Thursday, March 10, 2011

3.10.11 Bee-otch of the Day: Rick Snyder


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Name: Rick Snyder
Age: 53
Occupation: former chairman, Gateway Computers
Last Seen: Lansing, MI
Bee-otched For: screwing over unions

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Don't blame me, I never voted Republican in my life, and I may never will.

Right now in Michigan's capitol in Lansing, hundreds of protesters are angry over a bill that would limit the power of unions. This time, a bill is steadfastly moving through the state senate that would give the power to emergency financial managers to throw out union contracts. So in other words, if a city or business is failing and their workers are unionized, their pay will go down from $30 per hour to $8. AFL-CIO president Mark Gaffney told The Detroit Free Press that Snyder's proposed cuts would hurt schools and cities, and that it would reduce state aid.

State treasurer Andy Dillon (D) claims that state aid to districts and cities could get lower due to shrinking property values linked to jobs disappearing and people moving elsewhere.

People, don't you know? UNIONS=JOBS. The reason why jobs are leaving this state are due to multiple factors, such as free trade in countries where workers get paid a few bucks per day and jobs moving to right to work states where people are expected to make a living on $8 per hour. Sadly, this is what we get when we elect another asshole Republican in office. Instead of taxing the evil rich jerks who hoard all the money in the world, we go after what little money the middle class has.

Ya see, folks? That's what happens when we elect a rich white CEO instead of a "career politician" like Virg Bernero. If Virg were governor, he could work with Obama to return Michigan to being a state where people have money and jobs. Instead, we end up with empty storefronts, no jobs and depression. Last weekend, I was talking with my uncle in Grand Blanc who recently worked in Seattle and South Carolina. The people there were happy and the chicks were happy. Here in Michigan, the claws come out.

Sadly, the only people smiling are those with money who don't believe in raises. And as long as Snyder's our governor, that's what's happening.

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Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

3.9.11 Bee-otches of the Day: Dish Network and LIN Media


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Names: Dish Network and LIN Media
Ages: 15, 50
Occupation: media giants
Last Seen: Meridian, CO and Providence, RI
Bee-otched For: screwing over millions of viewers

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This is one of the reasons why I can be proud to be a Grand Rapidian: I have two ABC stations.
Ummmm, make that one now.

On Saturday morning, Dish Network lost the feeds of local TV stations owned by the Louisville/Indianapolis/Nashville Media Corporation when the contract to carry their programming expired. LIN's 31 stations have been affected, including Indianapolis CBS station WISH 8, Fox WLUK 11 Green Bay, ABC WTNH 8 New Haven/Hartford, CBS WIVB 4 Buffalo and CBS WPRI 12 in their homebase in Providence.

And yes, NBC WOOD-TV 8 and ABC WOTV 41 here in Grand Rapids.

Right now, Dish has plastered a title card on the affected channels with softcore porn music in the background. The graphic explains that LIN wants to charge Dish a whopping 175% increase to carry their channels and that they're not even returning their calls. However, on WOOD-TV's website (and other LIN sites as well), they explain that Dish is overexaggerating their claim because local TV stations don't charge the rates big networks charge, and that they only charge pennies per day.

This ain't the first time Dish has had disputes with their distributors. Several years ago, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central and other Viacom channels were yanked off due to a similar dispute. Last year, another dispute erupted between them and News Corp regarding the regional Fox Sports Net channels, plus FX and National Geographic Channel.

Oh, and (sadly) I have Dish, and due to circumstances beyond my control, I can't dump them. My rates went up $5 last month.

Of course, losing WOOD and WOTV's no big loss for me. Why? Because I have an antenna. I can get WOOD-TV quite easily, thank you very much. WOTV is a hassle, though, but not to worry. Dish still has WZZM-13.

