Mr. Shovel's Check One Two is a radio program that most recently aired on 95.5 KLOS in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California from January 2016 to August 2019. The show originally aired on
Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles from February 2004 to January 2009. The show, which featured local and independent artists and live performances, was created by host Mr. Shovel (Mark Sovel), Indie 103.1's music director and the producer of Jonesy's Jukebox hosted by
Sex Pistols member
Steve Jones. Jones bestowed the nickname "Mr. Shovel" after continuously mispronouncing Sovel's real name. In 2004, Indie 103.1 was dubbed "America's Coolest Commercial Station" by ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' magazine and again voted "Best Radio Station" in 2008.
Check One Two aired Sunday nights from 6pm to 8pm on Indie 103.1 and gave many Los Angeles–area bands their first commercial radio airplay. This led to several unsigned local bands getting added to "regular rotation" on Indie 103.1 and often led to significant record deals. Some notable names that received early support from Indie 103.1 and Check One Two were
The Airborne Toxic Event
The Airborne Toxic Event is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2006. It consists of Mikel Jollett (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Chen (guitar, keyboards), Adrian Rodriguez (electric bass, backing vocals), Daren Ta ...
,
Silversun Pickups
Silversun Pickups is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles that was formed in 2000. The band is composed of Brian Aubert, Nikki Monninger, Christopher Guanlao, and Joe Lester.
The band released their debut EP, '' Pikul'', in July ...
,
She Wants Revenge
She Wants Revenge is an American rock band, based in San Fernando Valley, California. Formed in 2004, the band is a duo of singer and guitarist Justin Warfield and multi-instrumentalist Adam Bravin. Their music has been influenced by post-punk ...
,
Cold War Kids
Cold War Kids is an American alternative rock band from Long Beach, California. Band members are Nathan Willett (vocals, piano, guitar), Matt Maust (bass guitar), David Quon (guitar, backing vocals), Matthew Schwartz (keyboards, backing vocals, ...
,
Warpaint, and
The Submarines
The Submarines are an American indie rock band from Los Angeles formed in 2006.
Band history
Working as solo artists in Boston, the two members of the band, John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard, were introduced through a mutual friend, Joe Klompus ...
.
Mr. Shovel made music news in the winter of 2008 when he, and Indie 103.1 program director Max Tolkoff, were summoned to the home of
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...
,
who played for them a new record which would later be called ''
Lotusflower''. Prince handed Shovel and Tolkoff the music to take with them to premiere on Indie 103.1. Shovel appeared the following day on Jonesy's Jukebox with the music and stories about the visit.
On January 15, 2009, Indie suddenly went off the air to be replaced by a Spanish-language format. Indie 103.1 and Check One Two's support is regarded as having been a uniting factor in the local music scene in Los Angeles in the first decade of the 21st century.
After returning to the FM dial in January 2016, Mr. Shovel's Check One Two championed a new era of artists such as
Starcrawler,
Phoebe Bridgers
Phoebe Lucille Bridgers (born August 17, 1994) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She has released two solo albums, ''Stranger in the Alps'' (2017) and '' Punisher'' (2020), both of which received critical acclai ...
, Plague Vendor,
The Interrupters
''The Interrupters'' is a 2011 documentary film, produced by Kartemquin Films, that tells the story of three violence interrupters who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once employed. It examines a year in which Chi ...
and
Weyes Blood
Natalie Laura Mering (born June 11, 1988), known professionally as Weyes Blood (pronounced ), is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She was primarily raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has been performing her own material under ...
. The show aired live every Sunday night at 8pm Pacific time on
KLOS Klos or KLOS may refer to:
* Klos (surname)
* Klos, Dibër, a town in eastern Albania
** Harketari Klos KF, a defunct football club based in Klos, Dibër
* Klos, Elbasan, a village in central Albania
* Klos, Mallakastër, a village in south-central ...
. Also, in October 2015 Mr. Shovel re-joined Steve Jones as producer and on-air foil for a new incarnation of Jonesy's Jukebox on 95.KLOS every Monday through Friday from noon to 2pm Pacific time.
References
{{Reflist
External links
MrShovel.com
2000s American radio programs
American music radio programs