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."
Ah well, they'll have to book trips to Austin and Dallas too.
Maybe they should blame the bubble brained lead singer who keeps insulting her fan base.
I wouldn't walk to the end of my driveway to see those three witches, much less pay $50 even if it came with a limo ride packed with the Swedish women's Olympic skiing team.
Very well then.
The Dixie Chicks made fun of the president(in front of sympathetic foreign audience - that didn't take any courage at all); then Natalie Maines, the spokeswoman for the group, who has the IQ of hair, openly asks "why do we have to be patriotic?" Now these muttonheads are reaping the old whirlwind - and deservedly so.
Putzes.
What an arrogant, IGNORANT and commercially suicidal thing to say. You don't want fans who might listen to other music than yours and the kind you like?
That's like Coke saying they don't want any milk and ginger ale drinkers to buy their product.
Natalie's stupidity is spreading through the band like a disease.
I hope they keep it up with their psychotic mumbo-jumbo! Only the truly stupid buy into that tripe.
They sold 1.5 million copies of their latest CD.
I'm guessing 200-300k bought it for the sake of curiosity.
The rest were fans that don't 'get it'.
Not positive, but I don't think the girls write their own stuff. So, they're essentially a cover band, that insults their fans who liked their previous cover songs.
It's a MUCH smaller following, Martie. Amazon & Wal-mart have both cut your album price in half, too - it's under $10. Neener neener neener.
I heard on the radio the Austin concert has been moved to December because of slow ticket sales. If they are having trouble selling tickets in the Peoples republic of Austin (their hometown) they really have problems.
Well, I would, but I wouldn't enjoy it.,.........
LOL
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.
Getting there would be all the fun.
I recognize that Lamplighter Lounge At The Holiday Inn Near The Interstate sign.
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.
A country station making a rule not to play something OTHER than country. Imagine that.
I'm a country music fan. I switch off any station Radio or TV that plays them...My 10 year old Daughter loves most music and doesn't seem to understand my distaste for them..but when they come on GAC she actually changes the channel just so she doesn't have to hear my rant! LOL
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