Thursday, January 29, 2015

1.29.15 Bee-otch of the Day: northern Michigan radio


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: northern Michigan radio stations
Age: various
Occupation: providers of audio entertainment
Last Seen: Traverse City, Petoskey, etc.
Bee-otched For: 
proof that nobody's listening

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When I started Chuck69.com 16 years ago, it was to prove to the world that northern Michigan radio sucked.

I was a senior in high school when this site began, and I was infuriated knowing that the Traverse City area was the only radio market in the whole state where acts such as KoRn, Rage Against the Machine, Tool and other hard rockers were absent. We did have an alternative station, The Zone (95.5 TC, 94.5 Petoskey area and 93.9 Mio/Gaylord), but they went the wuss music route, playing crap from the Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox 20 and pretty much anybody who ever appeared at Lilith Fair.

Thankfully in 2000, thanks to new programming director Kimberly Fox, The Zone decided to grow a pair and added the aforementioned bands. Ratings shot through the roof and even longtime rock stalwart WKLT responded by adding some of the hard stuff The Zone was playing. But then, the station started to downgrade itself. In the years since, 93.9 flipped to a simulcast of sister station Big Country 102.9 and is now a religious station, 94.5 flipped to hot AC and is now WYPV, a teabagger talk station, and 95.5 ended up canning most of their local jocks for a canned, satellite-fed format from Waitt Radio Networks, now a part of Westwood One. In 2009, 95.5 alongside 105.1 in Cheboygan became a mainstream rock format known as "Real Rock 105 and 95-5". While the new station added on some local jocks and the Free Beer and Hot Wings Show, the station's music mix was an abortion a lot of the time, mixing some new rock with the overplayed butt rock shit KLT spewed out for years.

On April Fools Day 2013, Real Rock 105/95-5 lost the 95.5 signal and a lot of listeners from Traverse City and southward. They also lost Free Beer and Hot Wings, claiming low ratings although Real Rock was the highest-rated station parent Northern Star Broadcasting had. Sister classic rock station The Bear's rating was at 1.9, proving that the bastardizing of Real Rock - now Rock 105 - was to protect The Bear and its bland morning show, Bob and Tom.

As for 95.5, it flipped to severely boring soft AC as "Easy 95-5 and 106-3", simulcast with a station in Onaway. So far, the station has apparently "brightened" its playlist, dropping many of its older-sounding tunes for a more-upbeat playlist. It's not known how their ratings are, but they only have a whopping 166 likes on Facebook after two years of broadcasting.

You see, it's sad when the radio owners up north tend to overserve the Baby Boomers and older while those in the 18-49 range only have one station fitting their music needs and their signal doesn't cover the whole area. Meanwhile, we here in Grand Rapids have WGRD, Detroit has WRIF, Flint has Banana 101.5 and they're all popular stations.

What might be even funnier is that over the past decade, TC has seen many soft/AC stations come and go: 92.9 The Breeze, 106.7 WSRT/You FM and judging by what's going on in TC, WLDR/101.9 The Bay. The station has been off the air for over a week because of a dispute between the station and the Grand Traverse land bank that owns the land where the station's transmitter sits. Since the station fell silent, the local news media has been mum and on their Facebook page, only one person has asked why the station is off the air. The station hasn't even updated their Facebook page since a week ago Tuesday.

Remember the old adage "if a tree falls in the woods and there nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound?"? That's how I feel about certain northern Michigan radio stations. It's sad when the top-rated AC station in town, Lite 96.3 only has a 3.5 in the ratings, plus the fact that most AC stations up north end up being duds as-is. Every owner up north wants an AC, but there's no listeners for it. They claim it's for the advertisers, but truthfully, if I owned a business up north and a radio station ad guy walked into my shop, I'd be on the phone dialing "9-1", and if he opened his mouth about how businesses that advertised on WXXX got great results, I'd be hitting "1" again.

Let's face it. terrestrial radio is DEAD. Most teens and young adults these days are into apps such as Spotify, Pandora and Slacker. They don't want to tune in to a so-called rock station and have to hear wuss music or butt rock to hear something that's kick-ass. This is why you can skip songs you don't want on the digital services. On regular radio, you have to adhere to what the programming director forces on their listeners. It's too bad these services weren't around 20 years ago; I STILL have haunted memories and douche chills knowing that a certain PD of KLT, then northern Michigan's only rock station that played anything new forced Melissa Etheridge on her listeners every five minutes.

That would have really put the finger in the dike. 

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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

1.28.15 Bee-otch of the Day: Sam Smith


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: Sam Smith
Age: 22
Occupation: singer
Last Seen: England
Bee-otched For: 
proving that he's a one hit wonder that needs to pay up
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Any fan of King of the Hill knows the story of Lucky Kleinschmidt.

He was the husband of Luann who won a $43,000 settlement against Costco when he "slipped on pee-pee" in the mens bathroom. But the man who played Lucky won a major settlement himself.

Rock legend Tom Petty will now be getting royalties from Sam Smith's yawn-worthy ballad from last year, "Stay With Me", plus a songwriting credit with fellow Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra fame, who both claimed the tune sounded too similar to Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down".