Bear in mind why Grand Rapids has two ABCs. WOOD-TV signed on as WLAV 7 in 1949 and WWMT 3 (then WKZO) a year later in Kalamazoo. Both stations aired programming all the major networks since WLAV broadcasted exclusively to Grand Rapids while WKZO did the same thing to Kalamazoo. In 1951, WLAV was sold to WOOD radio's owners and it became WOOD-TV, and it moved to channel 8 to alleviate interference from WLS (WBKB)-TV Chicago. In the late 50's, both stations realized that the two towns were too close together to be their own markets, so they both moved their towers equidistant to each other. WOOD moved to Middleville while WKZO moved to Gun Lake. WOOD sided with NBC, WKZO went with CBS and both stations cherry-picked some ABC shows. However, in the early 1960's, a group of investors wanted to start an ABC station in Grand Rapids. Problem was, the only place where they could do it was on the dreaded UHF band since nearby towns such as Chicago, Lansing and Detroit took all of the available slots on the VHF band. But guess what? The nearest channel 13 to Grand Rapids at the time was WKZO owner John Fetzer's WWTV in Cadillac. So, they paid Fetzer to move 13 to 9, which boosted the station's signal further north to Traverse City and WZZM 13 was born. Problem was, there were channel 13s in Toledo and Rockford, Il, so the FCC basically told WZZM that they could broadcast on 13 as long as they were north of town. For many years, WZZM had a translator station in Kalamazoo at channel 12, weak enough to protect WJRT in Flint. In 1964, the FCC ordered all TV sets to have UHF capabilities; one reason why WZZM didn't choose to broadcast on UHF was due to the lack of TV sets with the band at the time. However, in 1971, WUHQ-TV 41 in Battle Creek debuted, serving as a defacto ABC station to Kalamazoo and parts of Lansing. Through the years, ABC has allowed both stations to broadcast their programming, mainly due to WZZM's lack of signal south of Grand Rapids. However, since both stations are must-carry on local cable per FCC rules, we get two ABCs.

Now that I've ruined most of my chances of getting laid in this town with that last, boring-ass statement, let me say this: this is nothing more than big companies fighting like a domestic dispute between parents and the kids are sitting on top of the stairs, holding a teddy bear and crying. To me, losing both stations over Dish Network ain't much, but somehow, this fight will get resolved and our rates will increase. Same 'ol shit.

No wonder why people are dumping their cable.

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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com !

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!


Tuesday, March 8, 2011

3.8.11 Bee-otch of the Day: Citadel Broadcasting


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Name: Citadel Broadcasting
Age: 27
Occupation: evil media giant
Last Seen: Las Vegas
Bee-otched For: profiting off a dead kid

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Yesterday, we gave the special (and rare) Hero of the Day to basketball hero Wes Leonard, whose 16 years on this earth ended shortly after he led his high school basketball team to a perfect season from an enlarged heart.

The inspiring story of Leonard has touched this nation, and at least for now, the Fennville Blackhawks are the America Blackhawks. They beat Lawrence, 65-54 in front of a sell-out crowd at DeVos Fieldhouse at Hope College in Holland. The 'Hawks will now face Bangor on Wednesday.

Even better news is that the game was broadcast locally on WBBL 107.3. The bad news? The game was aired on WBBL 107.3.

Leave it up to the P.T. Barnum of Grand Rapids broadcasting, Matt Hanlon to profit off of Leonard's death. After all, the game was called by Brett Muller, "Huge" Bill Simonson's sidekick. For one thing, the station's signal barely makes it to Fennville, which is in west Allegan County (Lawrence is further south). I'll betcha that he knows that people are so touched by Leonard that he could drag his crew over to Hope (and Holland's not much in their listening area, either) and use Leonard to boost WBBL's sagging ratings and revenue. After all, Huge needs to sell more Miller High Lifes and a couple more cars from Dan Pfieffer.

Ya know, I think it's sad that when he was still living, none of Wes Leonard's games aired on the radio. It's taken a tragedy like this to happen, and it's from a station whose owners are using him for ratings and financial gain. Personally, 96.1 could have been a perfect fit since their signal's better over those towns, but since Clear Channel owns that station, I would still cringe.

Local radio. Profiting off of your children since 1920.    

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Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

3.7.11 Hero of the Day: Wes Leonard



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A SPECIAL HERO OF THE DAY! 

