Why the WPGU/Buzz Local Music Awards Need To Go
I have to state it, for the record: I think WPGU (107.1 FM) is the best commercial radio station in Illinois. No sarcasm here. I promise.
The station’s playlist engages me, every time I listen in. After all, WPGU’s Music Director, Mat Brown, added “Living Through Another Cuba” by XTC this year, and for that, I am eternally impressed and grateful.
But that doesn’t mean they are off the hook.
The WPGU/Buzz Local Music Awards are here again, and in my humble opinion, this charade is actually a bad thing for the music scene: the musicians, the venues, the promoters, the audience — everyone.
WPGU hasn’t proven to the community that they are really worthy of presenting an awards show. Given how the nominees are selected and the way in which the awards’ winners are chosen, this type of event and campaign does nothing but divide the bands and dilute the strength of Champaign-Urbana’s music scene.
The nominees were announced on Monday, and while I am amazed by the diversity of talent and the wealth of resources in this scene, I can’t help but feel a deep sense of wonderment as to why and how an event like this takes place, especially sponsored by a radio station that doesn’t seem to have much understanding of what it means to actively engage the live music scene in this community.
The Local Music Awards are an easy way for Illini Media Company to pretend to care. The awards are a fabulous tool to get people to pay attention to them as well. After all, they have the media at their finger tips. They are the media. But for a station that won’t hardly promote or sponsor live music shows unless dollars are attached to the deal, it’s incredulous and mysterious that they would choose to use the local and not-so-local bands from this town to further promote themselves without considering how the event might be considered demeaning.
WPGU too often ignores the live music scene in Champaign-Urbana simply because the scene is not economically equipped to afford their advertising prices. In the end, for some reason, they are hung up on pretty much only promoting events that people have paid for them to promote.
Why can’t it work another way? It can. Allow me to make a suggestion:
Dear WPGU,
I suggest you choose at least one show a week to promote at a rotating cast of venues. Whether it’s a touring artist or simply a good local show, go out of your way to promote it. Do it with your Ticket Tuesday promotion, but also have your DJs mention the event as often as possible. Increase the airplay of the artists performing that week, pump it up with live-reads (which is the DJ simply talking about the show) and pre-record promos to drop in with paid advertisements. Park the van in front of the venue, give away a Frisbee, flirt with show-goers, make your own flyers – that sort of thing.
Click through openingbands.com and websites for Highdive, The Canopy Club, The Iron Post, Courtyard Café, Aroma, Mike ‘N Molly’s, Krannert Center, Independent Media Center and all the other venues around town. Talk to the owners, talent buyers and bands who put on shows. Choose these shows based on what you want to promote, and not based on what they pay you to promote.
After all, you’re a radio station. It would be in your best interest to actively seek out live music shows to promote yourself to a music-listening audience.
Sincerely,
Seth Fein
Listen. WPGU is not some demonic and horrible organization that is out to get the local music scene. No one is twisting their Machiavellian moustache in an effort to dismantle the things that people work hard to preserve and maintain. It seems, however, there are a lot of people at the station with great ideas that are being stifled by the sales and advertising departments.
But these Local Music Awards and the show that accompanies them? They have to go. And not just because I think the station makes a mistake every time they choose to ignore all of the great shows going on in town. That would be close minded.
The Awards need to go because they pit bands against bands in a Myspace-style popularity contest that divides rather than unites. It’s a cleverly disguised promotion for WPGU, bought by advertisers, and served up to you, the consumer, with almost total disregard for the musicians who work so diligently to make this music scene into something real, and of worth to us all.
Why is it so difficult for the station to see live music shows as a great place to promote themselves? Why do they need to be bought in order for them to properly engage in an event? Why are they so insistent on the idea that a live music show can be sold commercially, the way that Arby’s promotes a fish sandwich or a tanning salon tries to sell manufactured UV rays? Why is it so hard for them to believe in the idea that a partnership with the venues and bands in town might go a long way to get those sagging ratings back up? Why can’t this be one big media trade?
But above all, why does WPGU host an event that divides the very community that it seeks to unite?
It’s beyond me.
17 comments
James Treichler
Well put! WPGU is a great station. The local awards show is a fun idea, but, your right…if more of the muscle of WPGU went into packing the venues, this town could maybe bridge the massive divide between local music and the 30,000 potential student listeners. Too optimistic, who knows…?
