Music and the Turin Games

I feel like it is getting to that point in the year when the schools I still have not heard from will start rejecting me. This generally means that I made it past some sort of initial arbitrary cut, however I was not good enough to interview. Basically I was probably on the cusp of being interviewed, but the admissions committee found just enough better people to interview instead of me. So the next few weeks could be interesting in terms of the rejections that I get.

Yesterday I decided to listen to Q94 (a top 40 station). The main reason is because I really wanted to see how often they repeated songs. When I listen to them just driving around Richmond I have noticed that they repeat songs on a fairly regular basis which I tend to find annoying. I listened from 10-4 yesterday (yes, 6 hours) and I took a poll of the songs that they played. And here are the results:

Because of You, Kelly Clarkson - 1
Saving Me, Nickelback - 2
Photograph, Nickelback - 2
You and Me, Lifehouse - 2
We Belong Together, Mariah Carey - 2
Behind These Hazel Eyes, Kelly Clarkson - 4
Girl Next Door, Kelly Clarkson - 4
Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield - 5

I would also like to point out that Fridays on Q94 are "Flashback Fridays" and because of that they often play older songs (anyone remember Mmm Mmm Mmm by Crash Test Dummies?)

This might also be one of my favorite websites showing how bad Nickelback really is. Make sure you sound is on, and it kind of helps if you have headphones (though not necessary)

So in those 6 hours, SIX, Kelly Clarkson has 9 songs! (PS I am outraged, not happy). But this got me thinking. Does this radio station suck that much? Or does music these days really rely on such things as American Idol? Think about it. This girl was an absolute nobody before American Idol and this show transformed her into a pop icon. I guess that says a lot about the show... I guess its warming to know that given the right opportunities, anyone can be anything.

One thing I am pretty surprised about is that Amercian Idol has gotten better ratings than the Olympics. I can honestly say that I have never watched a complete episode of American Idol (I say that because I have seen clips) so maybe I do not understand what all the fuss is about, but to have that show beat the Olympics in coverage is something I am real shocked by. I attribute this fact, however, not to American Idol being so popular (which it is undoubtedly popular) but more to the lackluster coverage by NBC. I see 2 major problems to the coverage, only one of which is NBC's fault. I cannot fault them for the way ABC/ESPN have completely sabotaged the results by broadcasting them right after they actually occur as opposed to when they are shown here in the States. That is not their fault.

Where I do find fault is the way the Olympics are presented. I feel that in order for them to get better ratings for their primetime showings they need to not be so ADD with what they show. They start with figure skating, then jump to snowboarding, then to luge, back to figure skating, off to skeleton, back to snowboarding etc. etc etc. The one sport I can't stand is figure skating, so when that comes on, I change the channel. What they need to do is package sports together and show it all at once. I don't think going back on forth trying to hold viewers can really work for 3 and a half hours especially when everyone does not like the same sports. If they were to put the sports together, then they could advertise what time they will be on and that way they could get more viewers because they wouldn't lose people when they switch sports. And then if they were really smart, they would put the more popular sports on when the biggers shows are airing (Like put all of snowboard cross on when American Idol is airing so then viewers really have to choose). They need to realize they will not get all the top spots for the entire 3 and a half hours that the Olympics are shown in primetime. They said the Olympics will either make or break NBC, and I get the feeling so far they are breaking it. Of course we won't truly find out until after the games when NBC returns to its normal programming and then check out viewership rates from there.

I should be an NBC executive. I would get them back on top.

I hope you all took my advice and watched the Women's Boardercross - American Lindsey Jacobellis (right) tried to showboat on the final stretch (she claims she was unbalanced) and instead of easily taking the gold, she fell on her rear and got silver. In curling, the American men are doing amazing - they play 9 matches round-robin style and right now they are 5-2 which puts them in really good positioning to make the medal round of curling. I would absolutely LOVE to see them win gold. I also am rooting completely against Bode Miller. I was happy to see his DQ in the combined (though upset that one of my coworkers told me about) and that he came in 5th in the downhill. Men's SuperG is tonight, so I am hoping he doesn't medal again.

Hopefully the Olympics will remain exciting this week. (Although its hard for me not to get caught up in the competition of any sport I watch, so I think I will find some excitement out of it)

still waiting
-wait