Local radio station 107.7 The Vine will be celebrating the commencement of a new show, The Weekend With Justin Wayne, at their upcoming Kick-Off Party. The event will take place at the Gesa Power House Theatre on N. 6th Ave. on Friday, Sept. 19 and will be open to people ages 18 and up.
For a price of five dollars, the party will begin with food and beverages at 6 p.m. followed by a concert starting at 7 p.m. Starting the festivities will be the children from the Walla Walla Rock ‘N’ Roll Camp in Pendleton and Walla Walla.
The idea for The Weekend was a long time coming. The Vine staff had been interested in starting a local music show and Digital Media and Station Manager Chris Capps met with a few different people in the community who showed a similar interest. The best candidate for running the show was emcee Justin Wayne. Cabbs and the rest of The Vine staff had known Wayne for a while and felt that his interest in independent music and extensive experience in radio made him a perfect fit.
The Vine’s goal for The Weekend was to focus on local bands from the surrounding counties as well as from the general Northwestern region. Along with the music component, The Vine also wants to incorporate on-set reactions to the shows.
“The show itself is broken up into different segments,” said Capps. “There will be one to two interviews per show, and there’s a segment where we are talking about the local events that are happening. And then there’s another segment where we talk about music news –– things that are happening in the music industry.”
Capps and members of The Vine decided to begin the new radio show to support local bands of the entire Columbia Basin region. Their mission with The Weekend is for it to be a place where independent music can be exposed to the listeners in Walla Walla and Umatilla counties.
“The primary focus [of The Weekend] is on local bands … and bands that we would like to adopt into our community,” said Capps. “But really [The Weekend] is about independent music. It’s about local bands. And it’s about the music community as a whole.”
The line-up for the concert includes locals Kory Nagler from Walla Walla, JD Kindle & Eastern Oregon Playboys from Pendleton, as well as Roaming Herds of Buffalo from Seattle. The Vine airs Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 11 a.m.
