When they tune their radios to 90.1 on the first Friday of the month, listeners across Gainesville can find an hour dedicated to playing the newest local music.
RadioGNV launched its first hour on The Wombat in January 2023 after a chance encounter between one of the people who runs the station and 37-year-old Brandon Telg, who directs MusicGNV, a nonprofit supporting local independent artists. Telg had gone to The Bull, a downtown Gainesville bar and venue, to enjoy a night out and mingle.
“We started talking — me and this guy at the bar — and he was like, ‘Yeah, we'd love for some new programming to get on the docket,’” Telg said. “And I said, ‘Well, I would love to do an all Gainesville music hour of radio.’ And he said, ‘OK, well, let's make it happen.’”
Telg would go on to emcee the radio show, which he initially planned to curate with music from Gainesville past and present. However, as hype for the show grew and more artists began to produce music, new releases from various bands started to fill the hour on their own.
The hope, Telg said, is to give local bands new audiences and help people discover musicians they might have never heard.
Its radio format offers its own benefits, he said, offering a break from online algorithms that tend to keep people stuck in one genre. A human-made playlist is more likely to shuffle in songs outside of a listener’s regular taste, he added.
“Somebody has that human touch in its curation,” Telg said, “and that's how you expand your musical palette.”
Chris Modrono, the 27-year-old guitarist and vocalist of local jam band Aisle 14, is a fan of The Wombat and often tunes into the station with his brother and bassist, Manny. Now both have gotten to hear their own song on the station.
Friday’s show included Aisle 14’s “Island Jam” as part of RadioGNV’s eclectic mix. This wasn’t the band's first inclusion on The Wombat, Modrono said, but it was their first time spotlighted in RadioGNV.
Audience members have told Modrono they recognize Aisle 14’s music from hearing it on The Wombat, he said.
“As an artist, I want to connect with those people,” he said. “I like to think of it as my audience that doesn't know I exist yet.”
For artists like Ryan Stanley, the 41-year-old drummer of post-hardcore band You Better!, RadioGNV gave him his first opportunity to hear himself on the radio. He and his bandmates view the radio spotlight as both personally exciting and an opportunity to expand their fanbase.
“You know, early '90s radio was just all anybody listened to, and so to have one of my songs on the radio is pretty cool,” Stanley said.
Wayne Irwin, the 32-year-old founder and program director of The Wombat, thinks radio is the perfect way to connect communities across Gainesville because of its accessibility. All people need is a car or any other kind of radio, he said; no internet connection is required.
The station describes itself as “Gainesville’s locally driven radio” and relies on community donations and sponsorships from local businesses.
A notably diverse station, The Wombat plays everything from hardcore and punk to jazz and reggae. It also includes a variety of artists from around the world.
Part of its mission of music diversity includes regularly playing local musicians even outside the dedicated RadioGNV hour. On its regular station, listeners can hear local bands, like Crimson or Jordan Mobley Jam Band, mixed in with classics like Eric Clapton or Bob Marley.
“It really is cool because it gives those musicians' music the opportunity to be heard right next to a famous artist,” Wombat said, “and much of the time, it totally stands up.”
He said there are already plenty of stations available for people who only want to listen to one genre, and The Wombat fills the space for those who want to discover new bands and music .
“Local music and art is the heart and soul of a community,” he said.
Contact Brandy Sumner at bsumner@alligator.org.
Brandy Sumner is an anthropology and English junior at UF and the music and reporter for Fall 2026. This is their second semester on The Avenue. Brandy enjoys reading, going to shows with friends, and writing in their free time.