Doug Hoepker
I’m not, nor have I ever been, a local musician, so I won’t pretend to know a thing about whether this awards show is demeaning to those fine peeps. However, as someone who ran the local music coverage for The Octopus/CU Cityview, I will chime in to say that I’ve long wished that PGU would show a commitment to the local music scene. To be successful, a music scene needs a synergy to exist between all elements of the media—print, online, and radio—as well as the venues and promoters. When I was cramming local music coverage into the paper several years ago, I longed for PGU to step up its coverage of the local scene so that artists and the general public could both benefit from such additional coverage. I wanted that synergy to exist, and I was continually disappointed by the radio station’s lack of commitment to bettering its local music coverage. (I will give some props to WEFT, which did and does a better job with fewer resources.)
The problem here is that we all want PGU to be something it is not—a KEXP or WOXY styled platform for great music and insightful commentary. Instead, PGU is staffed and to a degree run by a group of students that is constantly turning over. That makes consistency and coherency in programming a tall task to deliver. And let’s be honest, many of those students simply aren’t that knowledgeable or passionate about music. They are on the air to get training, and many of them will go on to work for corporate commercial stations.
We just need to lower our expectations and except the station’s limitations, because those limitations will always be inherent to PGU given the nature of its staffing model.
It’s worth noting, however, that PGU has had some excellent DJs and station directors over the years. Liz, Alex, and a few others did a great job in their short time there in turning PGU into a CMJ-playlist station, while also attempting to carve out a large niche for local artists. And while the jury is out for current boss Mat Brown in his new role, I will say that he programmed the best Flashback Cafe ever, truly giving listeners a worthy ALTERNATIVE flashback each and every day. Compare his work last semester to the current flashback DJ, who clearly would rather be DJing for the classic rock station, and you see the problem with PGU in a nutshell: inconsistency.
rgriscom
I think the comments here make good points, and I really appreciate Seth’s (much missed) controversial writing. PGU may seems like it has a lot of money, but it really doesn’t. I remember Becky Brothman said the last time PGU wasn’t in the red was sometime in the 80’s. Most of the kids there don’t really care much about this town or supporting its community - they’ll be gone too soon to become a part of it, anyway. There is always…some….hope, though.
While I have never attended any of the “award ceremonies”, I get the feeling that they are just attempting to be a local Grammies, complete with the undeserved hype and the awkward speeches. The Grammies are not based off a community, however. They are based off an industry that, like any industry, enjoys making as much money as possible. The show doesn’t really benefit any of the winners, and should be unnecessary if they just highlight the artists’ normal performances instead of waiting for their own show to hype them.
Perhaps local artists should pursue more involvement with PGU - interviews, live sessions, etc. Bookers can hook traveling artists up with the station to do the same. We all agree that there is some value to PGU, so I think it’s our responsibility to help it as well as criticize it.
I think James is right: We need to make them aware that there is an active scene to care about.
local yokal
well said. some people celebrate local music more than 1 night a year.
word.
AMS
Right on, Seth.
F. W.
Maybe you should consider supporting the local music scene as well by paying the artists that you’re trying and transparently trying to get others to promote. It’s the artists that really get the shaft here…and talk about dividing the bands…what about your recent “Vs.“ show pitting local bands against each other and then paying them radically different and pathetic amounts of money? Something to think about.
F.W.
I appreciate those concerns very much - and I know that it’s hard to understand how bands get paid when you are on the outside looking in. Fortunately, I have been on both ends, so, I know a little bit about both sides. I am not too sure what you are referring to regarding trying to “get others to promote”, so I will just address your concerns with my “versus” shows last December.
The “Fall Semester Showdown” series were not competition in any way. That was just a kitschy promotional thing that my graphic designer and I came up with to have some fun. All the bands were made perfectly aware of this.
As for an unequal distribution of money, well, that’s just part of being an opener, or simply not drawing as many heads as the next band. We poll the door at certain shows in order to get an accurate count of how much to pay each band. One thing is for certain: The Canopy Club always tries to pay each band something.
If you think someone was paid a pathetic amount of money, I am sure there is a fair and justifiable reason for that. Feel free to email me personally.I hope this helps make some more sense of that particular scenario.
