Vancouver native Spencer Perry paired his love of country music and his experience in the press to start his own blog, radiowrangler.
The second-year journalism and business student was a musician and a columnist for a punk magazine in high school. As he became a regular writer for the publication, he also founded his school’s first student-run newspaper, The Concrete Journal.
But he wanted to do something on his own terms.
“I saw a hole in the market,” said Perry. “The beauty about blogging is that I was able to just do it.”
Founded in March 2011, radiowrangler is a country music blog that features only Canadian content. Already, the blog has amassed an impressive array of stories featuring big-name country stars such as David Wills and Drew Gregory.
Growing up, Perry was surrounded by country tunes, and loved every bit of it, from Shania to Garth Brooks. For him, the blog was a natural development.
“It’s a great industry and it’s a good way to get your feet wet in the music business,” said Perry.
Perry smiles as he recalls his past experiences with the blog.
“Our biggest interview so far was Jim Cuddy in February 2012. I met him at the National Arts Centre. My first interview for radiowrangler was a guy named Ridley Bent in June 2011,” said Perry.
Meeting his country music heroes has been a humbling and eye-opening experience for Perry.
“The music industry has a lot of mystique; it’s a lot of smoke and mirrors, and when you get somebody that will allow you to pull back the curtain and show you what’s going on behind it, it’s both awesome and sad at the same time,” said Perry.
“It’s really not as glamorous and cool as people think it is. They have bad days, good days, they have problems that they don’t want to share, they have problems that they do share,” added Perry.
Overall, Perry has had some incredible interviews and is very thankful for those moments when artists are willing to open up to him.
“It’s really awesome when you get to talk to them and they’re really nice people and they genuinely care about giving you a good interview. They are answering your questions to the fullest degree” said Perry.
Perry has been working tirelessly to take radiowrangler to the next level. Since hiring his first contributor in August, Perry hopes to grow the blog on a national scale and turn it into the number one Canadian country music publication.
“I just want to be the mouthpiece for the industry. I want it to be my job.”
Interested in Perry’s blog? Check out radiowrangler here!