Tryin’ to anaesthetise the way that you feel”
Mod Vowel- The crabby Mobile music blogger teetering on the brink of elitism. Or whatever.
Wow. Are we to keep learning from Birmingham’s mistakes?
This mistake can’t fully be attributed to the city though. This atrocity lies at the feet of Citadel Broadcasting. Citadel Broadcasting feels that talk radio is more important than keeping Live 100.5 , a triple A format station similiar to Mobile’s 92 ZEW, on the air. The big difference between Mobile and Birmingham’s triple A stations is that 92 Zew is locally owned and operated, the way radio should be. Before we get any further, let’s define the triple A format – Adult Album Alternative. Let’s turn to Mod Vowel’s favorite website for a more concise definition. Wiki to the rescue !
“A spinoff from the album oriented rock format, its roots may have been established sometime during the 1960s from what was called freeform and later progressive. The radio format has a broader, more diverse playlist than most other formats and tends to appeal more to adults than to teenagers. Less-played tracks are also common. Musical selection tends to be on the fringe of mainstream pop and rock as well as many other music genres.such as indie rock,alternative rock ,jazz, folk and blues. The musical selections tend to shy away from hard rock and rap music. Some Triple-A stations bill themselves under such slogans as “World Class Rock,” “Quality Rock,” or “Finest Rock.” Music selection also includes tracks from albums that are not singles, which leads to the enhanced and larger playlist.”
Hey, thanks Wiki.
Basically, Triple A is radio for educated music lovers. The music lover that can not stand Creed, Nickleback or as I hear some people call it, 3 puddles of creedleback. This includes music snobs as well. The demographic generally encompasses 25-54 year olds with a median income of 50k/year. And if some of you don’t know, radio runs on advertising sales. This is a highly coveted demographic since these are the people that can afford to be patrons of a variety of businesses.
What is happening in Birmingham is tragic. They have no other outlet for good music in that city. Live 100.5 will be flipped to a talk radio format. Outrageous huh? Well there are about 15,000 people that agree that this is outragous. The “Save Live 100.5″ facebook group, which was started by a fella who advertises on Live’s station, has over 15,000 members as Mod Vowel types this column. With such an impressive show of support for something they all love, you think the suits at Citadel would think differently about their decision. No No my friends. Talk is cheap. Birmingham will get more talk radio on the FM dial.
“I don’t know if I’ll be back,” Register said near the end of his show. “I do know that I’ll probably be the last human voice you’ll hear on Live 100.5.”
Live 100.5 going away means more than just a quality radio station disappearing from the airwaves. It means quality programs like Reg’s Coffee House leaving as well. Reg is one of the last tastemakers in the country. And he has his finger on the pulse. Many times he has featured some of Mobile’s finest musicians on his program over the past thirteen years, El Cantador, Eliot Morris and Will Kimbrough just to name a few. The only other place you can hear those artists getting airplay? The last triple A station in the state, 92 Zew. Live did what 92 Zew does which is what radio should do : reflect the community. Zew has survived two “funerals”. But Mobile’s overwhelming support of the station was the CPR they needed to come “back to life” if you will. Also, a big part of Zew coming back to life is because it has been locally owned and operated since it’s inception. Live has not been so fortunate. When you have heads of a corporation in an office in New York calling the shots, they could care less about community support. Live was not given ample time to establish a listening base some might say. But then again, there are 15,000+ people that are very sore it is going away. These 15,000 people support the concerts that Live brings to town, supports the advertisers whether it be a independent clothing store, record store or bar/music venue.
Mod Vowel got in touch with someone who grew up listening to Birmingham radio and is now a part of Mobile’s radio scene, Emily Hayes of 92 Zew. Emily grew up in Birmingham and is a self professed music snob. She has used her facebook to help spread the word about what is happening to Live 100.5 in Birmingham and had this bit to offer up to Mod Vowel’s blog on the subject.
” I grew up listening to Birmingham radio. We had some good stations when I was a kid like 107.7 the X, which as the alternative station. Many of the folks involved with the X came back to be involved with Live, like Dave Rossi. He was program director at the X and that station broke so many bands and did great things for the community like Live in the X Lounge, which was live performances in their studios that they sold a limited amount of cd’s of and the proceeds went to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham. With people like Dave and Scott Register of Reg’s Coffee House there is no reason why this station would have not succeeded. People like Reg and Dave inspired me to get into radio. They shaped my musical landscape if you will. Birmingham is suffering a huge loss in my opinion. But it’s times like these that make me even more grateful to work for a mom and pop station vs a company that has NO idea what is happening in that market.”
Emily went on to clarify that ‘mom and pop’ is kind of slang for locally owned and operated. Actually, Emily went on for a long time, but there is not enough room on this webiste for her opinions on the subject. Mod Vowel does thank her for being so honest on the subject though.
Living in this digital age, it’s easier for folks in the newspaper industry to pick up on the hot topics in town. Folks over at al.com have been following whats happening with the demise of Live and got in touch with the groups creator, who also is an advertiser with the station.
As far as music goes, because after all this is blog is supposed to be music oriented, we’ve learned to tough lessons from Birmingham.
Number One – How to not screw up a city wide music festival(think City Stages)
Number Two – How to appreciate and support local radio.
After all, to quote that loveable power ballad by Cinderella – Don’t know what you got, till it’s gone.
Wow. Are we to keep learning from Birmingham’s mistakes?
