His new album has been at the top of the Billboard album charts for three weeks straight. He has sold almost 1.3 million copies of his new album Recovery in three weeks in the USA. His total in Canada is 155,000. That's incredible for an artist in this day and age, and he has the bestselling album this year so far.
Dye spoke about walking into a music meeting at Corus headquarters where they were discussing whether or not to play Eminem's music on the Edge. The album sales show that people like it. And of course, if people like it, they should play it, right?
No. No, they shouldn’t.
I have loved the Edge for years. I've always said it'd be a real dream-come-true to work for them—and I still want to.
I am too young to remember them in their glory days, where they would pay $1,002 if they were caught playing the same song more than once in 24 hours. I never heard Humble and Fred on the morning show and many would argue that I developed this love for the station long past its prime.
But I've heard a lot of new bands on the Edge. I've discovered a ton of bands that I often listen to, and I know that if I tune into the station, I'm pretty sure I'll hear some good music.
While it's still my go-to station, I'm finding myself growing much less interested lately. The biggest cause is the lack of variety in the music.
According to Barry Taylor, a former Edge DJ who was fired last year, the changes come from Ross Winters, program director for the Edge, who wants to make the station into a KROQ-FM clone with top 40 plus grunge.
He also said Winters restricted talk between songs to no more than 30 seconds. I truly miss the DJs discussing the music. Without the talk, I may as well just listen to my iPod.
I have nothing against mainstream music. I really don’t. I don’t mind that they play Billy Talent, Metric, the Tragically Hip, or any other big band, and I can see why Winters wants to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, especially considering the diminishing number of radio listeners. I still think of the Edge as alternative in the sense that they play music that isn’t found on Top 40 stations like Virgin Radio.
I prefer when they play the more unknown music (hence my favourite shows, Explore Music and the Ongoing History of New Music, both hosted by Alan Cross). It’s a great way to find out about new music that you may not otherwise hear.
But that’s beside the point.
Here’s my point. The Edge is supposed to focus on what’s on the edge of the mainstream ears. If Eminem’s new album came out and people requested it, or they received favourable response from their Sounding Board survey, fine. That’s one thing.
It’s a whole other thing to play it on the basis that it’s selling well. That’s not a reason to play a song on a station that considers itself alternative and edgy.
I know, I know, it hasn’t been alternative or edgy in years. But I have hope that it could get better. I still love the station and still have a dream of working there.
I’m upset they cancelled Spirit of the Edge, the Indie Hour, and Punkorama because you would at least know that you’d hear something different from the rest of the music they play throughout the day.
Now it’s Loveline, a talk show that is sometimes funny, but it’s syndicated program from KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. I much prefer Canadian music with Canadian DJs and Canadian content. It’s a decent show, but in my eyes, it makes the local feeling disappear.
I like grunge as much as any alternative music fan. But how many times a day do I have to hear Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana? There has to be more bands out there.
Any time a song gets heavily picked up by the Edge, I know I’ll get sick of it. I like Lisztomania by Phoenix. It’s a really fun song. But if I tune into the Edge for an hour, I’m almost guaranteed to hear it, and that’s going to make me hate it soon.
We need some variety. I don’t want to hear songs that I can hear listening to Virgin Radio. Like Eminem.
I am too young to remember them in their glory days, where they would pay $1,002 if they were caught playing the same song more than once in 24 hours. I never heard Humble and Fred on the morning show and many would argue that I developed this love for the station long past its prime.
But I've heard a lot of new bands on the Edge. I've discovered a ton of bands that I often listen to, and I know that if I tune into the station, I'm pretty sure I'll hear some good music.
While it's still my go-to station, I'm finding myself growing much less interested lately. The biggest cause is the lack of variety in the music.
According to Barry Taylor, a former Edge DJ who was fired last year, the changes come from Ross Winters, program director for the Edge, who wants to make the station into a KROQ-FM clone with top 40 plus grunge.
He also said Winters restricted talk between songs to no more than 30 seconds. I truly miss the DJs discussing the music. Without the talk, I may as well just listen to my iPod.
I have nothing against mainstream music. I really don’t. I don’t mind that they play Billy Talent, Metric, the Tragically Hip, or any other big band, and I can see why Winters wants to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, especially considering the diminishing number of radio listeners. I still think of the Edge as alternative in the sense that they play music that isn’t found on Top 40 stations like Virgin Radio.
I prefer when they play the more unknown music (hence my favourite shows, Explore Music and the Ongoing History of New Music, both hosted by Alan Cross). It’s a great way to find out about new music that you may not otherwise hear.
But that’s beside the point.
Here’s my point. The Edge is supposed to focus on what’s on the edge of the mainstream ears. If Eminem’s new album came out and people requested it, or they received favourable response from their Sounding Board survey, fine. That’s one thing.
It’s a whole other thing to play it on the basis that it’s selling well. That’s not a reason to play a song on a station that considers itself alternative and edgy.
I know, I know, it hasn’t been alternative or edgy in years. But I have hope that it could get better. I still love the station and still have a dream of working there.
I’m upset they cancelled Spirit of the Edge, the Indie Hour, and Punkorama because you would at least know that you’d hear something different from the rest of the music they play throughout the day.
Now it’s Loveline, a talk show that is sometimes funny, but it’s syndicated program from KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. I much prefer Canadian music with Canadian DJs and Canadian content. It’s a decent show, but in my eyes, it makes the local feeling disappear.
I like grunge as much as any alternative music fan. But how many times a day do I have to hear Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana? There has to be more bands out there.
Any time a song gets heavily picked up by the Edge, I know I’ll get sick of it. I like Lisztomania by Phoenix. It’s a really fun song. But if I tune into the Edge for an hour, I’m almost guaranteed to hear it, and that’s going to make me hate it soon.
We need some variety. I don’t want to hear songs that I can hear listening to Virgin Radio. Like Eminem.
If the Edge starts playing Eminem because of his sales, where do they draw the line? Lady Gaga sells pretty well. So does Justin Bieber.
Please CFNY, don’t start playing his single. I don’t mind it once in a while, but I could not stand hearing it seven times a day. And we all know that if they pick it up, that's how often we'll hear it.
Please.
Please CFNY, don’t start playing his single. I don’t mind it once in a while, but I could not stand hearing it seven times a day. And we all know that if they pick it up, that's how often we'll hear it.
Please.
I think stations including the Edge like to repeat newly added songs a lot, because they are "not familiar" to their listeners yet. Radio Stations thrive on playing music that is familiar to their listeners. The problem is the Edge turns familiarity into overkill, causing listeners to get sick of or hate the songs they're supposed to help you love. If the Edge reduced their rotation frequency to once every six hours, it would be more bearable. The new music they play today however is nothing very "Edgy," anyway.
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