Keith Weston wrote:
> 
> To recount, in article <32AB5023.764F@sprynet.com>, factory@sprynet.com says...

> >See, it's like this: Squirrel Nut Zippers have been as good as they are
> >now for at least the past 18 months, if not longer. G-105, being located
> >in the Triangle, had the somewhat unique opportunity to jump on this
> >particular band BEFORE the national hipster media had deemed it
> >necessary and proper to do so.
> >
> 
> I had to *laugh* when I read this.  Demonstrates a remarkable ignorance of
> commercial radio's mechanisms and goals.
> 
> >But they didn't. They could've simply gone to a couple of shows. Skimmed
> >the local-music section at a local record store. Asked around. Listened
> >to college radio. But they didn't.
> 
> A bit more *laughter* here.

I think it's pretty silly that the two people who made *fun* of me for
saying the above are both people who are intimately financially linked
to commercial radio. Because what *they're* saying is this: "silly boy, 
you don't know what commercial radio is about--it's about making
*money,* not serving the public."

And what *I* was trying to *demonstrate* (as opposed to just saying,
again and again) was that commercial radio, *especially* those stations
who play "alternative" music, is more fucked-in-the-head now than it
ever has been before. No matter what a given *song* may sound like--even
if it sounds like stuff you *enjoy.*

Nevertheless, the people *programming* the stuff are just as asinine as
they ever were. It's just made more obvious now. Used to be they'd just
play shit you didn't want to hear at all. *Now* they overplay one or two
songs by bands you love, embarrassingly long after the songs came out,
and try to pretend they're on the cutting edge for doing so.

You people can accuse me of "not understanding" commercial radio (yr
wrong) but perhaps you've forgotten that rock n roll rose to its level
of national domination based, early on, on the strength of regional
hits. A certain powerful station would spin the hell out of a single by
a local artist, promote some local shows, build him/her a following in
the region (and because these were, some of them, 50,000 watt
clear-channel AM stations, the "region" could be 1/4 of the country).
And *then,* with that proven success in a region as backup, they'd
clamber on up to the next level.

That was how it worked. That was how Elvis became The King.

Now, thanks in part to the non-local ownership of so many radio
stations, such things simply aren't possible any more. Even *if* someone
at G-105 had been listening to Squirrel Nut Zippers for a while, they
couldn't make the call to spin the record without first jumping through
some crazy hoops.

Course, it wouldn't even have occured to 'em anyway.

Which brings me to my point: I was laughing because G-105 hired The
Squirrel Nut Zippers to play their Xmas party, and promoted the heck out
of it, and set it up so you had to win tickets if you wanted to go at
all. Now, it's one thing for a station like that to bring in some hot
young artist from out of town and behave that way.

But to do it with a band who have been see-able locally, without all the
rigamarole of contests and whatnot, every 3 months or so for the past
two years? It's fucking silly, and that's all there is to it.

Do I *wish* that G-105 would shake off the trappings of evil
nationally-owned FM radio hell? No! All my statements don't add up to
some naive desire on my part for commercial radio to be different. Fuck
'em. There are too many good college radio stations in this town.

But there *are* people, both on this group and out in the world, who
*do* seem to want a more commercial-alternative radio station.
Hopefully, if they're reading this, then my post and your response might
make them realize they're wishing for a pig in a poke.
> 
> Ross, sorry to completely re-quote most of your atricle.  Am doing so in case
> someone gets this follow-up who missed the original.  But, you know, I think
> those of us who like SNZ (and I do) should be happy that any station is playing
> it now instead of bemoaning the fact that it's been out x months and in the
> real world, the "I've known about it since before it came out and I'm hip"
> mentality really is immaterial and rather petty.
> 
Oh, bullshit. Nobody's pulling any kind of hipper-than-thou shit.
However, as Eric Lamb will attest, his lovely wife now has to turn the
radio off when "Hell* comes on, since it's apparently doing so (or was,
a few weeks ago) once every couple of hours.

Am I *glad* that G-105 are treating Squirrel Nut Zippers like a passing,
one-hit-wonder fad, overplaying the fuck out of one or two songs, and
then moving on? Hell fucking no. And quit trying to tell me I should be.

Ross
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