Some of the records were very rare and dear to me, and I only had one copy, so I put on the notes that I'd like to get them back in a few months, but if they liked any one record in particular that I would see about finding it, to actually give them a copy of their own.
I notified about 7 of my favorite DJ's via facebook and text and email to the fact that I was excited to get some of my records played and they were at the studio. After all, the station touts itself as Boise's real local station, so I thought they would be happy about having not one, not two, but 19 new local releases.
I carefully watched each of my favorite DJ's play lists logged on their website http://www.radioboise.org A few weeks went by and zero plays on ANY of the records.
I tweeted to the site asking about my records, I received a stock tweet back, "Thanks for your donation to the station, it may take time for your records to be in rotation."
Now 6 weeks after delivering the records to the station not one has yet to be played. I've noticed that many other local bands have had their releases played that have been dropped off later, much later and played many more times than even one of the 19 that I brought down. I wonder how those other bands immediately got their records into "rotation" yet mine, all 19 collect dust?
When KRBX started I was wondering why my records weren't getting played, after all I've got a ton out there. Then I thought, maybe its my fault and they just don't have my records. Nope. That's fine, maybe they just don't like my kind of music, but I tried.
At the end of the day, I just want my records back. I tried participating in community radio. Any plays that they might garner at this point would be "pity plays" and I don't want that. I emailed the station and said that I'd like to get my records back. That was 4 days ago, no response as of yet. (Bug)
By the way no disrespect to my great DJ friends at the station or the station itself, but I guess if they want to play the records, they'll have to buy them, find them, or ask to borrow them from me.
ReplyDeleteThat was a lot to read, but it needed to be said. I hate it when you make an effort to support local or indie or any of that hip crap just to be burned by it. You can complain about the 1%ers all you want, but you're just a hypocrite if you just talk the talk. I love your music, man.
ReplyDeleteBe patient, some of the DJs on that station just recently discovered Reggae. Have you ever heard Reggae? It's totally AWESOME!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I get records that fit my show, I listen to them as soon as I can (sometimes a few weeks) and work them into playlists as they make sense (another few weeks). I try to let the musician know when I played their music and any response I get from listeners. I have two hours a week, and even though I play a lot of local music there's a lot more that I don't get to. I'm open to suggestions about how to improve interactions between local musicians and local DJs.
ReplyDeleteI host Ramblers' Retreat on Wednesday mornings at 6:00, focusing on folk music.
making a contribution of such a self-serving nature will take time to come to fruition. if you really want to contribute to the public radio station and make a contribution - then go down there and donate your time and stop criticizing how the people currently donating their time do so.
ReplyDeleteIt is really easy to be a critic when you sitting on your butt in front of a computer (yes, I realize the irony of this statement considering where I sit right now), but your efforts may be better spent donating even just an hour at the station to help out! While Radio Boise is not perfect, it is infinitely better than the choices that we had before KRBX was on air.
ReplyDeleteThanks Greg. I have listened to your show. I'm not a fan of folk music, but I have listened, you offered great commentary.
ReplyDeleteAnon #1 self serving or not, I contributed to the process. I dont feel I criticized the people donating their time, I criticized the process.
Anon #2 I have a blog, I am a critic. You comment on my blog, you are a critic. My donation to the station was 12 hours of local music provided at no charge. I don't believe an artist needs to build a gallery to be an artist. The two work together. Not in this case evidently.
what if your music sucks and no one wants to play it?
ReplyDeleteYou might also contemplate the fact Radio Boise has over 70,000 songs in it's current library. Anytime you bring new music into any community radio station, you cannot expect it will be played on your time line. By patient my man, it will serve you well.
ReplyDeleteWow! Getting quite a response here! You rustled some feathers! nice job.
ReplyDeleteHey Bug, lazy ass music director here. No excuses mate. Like I said on my voice message to you, We dont have all of our systems in place yet. New music comes in, and it gets put into the library when volunteers show up to do it. Its up to each DJ to go into the library and research what we have. Some know this, some dont. It would be great to have a list of new songs / cds / vinyl that gets into the system, but again, we are not there yet. I cant wait until we have the means to facilitate a cohesive way of getting new / old music in here. Please know that I personally tried to get your cd's in the library. Every disc has to be put in manually..meaning, the metadata on your discs were not filled in. It takes someone to put in the song title, artist, genre, label, etc if it does not populate on Gracenote.Something I just dont have the time to do at this moment. Not to mention the FCC regulations we have to adhere to, making sure your songs are safe to play on air will take a bit of work. I did not see any notes that steered people away from certain songs. I look at your collection as being some what of a historic treasure to this town, and it needs to be represented. With that said, our policy at the station is that we dont tell the djs what to play. My fumble was not having the means to let the few djs that may play a song like "peeled baby in a bag of salt" or the epic "Jizzplatter". When you dropped them off, and we spoke, i just assumed that you would let your dj friends know about the stash...again, sorry for my lack of communication within the organization...something that we are trying to fix. We dont even have a mail box system here yet. So, with that said, please accept my apology, hopefully this explains a bit about where we are at, and possibly sheds some light on how much of a fledgling station we really are. I would also like to invite any new volunteers to come down, in addition to our existing volunteers to help solve this very un-complicated problem. Also,Im going to side with the comment above that states that KRBX may have some problems, but we are better off than not having it. I have an open line anytime you wish to speak. Thanks Bug. Kevin.
ReplyDeleteRecap, Kevin, KRBX music director did call and offered solace. I do understand what he said in the voice mail and in the statement above. It was interesting to see how many people, made the jump to instantly call me a jerk etc because of my criticism; cool dudes, way to use your brains.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, basically he said no one was interested in the music at all, again kind of a snub from my friends that actually work at the station. I definitely didn't expect special treatment, but I guess I figured they would help me out in the process of getting played, just like if they came to ask me how to get shirts printed and I told them, gee, I don't know.
One of the biggest excuse I got was "they're not in rotation yet, it takes awhile etc." If I was naive, and wasnt paying attention I might believe that.
Heres what got me thinking that something is goofy; A friend of mine has a band called First Borns. They recorded a song from their practice on their cellphone one night last week. They sent the song in on a Monday night, it was played less then 12 hours later on Tuesday morning.
I commend them on getting a cellphone recording played on the radio within 12 hours of recording it, but at the same time, I provided nearly 20 "real" finished releases and waited 6 weeks and not one garnered even one play, somethings wrong there.
I believe Kevin when he says he will work on a new strategy when accepting and getting local music at the station. I believe had I not spoken up, my records would have quietly been filed in with Celine Dion, and Meatloaf etc.
To Anon above that said, what if my music just sucks. It probably does. To my pals who jumped to call me a jerk; Get bent. Get your own blog and bitch about me if you want.
Bug,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to let you know that I am a DJ and I saw the pile. The biggest problem that I had is that I am super cautious with my reporting and song selection. Several of the discs had no track listing and others were pushing the envelope a bit too much content-wise for me to be playing in the afternoon time slot that I have a show. There was just too much risk for me to allot the amount of time it would require to have due diligence in making sure that I don't break any FCC regulations. I am barely able to get through the 3 hours worth of songs where lyrics are posted on the internet. It is not a slight against you or your bands, it is just difficult for us DJs who are volunteers who have only so much time to do show prep for our shows. So my lack of playing your tunes was nothing personal, it was just a time constraint for me.
Chris
Living Room Radio