Voyage of the Dixie Chicks (Free Republic mentioned)

Montreal Gazette ^ | Thursday, September 14, 2006 | Katherine Monk

[Ole Okie]

Never got my "form letter" and FR is far larger than 30K members.

I've been a member since 1998, and Jim didn't send me a form letter.

Waaaah!

[Sloth]

According to the research done by Kopple and the Chicks themselves, the Free Republic sent out form letters to their 30,000-thick subscription list with market-specific information

LOL

[BraveMan]

Hey, I'd forgotten about this!

Thanks Jim, for sending me those stamped, pre-addressed forms for the Milwaukee area radio stations. They worked great.

I thought the six color print on glossy bond paper with gilded edges was a bit much, but what do I know? The Karl Rove commemorative stamps were a nice touch . . .

[prairiebreeze]

ping to link in post 72 and thread

[incredulous joe]

I'm fairly certain such collateral was never distributed - but of course I am wearing my 5 mil, tin-foil Freeper cap, as I type.

[prairiebreeze]

Hey Dicks:

We did it to Dan Rather and we CAN do it to you.

LOL

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

That's some journalist who doesn't even mention that the letter was sent only to those with the special secret whiz bang FR decoder rings. /sarcasm.

I didn't get mine either but if it makes us look more powerful than we are then I'll play along.

Somebody tell these stupid strumpets that if real censorship happened, we wouldn't be hearing any of this from them. We would also lead the fight against it, but as leftists they don't care about truth.

[EdReform]

???? Still waiting for mine.

Same here

[SkyPilot]

The result is Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing! - one of the hottest documentary titles of this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

Even the title of this "documentary" is ripped off and plagiarized from Laura Ingraham's book.

What? They didn't think anyone would notice?

What a bunch of talentless jerks these "women" are.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

... it turned Natalie into two, maybe three women...

[tioga]

We can take the credit for the chicks demise, but I think it was bigger than FR. I think the source of their woes is natalie's big mouth. But, hey, why complain about great publicity.

[prairiebreeze]

Oh egads! That pix of Maines is enough to make one lose their breakfast.

[batter]

At least SkyPilot also put up Ingraham. Maybe we need a Coulter pic at this point too?

[The peoples DJ]

Let me tell you, here in WV, at the station complex I work for, the day after she said that we got flooded. Calls, emails, you name it. And quite frankly we (station management) didn't like it either. So...out of rotation they go. And they haven't returned yet and never will. And I personally had my say. Pack up all their stuff we had, sent it back to their label with a note.

"Since your artist wants to be critical about the current President, we can be critical about your artist. They suck and thier music sucks. We will have nothing more to do with them. Thank you and have a good day."

Yes. I used the word "suck". May not have been the best word to use, but it is the truth. I mean come on. Goodbye Earl? If some male would re-cut that song as Goodbye Pearl, NOW and that whole lot would be all over the artist.

[EdReform]

Spot on. Well said.

[Pharmboy]

Paraphrasing Yogi: "If people won't go to Dixie Chicks' concerts, you can't stop 'em."

[Common Tator]

Well that was done to stop payola. If the D.J. can't pick the records he plays, there is nothing to be gained by giving the D.J money.

Large market radio stations hire people to conduct focus groups to tell them what people want to hear. They bring in several groups in the town were the station is located and play songs for them. The reactions by age group, disposable income, and other factors are noted.

Smaller market radio stations can't afford the expense of dedicated focus groups. So there are companies that do focus groups for a number of stations.

Then there are companies that report on every record played by the big market stations. If you can't afford to do focus groups you can get the play list of stations that do.

Some stations will buy the focus groups but also buy the play lists of competitors as well as those of other big markets.

In the end it is the result of the focus groups that count... with two exceptions. If a station gets a ton of legitimate male for a record or against a record it will be added or removed from the play list.

But NO station will pay any attention to form letters. If they did all it would take to make the play list or be removed from a play list was for some individual to buy a ton of form letters,sign em and send them in.

But mail just reinforces the focus groups. I have never heard of a case where the FOCUS GROUPS said one thing and the MAIL said another. It just does not happen.

[RichInOC]

Okay, I never got letters from you guys. I feel deprived.

[KeepUSfree]

""It turned us into women," says Natalie Maines," Whore is more likely the case."

That would be posts such as this...

And, then, of course, the:

"Which ones would those be genius? Seems to me you're the only one doing what you accuse a couple of dozen FReepers of doing. What a whiner".

used in your post....pretty much sums up the "agree with me or we'll call you names" of every good DU'er.

But, I'll take the "genius" part. That one, at least is accurate.

[raygun]

I guess back when Linda Rondstadt got kicked out of her hotel for her anti-Bush remarks during one of her concerts. And then shortly thereafter all her gigs dried up? Wasn't there somebody else too? We are so mean aren't we?