Unsigned local bands NEVER make it into the exclusive playlists of commercial radio.

It just doesnâÂÂt happen.

Sure, many stations have the obligatory local music show late at night where a few provincial favorites get some spins. But to get into corporate radioâÂÂs prime-time rotation, artists need a big-time label giving them a big-dollar promotional push within the industry.

Unless youâÂÂre Anything But Joey.

The Kansas City pop-rock band is willfully unsigned, yet somehow broke into rotation on 96.5 FM The Buzz. In fact, the bandâÂÂs single, âÂÂGirl Roommate,â has been that stationâÂÂs No. 1 requested song for weeks, edging out the likes of Eminem.

The BuzzâÂÂs program director, Mike Kaplan, said that Anything But Joey is likely the only unsigned band from this area that has ever reached that mark. But he didnâÂÂt feel like he was taking a risk putting them into rotation.

âÂÂWe saw the groupâÂÂs strong local following and felt their sound fit the radio stationâÂÂs target,â Kaplan said.

At that point, Anything But Joey didnâÂÂt even have an album out. Just a demo that found its way into the good graces of Kaplan.

âÂÂOur Web site guy was an intern at 96.5 and he just pushed it to the right people long enough,â explains bassist Drew Scofield. âÂÂThey really liked it and it went from there.

âÂÂThat song (âÂÂ’Girl RoommateâÂÂ) was written years ago and itâÂÂs been on a couple Thulium demo CDs,â Scofield said, referring to the bandâÂÂs name before they changed it this summer to Anything But Joey.

âÂÂ’Everybody hated usâÂÂ

No longer tinkering with demos, the band just issued its full-length debut, âÂÂCome Out Fighting.â Joey hopes its second single, âÂÂOne,â will get some spins on The Buzz.

Guitarist Bryan Chesen said that just a few months ago, before their music got on The Buzz, it was hard to imagine how the band would ever make it this far. He said since forming in 1996, theyâÂÂd been virtually ignored by the local music scene.

âÂÂSince weâÂÂre basically mainstream, Top 40-style music, everybody hated us for it. Plus, at the time we were a little more clean-cut. We just really got rejected,â Chesen recalled.

âÂÂWe were set to move to Dallas because everybody we know is down there. We were like, âÂÂ’Screw Kansas City, weâÂÂre never gonna make it here.â But we decided to give it one more year because we love Kansas City and we donâÂÂt want to move. Now weâÂÂre getting spun. And The Buzz is only going to spin us more, and weâÂÂre only going to get bigger here.âÂÂ

The group started playing covers together in high school as Thulium. Once they had several of their own tunes, the members began to falter a bit as some went to school and all of them began to wonder if this band thing was going to work.

The critical break came last November when Chesen met Anything But JoeyâÂÂs eventual manager, Bryce Graves. Chesen was trying to book the Dallas band Flickerstick to play in Manhattan, and when it looked like the gig might fall through, he was directed to Graves.

That Mark Cuban?

âÂÂBryce had never heard of us because we were nobody in November,â Chesen said. âÂÂHe met us and he really dug our personal vibe, and our hooks were there, but a lot of the stuff thatâÂÂs in our songs now just wasnâÂÂt there then.âÂÂ

Graves worked with the band members informally for a year, and eventually set them up with producer Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup, another Texas band.

âÂÂHe just took the songs we had recorded and twisted them all around,â Chesen said. âÂÂHe was like, if this is going to be on the radio, itâÂÂs gotta be like this. So the songs are dramatically different, plus the difference between spending $800 on the recording or $10,000. No oneâÂÂs going to put anything on the radio that sounds like ass.âÂÂ

Up to that point, the band was making ends meet Ãi¿½” barely Ãi¿½” playing bars, selling a lot of merchandise and being very frugal. Then Joey made a connection with deep pockets.

Graves turned the actâÂÂs current, Dallas-based lawyer Brian Cuban on to the Kansas band. Happily, CubanâÂÂs brother is Mark Cuban Ãi¿½” owner of the Dallas Mavericks and HDNet Ãi¿½” who also happens to be the youngest billionaire in the country.

âÂÂBrianâÂÂs landed us two songs on the soundtrack of a major motion picture due out in the spring. And weâÂÂve been on MarkâÂÂs (TV) show. TheyâÂÂve helped us a lot just through networking,â Chesen said. âÂÂAnd Bryce got Buck McKinney to be our lawyer as well, who was the on staff attorney of A&M records for more than five years.

âÂÂOnce we found somebody in the business who believed in us, we started working 10 times as hard,â Chesen said.

Their hard work and connections have recently landed them some high profile gigs including Late Night with Roy Williams, a spot on the NBAâÂÂs Rhythm and Rims tour, and soundtrack honors for the âÂÂ2003 Women of KUâ DVD.

âÂÂThis is a lot of fun now that people know who we are,â Scofield said. âÂÂBut getting there, man, it took forever.âÂÂ