What I think about music in Central PA

[PanzerFaust]

There was Tommi Gunn!!! We were huge and were well on our way to getting out of Toona town and going cross country to support our 3rd album...
Wasn't till shit got ugly when Bryan Weimert found out how I was selling so many more albums than he was and all to nice looking women.... By the time Bryans mother bought her 3 rd album it was too late the band broke up.... The usual tale..... You can deny deny deny...... But when her bloush accidently blows up you can't scream oh look your tattoo on your ass finally got colored in..... So how did you know my mother had a tattoo on her ass??? hehe... well doesn'tevertgetthar??? Not a stretch.... Is all I'm saying......

Tood

[beatlemaniac]

I don't know how I missed this post before .I don't know how old you are and maybe you are really young and no one maybe has made it big in your life time but it dosent feel like all that long ago that 2 people right from altoona have made it as big as anyone would ever want. Google Mike reid grammy award winner for writing a number one song and inducted in to the nashville song writers hall of fame for writing a second number one song. he aslo made it big as an all american college football player at penn state and all pro in the nfl with the bengals , he was also a concert pianist born raised and trained in good old tuna town. he actually made it out of toona town in a big big way. Then there is paul winter of the paul winter consort also from good old toona town. he has played for kings presidents has been hired to record his music by pbs has had hit record albums in the jazz new age and other gernes. He has been paid huge sums of money to play and record in the grand canyon for documentaries, he has been paid to record his music with the music of the whales around the world. he had recorded numerous albums and has made big time money. You may not consider making a lot of money a form of making it big but you would be surprised the amount of money some of the local bands have been paid over the years . I 'll let you in on a secret there is at least one or 2 or maybe three acts that have been paid in the millions . if thats's not big Then i don't know what your standard might be . many musicians have done very well. you know a guitar palyer from patton invented the guitar strap and made millions manufacturing them right here in patton pa. Sam sotille robby's uncle. he sold them al;l over the world and he and his brothers traveld the country and made it big in the number of states and big shows they played . fred wearing is a name you might want to google big time band leader as big as anyone from tyrone. the vogues are aslo from a small town in western pa. I know my kids arent aware of any of this and maybe I should fill them in. Oh My daughter did win american idol of pa a couple years back but thats not what I call making it big.. jerry c and excuse me for rambling but it's party nught up here in the mountain and i jsut landed on rockpage. hey keep supporting live music

[Drums_with_1_arm]

OK maybe this post has gotten to be too long for the latest people commenting to read ALL the post. I said it would be nice to turn on the radio and hear a LOCAL BAND(S) throughout the day on ANY radio station. The point wasn't where bands play and Jim has also mentioned some successful bands as well as other people mentioning names and bands that became successful in there own ways. BUT, the point of the thread was hearing the very talented local bands on the radio and watching music videos on the channels that actually still play them!

The point was on a tuesday afternoon at about 5:00pm when I get in the car and start home from work and I turn on the radio, and all of a sudden after AC/DC a local band's song comes on. I am in no favor of 1 particular band and I'm not just talking about 1 band. I'm talking about in the whole central PA Area, has that ever been able to say it has happened? I'm talking about a band that has played all over area stages and for benefits.

BLAH BLAH BLAH RIGHT? Anyway, if ALL these local bands are satisfied then i'm happy for them! If not, then I hope they remember at any time, the right person at the right time could be the difference if you got your song out there in the right places! If I was talented, I would try to make the best out of it. Toby Keith's How Do You Like Me Now? There isn't 1 member in 1 band in Central PA that has or had that dream or WANTS and WILL DO WHATEVER to make that happen??? Well who the heck am I? I don't even play a instrument! I'm just amazed about it lol

[Drums_with_1_arm]

Sorry, Guess the point of the thread got out of hand a little!

[ToonaRockGuy]

OK maybe this post has gotten to be too long for the latest people commenting to read ALL the post. I said it would be nice to turn on the radio and hear a LOCAL BAND(S) throughout the day on ANY radio station. The point wasn't where bands play and Jim has also mentioned some successful bands as well as other people mentioning names and bands that became successful in there own ways. BUT, the point of the thread was hearing the very talented local bands on the radio and watching music videos on the channels that actually still play them!

Unfortunately, that's not how radio works. Not sure if I know you or not, but I had a 15 year career in radio, and spent 10 of those working for Forever Broadcasting. Radio must play national acts in order to survive. Most people want to hear something that they are familiar with, like AC/DC or Nirvana or Nickelback, so those bands keep pumping out the same old stuff, and radio keeps playing it, and people tune in and listen.

And when people tune in and listen, they get the number one thing that keeps radio alive: Advertiser's commercials.

