First hitting the air in late 2012, World Poetry Open Mic was conceived as call in platform to provide poets with the ability to share their work with a live audience. The brainchild of Denver area poet J Todd Underhill, the show began when he enlisted his friends Michael Amidei and JT Gunter to assist him with bringing it to reality. After signing on with internet radio station KZKO, WPOM began broadcasting each Friday evening at 8 p.m.
The first several episodes were mainly made up of friends and family members calling to fill the phone lines. However, poets caught on quickly and easily began filling up the then hour long show very quickly. The show decided in March of 2014 to go independant, creating their own studio. Since then, the show has spread out to it's multiple hour/multiple segment format, boasting a different feature every week whether it be a roundtable discussion about the profession of poetics and writing, a musical segment (broadcast from the mysterious "Studio X") and and "After Dark" segment for those wishing to explore more adult themes.
World Poetry Open Mic has produced hundreds of hours of content (which can been found in the archive) as well as books (WPOM Anthology 2015) and cd projects (A Toast At Midnight). In 2015, they hosted their first live festival, called Poesic Fest, which broadcast a nearly day long event featuring poets and musicians.
In August of 2016, J Todd Underhill decided to leave the show to pursue other opportunities. However, both Michael and JT are continuing the tradition of WPOM, which still goes live each Friday and has plans for Poesic Fest 2016 (September 17, 2016) and the next WPOM Anthology.
We look forward to more and more years ahead, helping poets broadcast their message to the world!
The first several episodes were mainly made up of friends and family members calling to fill the phone lines. However, poets caught on quickly and easily began filling up the then hour long show very quickly. The show decided in March of 2014 to go independant, creating their own studio. Since then, the show has spread out to it's multiple hour/multiple segment format, boasting a different feature every week whether it be a roundtable discussion about the profession of poetics and writing, a musical segment (broadcast from the mysterious "Studio X") and and "After Dark" segment for those wishing to explore more adult themes.
World Poetry Open Mic has produced hundreds of hours of content (which can been found in the archive) as well as books (WPOM Anthology 2015) and cd projects (A Toast At Midnight). In 2015, they hosted their first live festival, called Poesic Fest, which broadcast a nearly day long event featuring poets and musicians.
In August of 2016, J Todd Underhill decided to leave the show to pursue other opportunities. However, both Michael and JT are continuing the tradition of WPOM, which still goes live each Friday and has plans for Poesic Fest 2016 (September 17, 2016) and the next WPOM Anthology.
We look forward to more and more years ahead, helping poets broadcast their message to the world!
WHO THE HECK ARE THESE GUYS, ANYWAY?!! |
MICHAEL AMIDEI
Michael Amidei has been active in the entertainment industry since the age of 16, when he recorded and released “For Sinner's Only”, the debut album of the band Cable. Since then, he has gone on to perform for over 1 million people and appear on over 27 albums. His work has been featured on internationally charted recordings and collectively, these recordings have sold a collective 1.5 million copies worldwide. This journey has taken him from film production, to being a professional opera singer, to a western music star (performing with The Flying W Wranglers). In addition to his solo albums, "Devil" (2012) and "Sea" (2014), Michael released his first book of poetry "The Fall" in 2015 and an inspirational adventure guide for children called "Do Something: An Adventurer's Guide To The Act Of Accomplishment" (2016). |
JT GUNTERSome call him the Haiku Master. Some call him The Board Op aka T.B.O. - But we simply call him JT, God Of The Twisty Knoby Thingys From Which All Sounds Come. Catchy, isn't it? J. T. Gunter got his start doing sound for the church he grew up going to helping his father Ivan Gunter not only do the sound for the church, but design and build the entire system. It was there that he gain the skills he would later use in the entertainment industry. In 1997 he got picked up to work sound for Western States Wrestling, from there he worked Multiple wrestling leagues including CWO, AWA, XTC, RMCW plus more. This is where the he sharpened his skills as a technical producer and technical manager. Taking a long apprenticeship at KGNU, JT learned the craft of producing live radio. J.T. left professional wrestling in 2004, but his time in entertainment was not over. Not only did he continue to produce sound for weddings and the like, but he also bought into the CFC football team The Colorado Cobras, where he excelled as the facility manager. He often had to use his skills with the sound at each stadium location as well.
In 2012 J.T. was asked to be involved at the Producer/Engineer of WPOM and jumped on board (no pun intended). On top of being apart of the poetry show, he also hosted the occasional "Radio Angry", a film review podcast and published his own book of poetry "The Haiku Master: A Collection From The Master Himself, Enjoy" in 2016. |
