SAM BUTTERS
Founder • Operator • Curator • Voice of Progressive Rock AZUSA
Progressive Rock AZUSA is my labor of love — a way to share the progressive music I’ve enjoyed throughout my life with listeners who might not otherwise discover it.
ABOUT PROGRESSIVE ROCK AZUSA
Where Progressive Rock Is Alive & Well Online
Progressive Rock AZUSA is an independent internet radio station celebrating progressive rock from the 1960s to today. Our programming spans classic and modern prog, independent artists, ambient and electronic music, fusion, live recordings, and specialty shows.
Independent. Listener supported. Progressive.
PERSONAL HISTORY
I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, and my first taste of rock music came during the “British Invasion” — The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and others. But I mainly listened to whatever my older brother was playing, especially one of his favorites, The Dave Clark Five.
As the 1960s transitioned into the 1970s, my musical interests expanded. One day, while browsing albums in a department store, I came across a band I had never heard of with some very interesting song titles. I bought the album anyway.
After riding home on my bicycle — I wasn’t old enough to drive yet — I immediately put my new discovery on the turntable. My mom liked one song, “Jerusalem,” but the next one, “Toccata,” was another matter. She said it sounded like “jungle music.” I loved it.
The band was Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and they became my favorite band from then on. It would be many years before I even knew there was a name for the kind of music I had discovered: progressive rock.
Sam, approx. age 5, in the early 1960s
It wasn’t until many years later that I learned the music I loved had a name: progressive rock. Looking back, many of my musical choices had been pointing in that direction all along — Yes, Kansas, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Nice, King Crimson, Rick Wakeman, and many others. I had been listening to progressive rock for decades without really thinking of it as a genre.
Over the years, my music collection grew from vinyl to cassettes and then CDs, eventually encompassing hundreds and later thousands of tracks. My career in IT helped support that lifelong passion for collecting music, but I also wanted to share what I was discovering with other people. Eventually, that combination of music, technology, and a desire to share the music planted the idea of creating my own progressive rock internet radio station.
THE STORY OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK AZUSA
THE ORIGINAL STATION — 2000s
There have actually been two versions of Progressive Rock AZUSA. The original station operated during the mid-to-late 2000s on the original Live365 platform. It was a much smaller operation than today’s station, with only a few hundred tracks, many of them provided by independent progressive rock and ambient/electronic artists.
Despite its size, Progressive Rock AZUSA developed a loyal audience and became the #1 progressive rock channel on the platform. I was competing with professionally operated progressive rock channels that were also broadcasting through Live365, but listeners seemed to appreciate that AZUSA was personally curated rather than programmed by an automated system.
Unfortunately, the recession of 2007–2008 changed things. With family finances taking priority, I could no longer justify the monthly expense of operating the station. Progressive Rock AZUSA went silent, and for several years I put the idea of bringing it back aside.
THE ROAD BACK — 2016–2017
In early 2016, I began thinking seriously about bringing Progressive Rock AZUSA back. While listening to an internet radio station one day, I heard an announcement that it was moving from Live365 to Radionomy because the original Live365 was shutting down. That sent me searching for a new home for AZUSA.
I spent several weeks researching Radionomy and even began developing a new identity for the station. For a while, it looked as though Progressive Rock AZUSA might finally return.
Proposed Progressive Rock AZUSA identity during the attempted 2016 revival.
Then I discovered a major obstacle: Radionomy did not provide the music licensing coverage I needed. The broadcaster would be responsible for the applicable royalties and licensing costs, which would have made operating the station far too expensive for me. Once again, the revival of Progressive Rock AZUSA had to be put on hold.
PROGRESSIVE ROCK AZUSA RETURNS — 2018
In January 2018, I once again began searching for a way to revive Progressive Rock AZUSA. This time, I discovered some very good news: the original Live365 had been acquired, rebuilt, and relaunched under new ownership.
After researching the new Live365 platform, I determined that it could provide the licensed broadcasting home I had been looking for. In April 2018, I signed up and began rebuilding Progressive Rock AZUSA from scratch.
That was no small task. My music library had grown to thousands of tracks, most of them on CDs. Day after day, I processed and uploaded hundreds of tracks, organized the library, built playlists, and prepared everything needed to put the station back on the air.
In June 2018, Progressive Rock AZUSA began broadcasting again on Live365.
PROGRESSIVE ROCK AZUSA — TODAY
Since returning to the air in 2018, Progressive Rock AZUSA has continued to grow and evolve. What began as a personal collection of progressive rock has developed into a station featuring classic and modern prog, independent artists, ambient and electronic music, fusion, live recordings, and a growing lineup of original specialty shows.
The station remains independently operated and personally curated. There is no corporate programming department or algorithm deciding what belongs on AZUSA. The music, shows, schedules, website, and day-to-day operation of the station all grow from the same idea that started this journey: discovering great progressive music and sharing it with other listeners.
Today, Progressive Rock AZUSA continues that mission through Live365, with the website serving as the home for show schedules, independent artists, podcasts, station news, and more.
Independent. Listener supported. Progressive.