To recount, in article <32AB5023.764F@sprynet.com>, factory@sprynet.com says...
>
>ehsfuzz@aol.com wrote:
>> 
>>   Yes, this is a left-leaning Top 40 station that has added
>> the Zippers to their playlist.  Yes, it will undoubtedly expand their
>> audience in the Triangle area.
>
>Wowie. What the fuck is the definition of a "left-leaning Top 40
>station?" Is that like "Top-40 that wishes it was college radio?"
>

I'm not sure either definition is helpful.  Exactly what is "college radio"?  
Is that the amalgam of stations like WXYC, WUAG, KXJZ and others, or is it 
something less or more?  Either way, I'm not sure what either definitions mean. 
 It is equally unclear how adding local music will "expand their audience in 
the Triangle area".   Whose audience? G105's?  The Zippers?  Lastly, no Top-40 
has ever "wished it was 'college radio'".  The terms are, if I understand them 
correctly, nearly mutually exclusive.  G105 is a smartly programmed, highly 
researched machine.  It is better than the average "The Edge" alternative 
Top-40 station.  At least, IMHO. 

>Either way, I'm not sure how overplaying the Breeders' "Cannonball," and
>then a couple of years later playlisting Squirrel Nut Zippers adds up to
>"left-leaning," but whatever.
>

Perhaps the implication is that this incarnation of G105 is beyond Whitney 
Houston and Paula Abdul and Michael Bolton?  G105 isn't really a Top-40 radio 
station.  Their "Music for All People" Edge-based format is an outgrowth of MTV 
programming and nation-wide research.  (For those unfamiliar with THE EDGE: 
it's a form of format similar to terms like CHR, MOR, AOR, etc: in that it 
typlifies a sort of format: in this case, one with a rather tight rotation of 
new "alternative" (as defined by the record companies) bands and new wave 
oldies.  These EDGE stations are popping up everywhere.  They have the same 
sound buttons between songs and commercials, too.)

>Never mind the fact that "Hot" is the Zippers' second LP, and it came
>out months and months ago. We should all nonetheless pat good ol' G105
>on the back for being hip enough to read the right magazines and
>discover that the Squirrel Nut Zippers are getting played enough in
>other parts of the fucking country to merit them being added to the
>playlist at a top40/dance station in their own fucking backyard.
>

Two errors in logic here.  First, often CDs will go unnoticed by commerical 
stations for months or even a year before they will start playing it.  The 
Counting Crows is one of the more recent successful examples of delayed 
rotation and popularity.  Second, I've never thought that just because 
something is local ("fucking backyard") that this elevates its worth and is 
some justification for airtime.  Nevermind that I have no idea (nor do I want 
to know) which are the right magazines, too.

>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.

>
>No, they apparently had to wait until the right people, in the right
>places, told them that it was now "cool" to play the Squirrel Nut
>Zippers. Unfortunately, given how tardy they are, all they do is come
>off looking kind of silly.
>

No. They waited until it was "ears" tested.  Don't ever mistake that a 
commercial radio station is concerned at all with playing "hip" or the "right" 
music.  Having worked in that industry before, I can tell you first hand: it 
don't work that way.

>
>But if you make your fucking living playing music on the radio, you
>should really pay a little closer attention.
>

No. No.  NO!  Commerical radio people make their living playing fucking 
commericals on the radio station.  The music is merely a means of drawing in 
listeners until the next commercial break.  In that regard most commercial 
stations play very very close attention to what their air.


>> Commercial radio, both locally (in the Triangle) and nationwide has begun
>> to embrace the Zippers in a very organic way ... no VCRs being given away
>> for the "add", etc.  To me, this is pretty darn exciting!
>
>Write this down: definition of "organic" is that no VCRs are involved in
>the process. Darn, that *is* exciting. I'm sure you feel swell that you
>managed to convince some program director somewhere to do something
>without first breaking federal law. I'm sure your mother is darn proud
>of you.

I'm with you on this one, Ross.  The original was a rather silly statement.

>
>Ross
>


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.


-- 
Keith Weston  http://www.io.com/~jkweston