No advertiser will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a tiny station that plays local bands. They are after big numbers of listener's ears to hear about their product, and more people are going to tune in to hear Pearl Jam and Bon Jovi rather than Half Tempted and The Hurricanes.

That is NOT a slight at those bands (I've played with both of them, and consider them great friends), that's just pure fact.

Radio = Advertisers > Listeners. Every time. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Radio doesn't give a crap about the listener, they only care about advertising dollars, period. Jim Price can back me up on this. That is also precisely the reason that JP is such an absolute treasure for us. His hard work gave us the Backyard Rocker for all those years on Q-94, and now we are lucky to have The Homegrown Rocker on Rocky 104.9.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'll take what I can get. Two hours a week is better than nothing.

[Drums_with_1_arm]

I understand that and I appriciate you bringing that up! I guess thats why everyone is stuck in the 80's and 90's and that's what cover bands play cause that's all the radio stations play other then rap and the few bands that break through the barriers now days. It's damn near impossible for bands to get to that level for the exact reason of what you just said. That's not right!! The so-called modern rock is being rejected by many because the singing and the music isn't matching what's still being played over and over on the radio from those decades. It was great music but just like EVERYTHING else in this world, they got the glory and it's time to move on with newer different things. I'm sure there is many bands out there just as good or even better that never did or never had the chance to be heard.

Sure Jim Price has done alot and what he can and that's AWESOME but guess what??? I can't even listen to Homegrown Rocker because in Shade Gap, I don't get that station! I don't get that station through Orbisonia and most the time I can't even get that station goin through Mount Union, It's almost to Huntingdon when I can tune in. I've been hopeing for live internet streaming but that hasn't happened yet. Just like bob rocks, I can barely get that at my house and when I do, I don't get to hear any bands that I go watch because none of the bands submit cd's to them. I'm sure that is because the bands that tune in to Jim's show don't get bob rocks. I'm not advertising those guys!!!!! I'm just saying i'm right in the middle where both stations fade out and I get NOTHING.

I cant go down the road and sit for 2 hours to listen. Reason 1, try having 2 kids in a car sitting still and listening with me and my boyfriend to the radio and 2, try explaining that to a cop now days. Sure we wouldn't be doing NOTHING wrong but there would be about 4 reasons they would have to harass us and we would miss the whole show anyway! lol

[JayBird]

Wouldn't Halestorm and Breaking Benjamin be considered from Central PA?

[shawnk_ent]

Actually wilkes-barre isn't central pennsylvania and nither is red lion, pa. I just drove the whole way to and from Pittsburgh airport and the only 2010 songs I herd was rap and country. I flipped through about 10 stations out and back and the only rock I heard was older 2000 but mostly 80's and 90's. I'm gonna have to agree on her (Drums) with this one. How is ANY new rock band local or not, gonna get anywhere when all they play is old rock? I didn't even hear nickelback or theory of a deadman or anything. 2 of the stations even advertised best new rock station but in a hour, NO new rock was played.

Toonaguy: wouldn't it make sense that if a station played local music that would draw local listeners? Then the local listeners would go to local businesses? when there's 5 stations playin the exact same songs, of course there's gonna be competition which station to listen to. I bet the station with less comercials is gona win that 1. Not being smart or disagreeing i'm just saying don't that make sense? I have the naildriver disc and I would love to hear in god we trust out of nowhere after a new black label song

[bassist_25]

[unpopular post]

In my experience, doing gets more accomplished than bitching. We can sit and cry about how mainstream radio has left us in the dust. Or we can work on being the best we can and work our asses off to distribute our music through other channels.

Do you think the guy pictured in my avatar gave a shit about Clear Channel mainstream radio?

[/unpopular post]

[shawnk_ent]

LMAO yea thats true! I personally am doing what I can to help get bands out there. In the past month I guarantee I called 20-30 some bands about a few shows that needed booked that I was booking. I knew those bands have never played at these places and thot it was the perfect opportunity to get them in. A few of the bands took that opportunity and I'm sure if any of the bands I called read this, whether they took the date or not, can verify that. If any band would like to send me a demo or even a promo pack (which is the better way to go), I will do my best to help your band do whatever it is your looking to do!

[MeYatch]

[unpopular post]

In my experience, doing gets more accomplished than bitching. We can sit and cry about how mainstream radio has left us in the dust. Or we can work on being the best we can and work our asses off to distribute our music through other channels.

Do you think the guy pictured in my avatar gave a shit about Clear Channel mainstream radio?