Name: Wes Leonard
Age: deceased, was 16
Occupation: student, Fennville High School
Last Seen: in a morgue, sadly
Awarded For: being a hero to his small town

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Miami has LeBron. Phoenix has Shaq.

Fennville had Wes.

Fennville, MI, pop. 1,500 obviously is too small to support a pro-sports team. But, the town loved its basketball team. This past year, its star player, Wes Leonard, eclipsed his 1,000th point in his career. He was also a star quarterback on his school's football team, but it was definitely basketball that was his forte.

Last Thursday, it was Leonard who scored the game-winning shot as his Fennville Blackhawks basketball team won the game, ending the season without a loss: 20-0. His teammates hoisted him into the air, and celebrated. However, shortly after he was put back on the ground, he collapsed.

Doctors and EMT workers did everything they could to revive Leonard, but to no avail. Just 20 minutes later, he was dead. Doctors found out that he had an enlarged heart, which might have been hereditary.

The playoffs begin Monday, but it will be beyond difficult without Leonard. Just imagine what the Rolling Stones would be without Mick Jagger, or if Pearl Jam didn't have Eddie Vedder.
Or maybe even Nirvana sans Kurt Cobain.

Now, there's massive differences between the smelly, hairy grunge king and the clean-cut Leonard. Cobain lived a full life at 27 while Leonard lived it in 16. Cobain died in early April 1994 while Leonard was born later that year in August. I was in Grand Blanc last weekend and was listening to 89X Detroit's Timewarp show, which features alt-rock from the 70's through the 90's. The show's host, "Christine", played two songs in a row that was so ironic to this situation. At that same time, I was Twittering, asking why so many good people die young while too many bad people die old.

Those two songs: Nirvana's Unplugged rendering of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", and beforehand, "Mighty K.C." by For Squirrels, a band who lost most of their members in a bus accident shortly before the release of their first album.

True, Nirvana's members went on to better things, especially Dave Grohl, whose Foo Fighters are doing great with their latest single "Rope". But for the Blackhawks, it will be tough to win without their star. But if they win the rest of the season, Hollywood will be cranking out a couple of scripts.

The story of Leonard's death has purely touched the nation; even ESPN paid tribute to him on Sportscenter. It's proof that you don't need million-dollar contracts to bring people to the stands. It's talent.

Talent that will hugely be never seen again.

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Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!


Thursday, March 3, 2011

3.3.11 Bee-otch of the Day: Citadel Broadcasting








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-------------------

Name: Citadel Broadcasting
Age: 27
Occupation: media giant
Last Seen: Las Vegas
Bee-otched For: royally screwing over one of its former jocks
 
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During the holidays, Citadel Broadcasting did one of the most-idiotic things any company could ever do just before Christmas: fire an employee. 

And it wasn't just any employee, it was well-loved WMMQ 94.9 Lansing morning man Rich Michaels.
We wrote about how idiotic Michaels' firing was, and it's the third most-read story on our Blogspot site of all time. Michaels was canned just 10 days before the holiday despite good ratings at the Lansing classic rocker.
In his place is Kevin Matthews, whose show originates at fellow classic rocker WLAV here in Grand Rapids, with the last hour of the show co-hosted by washed-up 1990's rocker Brian Vander Ark from The Verve Pipe. 

Now, the mess between Michaels and Citadel's gonna get messy. 

Michaels has told the trade magazine All Access that Citadel and Hanlon are preventing him from making a living because he was forced to sign a one-year non-compete. "I had no choice but to sign one of those one-year non-competes, against my better judgment," said Michaels. "Now, I'm like kryptonite because nobody wants to engage litigation. And it isn't as easy as driving 60 miles away to another market because Citadel has locked up much of Michigan." 

