Little Chris, founder and presenter of online radio show Brumcast, explains its concept.

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If you were like me just two years ago, you would think that the music scene in Birmingham extended as far as Black Sabbath, or UB40, or more recently The Twang and Editors. But where do these groups spring up from and how do they get noticed?

OK I was lazy. I found interesting, new music through the John Peel's radio show and never looked further. Peel would always go against the grain and provide a genuine alternative to mainstream radio.

When he sadly passed away I found that my listening was becoming stale and there was nothing being played on the radio that was important. I was aware that there were many local groups out there on my doorstep.

How would I find out who was any good?

I looked to local radio only to find that they don't play much in the way of local or unsigned acts. What little is played is just derivative of the mainstream. In other words, playing it safe.

I discovered the only place I could find out about what was going on around me was online.

There are some excellent fanzines out there such as Media Assassin but just reading someone else's opinion about music can only go so far. Thanks to networking sites such as myspace, I was shocked by the phenomenal amount of high quality music of all genres there is in the area, and it's all apparently being dismissed by record companies and radio stations.

There was such a volume of superb music that I decide to start Brumcast to tell others about it and hopefully get some acts recognition.

Brumcast is a weekly podcast (internet radio show) which plays only underground music from the Midlands.

It can be listened to at any time online or downloaded onto your home PC for free. My mission is to give a platform to the hundreds of bands/artists that need a stage. Brumcast shows a complete disregard for genre, for example you can expect to hear a Drum n Bass track followed by an acoustic singer-songwriter, or Metal, Funk, Indie, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Electronica etc.

The rules are . . . there are no rules. Brumcast will always look to support the underdog who may be having trouble getting exposure elsewhere, maybe because their style or approach to music may be considered too unusual for regular radio.

Brumcast has also played new material from more established acts such as The Wonder Stuff's Miles Hunt, Einstellung (exGodflesh/Katastrophy Wife) and VileEvil who comprise of former members of Pop will Eat Itself.

These tracks are played alongside bands that have only been together a couple of months or have only ever played in their bedrooms or garages.

Brumcast can be found online at www.myspace.com/brumcastbirmingham & the show archive http://ipodnetworks.com/brumcast. Support your local music scene. It's really worth keeping alive. Local bands can submit their music by emailing an mp3 of their music and info to brumcast@hotmail.co.uk.