Best, s
Sniff This
Seth Fein sez…
The “Fall Semester Showdown” series were not competition in any way. That was just a kitschy promotional thing that my graphic designer and I came up with to have some fun.
hmmm… that’s all the LMAs are… a kitschy promotional thing… yet they are ripped and lambasted because they’re supposedly only done to make money for WPGU/Buzz.
BUT what was the fall semester showdown put together for really? FUN??? maybe, but that was secondary for sure. MONEY FOR CANOPY CLUB? aha! the primary goal and motivation!
Ah Ward…
Big differences between our event and WPGU’s event:
- no actual competition between bands.
- no voting popularity style process
- no awards handed out
- ours was merely symbolical of boxing
- theirs is an ACTUAL grammy-style awards ceremony!
But, I think you are still missing the point, here. The argument I am presenting has less to do with the event and concept than it does with the fact that WPGU doesn’t really spread much love to the local and live music scene throughout the year. Why do you think bands like The Beauty Shop, Elsinore, The Living Blue and others are asking to be removed from the competition?
That is the inherent problem. The Canopy Club seeks to provide local bands with a stage week in and week out - 51 a year to be exact - and do it nt because we can sustain off local bands - but because we believe in an active local music scene in order to help drive agents and bands to WANT to put Champaign on their tour schedule.
Of course - we ALL do things to make money. And there is nothing wrong with WPGU trying to meet their bottom line.
That has nothing to do with it.
Sniff This
seth seth… the differences are subtle. name one band taking the LMAs seriously and “competing” with other bands? yes a silly little trophy in a FAUX Grammys style setting. IN THE NAME OF FUN. a kitschy promotional thing.
sorry for confusing SP’s opinion piece with the similar whining and crying on openingbands… where WPGU is making money at the expense of local bands’ art (paraphrasing).
why did those bands all pull out? because they’re all older and well-known/well-liked and in no real need of the “new” exposure wpgu might give them. i would hope they’d also pull out of any future “Band Jam"s that are done on a straight student voting process.
doug, i liked your post, in particular the comment… We just need to lower our expectations and accept the station’s limitations, because those limitations will always be inherent to PGU given the nature of its staffing model.
wpgu and the buzz and any other radio or newspaper “SUSTAIN” themselves 52 weeks a year via advertising. why did the Hub and The Octopus etc go out of business? i’d guess that their expenses exceeded ad dollars.
yet you chastise wpgu and the buzz for not being more charitable or “spreading more love”...sponsoring shows just for the hell of it. why doesn’t canopy or highdive or other clubs have more free shows or offer free beer at times (aside from the legal standpoint)? cuz it is NOT PROFITABLE (read… LOSES them money)
you’ve sucked me in again… but now i’m out (like gout, audi like curt gowdy). peace :)
PS. so much for “anonymous” posting on SP! have you sold my email address to anyone yet? i sure could use a larger penis. or another credit card with 0% APR for 12 months.
John Hoeffleur
So I think the point about this event creating rifts is pretty well demonstrated at this point.
If one has an objection, they’re a whiner?
Laissez-Faire FTW!
local
First and foremost I will state that I am a member of the WPGU staff and although I try to be open minded my opinions might be a little biased. The original post is started by stating that WPGU is the best commercial station in Illinois but then criticized for being exactly that, a commercial station. I’m sure you know but WPGU is completely independent from U of I so they need to commercially raise their entire budget to run a radio station. Like any other business it comes down to numbers but unlike many other commercial stations they do care about the community and the local music scene. You say WPGU doesn’t support local music but I can guarantee they play local music within every hour of programming as well as bringing in local bands to interview and play live.
I agree that perhaps raising competition within the scene and turning it into a popularity contest may not be the best way but wouldn’t the same feelings arise if a knowledgeable diverse committee picked the winners. I think a Local Music Showcase or even multiple Showcases a year might be a better idea but for now the awards are what happening.
Think about it like this though, to raise money WPGU could sell more commercials and have more commercials and less music on air or they could have a community event like the LMA’s where local musicians can be heard and awarded and students and permanent residents alike can come out and enjoy not just one local band but many in multiple genres.
