Posted on 08/15/2006 8:31:54 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
More than 20,000 Dixie Chicks fans in Houston bought the band's latest album, the 1.5 million-selling Taking the Long Way.
That much is clear, along with the fact that the Dixie Chicks' Houston concert date was canceled.
The promoter blames the radio stations.
Initial reports cited slow ticket sales. But tickets for the Toyota Center show never went on sale.
The country radio stations credit their listeners with the cancellation and blame the Chicks for a bad attitude.
The fans will have to book trips to Dallas or Austin.
Louis Messina, president of the Messina Group, the Houston-based concert promoter that booked the Dixie Chicks' Accidents and Accusations Tour says Houston's country radio stations refused advertising dollars to promote the show.
Radio is still upset with the band's loose-lipped members — singer Natalie Maines, fiddler Martie Maguire and banjoist Emily Robison — who publicly requested a divorce from the country format earlier this year.
The trouble started in London in 2003 when Maines made critical remarks about President Bush during a show.
The group's music was banned from several mainstream country playlists, including local country stations KILT (100.3 FM) and KKBQ (92.9 FM). And the shoulder got colder this summer.
"Radio has chosen not only to not promote (the Dixie Chicks); they wouldn't even accept our advertising money," Messina says.
John Brejot, general sales manager at local country station KILT, confirmed that the station refused advertising for the show. KILT's position was that it didn't advertise bands that weren't on its playlist.
Since promoters often front the money for the band, the venue rental and other production costs, Messina says the final decision to yank Houston from the itinerary was his, and it was a financial one. Canadian cities, which make up 16 of the tour's 43 dates (some cities host two shows), were a lesser risk than the South and Midwest, where response to Maines' comments seemed hotter.
"We had 40 dates ... to promote, and ultimately we had to pick the 40 best markets," Messina says. "That's it in a nutshell."
Caroline Devine, the general manager at KKBQ, says that the Houston date was taken off the books before the station was approached about advertising it. Future advertising offers would be "addressed by request," although she says the station still doesn't play the Dixie Chicks.
Jeff Garrison, program director for KILT, blames the band for alienating fans. He says his listeners voted the group off the air.
Refusal to play the group is "not a station or (parent company) policy," says Garrison. "It's a direct dictum from the listeners."
Garrison cites an Edison Media Research national survey of 12 radio stations across the country, including KILT, which says 19 percent of listeners think radio should avoid the Dixie Chicks altogether. Fifty-one percent took offense at Maines' comment but thought the Chicks still belonged on the radio, 15 percent agreed with Maines, and 15 percent were unsure.
The real rub appears to be the Chicks' cavalier attitude about country radio. In a May issue of Time magazine, singer Tim McGraw called the dispute a "family skirmish."
"I'd rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it," Chicks fiddler Maguire said in the Time story, "who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."
KILT's Garrison cites the Time story as proof that the Chicks would rather be on adult contemporary playlists. "If (tour organizers) wanted radio promotion, they should've gone to the AC stations," he says.
The band released Taking the Long Way on May 23. It spent two weeks on top of the pop charts and is one of the year's top-selling albums.
Nielsen SoundScan reports 22,000 copies of Long Way have sold in Houston. That compares favorably to Austin (19,000), which will still host a Chicks show in December, and less favorably to Dallas, where 36,000 copies of the album have sold (it's also on the band's itinerary).
Of course, there's no guarantee that the 22,000 Houstonians who paid less than$20 for the CD will pay upward of $50 for a concert ticket. But the sales figures suggest a notable presence of fans in this area.
But the band's listenership has been split into thirds: the departed, the forgiving and the consistently supportive.
Lone Star Jukebox host Rick Heysquierdo thinks the ink is fading on the band's scarlet letter.
"I think people have forgiven them," says Heysquierdo, whose Saturday morning show airs on KPFT (90.1 FM). "I think individuals have forgiven them. (But) I think your AM ... radio is going to continue to push that hate platform."
That platform can be found elsewhere. Lee Harless, general manager of the popular north Houston dance hall Tumbleweed Texas, says DJs at the venue added an old Chicks hit to its dance mix this summer. The reaction was swift and negative, and the song was yanked before it completed.
"We did try to play them, and we dealt with the wrath," Harless says.
Caitlin Prescott considers herself a fan. She attended the band's Houston concert months after the 2003 flap and enjoyed the show, she says. But she was in it for the music, not the politics.
"It's great to live in a country where you can disagree with the government and not be killed for it," says Prescott, a Houston resident and avid country-Western dancer. "But I don't necessarily want to hear their political views, and I don't agree with their political views."
