Savannah Radio "Not Ready to Play Nice" With Dixie Chicks

[sabra]

http://www.wsav.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSAV/MGArticle/SAV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137836274537&path=!frontpage

Savannah Radio "Not Ready to Play Nice" With Dixie Chicks


Not Ready to Play
You won’t be hearing The Dixie Chicks new songs on Gator 106.9. Program Director Laura Anderson says they tried playing the single "Not Ready to Play Nice" in light rotation for a couple of weeks but response from listeners was overwhelmingly negative. One Clear Channel regional vice president Steve Gramzay, described the song as showing "arrogance and disrespect." Clear Channel owns Savannah country station Kix 96.

[AX10]

1. The Chicks need to leave Country, ASAP.

They can get tons of airtime on mainstream rock/pop radio. Country is to dark and reactionary for them, and for me.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Willie Nelson. Johnny Cash. Even Merle Haggard on his better days.

Johnny Denver. Bobby Bare. We shouldn't give up Country. We need more like Natalie & the girls.

Now see what you've gone & done. I think you done provoked me into writing a little essay for GD that brings together a buncha thoughts I been having.

[WoodyTobiasJr]

20. Neko Case, Dar Williams

I guess there is some ok country music..well I guess it's more ALT-Country




Best bumper sticker I ever saw..


DISCOURAGE INBREEEDING!
BAN COUNTRY MUSIC!!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

46. I wouldn't consider Dar Williams country music

Especially her last three CDs or so.

[ProudDad]

73. Dar Williams

is FOLK Damnit!!!

She has been straight ahead folk since I saw her "coming up" in the early 90's...

Country has degenerated into 70's rock with insipid lyics...

[mac56]

22. What passes for "country" now is the worst predigested pap.

Not even worthy of the name. It's Barry Manilow with slide guitars.

I worked at a "new country" station in GA for two years. Never again.

Reminds me of what George Jones said about Garth Brooks: "He's done for country music what pantyhose did for finger-f*cking."

[sendero]

28. To be fair..

... what passes for 99% of all pop music you will hear on the radio is crap.

The hip-hop crap they play nowadays is laughably lame. I could do a typical music track in a day - they are ALL THE SAME.

"Pop" music, a la American Idol, is pointless pap. "Alternative rock" is no alternative, 90% of it sounds exactly alike with all the vocalists copying each others's style. Like movies, many bands opt to do a poor imitation of what has come before.

Thank god for the internet, where a person can seek out real music. You are not going to hear anything but shit on the radio, people with record deals are businessmen/businesswomen, not artists.

[mac56]

34. I work in radio.

I strongly disagree with your contention that "you are not going to hear anything but shit on the radio".

Some of us are trying to make things better.

[sendero]

38. I should qualify that..

...I'm in Dallas. If you like jazz, there's 88.1 KNTU. If you like classical, there's 101.1 WRR. If you like good popular music, you are shit out of luck, there is none.

[fudge stripe cookays]

39. Do what I do, dude!

Check out the lame-ass high school DJs and cheesy 70s music on KEOM!

:D

[Frank Cannon]

78. I LOVE KEOM!!! GO 88.5!!

I spent a few months in Dallas on business. I don't know how I discovered that station, but I found it on day one, and it helped me keep my sanity that summer. The awkward and fidgety teenage DJs; the righteous sounds of the Hudson Brothers, Andrea True, and KC and the Sunshine Band; the enthusiastic 1950s-ish station manager (Dr. ???? Griffin). It all adds up to what pre-corporate radio used to be: a bunch of people just making it up, using whatever technology they have available, and having fun.

[reichstag911]

56. Gee, if my favorite band, Radiohead,...

...doesn't currently have a record deal, does that mean that they can be considered "artists"...for the time being, until they sign?

[ProudDad]

74. As one who's played and listened to music

for over a half-century

On the air, it's always been 95% crap!

I can remember driving my '50 Ford convertable around for hours, pushing the radio buttons in a vain attempt to get SOMETHING worth listening to!!!

If it's "commercial", it's probably shit!