I am not saying WPGU is perfect and I am aware that more could be done for the local scene but I can guarantee that if any local acts approached the station about coming in for an interview and playing live or trading tickets to be given away in ticket tuesdays for commercial time they would be accepted with open arms. Everyone knows the station is student run and therefor has high turnover but everyone there does care about the station, local music, and music in general. There is a shared passion for music by all sides of the staff. I think it is very unfair to say the sales and advertising staff limit others ideas and passions. They are the people responsible for turning these ideas into actuality. Often by finding someone to sponsor an idea it will be given the greenlight. Would WPGU have any specialty shows if they could not get sponsored… probably not.
Compared to my experiences with other stations in Champaign and other markets I think WPGU does an above average job of exposing listeners to local music as well as other forms of underrepresented music. Could they do more? Of course. Is it unfair to harshly criticize for what they are doing… exposing listeners to local music as well as other underrepresented alternative acts while still being a commercial station? No, not in my opinion.
John
The LMA are a competition, they were designed as a promotional tool to make money and they are used by WPGU, The Buzz and www.the217.com to gain exposure to a target market (local music fans and college students). If you don’t realize this you are being naive.
Now, with that out of the way, lets look at the good things it does for local music. It creates a situation that allows local bands/artists/songwriters the chance to gain new fans and get their name out to the local community even more. This is priceless and any artist involved in the LMA should feel proud to have that opportunity and the free publicity.
Who cares that it is a competition? If you don’t believe that every single local band is competing against each on a daily basis (who has more fans, who is playing the bigger shows, who is getting more publicity, who is getting a name for themselves outside of CU, who has the most myspace friends) then you are worse then naive - you are a fool. They are all competing tooth and nail.
John
As for the seemingly patriotic rant about needing to save the scene - Seth Fein plays favorites in the local community and for years has done everything he can to single handedly control the booking of local bands. He makes money off of them. I am not angry about that, its a lucrative business, and he is still doing the local bands a favor by giving them the chance to play shows. At the same time though, he has a near monopoly on booking and as such has treated more than a few bands poorly without much of a second thought.
Lastly, claiming to be FOR the local scene and booking a competing show RIGHT NEXT DOOR to where the LMA’s are being held on the same night at the same time is just being an asshole. You are taking away from what should be a fun night for a lot of bands and for the local music community. You are creating competition among the local bands and fans (when that is what you are made about in the first place).
Can you honestly admit that you won’t be making a single red cent from your “charity” show? If you can, good for you, but if you can’t then you shouldn’t be speaking out so loudly about the business side of the LMA’s.
On a side note, calling Ward out by name in a comment section of the article that you wrote in a small online publication when he wanted to post anonymously was a childish thing to do. Ward has done great things for the music community, and arguably done them in a more respectable and fair manner for everyone involved then you have.
Hmmm….
Not really sure where to begin on this one. Too much to type really. I will try to be concise on this one.
First Post:
1. Yes - it’s a competition. But, my biggest gripe is simply that WPGU could be doing so much more - and have already begun to since a variety of people, not just me, have voiced some concern about the reality of hosting LMAs.
2. I know a thing or two about bands competing against each other in a music scene. Played in one for nine years.
3. Calling me naive is not a good argument, my friend. You may disagree, but don’t call me uninformed. THAT is naive.
Next Post:
1. I do play favorites. It’s called having certain tastes in music, and booking artists who draw people into the door. Sorry for being a human being, dude. I can’t be everything to every band. No one wants that anyway. Just one guy puttin’ on some shows SOME times. That’s all.
2. I am not the only person who booked the “anti-LMA” show. It was a couple of us - and if the intention is to raise awareness about Local Music, I think we did a good job of putting on some bands with solid draws next door. If anything, our show will help increase the attendance at the awards. So, not sure why you’d think that was a negative thing. It was an awareness thing, homie.
3. Yes, I can honestly admit that I won’t make a red cent. My charity will be going to benefit ABC Counseling, a not-for-profit that counsels sexually abused children. And the day before my wedding, we’re throwing another charity event to raise awareness about Hepatitis C.
4. I know this might be hard for you to imagine, John, but there are many many many circumstances where I don’t walk away with a dime from shows. Especially local shows. Sure, if a show does through the roof, I will collect a fee, but often times I am more interested in paying the artists, especially the touring artists. After all, if no bands ever came from out of town to perform, we’d have a pretty boring scene, eh?