[/unpopular post]

If I remember correctly, he cared about TV parties

[bassist_25]

[unpopular post]

In my experience, doing gets more accomplished than bitching. We can sit and cry about how mainstream radio has left us in the dust. Or we can work on being the best we can and work our asses off to distribute our music through other channels.

Do you think the guy pictured in my avatar gave a shit about Clear Channel mainstream radio?

[/unpopular post]

If I remember correctly, he cared about TV parties

...and drinking beer at said TV parties.

I think something else that many people are failing to take into account are the production values on most local recordings. I don't purport to be an expert on the radio business, but I do know that radio expects a certain threshold of production quality on the stuff it plays. There are some really well produced local albums, but honestly, they're in the minority. Majority of local recordings probably sound like demos. I can't imagine a big name station playing a track recorded in a top-shelf LA studio and then turning around and playing something with poor mastering and a muffled guitar sound. That's not a slam on local engineers, because again, there are some well-produced albums coming out of the area. However, there aren't enough to be played on the radio on a constant basis.

[Drums_with_1_arm]

Well I can see your point on that and that is also not downing the local producers! But as far as "BIG" time radio stations, local radio stations are not that "BIG" around here. Sure forever broadcasting is huge but it's made up of alot of smaller stations and forever is overseeing all them. My boyfriend is really good friends with the corporate engineer for forever broadcasting and has been since 12 yrs old. He has also talked to him about this recently.

most stations can only be reached in a certain radius that's really not covering that far so why and how could it hurt the local stations to maybe put a local song in at maybe the top of the hour or every few hours? If this wouldn't be going somewhere I would not bring the subject up. It takes a group of people to make a differance and to change this. Kinda like a petition. If enough people get behind it and stick together, they WILL be heard and it will be looked into further! Who will be the first station to do this??? Are they waiting for someone else to try it first??? That wouldn't be original! That would be jumping on the wagon which seems like the thing to do.

Some songs get played over and over and over EVERYDAY! So how could 6 - 8 songs spread out over a 24 hour period played once, hurt? Good, bad, best, worst recording it shouldn't matter! Just like Toonaguy said, it's about advertisements. Well those 6-8 local songs could be enough to get a whole lot of people listening all day long waiting to hear these locals and all that advertising is being embeded into their minds while they're waiting for the next local song! just like what was mentioned earlier though, the station has to be able to reach a broad listening area then the advertisements from businesses also start to reach out further!

Anyways I started this thread and ALOT of GOOD facts has been stated and ALOT of good opinions have been stated but I realized alot has been mentioned over and over so I am going to try and stay out of any more post on this subject and I want to thank you ALL for your input and thoughts with this forum

[bassist_25]

Well those 6-8 local songs could be enough to get a whole lot of people listening all day long waiting to hear these locals and all that advertising is being embeded into their minds while they're waiting for the next local song! just like what was mentioned earlier though, the station has to be able to reach a broad listening area then the advertisements from businesses also start to reach out further!

You have a lot of faith in the general radio-listening public around here. I can't speak for JP, but I know he's not getting rich off of the Homegrown Rocker...and that's a whole block of local and regional music. I can't picture thousands upon thousands of people listening to the radio just to hear a few local songs spread out over the day. But hey, I've been wrong about things before.

[MeYatch]

if you want to make more local music heard on the radio, start by supporting the sponsors of the home grown rocker. tell them you are supporting them because they support local music. convince others to do the same. if it actually works it will be way more successful than a petition, because I don't think anyone would take it very seriously.

[f.sciarrillo]

I wouldn't say that people are stuck in the 80's music. I would say that the reason why they play on the local radio and local bands cover it is because a majority of new music has sucked since the late 80's early 90's. It went from needing talent to just being marketable, and who can get the money.

You don't need to know how to play an instrument or know how to sing to make it big these days. As long as you have the look or can be made the look, you will be successful.

Mind you that there are still some great players out there. But when you turn on the radio and hear lady gaga or a boy band, you tend to think different ..

[MeYatch]

I wouldn't say that people are stuck in the 80's music. I would say that the reason why they play on the local radio and local bands cover it is because a majority of new music has sucked since the late 80's early 90's. It went from needing talent to just being marketable, and who can get the money.

You don't need to know how to play an instrument or know how to sing to make it big these days. As long as you have the look or can be made the look, you will be successful.

Mind you that there are still some great players out there. But when you turn on the radio and hear lady gaga or a boy band, you tend to think different ..

classic attitude of old people.

[bassist_25]

Mind you that there are still some great players out there. But when you turn on the radio and hear lady gaga or a boy band, you tend to think different ..

Lady Gaga is quite talented: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_hHc7TZjyY

[Drums_with_1_arm]

if you want to make more local music heard on the radio, start by supporting the sponsors of the home grown rocker. tell them you are supporting them because they support local music. convince others to do the same. if it actually works it will be way more successful than a petition, because I don't think anyone would take it very seriously.

