A couple from Anna Maria Island got pretty fed up with hearing the same songs on the raido so they started a station of their own.
Anna Maria Island Radio “The Voice of The Island,” on 1700 AM has come a long way since first operating out of Casey Hoffman and Robert Herman’s guest bedroom. A little over a year ago they moved the radio station to Bridge Street on Anna Maria Island.
“We get walk-ins, we get people from all over the country who come in,” said Robert Herman the CEO of AMI Radio.
AMI is broadcasting live every day and 24 hours a day on their website to an average of 6,300 listeners from all over the world. The station only plays unsigned artists with original music.
“It is brand new music currently we have over 5,000 original songs from unsigned artists,” said Casey Hoffman the President of AMI Radio.
“We have people here who have been musicians all their lives, we have singers, song writers fabulous painters sculptors some people have a mix and a blend between it.” Says Herman.
On Sunday they had Laurel D. Rund and Philip Leber. Laurel is a poet and Philip has transformed Laurels poetry into songs.
Philip and Laurel came to the station as a way to promote their talents.
“I think that this kind of an opportunity gives us a chance to have the music be heard, let the poetry be heard let folks see there is a lot of strength in local artistry,” said Leber.
“It is so difficult out there to be heard and seen and I think it is a beautiful giveback to the community of musicians who are creating wonderful music,” said Rund.
AMI Radio is the first and only radio station on the island.
They are process of building a recording studio inside the radio station as another method to help local artists get publicity and maybe get a record deal as well. And they are planning on moving to an FM station in the near future.