And for the record, I don’t do “trade” shows. So, I don’t make any money off the back end in some other town. The bands I represent are not really able to work “trade shows”. They are a little beyond that. Not bragging, just shooting straight.
5. I am employed by The Canopy Club, and I make a modest salary as a part-time promoter, wake up a 6:00am four days a week to get a jump on paper work and building contacts for The Nicodemus Agency (remember - no trades shows!), and do my best to make Pygmalion Music Festival an affordable and exciting part of the cultural fabric in Champaign. I am not going to apologize for making a modest living by trying to enrich the local and live music scenes in town. If you can’t understand that - well, I can’t help you. What do you do for a living, John?
6. As for my having a monopoly on this scene - well, that’s just your perception. And a very short-sighted one at that. Often times, I can’t help the bands who email me, and so, I have a list of other promoters in town who I pass along to bands and agents looking for shows.
Ready?
Mike Ingram – Amnesiac Booking - mike.ingram@gmail.com
Ward Gollings – The Highdive - wardgollings@insightbb.com
Tommy Griscom – Independent Media Center - rgriscom@gmail.com
Paul Wirth – The Iron Post - the_iron_post@yahoo.com
Travis Wayne Hurt – Independent Promoter - twhurt@gmail.com
Zach Benkowski – The Courtyard Café - zbenkow2@uiuc.edu
Pat Elifritz – The Error House - patelifritz@gmail.com
Joanna Troutman – Independent Promoter – joannatroutman@gmail.com
All of these people put on shows. And I doubt that they would care that I am publishing their emails. They WANT to put on shows, dude. And they put on shows with the same bands that I put on shows with locally.
The difference is that we (Ward and me and my cohorts at The Canopy) actually RISK money on bands booked by AGENTS, and bring them into town hoping that we sell enough tickets to A. Pay the bands their guarantee, B. Pay for production and hospitality and THEN C. Pay ourselves a 15% promoter profit.
John - let me say this as clear as I can: It’s not rocket science. You can do it too. Email Billions, High Road, Ground Control, Bigshot, Fleet Team etc etc - and ask to book your favorite band. Trust me, if you are willing to put up the money - you too can book your own shows. It’s a matter of whether or not you WANT to do it. The Highdive, Mike N Molly’s, The Iron Post, The IMC - all of them are open rooms. So, I am not sure where you get this idea that I have a “monopoly”.
If you would like to know more about the reality of the job that I do, feel free to email me. Would be glad to get a beer or a coffee and sit down and let you in on why I speak the way I do about these things.
Oh, and another thing: Ward and I are cousins. Like, for real. I didn’t mean to call him out. I thought his name would show up. He and I are all good. He just RSVPed to my wedding.
Much love.
ryan
i think everyone is missing the point here: THE LMA’S WERE SO FUCKING HYSTERICAL
1) presenters getting introduced to the “podium”
2) people getting nervous to present awards and having their lips visibly quiver while yapping nonsense about bands they know nothing about
3) third parties delivering the “winner” envelope to the podium
4) people actually GIVING ACCEPTANCE SPEECHES
5) listening/watching a bunch of terribly un-funny pgu inside jokes/culture
6) endless self-aggrandizing and ego-stroking
7) a certain performance so wrought with insincerity (that went seemingly unnoticed by slews of girls in low cut shirts loaded on vodka-crans)
i laughed throughout the entire evening. seriously one of the more (unintentionally) funny events i’ve been to in a long time.
buut corn desert ramblers are killer. and jon childers was wasted presenting an award, and swore way too much = intentionally funny.
seth, you and i would have had a great time at the “awards”
Wow, can we flag comment#17 from BergChristy “lowest rate loans.com” as SPAM? Now my 2 cents… I support the local “scene” by selectively spending my limited hard earned bucks to hear the occasional band. I would not attend LMA regardless of ticket price, venue, acts playing, etc. simply for the fact that it is jokey and hokey and always will be no matter how PGU tries to “Re-Boot”. We can really only vote with our wallets, I guess. I am very appreciative of all the local guys and gals that put in the effort to make shows happen that are free, cheap, or for charity, since these are in my budget. I laughed at the comments Re: “competing show RIGHT NEXT DOOR” cuz, well come on, we are blessed to have so many options for musical entertainment in all our various venues on any given weekday or weekend, school in or school out. Lets act like adults and leave the pepper spray out of it this year. Peace.
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