” I eventually gave up the on-air position when the acting Music Director vacated and then I discovered he hadn’t submitted a chart in his entire tenure and CMJ had listed us as an inactive station. I scrounged through our CD library and began calling every number or writing emails to every promotion company I could find and getting us serviced again and forming relationships that are still active today. (S/O to Jess at Terrorbird, Shil at Tiger Bomb, Hannah at Secretly Canadian, and Chris at KEXP, my four guiding lights through the darkness of learning how to chart, add, be an effective MD, and so much more!)

Do you have a favorite Norfolk restaurant that you recommend people try?

I have to say Handsome Biscuit. While I don’t consider Norfolk being in the South, apparently we are and if there’s one thing people in the South love it’s a good biscuit. And Handsome Biscuit doesn’t make just “good” biscuits. For over ten years now, they’ve been producing simplistic but absolutely massive sweet potato biscuit sandwiches that require a fork and knife. You can try to eat them with your hands, but you’re going to get messy, guaranteed. For my money, the two best sandwiches are the Stevie and the Hella Fitzgerald. Go ahead and Google them and tell me you’re not ready to get in your car or book a flight.

What in your life brings you the most joy?

This one’s easy, though the work always isn’t. It’s my two daughters.

Lightning Round :

Dog or Cat? Cat. Although I will never turn down a slobbery dog kiss.
Morning Person or Night Owl? Night Owl.
City or Country? City.
Beach or Mountains? I’ve lived in a beach area for over thirty years now but was born and raised in the mountain region of Black Mountain and Asheville, North Carolina. So I get very nostalgic for driving towards those mountain ridges, eardrums popping from the pressure change, and being surrounded by distant green hills and traveling down long windy roads.
Watch TV or Read A Book? I seem to have massive attention-span issues when it comes to either of these, I currently have a stack of five books that I’m reading at the same time and any number of TV shows that I stop and start whenever one grabs me.
Sunny or Rainy? Sunny
Restaurant or Home Cooking? Restaurant. I like to think I’m a good cook, but…
Pants or Shorts? Pants
Warm or Cold drinks? Cold

Do you have any current favorite shows you’re enjoying/binging? How about a movie (new or old) that you’ve watched recently that you loved?

See above for TV shows (please, nobody spoil the final season of Breaking Bad for me. The ending of the fourth season knocked me for a wallop and I’m not ready for it to be over yet.) But, for a film, I have to go with “It’s A Wonderful Life”.

Finally, If you could have a lifetime supply of anything, what would it be?

Time in a day.