Thursday, January 18, 2007

Are you kidding me?


I was talking about IDOL with someone yesterday and despite all of the bad auditions, crying, cranky Simon, etc ... all people could talk about was Paula.

Which makes the comment I heard on the radio even move absurd. I was sampling a competitor and the disc jockey (trying to sound in-touch) wondered "how long is American Idol going to put up with Paula."

Are you kidding me? She's gold. She is the story this year. When it's her turn to talk - everyone watches. I even found myself rewinding the DVR to hear what she said again.


Publicity is expensive and I'll bet more people would recognize the name Paula Abdul today than during her entire life. I almost wonder if the whole thing is a stunt. Seriously? The fact that Idol had HUGE ratings the past two nights and nothing really happened is due to all of the Paula publicity.


The sad part is that something is wrong. It could be self-inflicted (drugs) or some other medical condition that is being kept quiet. But through the course of history - humans have loved a tragedy. We love to watch Britney and K-Fed (and root against both). This could be a modern day tragedy happening right before our very eyes - and yes: we will continue to watch - and probably root for Paula. But none the less: it is a tragedy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know this has nothing to do with your current blog but I was wondering when we might here some more current music. Is playing the same old songs over and over again the way to go in the ratings war. There is a way to keep the adult top 40/Hot AC format and still remain of the moment...Chicago's WTMX is a good example of a station who sticks with the Hot AC format and remains of the moment.

I am not saying to imitate that station...I'm sure the markets are a bit different. I just feel that people want a good balace of music between newer, current, and older music.

Bob Walker said...

Thanks for the post! I guess newer music is a relative term. So far this month, we have added new songs from Avril Lavigne, Five For Fighting, Nickelback and the Wreckers.

We do regular music surveys to find out what people want to hear - and that helps us in adding music (there is a survey active now for INSIDERS). We also do random calling in the market to make sure we are hearing from people who are not our INSIDERS too.

In the last survey I see some songs that are starting to gain popularity with our listeners and you will hear them soon - I can' say here because I don't want the bad guys to know what we're going to add (bad guys is term that Ken the Hawk Harrelson uses to refer to any competitor - I use it in the same jest).

You are right in that imitating a station is a bad move - especially if you look at how different the Chicago market is from Milwaukee. But you are right that WTMX is a great station and I really respect Mary Ellen (my counter-part there) and everyone at the station. I think they are the best in Chicago.

Thanks again for postin!