Citadel owns radio stations in Lansing, Grand Rapids/Muskegon, Flint/Tri Cities and Detroit. Recently, it was announced that it may merge with Cumulus for $2.6 billion, which would increase its footprint to Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and Ann Arbor as well. Currently, the only rated radio market without either Citadel or Cumulus is Traverse City, whose radio stations - save for Minot, ND-based Northern Broadcast - are locally owned.
Now, Michaels has turned to his website, www.richmichaels.com for help. On there, he has released this statement: 

"Why am I not on the air?  Citadel Broadcasting  (94.9 WMMQ, 100.7 WITL, 99.1 WFMK, 97.5 Now Fm, WJIM 1240am & 730 WVFN) replaced my Lansing Show, to save money, with a simulcast Grand Rapids radio show.  President Matt Hanlon told my attorney that they, in effect, plan to destroy my ability to earn an income in my career of 30 years; to keep me off all airwaves for one year.  They understand that my returning to another radio station will vastly affect their sales.  A couple years ago as the economy was crashing, Matt Hanlon from the Grand Rapids Office forced employees to sign an outrageous non-compete of one year - or one would lose their job immediately. While doing so, they erased severance agreements which would have given some small recompense.  In effect, Citadel rewards it's top notch officers like CEO Farid Suleman and COO Judy Ellis and Grand Rapids President Matt Hanlon with hundreds of millions of dollars in money and stock options - even after a corporate bankruptcy - while they, in effect, turn their employees into slaves.  So to answer all the questions and your email as to why I am off the air - for the moment - Citadel intimidates competitors and former employees with the fear of corporate litigation in order to prevent a working man or woman from obtaining the ability to feed their children; destroying lives, forcing bankruptcies, loss of homes, etc. My case now has 2 law firms, several former judges and the State of Michigan involved.  Except I have no way to PAY them. Things are developing. Meanwhile, Citadel ITSELF is now under a hostile takeover by another broadcast company. Sorry I can't elaborate more. If this sounds like an injustice, trust that I am trying to simply return to work."
-Rich Michaels

Michaels has even posted the phone numbers and e-mail addresses to Hanlon, Suleman and Ellis:

Matt Hanlon - matt.hanlon@citcomm.com  616-774-8461
Judy Ellis - judy.ellis@citcomm.com  212-887-1664
Farid Suleman - farid.suleman@citcomm.com   212-887-1670

As for Hanlon himself, he hasn't made any comments to All Access or anybody else regarding Michaels' situation.

Ya know folks, this is why I won't work in radio. It's the mismanagement created by Suleman, Ellis and Hanlon that caused Citadel into bankruptcy. It wasn't Rich Michaels' fault since his show had loyal sponsors and was making money. But with a jerk like Hanlon running the show, that's what you get.

I've never listened to Rich Michaels' radio program, but I'm rooting for him. I root for almost anybody who's worked for Hanlon and lost, especially those willing to share their stories. I've heard a few stories and they're not nice. Even worse, I'm still pissed at the Grand Rapids "News" for painting a nice, lily white picture of him and his family. Nowhere in the article does it talk about how he screwed over people like Howard Stern, Bill Walters, Mark "The Head" Feurie, and multiple others, or how he screwed over KLQ and their listeners by canning almost everybody and replacing them with bad morning shows (ie Justice and Jim or Ron and Don) and godawful talent (ie Darren Arriens or Michael Gay - er, Grey). Instead, it's LAV's Blues on the Mall or that retarded downtown ball drop complete with shitty emo bands like Good Charlotte or those fags that did "Hey There Delilah". 

Point is, if people have an IQ of over room temperature, they should consider banning Citadel and the festivals and activities they support. Any company that pisses on somebody like Michaels, who worked in radio 30 years should suck it. I hope Hanlon and his cronies will lose big-time and will take the heat for what they're doing to their top talent.


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Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!






Wednesday, March 2, 2011

3.2.11 Bee-otch of the Day: Glenn Beck





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Name: Glenn Beck
Age: 47
Occupation: right-winged putz
Last Seen: New York
Bee-otched For: bashing Detroit
  

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Awwwwww! Did somebody poop in your Corn Flakes again, Glennie-poo? 

Once again, the right-winged nutty professor who can't live without a chalkboard has opened his mouth. This time, he bashed the city of Detroit by comparing the city to Hiroshima the day after they dropped the Atom Bomb. 

