Live to Ground is on air from 9pm to midnight every Tuesday at Yarra Valley FM, focused on the music scene in Victoria.
The radio program covers different music genres from grunge and punk through to folk and funk.
Ethan Prentice, the host of the show, said every third week of the month, he invites a band from Victoria.
“We set them up in the studio, and they play live to air. We have a chat with them, and then they play a set. We record the video, and then we put it all up on YouTube a couple of months later, once we’ve got it all sorted out,” the radio presenter said.
“I’ve been doing that for about three years, and I think we’ve had something like 30 bands come through in that time.
“The other Tuesdays are mostly playing a couple of favourites of the scene of music from Victoria, but also new releases, new albums, new singles. Ideally, I hope to have something new every week, whether that be a single, an album, an EP or a band that I haven’t heard about before.”
In February 2022, Mr Prentice launched the show, but he started inviting the bands in the second year because of the restrictions from the Covid 19 pandemic in the first year.
Mr Prentice became more drawn to radio after he had work experience at 3MDR, another community radio station in Upwey.
“I remember on Wednesday morning, the show that happened to be on, I think they brought in local high school students to play their original compositions on the radio, and I really liked that,” the 21-year-old radio presenter said.
“I thought local people wanted to hear local music. If I didn’t have friends in bands, I wouldn’t know anything about the music in the area.
“I wanted to learn about local music, and I thought other people would too.”
Mr Prentice, himself, is not just a music listener.
He occasionally plays instruments for bands in different places.
He can play three instruments, guitar, bass and banjo, and also works as an audio engineer, setting up sound for bands.
“I just love music. It’s something that’s been around my family for a very long time. Mum and dad have their record collections and stuff like that, and we’d listen to music all the time,” Mr Prentice said.
The Live to Ground host won the School or Community Improvement award for his work with Yarra Valley FM and promoting the local and Victorian music scene in the 2023 Yarra Ranges Council’s Celebrating YOUth awards.
“(Running Live to Ground) is a lot of fun. I’ve met so many people that I’d never thought that I would meet,” Mr Prentice said.
“Now every time I go to a gig, I run into someone who knows me. That’s really, really cool.”
