Reno gets turned on to music show

As you’re channel-surfing, you come across a music video. But wait. This isn’t MTV, VH1 or BET. There are videos by emerging rock acts, live concert footage and even some extreme sports thrown into the mix. You ask: What is this show?

It’s Turn It Up TV, a music video and extreme sports program that debuted last month on Reno cable channel 12. Producer Joe Gingerella says the weekly show, which airs Wednesdays at 7 p.m., features a variety of bands and musicians from Alien Ant Farm to Sinead O’Connor. There’s also footage of motocross, bungee jumping and free-style skateboarding for those who are more sports-minded.

“I mix it up on each show so it’s entertaining to everybody,” Gingerella says.

Gingerella, a video producer based in Seattle, says his company, Squeeze Media Group, travels around the country recording live performances and extreme sports events. Usually his company will pay to secure the rights to record a band’s concert with the understanding that he’s allowed to use at least one clip for his TV show, he explains. Typically, the record company will review the footage and eventually buy the footage back from SMG to use for possible video releases, he says.

Gingerella also has 15 years’ experience as a concert promoter. When he was living in Los Angeles, he offered gigs to bands such as Korn, No Doubt and Sublime when they were struggling young bands in Southern California. He has some early footage of these bands, which he recorded at some of the shows that he promoted, that he might show on upcoming episodes of Turn It Up TV.

He says that he first visited the area about four months ago and was impressed by the variety of radio stations on the air. He thought Reno would be the right market to launch Turn It Up TV. He hired a local crew to help produce and edit the show, as well as film events around town to give the program a local flavor. The crew recently covered Hot August Nights and will also tape Street Vibrations next month.

As most music fans here know, Reno is often passed over by national acts on tour. Gingerella says he hopes to attract bands that would otherwise skip Reno by paying them to play here and let him tape their show for future episodes. He’s looking into using Reno Live as a possible venue for the shows.

Gingerella says the response to the show has been good despite the low amount of advertising done for the show. The Turn It Up TV studio on Keystone Avenue received about 100 calls from curious viewers after the first two episodes aired, he says. He hopes that he will attract more advertisers as more people discover the program.

He says each episode should keep viewers interested, and he certainly has enough footage to keep people tuning in every week.

“As far as content, we shouldn’t run out for five years,” he says.