"One city embraced the free-market system and the entrepreneurial spirit; the other embraced progressive policies and corrupt government and unions and companies that weren't’t allowed to fail and they should've failed cause they stunk on ice," he said on his Fox News Channel TV show Monday. Beck claims that Detroit's Democratic leans and ass-kissing to the unions are the reason why the city has been falling apart for decades. 

Beck also ripped apart Chrysler and GM for their government bailouts which saved the companies which actually started under the aegis of President Bush. 

Detroit Mayor and legendary Piston David Bing's office released a statement to the Associated Press: "Like many national media members, Glenn Beck has probably never been to Detroit, understood Detroit, and doesn't care about Detroit. We welcome him to see and experience Detroit for himself so that he can deliver facts, rather than repeat fiction." 

Beck's radio show does not have a Detroit affiliate; its closest affiliate is WAAM 1600 Ann Arbor, whose signal hardly makes it into the Motor City. A conservative talk station in a VERY liberal city, WAAM's ratings are at a horrid 1.3 in the latest Arbitrends. However, it's worth noting that Beck might not make it into Detroit anytime soon since his radio show has lost several affiliates in the past few weeks, namely his current hometown of New York City, his former hometown of Philadelphia and (surprise) Madison. 

Ya know, I agree with Beck. Detroit ain't perfect. But'cha know? A lot of people leave Detroit and retire to northern Michigan. Ever been to Alba? Lots of dilapidated buildings downtown. Does Glenn Beck bash that city? How about Mancelona where everybody sleeps with their cousins and even that town's downtown ain't pretty, either. 

Not long ago, I saw a short film about a nice section of Detroit showing a man running an ice cream shop. His grandkids were running up and down the street. Did gang members come and snatch them? NO! The point is, the conservatives HATE Detroit because it's liberal and it's mostly black. 

Wanna know why Hiroshima's a nice city today? It's because everybody's buying Toyotas. Why? Because just before he died, FDR proposed a new Bill of Rights to maintain a middle class in America. But, he died and his bill never passed. Even more, his people went to the destroyed countries during World War II and gave those folks the rights we wanted. Now, people in England, Japan and Germany have free health care, good unions and good jobs. Toyotas sell because their cars are built to higher standards than ours. Yeah, there's those sticky gas pedals, but we're all entitled to make mistakes some time or another. Just ask the Big Three. 

I agree with the Mayor's office and maybe Glenn should go to a Red Wing game some time. Bad economy or not, they sell out Joe Louis Arena game after game. No, Auburn Hills doesn't count, even though the Pistons play there. Plus, they suck and they're looking for new owners. I've driven through Detroit on a Saturday night and I was safe. I wasn't robbed, beaten or raped, thank you much. 

Glenn Beck: another lily white guy. 
 
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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

3.1.11 Bee-otch of the Day: those killing off rock music



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Name: various
Age: various
Occupation: everything
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: killing rock 'n roll
  

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Everything I ever wanted to learn about life I learned from last Sunday's Oscars: 

*Just because you show off your hot, naked body sans vajayjay in Love and Other Drugs doesn't make you a great Oscar host.
*Randy Newman will get more paychecks from Disney.
*No CEO has gone to jail since the Great Bush Bailout of 2008.
*When you get your snatch - soon to be infested with stretch marks and ugliness thanks to pregnancy - fake munched-on by Meg Griffin, you get an Oscar.
*The Hollywood elite doesn't give a damn about the unions in Wisconsin (thank you Mike Malloy for that one).
*94-year-old stroke victim Kirk Douglas should have hosted the Oscars. Then again, it would have ended at 5 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

But most of all, the biggest lesson from last weekend's Oscars is this: 

*Don't expect a Nine Inch Nails album soon. 

Last weekend, Trent Reznor won his first Oscar alongside Atticus Ross for their scoring of the Facebook drama The Social Network. The soundtrack is like any 'Nails song: gloomy and dark, but ambient unlike many of their stronger songs. 