Even so, if they were playing in Houston, she might go.
"I'm not driving to Dallas to see it," Prescott says, "but if they were coming here, I would go see them."
Stupid and enormously arrogant people deserve to be dissed.
Let the equally stupid and arrogant Dems support them.
Sounds like the words of Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnel....can a similar demise be in the works for the Ditzy Chicks? ("But these banjos go to 11!")
I heard on the radio the Austin concert has been moved to December because of slow ticket sales
Your Correct, if they can't sell tickets in LIBERAL Austin, their own backyard, they are in deep (*&^%$#@!
This is another case of the old media beating a dead horse. The chicks are history. Any other celebrity dropping so far, so fast, is ignored by the media.
But the chicks criticized Bush, the US, and the ignorant fans who didn't get it (whatever "it" happens to be at the moment). That makes them old media stars, no matter what they do, say, or sing. They could release a collection of Yoko Ono orignals and the media would find them "brave," "original," and "daring."
My, my, my. Aren't we a little full of ourselves.
The Chicks could always schedule smaller venues but I doubt their egos would allow that.
If anything is uncool, it's dissing fellow performers because they have more fans. In that statement, McGuire runs down the singers in question and their fans.
When will they be releasing "Smell The Glove"?
Well, the Chicks had better get
their "act" together. That ole
clock is ticking; all three of
them are in their mid-30's, and
if they're as smart as they seem
to think they are, they must realize
not ALL country singers stand the
test of time like Wynette or Parton.
Once the looks get beyond what makeup
can overcome, it's a downhill spiral
unless you're willing to go on the
BarnDance CM-TV scene.
"I'd rather have a smaller following of really cool people who get it," Chicks fiddler Maguire said in the Time story, "who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith. We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."
They are, in the end, getting exactly what they asked for: A small following of arguably cool people who hate country music. The funny part is, the Chicks are whining about it now. This isn't about hate, its about a lack of respect for the people who supported you.
I guess its important to not ask for something and then be surprised when you get it.
The promoter might have a case then.
Clear Channel formerly owned KKBQ and was forced to divest (Cox now owns it).
KILT is owned by CBS/Viacom.
Clear Channel (through SFX, formerly PACE Concerts, formerly OWNED by Messina) had the contracts for concerts at most of the larger venues in town (Messina recently built his own venue now that he is past the "no compete" period of his sale to Clear Channel).
I see that in 2005, Clear Channel split off the concert business from the main company:
http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/005376.html
May 02, 2005Clear Channel dumps concert business
In case you missed it over the weekend, the monolith Clear Channel has spun off its concerts division and has put up a portion of its billboard business for sale.
On Friday, Clear Channel Communications announced that it is giving up ownership of Houston-based Clear Channel Entertainment, spinning it off as a separate publicly traded company no longer owned by Clear Channel. Also, Chief Executive Brian Becker has stepped down.
The San Antonio-based parent company, which also reported Friday that its profit fell by more than half in the first quarter as its plan to shorten ads and commercial breaks during programs dragged down revenue, said it was also launching an IPO for 10 percent of Clear Channel Outdoor.
I don't know who has contracts on the venues. Just checking the path to see if there was coordination between stations and venues to deny a promoter advertising.
They may be getting long in the tooth for a "young country" station...
Actually, they have done that and they did get their first sell out at the lablatt center in ontario. A capacity crowd of 9300 attended.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1682326/posts?page=36#36
May be a smart move in that if a promoter can "buy plays" of an artist, it could construe a form of payola.
Then again, the station should be prohibiting all radio ads that use artists songs (like Target, Cadillac, Coke, etc.) if they don't play those artists.
No Led Zepplin car commercials. No Sting car commercials. No Detroit Cobras Budweiser ads...
The standard of getting on the chart is easier than it has ever been, reportedly.
Johnny Cash got his first #1 debut.
You got your wish. You’ve been set free. Now fly. Fly away.
They called it juvenile racket. Rock and roll was considered immature to them. Some wanted to cut the cables all together. They booed him in concerts.
THAT is a fan base limited what kind of music you can play.
It'll be interesting to see if they swing a Houston Rodeo concert in 2007. That is one way someone with an agenda can ram an act like this into town.
People will go to the rodeo regardless of who's playing (and the band is the last thing that happens no, no more competitions after the band anymore).
Duran Duran took it more gracefully when they couldn't get played on the radio anymore.
Album sales and concert numbers don't always translate into airplay.
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