Earlier this week, I wrote Alan Cross, CFNY Edge 102 Program Director, regarding this year's Edgefest line up. He wrote me back and I posted my original email and his reply.
What I didn't mention was the fact we continued our conversation. I replied to his reply and so on... Below you will find my second email to Alan Cross and his second reply.
Thanks for the prompt and honest reply. I appreciate it.
It seems pretty clear to me your station made a concerted effort to remove Good Charlotte from the playlist. The album may have been played, but that's never stopped you from continuing to play previous hits from bands like Sum41, Blink182, Green Day and The Offspring. Despite the fact you claim they were insanely popular with a significant portion of your audience, not a trace of them can now be heard on 102.1. I believe it became apparent they were the wrong genre.
You hit the nail on the head when you wrote "the band can still sell a ton of tickets". I'm afraid this is all about popularity and making money, and radio is a business that's looking to maximize profits, so there's nothing wrong with that. I just wish you weren't promoting your signature concert series with a band that has obviously been eliminated 100% from your playlist. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I hate it when business interferes with the integrity of the music....almost as much as I hate the weak sound from Good Charlotte the kids are eating up.
This rant is officially over. Thanks for reading (or deleting, I'll never know). I hope you do one day make "The Ongoing History of New Music" available via the web as either a downloadable MP3 or even streamed so I can listen while I work. And keep playing the hell out of Nirvana...but try to add a little more Alice in Chains in the mix.
Thanks,
Mike
p.s. When I was 15 I worked a game booth at the CNE. You used to broadcast from there remotely. You were very cool to us - I used to bum a load of CFNY stickers from you. I'm glad you're back at the Edge.
And Alan Cross' reply...
Yep. We're all about making money. Seriously. This is the raison d'etre of any commercial radio station. BUT we're also trying to walk that fine line between art and commerce. We want to create great radio AND satisfy our owners at the same time. That's a tough, tough job, but for the most part, I think we do a pretty good job.
Keep in mind that musical relevance is highly subjective. What's crap to you is gold to someone else--and vice versa.
One more thing: Edgefest also features Alexisonfire, Jersey and Something Corporate, three highly credible bands that don't get a lot of airplay (yet) from us for different reasons. It's all for balance, you know?
I won't bore you with our further exchanges. I just thought I'd post this final exchange in an effort to close the communication loop. I still think selecting Good Charlotte as the headlining act was an act of desparation. Think of all the bands that would have made more sense. There are dozens, and apparently none were available or willing to play. They might as well have prodded Hootie and the Blowfish out of retirement to "rock" the Amphitheatre... It makes as much sense to me.
