'Talk of the Town' goes digital at Alachua-based station

 

Political talk radio show “Talk of the Town” with hosts Jake Fuller and Ward Scott debuted Monday on internet radio airing from the Ozean Media studio in downtown Alachua.

ALACHUA – Ozean Media is looking for Alachua County residents with something interesting to say and an opinion to share.

After Talk of the Town, the radio show on 99.5 FM hosted by Jake Fuller and Ward Scott was cancelled last Thursday, Ozean Media, the advertising agency specializing in politics gave the duo a new home by starting an internet radio station called AlachuaTalks. The station’s manager hopes to grow it into a community-oriented hub focusing on local news and issues, and said anybody in the community has the potential to get a program on air.

“We have two requirements,” said Alex Patton, producer and manager. “Be interesting and have a point of view.”

AlachuaTalks will eventually have features that cater to a wide local audience with differing opinions, complete with its own message board, Patton said.

“We want to build it out into a community digital station,” he said.

Fuller and Scott, the latter of which became co-host after Ed Braddy quit the show to run for Gainesville mayor in January, had to look for a new home for their conservative show when JVC Media of Long Island, N.Y. bought 99.5 FM and changed formats. Under the former ownership, the station focused on local politics and news.

The new owners told the pair they would probably not have a show come Monday, Fuller said. Halfway through their last broadcast on Thursday, the incoming management cut the show off after Fuller said the new owners didn’t understand the local community.

By Monday, Ozean Media had already launched the AlachuaTalks station and “Talk of the Town” had its first show on internet radio. The Amazon server that hosted the program crashed, Patton said.

Alex Patton put the whole thing together, Fuller said. “If it were up to Ward and me, we would be using tin cans and strings.”

Now, “Talk of the Town” is the flagship program of AlachuaTalks, Patton said.

An advantage of internet radio under Ozean Media is the lack of outside restraint over content, Scott said.

“This is all about control for us,” he noted. Scott said he recently encountered problems airing criticisms of the Nations Park baseball complex in Newberry because a member of the Gainesville Sports Commission supporting the park was his station manager.

“We’re the bosses here,” he said.

Though “Talk of the Town” is conservative in nature, Patton said he encourages multiple opinions and open debate.

“Debate leads to a better community,” he said.

Scott agreed, adding the lack of an open dialogue results in bad ideas going unchallenged.

Alachua County Today has plans to partner with AlachuaTalks. The two companies would cross promote one another, and Alachua County Today would be the station’s news partner.

The station could be considered an experiment, said Ward, who used to teach English as a professor at Santa Fe College. If the station reaches its goal of attracting a multitude of competing opinions, it could be a learning experience for everyone in Alachua County, he added.

“I view this whole thing as one big classroom.”

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