[tenshi816]

49. It wasn't WKHX "Kicks 101" was it?

I remember back in the 1980s, WKHX used to run TV ads featuring a really good-looking woman, trying (I thought) to make listening to country music a hip and sexy thing to do (I left the States in 1986 so I don't have any more recent memories of any country music stations). Seeing those ads always made me think, first, that the "adult contemporary" market the ads were obviously aimed at were not people who would switch to country music simply because a hot woman on TV invited them to and, second, that die-hard traditional country fans probably wouldn't like the watered-down country format offered by WKHX either.

I have no idea if I was right about either of my theories though.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

25. Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson. My two cents worth :-) n/t

MKJ

[movonne]

10. The people who listen to country music must be as dumb as a

rock...I know not all, but why don't they insist that they play the DC's..are the only ones that listen to it rabid neo-cons..

[saigon68]

12. Lots of rustics there

[BikeWriter]

54. Hey, lighten up! Have I called you names?

[Shakespeare]

23. No, they most certainly do NOT.

They're one of the few acts around anymore with any connection to their musical roots. They're more "real" country than a whole army of Toby Keiths; they honor and continue the bluegrass, western swing and other styles they grew up listening to, and they're damn good at it. They need to keep doing exactly what they're doing; they're in no danger of drifting into obscurity.

[susanna]

84. My opinion exactly. Well said.

They have one of the most authentic, "true country" sounds I've heard in years. I grew up listening to Hank Sr., Cash, Haggard, Jones and Kline, among others. By the late 80s, early-90s, I swore off all the "new country" as crap. Then the Dixie Chicks arrived. They were the first band in about 20 years to get me to buy country music again, and I realized it was because they sounded like home to me. I love the Chicks, and their politics are just icing on the cake. I would probably love them regardless due to talent alone.

on edit: clarity

[Raine]

29. I agree

they will be welcomed on pop/rock stations and by those listeners, I know I will welcome them. :thumbsup:

[Scairp]

37. I ordered their cd

I don't normally listen to popular country music, but in light of the way they have been treated just because Natalie Maines expressed herself, I have ordered not only the new one, but two of their other cd's as well. I am sick of these women being treated as outcasts and traitors for exercising their right to speak their mind. I urge everyone to help this new cd and the Dixie Chicks by buying the new one, even if you don't like this kind of music. You could always give it as a gift.

[ProudDad]

75. How about this

I bought the new Chicks CD at STARBUCKS!!!

I just HAD to to give them a vote of confidence for stocking the Chicks in their stores.

[blitzen]

64. since we're listing left-wing country artists, here's more than a few:

rodney crowell
jim lauderdale
greg trooper
johnny cash
willie nelson
waylon jennings
kris kristofferson
jerry jeff walker
robert earl keen, jr.
steve earle
dwight yoakum
iris dement
jack ingram
ray wylie hubbard
chip taylor
guy clark
billy joe shaver
slaid cleaves
tom russell
roseanne cash
dolly parton
john prine
lucinda williams
terry allen
tom t hall
jimmie dale gilmore
joe ely
emmylou harris
gram parsons

i could go on listing more all night...."Country music" is infinitely larger and much more progressive that the crap that comes out of Nashville and corporate-owned country-pop radio.

[reformedrepub]

70. I live in NY and I listen to

country. So I guess I'm weird to begin with. I also like to remind folks that two of the biggest country stars, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are very active Democrats and McGraw has even toyed with the idea of running for office someday. Toby Keith is also a registered Democrat and is against the war in Iraq.

[tuvor]

2. And the Chicks limped away with their tails between their legs!

Wait a minute.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/new-for-you/top-sellers/-/music/all/ref=pd_ts_h/104-7715381-5584755

(Check out number 8, too.)

ON EDIT: And number 23!!!

Take THAT, Chicks! :rofl:

[KyndCulture]

8. Oh yeah everybody is buying it to burn it, right?

:rofl:

[dkos refugee]

14. heh

It's funny how clear channel works. People need to use this to help bring clear channel down. Censorship is a horrible thing, and clear channel is a big part of the reason we're in the mess we're in.

[Bridget Burke]

58. Let ClearChannel suffer a loss of audience.

(They lost me some time ago.)

But why are you saying "bring it down"?

