I Am So Popular: Keep The Change
This week I shall reflect on the concept of change. I will disguise my reflection as a defense of recent decisions at KUT, which brought about some change, which apparently has made some people angry. These people, in turn, have lassoed their anger into cranky emails, which they have then forwarded to their friends, who have forwarded them to me. So now, not only am I receiving unsolicited emails telling me I need to be pissed off over something I am not pissed off over, but also these sloppy forwards are filled with those annoying headers, loaded with the email addresses of others I don’t know. Which would—if this fucking triple digit heat wasn’t totally stifling me into full on slothfulness— piss me off. To the point I might have to start an email campaign of my own, whereby I tell people that their cranky emails are making me cranky and then I ask them to forward my email to a bunch of other people not because I think it will accomplish anything, but simply because, you know, misery does love company.
In short, KUT recently cut way back on the hours of Larry Monroe and Paul Ray. They still get to do Blue Monday and Twine Time. But much of the airtime previously dominated by these old dudes has been taken over by Matt Reilly, some young whippersnapper who—the fucking nerve of him—is playing both non-jazz AND (gasp!) stuff from the eighties and even—tres risqué!—the nineties and beyond! By which I mean, compared to what we had before, extremely modern and avant garde selections that, according to some are a threat to civilization as we know it.
One of the unsolicited forwarded emails I received was written by Cleve Hattersley, who identifies himself in his sign-off as “Part of this Community.” Cleve’s panties are in such a twist over the changes at KUT that he is talking about suing the station to reinstate the cancelled shows and, if that doesn’t work, calling for a boycott. Mind you, I’m not here to protest Cleve’s right to protest. God only knows I have spearheaded enough protests of my own, and in general I think it can be a good thing to air one’s grievances.
On the other hand, good lord I am so fucking sick of all these Armadillo Headquarters throwbacks who just won’t stop saying that Austin will never again be as good as it was back in the day. You know, if I wanted to be really annoying, I, too, could go on ad nauseum about how back in the early nineties, when the Electric Lounge was still hopping, and the poetry slam was new and fresh, things were so much more fucking fabulous than we could ever again hope for. And I could protest that ever since Fill-In-The-Blank club closed that the nightlife in this town has gone to hell.
I think the baby boomers resist change the most because, based on the sheer numbers of them, they have had things their way for so long they just can’t bear that some of us were born after them and we actually like the idea of having access to, say, music that was recorded post-1970s. And, furthermore, we actually don’t give a flying fuck about how many hits of acid they did at Woodstock. I read an article once saying that, relatively speaking, so few people were born in “my” generation (a blip of a period right between the boomers and the Gen Xers) that advertisers never even bothered targeting us. The boomers have dominated for so long they still think they’re the “it” generation.
Do I sound harsh? Uncaring? Check it—I am not unsympathetic to the dumping of Ray and Monroe. I, too, have been cut from my sundry media outlets in the past. I used to write for the Chronicle very regularly and then their features section was, for economic reasons, shaved way back. That was the end of Spike in the Chronicle. I had a wildly popular (because I am so popular) column in the Dallas Morning News. There, a combination of politics and money first saw my paycheck halved and then saw my writing eliminated entirely. Did it suck? Absolutely. Did I get over it? I had no choice.
Closer to the matter at hand, I, too, have suffered courtesy of KUT’s shrinking budget. I never had the platform that Monroe and Ray had. But I did do commentary and theatre reviews for the station from time to time. My most recent note to the station asking to do some more pieces was met with the news that they couldn’t afford me anymore. Which is really saying something since I got paid a whopping $50 per segment. Despite the fact that I bellyache about writers being asked to write for free, I wrote back and offered to do my commentary gratis during these hard economic times. Because I love KUT. They were nice enough about it, but no, they don’t want commentary they can’t pay for.
I think the people who are bitching the loudest about the Paul Ray/Larry Monroe thing and calling for protests are showing their age and their fear of change. I also think they are going about this protest in the wrong way. If they really, truly want to bring these guys back, instead of sinking money into a lawsuit or energy into a boycott, they need to rethink their strategies. A large part of the reason Monroe and Ray got cut is based on money. Hello? There’s a huge ass recession going on, people are consequently being less generous with their donations, and so cuts have to be made. As it happens, while there is little doubt that Monroe and Ray had loyal followings, their ratings were flat. Cutting back their airtime is not about vendetta, people, it’s economics.
Instead of giving money to lawyers, or convincing listeners to boycott (which will lead to still more local programming cuts), why not start a campaign to raise enough money to reinstate Monroe and Ray? (By which I do not mean take Reilly away—oh please don’t do that—but bring back the late night segments, which Cleve furiously notes were replaced by Undercurrents, which is taped in California.) Beyond that, here’s an unsolicited suggestion in response to the unsolicited emails: try listening to Reilly’s show. And remember how when you were young, back in the Dinosaur Age, and older folks scoffed at your wicked, new fangled rock ‘n roll and called it evil and you laughed at how close-minded and backwards they were.
If none of these suggestions convince Cleve and his boomer-ilk that change can actually be good, then I have another idea. You want to protest change at KUT? You want to make a stink and get them to bring back programming that really kicked ass? Great. Then hop with me into this time machine over here and let’s go back further still and raise some bloody hell that Teresa Ferguson’s Femme FM was unceremoniously cut years ago. Because I gotta say, the one really good thing that has come out of this current call for protest is that I hear an awful lot of people lamenting not the loss of Monroe and Ray, but disappearance of TF’s lovely voice, impeccable taste, and regular introduction of some truly great musical talent to which we no longer have such ready access.
Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s rally to bring me back to the airwaves, too.
Spike Gillespie knows the only constant is change-- do you? She blogs at KnitBuzz and www.spikeg.com. She's leading a writing workshop soon. You should sign up. Email spike@spikeg.com for details.
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