This mistake can’t fully be attributed to the city though. This atrocity lies at the feet of Citadel Broadcasting. Citadel Broadcasting feels that talk radio is more important than keeping Live 100.5 , a triple A format station similiar to Mobile’s 92 ZEW, on the air. The big difference between Mobile and Birmingham’s triple A stations is that 92 Zew is locally owned and operated, the way radio should be. Before we get any further, let’s define the triple A format – Adult Album Alternative. Let’s turn to Mod Vowel’s favorite website for a more concise definition. Wiki to the rescue !
“A spinoff from the album oriented rock format, its roots may have been established sometime during the 1960s from what was called freeform and later progressive. The radio format has a broader, more diverse playlist than most other formats and tends to appeal more to adults than to teenagers. Less-played tracks are also common. Musical selection tends to be on the fringe of mainstream pop and rock as well as many other music genres.such as indie rock,alternative rock ,jazz, folk and blues. The musical selections tend to shy away from hard rock and rap music. Some Triple-A stations bill themselves under such slogans as “World Class Rock,” “Quality Rock,” or “Finest Rock.” Music selection also includes tracks from albums that are not singles, which leads to the enhanced and larger playlist.”
Hey, thanks Wiki.
Basically, Triple A is radio for educated music lovers. The music lover that can not stand Creed, Nickleback or as I hear some people call it, 3 puddles of creedleback. This includes music snobs as well. The demographic generally encompasses 25-54 year olds with a median income of 50k/year. And if some of you don’t know, radio runs on advertising sales. This is a highly coveted demographic since these are the people that can afford to be patrons of a variety of businesses.
What is happening in Birmingham is tragic. They have no other outlet for good music in that city. Live 100.5 will be flipped to a talk radio format. Outrageous huh? Well there are about 15,000 people that agree that this is outragous. The “Save Live 100.5″ facebook group, which was started by a fella who advertises on Live’s station, has over 15,000 members as Mod Vowel types this column. With such an impressive show of support for something they all love, you think the suits at Citadel would think differently about their decision. No No my friends. Talk is cheap. Birmingham will get more talk radio on the FM dial.
“I don’t know if I’ll be back,” Register said near the end of his show. “I do know that I’ll probably be the last human voice you’ll hear on Live 100.5.”
Live 100.5 going away means more than just a quality radio station disappearing from the airwaves. It means quality programs like Reg’s Coffee House leaving as well. Reg is one of the last tastemakers in the country. And he has his finger on the pulse. Many times he has featured some of Mobile’s finest musicians on his program over the past thirteen years, El Cantador, Eliot Morris and Will Kimbrough just to name a few. The only other place you can hear those artists getting airplay? The last triple A station in the state, 92 Zew. Live did what 92 Zew does which is what radio should do : reflect the community. Zew has survived two “funerals”. But Mobile’s overwhelming support of the station was the CPR they needed to come “back to life” if you will. Also, a big part of Zew coming back to life is because it has been locally owned and operated since it’s inception. Live has not been so fortunate. When you have heads of a corporation in an office in New York calling the shots, they could care less about community support. Live was not given ample time to establish a listening base some might say. But then again, there are 15,000+ people that are very sore it is going away. These 15,000 people support the concerts that Live brings to town, supports the advertisers whether it be a independent clothing store, record store or bar/music venue. Former program director of Live 100.5, Dave Rossi, says , “The only chance radio has to matter is to be incredibly creative and unique and to be connected with its listeners.
The way most stations are being run is chasing people to other technologies.
Mod Vowel got in touch with someone who grew up listening to Birmingham radio and is now a part of Mobile’s radio scene, Emily Hayes of 92 Zew. Emily grew up in Birmingham and is a self professed music snob. She has used her facebook to help spread the word about what is happening to Live 100.5 in Birmingham and had this bit to offer up to Mod Vowel’s blog on the subject.
” I grew up listening to Birmingham radio. We had some good stations when I was a kid like 107.7 the X, which as the alternative station. Many of the folks involved with the X came back to be involved with Live, like Dave Rossi. He was program director at the X and that station broke so many bands and did great things for the community like Live in the X Lounge, which was live performances in their studios that they sold a limited amount of cd’s of and the proceeds went to benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham. With people like Dave and Scott Register of Reg’s Coffee House there is no reason why this station would have not succeeded. People like Reg and Dave inspired me to get into radio. They shaped my musical landscape if you will. Birmingham is suffering a huge loss in my opinion. But it’s times like these that make me even more grateful to work for a mom and pop station vs a company that has NO idea what is happening in that market.”
Emily went on to clarify that ‘mom and pop’ is kind of slang for locally owned and operated. Actually, Emily went on for a long time, but there is not enough room on this webiste for her opinions on the subject. Mod Vowel does thank her for being so honest on the subject though.
Living in this digital age, it’s easier for folks in the newspaper industry to pick up on the hot topics in town. Folks over at al.com have been following whats happening with the demise of Live and got in touch with the groups creator, who also is an advertiser with the station.
Jeff Tenner, who owns Soca Clothing in Homewood and advertises on the station, launched the Facebook group “Save Live 100.5!” Thursday morning.
“I’m an upset advertiser, and I’m also just an upset music fan,” Tenner told The Birmingham News. “Basically, I put my money where my mouth is.”
As far as music goes, because after all this is blog is supposed to be music oriented, we’ve learned to tough lessons from Birmingham.
Number One – How to not screw up a city-wide music festival (think City Stages)
Number Two – How to appreciate and support local radio.
After all, to quote that loveable power ballad by Cinderella – Don’t know what you got, till it’s gone.
Tryin’ to anaesthetise the way that you feel”
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