First
up on playing catchup to the prior week, The Sego Arts Center is
making a move! The Provo art center is taking a change of venue and
will be making downtown Provo its new home. Cementing itself as a
home for alternative art in Utah County was no easy task, but Sego
pulled it off and made a name for itself in both the community and
the art scene. --- And with fresh offers from both Provo and SLC to take
up new residence, the board voted to stay in Provo to continue that
influence. But for us up north, fear not. Plans seem to be in the
works for a possible second location in Salt Lake County.
This
week brought some sad news too as Portia announced her departure from
Simmons Media, thereby ending her weekend shift and probably putting
the kibosh on Live & Local on X96. This all coming off the news
that Simmons is going through another round of cutbacks which
apparently includes all of X96’s weekenders and Andypants on
overnights. I gotta be honest with you… this hurts, both as a
broadcaster and as a fan. Whether you liked the show or not, Portia
made one hell of a difference on the air! She gave local bands an
opportunity to get airplay on what’s considered a mainstream
station in Utah. A station I might add that stopped playing local
music in 1994 to play more national alternative music and only
started up again a decade later when local bands were becoming
“popular once more.” Whatever that statement means. When
Portia took control of the show she developed it to be more
listener-relatable, bringing in locals to play on air and to a degree
gave the audience some control over the playlist by taking requests
and music from bands. She earned public recognition and admiration,
shown later by City Weekly awards she won for her work, and became a public face for all things local in both music and the art scene. If
anything, she brought back some of the appeal that place had from
back in the days when it was running out of Arrow Press Square, and
is one of the people I can honestly say gives a damn about local
music. So to lose her and the show from X96 is a cost that can’t be
measured.
With that said… I feel I need to voice something.
I’ve had a long love/hate relationship with both X96 and Simmons
Media as a fan. I grew up on KJQ as a kid, X96 as a teen, and somehow
managed to become friends with a lot of the staff and on-air talent.
Surreal fond memories of chatting music with Cuzzin Brad, sitting in
studio with Seanboy Walton, and having long discussions about
broadcasting with Todd and Artie before I even got a job in radio.
But the Simmons Media buyout changed all that, and being a fan of X96
became a give-and-take situation. You’d enjoy something they did,
and absolutely hate the next three things. The content changed
drastically to more nu-metal and then emo music, playing the same
song every thirty minutes and giving no room for other
alternative-like music to gain airplay. Commercial breaks were
increased to the FCC allowable limit, talent was let go for automated
convenience, and the BASh became an overpriced snooze (or at least
that’s what I’ve been told… I stopped going after
2003).
There’s about a dozen other reasons that I’m sure
most of you who say you don’t listen to mainstream radio anymore
will agree with, so let’s cut to the chase. I still listen to Radio
From Hell and Todd Nuke’Em on occasion, but the majority of the
music has become what Radiohead’s Thom Yorke once described as
“refrigerator noise.” Just something in the background to take up
the space and not really pay attention to. When it comes right down
to the musical content, Portia’s show was about the only safe-haven
on the entire station (which I might add… Sunday night is the most
ridiculous time to allow locals on the air), but now it’s gone.
And anyone who could have taken up her spot and made some kind of
effort to keep it going (like the also sadly departed Jon Paxton who
was released last week) are gone or on their way out the door as we
speak. The corporate entity of Simmons (who can only claim to
be local because their main offices are sitting in Trolley Corners)
look to be slowly turning this once grand destination into nothing
more than an auto-run entity that plays nothing but crybaby-rock.
Making the top morning show in this city the last remaining marker
that defines them apart from being just another pre-programmed spot
on the dial.
I’m not going to go off on a tangent about how
corporate rock doesn’t sell well anymore, and stations who don’t
give airplay to local music for it are basically declaring that they
don’t want a dedicated portion of the audience. Clearly very few in
radio listen, and I’m sure no one in Simmons corporate gives a damn
what I believe. So let’s move on and let Alan rot in the hole he’s
dug the station into. I’d rather spend my time listening to
Portia's new shift over at UtahFM (that she picked up just a few days
later) where she'll finally be able to play and say whatever she
feels like to an audience that wants to listen. Her new show
kicks off Monday afternoon from 3-6PM. If you're a local band, drop
by the station and say hi to her, and drop off your CD!
Moving onto my junk, I'll have new interviews the next few
weeks and an updated calendar for the rest of May, not to mention
some of the upcoming festivals that will dominate the next month or
so and setting plans made for more concert coverage. As always, we'll
see what happens.