Pittsburgh is "In" According to Wash Post (Taylor: stations, deal)

[raubre]

Originally Posted by Faer

If you were "in", you'd know that being "in" is so out these days.

So basically Pittsburgh really isn't in. Heck I knew that.

[PreservationPioneer]

I always liked Pittsburgh because it wasn't "in" or hip or trendy. I hate being a conformist, and now I feel like one. I just want everyone to know that I moved here before it was cool. If this keeps up, I'll move to Youngstown. lol

[nuwaver88]

Devo - Through Being Cool - YouTube

[Scott2187]

Originally Posted by raubre

I wish I was more optimistic about it, but the big corporate radio stations around here refuses to update thier playlists. Therefore the support is not here.

Look atr Radiohead. They are huge, but when was the last time they played Pittsburgh? They opened for Alanis Morrisette at Star Lake in the mid 90s. The only stations that play both bands are pretty much college radio and WYEP. None of those stations have enough money to help promote either band to perfome here.

Face it Arcade Fire won't come because they are still pretty much unknown here. Promoters would rather book Brett Michaels (been here three times this year, four last year, with and without Poison), Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kenney Chesney or Jimmy Buffet.

I emailed Opus One Productions once and they said that they wish they can get bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT or Band of Horses here, they told me that it's too much of a risk to book those kind of bands here because they are pretty much unknown here (including Arcade Fire, Muse, Mumford or Florence.)

I didn't hear of most of these bands until I got satelite radio and started listening to Alt Nation. It'd be nice if the local radio stations played more of this music, but I guess Nickelback takes priority over good music.

Last year, a few friends and I were tossing around the idea of going to London to see Muse. Would have been a nice trip.

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

Hell, I got to see Dimmu Borgir and Mindless Self Indulgence here in Pittsburgh, how hard could it be to get some nobodies to come play somewhere like Mr Smalls?

[raubre]

Originally Posted by Scott2187

I didn't hear of most of these bands until I got satelite radio and started listening to Alt Nation. It'd be nice if the local radio stations played more of this music, but I guess Nickelback takes priority over good music.

Last year, a few friends and I were tossing around the idea of going to London to see Muse. Would have been a nice trip.

ITA. I think that's where the situation gets sticky. Local promoters can't rely on Sirius radio to promote local shows, because Sirius' audience covers the entire country. Local promoters have to rely on local radio stations to help promote the shows.

Does Sirius Radio have ratings for localized markets?

[greg42]

I don't know if they do. Sirius is hardly the only game anymore either, though. I have Muse as part of the makeup of my heavily used Pandora station, and I get MGMT, Band of Horses, Arcade Fire, etc. on there regularly. In other words, Pandora is yet another way people are hearing these bands, but there may not be a localized way to measure that either.

Starting up a traditional radio station to play this stuff probably wouldn't make financial sense. But that doesn't mean there's no market for it. I'm not buying the "not known here" BS. How with such a huge college student and other tech-savvy population could they not be known here?

[BrianTH]

By the time the Post says you are in, you are back out.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by MeinGlanzendMotorrad

Hell, I got to see Dimmu Borgir and Mindless Self Indulgence here in Pittsburgh, how hard could it be to get some nobodies to come play somewhere like Mr Smalls?

Well, some of the nobodys like Mumford and Arcade Fire are actually headlining places bigger than Mr. Smalls nowadays.

[raubre]

Originally Posted by greg42

I'm not buying the "not known here" BS. How with such a huge college student and other tech-savvy population could they not be known here?

I think it's because the older population is bigger than the college student population. Plenty of students still don't stay in Pittsburgh (not none have stayed)