I have mentioned many times just in this forum I am supportive of any program that supports local music and has live air play and especially Jim Price but I have also mentioned that I have NEVER once got to listen to homegrown rocker because the closest to my house the station comes in is 45 mins. away. I have been checking few times a month to see if Rocky 104.9 is doing live internet streaming on there website yet like other stations just so I can listen. I was trying not to post any more lol but just the last few posts I thot were also pretty good post.

I was not saying to start a real petition, I was using that as an example of a way for people to get together on 1 subject and ask for a change and let it be known there is a group of people that's serious about it. I have ALOT of faith in this area as we do have alot of people and alot of GREAT talent that is already known about. We are all just spread out over a big area.

[f.sciarrillo]

Mind you that there are still some great players out there. But when you turn on the radio and hear lady gaga or a boy band, you tend to think different ..

Lady Gaga is quite talented: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_hHc7TZjyY

That was o.k. I wouldn't call it fantastic - It reminded me of Alicia Keys (which is some one I do like). I took a look at a couple more of her videos and I have to admit that she is hot.

[Banned]

Lady Gag is the Boy George of these sad cultural times. IMO

[ZappasXWife]

Actually she's been compared more to Madonna.

As far as people wanting to hear local music and/or new music, I think its just mostly people on RP that want this and the vast majority of folks in Central PA want to hear EXACTLY what is being played...rap, country, pop and 80's music. You are naive if you think otherwise. I have very little faith in the taste of most people around here. Not even just here, many many communities all over the US. Maybe taste is not the right word, how about a sense of exploration of the variety of music that is vast and wonderful if they had an open enough mind to give it a chance. I also agree with bassist_25 about production quality issues.

[Jim Price]

ZappasXWife hits the nail on the head.

Pretty much all of us who regularly visit or post here on Rockpage are music fans. We're passionate about music, and it's important in our lives. Music matters to us. We care about what we hear on the radio enough to sound off on forums like this.

Unfortunately, we are a minority. The vast majority of people who click on a radio - not just locally, but nationwide - aren't passionate about music. Radio is mostly background for their lives, something that plays while they're waiting in traffic to get to work or drop the kids off at school, or something that plays in the background at their office or other workplace. These folks might tune in to hear the weather forecast or news headlines, or they just want to have something friendly and familiar playing in the background that they don't have to think about. If they hear a strange or new song that isn't familiar to them, they likely tune elsewhere until they find something they already like. These are the masses. (Many of these folks are also the types who gravitate toward deejays or cover bands rather than original music when they go out.)

Radio targets the masses in the hopes that when these folks hear an advertisement for the local supermarket, car dealer or other advertiser, that it sticks in their heads and they spend their consumer dollars there. If that happens, the business is more likely to spend more advertising budget with that station, increasing the station's bottom line and keeping them in business. If that doesn't happen, ad revenue goes down, and the station soon is changing formats (and pink-slipping air staff).

As radio has increasingly become more big business over the years, it's become less interested in breaking in new music, bands and artists. Many big city radio stations are run by stockholders whose main interest is the bottom line; those folks don't care how the station arrives at that bottom line, they just want to see the end result. If they don't, heads roll.

I feel fortunate that the stations that have aired the "Background/Homegrown Rocker" so far have supportive of the program, which has allowed it to grow a fan base and listenership over its 12-plus years on the air. Nurturing and growing that listenership was a big factor in the show surviving and finding a new broadcast home when the old station cut me loose and soon went belly up.

Hopefully the folks who discover and listen to the "Homegrown Rocker" regularly start becoming familiar enough with area bands and their songs that they want to come out and support those performers and hear those songs in a live setting. And I usually close every show with that mantra, that if listeners like any of the performers they heard on that week's show, to go see the live shows, visit the performers' websites and purchase merchandise. Hopefully as the show continues on, it will make more and more of a difference.

[shawnk_ent]

you 2 guys really brought it out on that 1 and it very well made sense. However I live in Shirleysburg area and I have to admit, I really wish I could tune in weekly in my part of the woods so I could enjoy the show also!

[goatropinbastards]

I think another thing is that a lot of bands ignore their local area's taste and culture. Our stuff is by Central Pennsylvanians and for Central Pennsylvanians. We even have a song about the importance of Deer Season as a pseudo-holiday.

Now for the shameless plug:

Tracks are easiest to hear at www.myspace.com/goatropinbastards

We are willing to do gig pretty damn far from home (Perry County). If you want to book us email goatropinbastards@yahoo.com.