[meegbear]

3. A Clear Channel station not playing the Dixie Chick ...

what a surprise :eyes:.

[RobertSeattle]

4. Lots of Military in the Savannah area

Is "arrogance and disrespect" the RW talking point meme?

[NJ_Lib]

5. Clear Channel reg. VP? Bahahaha... As if...

... I believe that thousands of listeners called in to complain about the light rotation of the new Dixie Chicks song... Maybe you could have spoon-fed that garbage to us five years ago but we all know better now... And a VP should be neutral and not attack the artist as well, only deliver the "bad news"... It must suck to be you, Mr. Steve...

[artboy]

7. I wanna

here it now.............negative publicity..is a great way to promote it

[Supersedeas]

9. Media conglomeration, anyone?

[DebbieCDC]

11. It's a great song

I heard it this morning for the first time on a radio station here in Seattle. It's great, in-your-face. The Chicks rank right up there with Neil Young and (personal hero) Bruce Springsteen with speaking out against the junta.

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Anyone remember k.d. Lang?

For some reason, country fans soured on a lesbian vegetarian. The Dixie Chicks may have to follow her route and abandon country music for another genre.

[dkos refugee]

15. yeah but

did the fans sour on her? or did some rich bastard in a board room sour on her?

People don't understand that 90% of what is popular is engineered that way, and it must fit the criteria set by the corporate execs or else it will not stay popular for long. The people have almost no control over what actually is popular.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. I'm not sure that I agree with that

Once an artist builds up a folowing, they can keep that following. The Greatful dead and Phish are two examples of groups that get little ariplay were still able to have a legion of fans.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

27. I'm wondering why you didn't title your post "I love k.d. lang" instead

of saying it in the message.

Hmmmm, :think: MKJ

[Strathos]

30. Because it was a "conspiracy" to get everyone to read my post

Isn't that what you wanted me to say or wanted the reason to be?

It's called comic timing. I guess you have to have a sense of humor for it to work.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

31. Strathos, long time, no see! How's it going, you wild and crazy guy!

:toast: MKJ


edited to add..oops, I thought your post was someone else's...please forgive me.

Although, you always do like to do the "push the buttons" thing. :)

:rofl: MKJ

[Strathos]

32. kiss kiss, hug hug! I'm doing well

I'm glad you tapped into my humor and didn't get mad at me.

(In my best Joey Tribianni voice) How you doin'? ;-)

Peace and love MKJ!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

26. "For some reason country fans soured on a lesbian vegetarian" Your slip is

showing. MKJ

[VegasWolf]

16. Yes, but they will air Rush Limpballs drug induced ramblings. nt

[WoodyTobiasJr]

19. I think I'll do what I did the last time

there was a Dixie Chicks backlash. Go out and buy a bunch of their CDs

[DrZeeLit]

35. Bought it. Really good. Not just sayin' that. Has a great beat....

I'm givin' it a 93.
Okay, Dick?
Oh, Dick? Dick?
Oh, forgot... you're busy.

Never mind.

[NVMojo]

63. I bought my first copy for the same reason and found out it is good!

must buy more too!

[Pastiche423]

21. Last night on Letterman

I watched and listened to the Dixie Chicks sing Not Ready to Play Nice. It is a beautiful tune.

The last part of the song, sung by Ms. Maines gave me chills. Although I am not a country music fan, I would buy the cd, just for that song.

[americanstranger]

24. They could have at least gotten the name of the song right...

they tried playing the single "Not Ready to Play Nice"...

Umm. It's called 'Not Ready To Make Nice.'

These guys are in radio??

- as

[alphafemale]

33. Savannah Radio is bilge.

A local University (Sav State) has a station and plays some good stuff.

But the rest blow.

And what can you expect from Clear Channel, anyway?

[Rex]

36. Clear channel should know all about arrogance and disrespect.

They continue to be in business after all, despite their anti-democratic tendencies. I bet the Chinese would just love a business like Clear Channel, they fit the totalitarian bill.

[bluefish]

40. Turn on VH1

They play the video over and over!

[schrodingers_cat]

41. Try " The Long Way Around" - the song that opens the album

It's everything great about the musicianship that they embody, and speaks of them choosing the road less traveled.

