Hi, and welcome to the Montana Radio Café!
Our station was born out of the desire for a radio station that plays great music that no one else plays. After around 18 years of playing music that everyone had heard a billion times, and for purely commercial reasons, Scott Johnston seized the opportunity to start a music driven low power station broadcasting from the studio he built on his front porch.
It seems that many have the same desire for good music that Scott does! As of March 15th 2007, the Montana Radio Café has been on the air for 3 years! It’s truly the American dream come true as Scott plays the eclectic selection of music he loves, and all from the front porch of an old farm house in Montana!
The enthusiastic response has come from everywhere as people listen from around the world on the internet! With a music library of over 17,000 songs from artists that are super talented but not well known, the Montana Radio Café has grown in many ways over the last 2 years; the station now has it’s own concert series, a store with products to purchase to help support the station, a blog from Scott’s head to yours, and much, much more!
Still to come, at some point we will have podcasts of recordings made in the studio with visiting musicians, and our own blend of coffee. It’s also a great trip to check out the gallery, and the links to various North West Montana web cams.
We’ve gotten some great press the last two years, the latest in the Montana Quarterly. Check out the link to the article below. The magazine is now on the news stands.
In an effort to spread the good music of the Montana Radio Café, see the letter Scott’s daughter, Vanessa, wrote to Katie Couric of the Today Show, and Oprah. As of today, neither one has replied. BUT, we would like to invite you to email your encouragement to these two fine ladies to feature the Montana Radio Café on their programs, and thus expose us to the world!
Again, welcome! Thanks for listening and encouraging us in our quest to play the great music nobody else plays.
New! Article in the Montana Quarterly Magazine. Click below.
*This file contains graphics and will take a minute to load.
Dear Oprah,
In rural Montana, outside of a town called Kalispell, there is a faded yellow farmhouse with a spindly metal antennae set up in the yard. Every day people stop by to meet the man who lives there and runs the greatest radio station in the entire three county area off of his front porch.
The Radio Station is called Montana Radio Café, and the man is Scott Johnston, my dad.
Ever since I was a little kid, dad has worked more than one job at once, (sometimes three at the same time with long hours) to support our family of eight. He started as a radio DJ at a country radio station and went from there to his other jobs—doing everything from fighting wildfires to selling fire alarms. That was fifteen years ago. Since then, he has made ends meet for us and managed to feed our friends, lonely strangers, and some hitchhikers who spent the night, by doing jobs for which he left the house at 4:30 in the morning and drove over an hour on ice-slicked roads, pasted on a smile while trying not to be miserable for our sake, or came home (more filthy than a miner) only once per week.
The yellow farmhouse has been the constant throughout it all, with it’s revolving host of barnyard animals passing through the small farm. We started with goats, selling the milk, and Mom has had her chickens for years. At times, the farm has resembled a home for wayward beings, hurt horses, and teenage kids. Now, it is finally the home for a dream in the early stages of realization.
The radio station has been on the back burner of Dad’s mind for at least a decade, probably more. If there is anything that my three brothers, two sisters, brother in law, husband, mom and dad all agree upon, it is that Dad is an expert in at least one field—talking. He loves it, entertains with it, and has made a living at it for years. The Montana Radio Café is his shot at the stars, doing what he is best at.
If you call his radio station, he can play for you all of the clips he has recorded from people who have called in and told him how much they love the music he plays, the way he runs his station, and the things he says. If you sit at the big red table that dominates the warm farmhouse kitchen, you will invariably hear the same from the people who stop by to poke their head in and meet my dad, the local celebrity.
At the end of the day, I am lucky enough to be on the sidelines as the greatest game is played—that of hope realized, and the making of an American dream. Stop in; say hello. Mom will feed you some fresh baked bread, and you can choose one of the twelve types of tea from the tea box on top of the microwave, while dad tells you the story of the Montana Radio Café.
Thank you,
Vanessa Hutchinson
If you're
hungry for something different,
try out the menu at the Montana Radio Cafe!
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