IVANA IS FEELING NOSTALGIC FOR POMO’S LAST GOLDEN AGE

While a few of you were at the Sunset Sessions in the desert, enjoying the frat-like atmosphere and Rob Goldklang’s T&E (since he’s the one with the #1 records), while Richie Sambora’s face melted during his afternoon set (in order to persuade him to play “Dead or Alive,” you all pinkie-sweared you’ll be adding his next single on add-week), I moved a lifetime’s worth of stuff one mile down the hill, where I’ve since been sleeping on a mattress on the floor, with no TV and my clothes piled into crates. See, I too am reliving my college years, just like you were at La Quinta. SXSW is my hang-time with radio programmers—at least there’s always an escape route—Hey, I gotta see War on Drugs, meet up with you at Jack White! No, I’m trapped in a room with Billy Pumpkin and Art from Everclear—eek! (although I thought that Howard Stern’s interview with Billy was absolutely compelling)… In the Facebook era, resplendent with photos of all of us when we were younger, cuter, thinner, less jowly, richer (Goldklang’s the only one left with an expense account) and naïve enough to believe that we were all besties, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for the good old days (pre-Spitzer), when we could be upfront about the desired outcome. If you think about it, it was a much more honest time. Compliance rules have made the Goniffs sneakier, shadier and less accountable. A base fee AND a per-add fee, when you don’t even talk to the PD about music? Thankfully, their fiefdoms have dwindled, but as long as a spin at one of their stations counts the same as a spin at KROQ, and our “report card” is still chart-based, the bottom-feeders will still siphon off promotion budgets that could be used towards legitimate marketing. Seriously, have you examined the state of Modern Rock as a format? PPM certainly isn’t contributing to its life expectancy. This period in Modern Rock could be viewed as a “golden age,” with the format at the forefront of breaking artists from Phoenix to AWOLNATION to fun. to Foster the People to Of Monsters and Men to Black Keys to Alex Clare to Walk the Moon to Passion Pit to M83 to Grouplove and now to Lumineers, Kasabian, Morning Parade, Alabama Shakes and my most-favorite-est Electric Guest. Now the challenge is to retain the male 18-34 target demo while playing these female-appeal records. The solution, as always, is balance, whether it’s surrounding these decidedly pop-leaning songs with ’90s rock, as they’re doing in Seattle at KNDD, or including the bands that anchored the launch of the format in radiofest lineups, just as many stations have done with Garbage and Bush, both of whom have used the fests as opportunities to show “the kids” how it’s done… Advice to those booking Xmas shows: DON’T have your lineup consist solely of new bands with one or two familiar songs (at most) or the audience’s energy will crash once the bands play their hit. We all love to sing along to songs we know… Massive kudos to Lori Kampa and Team Lumineers for another stellar week last week on “Ho Hey,” including Live105, WRFF, KFRR and more! I hope you voted for it to go #1 on your A.I.R. Report… When you tell Ted and I that we can’t do something because it’s never been done before, we laugh. Hah, we say! (then he disappears for three weeks for surgery and I double up on shrink appointments for the month). Because we love, love, love the rerecorded, reimagined version of “The Afterlife” on the latest Bush CD, and because we thought it never got its due, we’re going back after it! KROQ was the first to see the method to our madness, and graced us with an early add. The rest of you will succumb to our irrefutable logic and passion with an add on July 9!... VERY sad to hear about Garett Michaels’ departure from KBZT, although we hear he’s being flooded with opportunities. As I’ve been feeling nostalgic lately, I remember the glory days of the station, when they were breaking new artists and inspired our format, which, at the time, was wallowing in faceless rock. Some of my favorite professional memories of the past 10 years involved Garett and KBZT staffers. Losing WFNX, and the potential loss of KBZT as we know it, should strengthen our resolve to make sure that other creative, forward-thinking stations don’t suffer the same fate…. SONG TO HEAR: The Heavy’s “What Makes A Good Man?”… Wanted, dead or alive: [email protected]