Excerpt:

"I met the queen of whatever
drank with the irish and smoked with the hippies
moved with the shakers
wouldn't kiss all the asses that they told me to
no, I could never follow
no, I could never follow
it's been two long years now
since the top of the world came crashing down
and I'm getting it back on the road now
but I'm takin' the long way
takin' the long way around"

my new favorite.

MANY of the lyrics talk of the glare of reactionary anger on the part of the fans.

[fig]

68. I like 'Bitter End'

Good song and excellent lyrics about friendships lost over this stupid hysteria. They take the high road. It is a sad commentary about humanity. Lots of depth. Good stuff.

The last track, 'I Hope' is one of my favorites with a gospel flavor. There is a nice compilation of various styles on this CD.

I am proud that the progressive movement is so full of classy people who don't denigrate others in order to lift themselves up. If we keep standing together, perhaps we can change the dialog in this country. Yeah,...I know, but you must keep trying.

[Jazzgirl]

42. Fuck Savannah Radio!

[kainah]

43. "arrogance and disrespect"

YAY for the Dixie Chicks! I'm not ready to play nice, either!

[upi402]

44. Savannah is a beautiful city with a creepy neocon undertow

It's a Reichwing fundamentalists culture excepth for SCAD and the black people.

Anyhow, YAY for the Chicks. The more the turds ban art, the more popular they make it.

[HuffleClaw]

45. funny how quickly some folks are to censor

and really funny how it just HAPPENS to be a clear channel station

[last_texas_dem]

47. Ooh... "arrogance and disrespect"

And country radio just couldn't have any of that, now could it? What a stupid pronouncement on the part of this radio dude. Does he even consider the amount of "arrogance and disrespect" in the average Toby Keith song? He's had a number that are rude, mean, downright stupid, etc. I just wish these guys would cut the bullshit. When you come right down to it, it has nothing to do with the song and its tone. And I don't think it's necessarily about business; I haven't heard the goobers attempt to claim that there's no market in country music for a song by a country group from an album that is likely to be the top-selling album in the country when the next charts come out. The truth is that the assholes at country radio are still injecting their politics into their playlists and that's the bottom line here.

[tanyev]

50. Depends on who it's directed to.

Arrogance and disrespect toward "uppity" women or big-city elite = good.

Arrogance and disrespect toward the bestest president this greatest country in the world has ever, ever had = bad.

There are a few country musicians I like, but I can't stand country radio.

[Hekate]

48. I bought the CD tonight; will play it tomorrow

From everything I've heard, the Dixie Chicks are doing quite well, thank you.

Too bad about Clear Channel -- it's just one more detrimental result of media monopoly in the US.

Hekate

[Coventina]

51. Because country music is all about humility and respect

PUH-LEASE!!!

:puke:

Give me a fucking break!!

:eyes:

[Guitarman]

52. Bought it for my wife y'day!

I guess some of these country stations feel that hey need to put some more "boot in their ass" songs out there. Or maybe some lame shit like "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" WTF!!!

[ramapo]

53. Reason enough to buy the CD

I don't especially like this music but will buy it anyway

[shayes51]

83. Me, too.

[spanone]

55. The Chicks should tell country radio to shove it. Way up their asses.

[winston61]

57. If you think commercial pop music radio sucks real bad,

just tune into commercial country music radio. That shit is so bad it has to be from another planet.

[newspeak]

59. my hubby and I are old rock and roll fans

Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk, War, etc....I bought the Dixie Chicks' Home CD just to support them at the time. My hubby and I loved the CD!!!! We'll be buying this one too. Shocked, I tell you I am Shocked that we're listening to country music--all because of the Dixie Chicks. Now if Honky Tonkers for Truth would just make an album because we love "I'm Taking My Country Back."

[newspeak]

60. didn't clear channel

censor some songs after 9/11? Like John Lennon's "Imagine" and other peace songs? Clear Channel the Faux stations of radio.

