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Such an awareness of their region’s
history is reflected in the Fullers’ approach to
their website, which includes a mission statement
emphasizing their commitment to preserving
Louisiana’s diverse musical heritage, retaining the
flavor of local culture, and using their technological
expertise in service to the community. “What
we’re doing is paradoxical,” Reese states,
“because we are trying to remain local but to appeal
to an international audience.” The brothers seem to
have achieved that balance – while many of their
most avid listeners are overseas, they have also
established louisianaradio.com as an important part of
Acadiana’s music scene, both as an outlet for
appropriate local programs to reach an unprecedented new
audience and as a partner in initiatives to benefit the
regional music community. Especially important to the
Fullers is their involvement in an effort to endow a
chair in traditional music at the University of Louisiana
at Lafayette in honor of Dr. Tommy Comeaux, a beloved
Lafayette physician and musician who was killed in an
accident. In an unobtrusive fashion, louisianaradio.com also serves an educational function, through the site’s inclusive approach to Louisiana music that places an equal emphasis on the state’s predominantly white (Cajun, swamp pop, country and western) and African-American (zydeco, blues, R&B) traditions. “One of the greatest things that I’ve seen is that we get e-mails from people saying, ‘I listen to your station because I’m a jazz fan. I used to loathe Cajun music but I’m starting to understand it, I’m starting to appreciate it,’” Reese says. “And vice versa. That’s the beauty of it. Music for the sake of music. Sometimes we’ll play a Cajun song, then we’ll play a Creole song, a lot of people can’t distinguish between the two. Then we’ll go into a zydeco tune and then we’ll go into a blues tune, and it’s just a natural progression. We’ll take a commercial break, and then we’ll come back with a jazz tune, go to a brass band tune, maybe a rock tune. We’ve got a category that we call miscellaneous. We can’t pigeonhole it, but it doesn’t matter.” “The programming is just simply outstanding,” says Walter Melnyk of WFRK 91.9 FM of Louisville, Kentucky. “They are doing what radio stations did back in the late fifties and early sixties, showcasing local music, all the different types, not just Rock and Roll.” The Fuller brothers also maintain another web site, Louisiana Music Online, which offers comprehensive information on music clubs, festivals, musicians and bands, recording labels, instrument repair shops, and so forth. With both enterprises, their mission is not merely to entertain their diverse audience but to preserve and to celebrate their culture. PREVIOUS PAGE | PAGE 3 OF 4 | NEXT PAGE |