I don't know if it's different where you are, but here in Reno, Halestorm is getting shafted on the radio. I mean, completely. The rock radio station out here just updated their website so that you can look up every single song they've played in the last week and when, and they've played Halestorm's music a grand total of once in the last seven days. And that was only because it was on the "Rock 30" syndicated show; the actual station here had nothing to do with that.
Which actually kind of irritates me more; see, Familiar Taste of Poison is on the Rock 30 countdown, which means it's one of the top thirty rock songs in the country right now. Besides that, it's climbed two positions since last week (from 25 to 23). So it's popular, and getting more popular. But the radio here refuses to play them. The DJs all swear up and down that they play Halestorm "all the time," and that I must just be missing it, but now I've got documented evidence that that's not the case. One of them even lied to me about it on this very website.
On top of all that, the station has been promoting Uproar pretty heavily the last couple of weeks, and playing pretty much every other band on the tour (everyone but Halestorm and New Medicine) a minimum of three or four times a day. When Halestorm played a show here in July, the station showed up and kissed their asses, but the very next day, they were dropped from the rotation completely, just like they were in the weeks before the show.
Lzzy seemed a little surprised and disappointed when I mentioned that the radio wasn't playing them at the pre-show meet and greet, probably because she'd just come from the station where they told her all about how much they loved the band. She suggested that I call the station and request the new single. Then she brought it up three times while she was on stage, too, which I assume is more than usual. So I called and requested them. Every day. I e-mailed the guy who does the "all-request" hour at 5pm. It turns out "all-request" means something different where he's from. I even talked to some of their people about it personally when they were broadcasting on-location. I always got what basically amounts to a brush-off. Why? Because I'm just one guy.
But I don't have to be. And neither do you.
These days, most radio stations have a website that lets you listen to them from anywhere on Earth. They don't just want listeners from all over the world, they expect them. And almost everyone nowadays has a cell phone they can use to call anyone in the country without worrying about long-distance charges like in the past. So why don't we work together?
Here's the plan: I've set up a Facebook page titled "Storm the Airwaves" and a Twitter account to go with it (Storm_Airwaves). I can't post links here, but they're both very easy to find with a simple search. Every day, I'm going to pick out a radio station or two, somewhere in North America, and post their name, location, and the phone number of their request line. Then, we Storm the Airwaves by calling them and requesting Halestorm all throughout the day. If enough of us work together with this, we could really make a difference in the amount of airplay the band gets, and more airplay means more fans. More fans mean more album and ticket and T-shirt sales, which means their label is much more likely to put up the money for more tours and albums in the future. Which means more Halestorm for all of us. It's win-win.
Whaddaya say, folks? Shall we Storm the Airwaves together?
I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who have Stormed the Airwaves so far. You guys are making this happen. I appreciate it, and I know the band does too. And while I'm at it, I want to invite anyone and everyone reading this to come join in and help Halestorm get the radio airplay they deserve. "Like" Storm the Airwaves on Facebook. Follow @Storm_Airwaves on Twitter. Call these radio stations and ask them to do something I know you think they should be doing anyway. It doesn't take a whole lot on your part, but when enough people work together, a little effort can go a long, long way.
Storm the Airwaves has been operating for four weeks as of today. So far, I think it's going pretty well. The highlights:
- We're up to 48 people who "like" us of Facebook; that's an average of 12 new members a week! So far, there hasn't been a single weekday since we started that hasn't seen us increase our numbers.
- Some of those 48 people include a bunch of C5C members, the Halestorm Street Team, and someone else, who was it... oh yeah, it's JOE HOTTINGER.
- Joe liked StA a couple of days after I mentioned it to the band at Uproar in Sacramento... I had little "business cards" printed up that I was handing out to people there, and I made sure to give them to the band, too. They all seemed to like the idea. Lzzy especially liked the logo I put together for it. At that same show, Dan and Brady from New Medicine actually asked me for cards without my mentioning it first.
- We've got enough members that I was able to get a real Facebook username for the page: it's now http://www.facebook.com/stormtheairwaves, no search required!
- I've decided to offer an incentive to join up and participate. I can't do much, but what I can do is do a monthly giveaway for a free Halestorm t-shirt. It's basically a raffle, but you get "tickets" by calling radio stations and brining in new members instead of by paying money.
- Lzzy personally thanked me (on the Storm_Airwaves account) "for all U do" over Twitter.
We're making a difference, however small. It's working. And this is just the beginning. The more people who join up, and the more active those people are, the better it'll get. More requests equals more airplay. More airplay equals more fans. More fans equals more requests.
Good!!
I'll follow you! :D
And I want to make something like this in my country... it's a really nice idea.
This sounds like a great idea!!! :)
See, that's exactly what I'm talking about, Fox! One person calling every day becomes "that fan that won't leave us alone." Eventually they start blowing you off altogether: "yeah, yeah, you want this band, we get it."
But if I called them too, the number of requests would have doubled (assuming you're the only one doing it right now). And if we could get two more people, then it would have doubled again... it's not going to take a whole lot; just fans working together.
I'm in! I am constantly requesting Halestorm on my local stations and basically everytime they dont play it.