But that's not all. Reznor and Ross are busy scoring The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, set for release this December. Plus, the two, alongside Reznor's wife, Mariqueen Maandig are part of a new band called How to Destroy Angels. The band did release an EP last year that mostly went un-noticed. 

NIN's last album, The Slip came out in 2008 and its biggest single, "Discipline" did fairly well.

However, Reznor has said that NIN has given up touring.

Great. Trent Reznor's kicking back. Who's gonna save rock 'n roll now? 

And I do mean SAVE rock 'n roll. 

Last week on The Howard Stern Show, Baba Booey pointed out to an article in Rolling Stone that stated that no rock album made the top 25 portion of Billboard's year-end album charts. Part of the reason why is due to the lack of good rock albums or bands out, plus the fact that rock radio stations aren't doing well.
Sadly, Rolling Stone and Billboard are right. Rock was dead in 2010. The top album last year belonged to Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream. Not bad for an artist whose music attracts the Old Country Buffet crowd. Eminem's Recovery CD was #2, and he's considered alternative... 10 years ago. Also in the top 10, we saw two albums each from Taylor Swift (puke) and YEP! Justin Bieber (QUADRUPLE PUKE!). Browsing down the list, there's the fair share of country, pop, vocoder-laced hip-hop and a few modern AC artists like John Mayer, but where's the rock? Yep! There's no rock in the top 25. #30 was the ever-so-annoying Now That's What I Call Music! 32 featuring pop-punk crap from Cobra Starship and Boys Like Girls and #31 is the soundtrack to Twilight Saga: New Moon, featuring oodles of indie bands. 

So, where's the REAL rock? Who are the saviors of kick-ass, hard rockin' rock music these days? The answer is Nickelback and their Dark Horse album, which spawned hit singles such as "Something in Your Mouth", "If Today Was Your Last Day", "Shakin' Hands" and the theme song to Monday Night Raw, "Burn it to the Ground". Interestingly enough, 1) the album was released in 2008, 2) it sold five million copies less than their previous offering, 2005's All the Right Reasons and 3) Nickelback sucks. 

Going further down the list, there's Kings of Leon's Only By The Night at #50, A Thousand Suns from Linkin Park at #53, a bunch of old AC/DC songs for the Iron Man 2 soundtrack at #65 and, well, here it is.
So, who is saving rock in 2011? According to Billboard, it's a folk band who sounds Irish called Mumford and Sons. They have the top rock album in the country with Sigh No More. The top hard rock album? Bon Jovi's Greatest Hits album. 

Sadly, rock is dead right now. Part of it's due to indie rock making its waves on the internet and underground, plus the fact that loud and edgy hard rock and metal's audience is getting older while the 20-somethings are listening to either indie music or even crappy pop and country. Thankfully here in Grand Rapids, our beloved WGRD is one of the top stations in the market. When WKLQ was yanked off the air, GRD stepped up their game and won. The station is now a mainstream active rock station with splashes of Ozzy, Metallica and AC/DC. End result? They're close to the top in the Arbitron ratings. Their only competition is 101.3 The Fox, which does play more-recent rock, but mixes it in with butt rock from the 70's. That station's ratings suck.
Kinda reminds me of New York and their only new rock station, WRXP. That station's playlist is very unfocused and is all over the place, seguing Mumford and Sons into AC/DC and Bruce Springsteen into Depeche Mode. End result? 22nd place with a 2.2 rating. Not bad, but then again, the pop, Spanish and rap stations are pounding them harder in the ass than Marlin Brando on top of Maria Schneider. 

Basically put, I think people still want to rock, but the whole business model of promoting hard rock artists needs to change. Hell, I think Billboard needs to find ways to prove that rock still has an audience and to prove that an album released two years prior isn't the top hard rock album out there. Not everybody likes Taylor Swift or The Black Eyed Peas, or even Nickelback for that matter. I understand. We're still trying to recover from the great recession, but dumping a shitload of money into a skank like Ke$ha - who looks and sounds like AIDS - won't help matters. 

But as the artist whose Scream album only made it to #154 on the charts once said, "you can't kill rock 'n roll, it's here to stay". 

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