Radio personality and major supporter of local music Andy Hawk has moved his popular Local Licks Live Music Series from Wednesday nights at Powerhouse in Folsom to every other Saturday at Rounders Sports Bar and Grill in Citrus Heights (7433 Greenback Lane). The format of the show has changed a bit, too. What used to be more of a full-on rock show is now being branded as “Local Licks Acoustic Series and Sac Open Mic All-Stars.” Every show will feature a local headliner doing a stripped-down set and a fun open mic session featuring tons of great local musicians and creative themes. For instance, at the next show on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Humble Wolf will be the featured performer and guests for the Foo Fighters-themed (fuck yes!) open mic will be David James from Allinaday, Mark of Defyance, Laith Kaos, Lindsey Pavao and others. The show after that, on Saturday, March 8, 2014, will feature Some Fear None as the main act with guests for the Grunge-themed open mic being local groups Race To The Bottom, Highway 12 and others. Find Rounders on Facebook to check out upcoming guest performers and themes (there are some good ones, like Jonah Matranga on April 5, 2014!) and don’t forget to tune into 98 Rock every Monday at 10 p.m. to hear Hawk’s Local Licks, an hour-long show consisting of all local music.

One of Sacramento’s most beloved radio shows is returning to the airwaves. Local Licks, a weekly show that features local and regional music, will begin airing again on 98 Rock on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 10 p.m. with host Andy Hawk. Local Licks started in the early ‘90s and has seen many hosts, most recently Mark Gilmore, who was laid off by Entercom last year when his department was eliminated. That effectively killed the show, until now that is.

“Everybody seems as excited as I am,” Hawk told Submerge of the shows return. “Even just five years ago there were three radio stations with very different all encompassing local music shows. Long story short, the rating system dramatically changed, for the better and for worse in a lot of ways. One thing it really hit was these kind of shows.”

These “specialty radio” shows, which Hawk has plenty of experiencing hosting (remember Punk Rock Academy and Sounds of Sac on KWOD?), started disappearing left and right. But Hawk says that with time the station has evolved and figured some things out about how to make a show like this work no matter what the ratings are. “We’re committed to doing it for the community and doing it for Sacramento, no matter what the ratings might be,” he said.

This is great news for the greater Sacramento area’s music community. Getting airplay on a specialty show like Local Licks might not make you a famous rock star overnight, but it sure helped boost the careers of local rock duo MC Rut, Hawk pointed out. “We played it and everyone heard it and went ‘that’s awesome’ and all of a sudden it was in regular rotation!”

So if you are in a band or know someone who is, have them submit their best professionally recorded songs to Andy Hawk via email (locallicks@krxq.net) or via snail mail (Entercom Sacramento, Attn: Local Licks, 5345 Madison Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95841). “This isn’t going to be just the best of Sacramento hard rock, which might be the misconception,” Hawk said. “Even before, Mark played Autumn Sky! There was always stuff like that on there. I want it to be reflective of what’s going on in Sacramento, not what’s just reflective in hard rock.”