A fresh new Tuesday morning program debuted last fall on WORT, called Another Green World. Hosts Katie Hutchinson (pictured) and Tessa Echeverria (below) are devoted to spinning old and contemporary folk, indie, rock, pop and blues to entertain you every week from 9 am till noon. Katie started Another Green World in November 2017; Tessa joined her in January of this year and the program is already pushing out indie boundaries in splendid directions.
Katie moved to Madison less than a year ago from Portland, Oregon where she was active in community radio and developed a taste for indie. She says “I was a pledge drive volunteer for KBOO,” a fellow community radio station that first went on the air in 1968. Katie also supported XRAY.FM, the Portland Radio Project (PRP-FM) and KFFP-FM. Her roots in community radio were already deep when she arrived in Madison, so WORT is a natural fit for her. Not too long after she landed here she learned the station was looking to staff the Tuesday 9 am timeslot. She filled out an application without a lot of hope as she didn’t have any on-the-air experience, and was surprised when her application was accepted.
Tessa came to Madison from Olympia, Washington in 2010. “I was biking back across the country from Detroit and stopped in Madison for a few months. Here I am seven years later.” she muses. In the past Tessa worked on another WORT radio program, Live and Local. She also was on the WORT Board of Directors for two years. When not working on radio projects, Tessa runs an analog recording studio, Williamson Magnetic Recording. She’s also in a couple local bands: According to What and Once a Month.
Katie draws her music choices from many different sources. Particular favorite record labels include Jagjaguwar, Sub Pop, Dead Oceans, Secretly Canadian and Matador. She reads online album reviews from music magazines and blogs and explores Bandcamp. Katie also hears many new bands at venues around Madison, and she pays attention to word-of-mouth. She also listens to archived shows from her favorite radio programs from around the country.
Katie is still new to Madison but has a preference for some of the city’s music venues. “I like Mickey’s, The Frequency, Mr. Roberts, Der Rathskeller and, of course, the High Noon Saloon.” Her favorite programs on WORT include Global Revolutions, Fire Worship and Back to the Country. When Katie isn’t at the station or catching up with the new music scene, she works at a yoga studio and as a nanny.
Tessa says, “I get a lot of my new music from listening to touring bands coming through Madison. I mostly listen to music by people I don’t know, like small DIY bands.” Tessa also watches record labels. Some favorites are Dirtnap (a former Seattle label now based in Madison) and Slumberland.
Last year Tessa, along with three fellow female musicians, started the group Half-Stack Sessions to promote female and non-binary musicians in the Madison music scene. The group’s next event is a Spring Showcase at the High Noon Saloon on May 12th.
Tessa is also working to open a new all-ages space for shows, called Communication. “I think Madison needs a place for kids to play and enjoy music and art. The space will be a mix of music, video, theater and all types of visual art.” Communication will host a Open House on May 6th and start booking events later that month.
Tessa is very excited for the live, in-studio acts that Another Green World will host. Katie and Tessa are working on booking a mix of touring and local acts.
The duo usually meet on Sunday afternoons to lay out their next show and plan for the future of the program, which includes more live music and increasing their internet presence through Facebook, Spinitron, SoundCloud and channels not yet discovered.
All of Katie’s listening and explorations led her to make some recommendations of new music. “Living Water by Shannon Lay is uniquely beautiful. Every track is something completely different,” she said. “Youth in a Roman Field’s last album Suits for Children has me excited about their upcoming new release, Storm Conductor. Lastly, Amen Dunes’ album Freedom is their fourth album and the best so far.”
Eric Miller, a local musician and recent guest on Another Green World says, “I am so happy that Another Green World is on the air. The programming is thoughtful and diverse. Katie and Tessa are doing a marvelous job supporting Madison’s music community.”
Tune in every Tuesday morning from between 9 am and noon to enter this lovely green radio garden, or stream the show on-demand anytime on the audio archives.