[beltanefauve]

67. Yup,

and songs that they deemed, "upsetting" such as "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Shoot the Thrill", trying to tell us how to think!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

61. They play it here in OKC at the local citidel station, 98.9 KISS FM...

Of course the program director is a democrat. I know this because I'm friends with the "intern" from the afternoon show. They had a huge discussion about it on the morning show and the afternoon show, and mostly people who had no idea what was said called in and made idiots of themselves. They're playing it quite a bit. I love the fact that they are debuting at #1 even though they aren't getting a lot of airplay. That rocks.
Duckie

[lavenderdiva]

62. their new album is currently #1...

I don't think this radio channel's decision will last very long, as long as the public demands the airplay.

[blitzen]

65. "We must put an end to mad-cowboy disease"!

Larry King Live just showed a clip of Natalie saying that to a concert crowd.

[Lindacooks]

66. Their loss!

Literally.

[onager]

69. GASP! Y'all are attacking the music of Traditional Family Values!!!

All I have to do is look at some of the old traditional family cuntry songs. Because...IIRC, as the great Ferlin Husky opined: "That crap on country radio today is not country music. It's bad 1970's rock-and-roll."

Love is where you find it, when you find no love at home
And there's nothing cold as ashes, after the fire is gone...

It wasn't God who made honky-tonk angels, as you wrote in the words of your song,
Too many times married men think they're still single
That has caused many a good girl to go wrong.

Our d-i-v-o-r-c-e becomes final today,
Me and little S.O.B., will be going away...

Lord you should have seen their frantic faces,
They screamed and cried "Please put away that knife."
Now I guess I'll go to hell, or I'll rot here in this cell
But who taught who, the cold hard facts of life?

They drove to the Family Inn, she didn't even have to pretend
She didn't know what for
He went to the desk and made his request while she waited outside
He came back with the key, and she said, "Give it to me and I'll unlock the door,"
Then she said, "I've never really done this kind of thing before. Have you?"
And he said, "Yes I have, but only a time or two."
Third-rate romance, low-rent rendevous...

Then there's the great White Folks Traditional Folk Music that inspired so much of that good, wholesome modern country music:

Last time I saw Cindy, she was standing by the door,
With a great big smile on her face and her drawers on the floor...

Cindy had twin babies, born on Christmas Day,
She bashed one in with a bottle of gin,
But the other one got away.

[Cha]

71. They can

fucking cut off their collective nose to spite their ugly face.

[SideshowScott]

72. Air wave Radio as we know it is about to die a painfull death anyway.

I got Sirius Satillie and never looked back. And I hear the Chicks all the time with alerts when they play on what station and my other fave artists. Right now i feel like id rather give up my cable internet then my Sirius. With more people buying Sirius and XM tuners it will do to Radio what Cable did to TV..Hopefully it will force airwave Radio to change formats to resemble Satellite with better quality and more verity and not all pop crap. I salute all people in air wave radio who strive to make something better and different and i will still listen but right now its few and far between. Go Chicks! who needs em!

[truthisfreedom]

76. i guess that speaks volumes about the audience they attract.

heh.

[ProudDad]

77. The Chicks aren't "Country"

They play straight-ahead, kick ass rock and roll and they're GREAT singers and pickers.

They know how to hire side-people too.

The album is a GREAT rock and roll album.

[Orsino]

79. Showing "disrespect" for whom?

This is not the anti-* rant that the wingnuts fear and that we want so badly to hear in the lyrics.

"Disrespect" for country fans? Only the ones who think the sun rises and sets inside *'s rectum.

[mvd]

80. The sales are speaking for itself

We don't need them.

[IndianaGreen]

81. Clear Channel held several "Support the Troops" rallies across the US

before the war in Iraq began, all under the pretext that they supported the troops no matter the policy. We can't expect this media giant to all of the sudden change its spots.

[MessiahRp]

82. What's more arrogant and disrespectful?

Lying and sending your kids off to die for no valid reason or telling someone who wants to murder innocent American soldiers and Iraqis that he's an embarrassment to you?

Fuck Country. They're too stupid for reality anyway.

Rp

[Scout1071]

85. Fuck em. Terrestrial radio is a dying breed anyway.

Between satellite radio, IPods, car CD/MP3 players, and the Internet, their audience is shrinking by the minute.