On Saturday morning, I was listening to Edge 102 in the car. Despite what you may think having read the odd rant about 102.1 in this space, it's still my favourite music station. There's really no alternative in the GTA for a guy who wants to hear the latest Foo Fighters single alongside a Hey Rosetta! track or an Arcade Fire song.
So I'm listening, and Adam is about to play a double shot, two songs in a row from the same artist... and Alexisonfire's "Boiled Frogs" begins to play. Edge 102 plays the crap out of Alexisonfire, and with their recent announcement that they're breaking up after ten years, hearing "Boiled Frogs" was completely unexceptional. What caught my attention was what happened next.
Adam ordered the song stopped. They cut the tune after only a few seconds and Adam said something like this... this is a paraphrase from memory, but I believe I'm nailing the sentiment.
Let's not play that. We're not playing Alexisonfire anymore. Apparently, some of the guys had some things to say about us despite the fact we've been big supporters of theirs over the years. Let's play something by a band that actually likes us. This is Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker, friends of the station.
I've searched Google and Twitter trying to find a quote from an Alexisonfire band member that would have prompted this act by Adam, but I've come up empty. I did find this Tweet from Adam, however, in which he proclaims "Done with Alexisonfire... #pricks".
This got me thinking... if a station refuses to play a band that says negative things about the station, and instead plays a band that says nice things about the station, isn't that a form of social Payola? Instead of taking money to play an artist's songs, Edge 102 is taking endorsements and positive social currency.
The whole practice smells... What do you guys think about a station refusing to play a band's music because of something a band member said about the station?