Observe:


Now, in the case of Smith, he wasn't even born yet when "I Won't Back Down" was released in 1989. He wasn't born until 1992. He even claims that he wasn't even thinking of the song when he wrote "Stay With Me", a tune that was a huge hit for him last Summer. But, this is the latest slap in the face for Smith, who was recently bashed on Howard Stern's radio show because of his effeminate image (Smith is publicly gay) and for being "fat and ugly". Smith himself Tweeted that he's ignoring Stern and his critics.

Of course, stealing one's song is nothing new. Just ask George Harrison (whose "My Sweet Lord" was a supposed rip-off of The Chiffons' "He's So Fine" though Harrison claims that he was inspired by the public domain "Oh, Happy Day") or Sid and Marty Krofft (who were successfully sued by Paul Simon because the theme to HR Pufinstuffsounded too closely to "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)"). Usually when somebody successfully sues a songwriter for ripping them off, they end up getting credited and grabbing some of the tune's royalties.

Sadly, even in rock, imitation is quite prevalent. Just ask Metallica, whose 1991 classic "Sad But True" was recently ripped off by Avenged Sevenfold for their more-recent tune "This Means War". Even lead singer M. Shadows claims that yes, "Sad But True" 'inspired' "This Means War", though none of the members of Metallica are even credited on the recording.

The point is, when a musician rips off another and their tune ends up bigger than the original, damn right it's a good time to lawyer up. "Stay With Me" went to #1 while "I Won't Back Down" made it to #12 on the pop charts. To me, yes, Sam can sing, but he's just another wussy mama's boy whose image gets pussy, even though vagina is not his private part of choice.

Man, I wish the record companies and radio stations would realize that rock that's original still exists.... 

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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

1.27.15 Bee-otch of the Day: Tommy Brann


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: Tommy Brann
Age: 63
Occupation: restaurant owner
Last Seen: Grand Rapids, MI
Bee-otched For: 
banning Hollywood heavyweights
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Sometimes, bad publicity can mean a free commercial.

Just ask Tommy Brann.

Brann is the owner of Brann's Steakhouse on Division Ave. in Grand Rapids. He and his family own eleven locations of Brann's, all in west Michigan.

Last weekend, the iconic restauranteur put up a message on the electronic sign outside his steakhouse on Division. The sign read "Michael Moore and Seth Rogan (sic) are not allowed in my place". This after the two made some tweets many felt bashed the hit movie "American Sniper". Moore wrote that his uncle was killed by a sniper in World War II and grew up knowing that snipers were cowards. In Seth's case, he compared 'Sniper' to "Nation's Pride", the fictitious Nazi sniper film in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds". However, both Moore and Rogen claimed that they didn't bash "American Sniper" nor the man the film was based on, Chris Kyle.

Nonetheless, Brann - who ran for state senate last year on the GOP ticket but pulled out - will not allow the two in his restaurant. "For 43 years, I've been a small business owner because of the Chris Kyles of the world," Brann told WOOD-TV 8 news hottie Heather Walker. "That guy's an American hero".

Kyle was a Navy SEAL with 160 kills in his career, making him the deadliest sniper in American history. He died two years ago at a shooting range by a Marine with PTSD.

Brann even joked about Moore's weight, telling Walker that he doesn't care if he brings 40 people, he'll take the 38 but not Moore.

There's no word if Brann's 10 other locations have banned Moore or Rogan as well.

You know, Brann is a fucking asshole. This is a schmuck whose restaurant has had a long history of health code violations, serves up low-grade steaks and even worse, his restaurant is in a ghetto filled with rip-off used car dealers, pawn shops and buildings that look like they've been abandoned for 20 years or more. Do you think that either Moore or Rogen would ever drive all the way over there to enjoy a steak? I think not.

I have no plans on even seeing "American Sniper". Besides, do I want to spend $10 to see a movie directed by a man who looks and sounds like he has Oldtimers and talks to a chair? I think not. Want to see a good war movie? Check out "The Hurt Locker". It won the Best Picture Oscar in 2009 but few people have seen it.

What's more laughable is that Brann is a long-time sponsor of "Huge" Bill Simonson's shitty-assed sports radio show, heard locally on WBBL 107.3, where it's getting its ass kicked by Sean Baligan on ESPN 96.1 in the ratings. I find it funny that Brann's is supposed to have a sports atmosphere, but wastes its money on a fat blob who lost $500,000 in a slander lawsuit in Austin, got shitcanned in Tulsa for using racial slurs and is now here in Grand Rapids, telling people that it's time for this city to have a major sports franchise all because Green Bay - a town that has about 80,000 less people than Grand Rapids - has had one for nearly 100 years.

Judging by Splooge's piss-poor grammar on the web, he's not real smart with either sports nor computer dexterity.

You know, the food scene in Grand Rapids is very competitive. Anybody with the know-how can make a damn good steak. I sure as hell am not driving all the way to a ghetto to eat one. Thanks, but I don't want to be stabbed while walking into a Brann's when I can be nice and safe walking into a Qdoba (right now, a steakhouse is not in my budget). Plus, I'd rather have a meal seated near Michael and/or Seth over Bill Simonson and his lack of knowledge about just about anything. Why eat with a loser, when... Hey! If Seth is nice, we could light one up behind the restaurant!

Huge on the other hand likes a good pipe... You know, the one in Tommy Brann's pants.


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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

Monday, January 26, 2015

1.26.15 Bee-otch of the Day: Walmart


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: Walmart
Age: 53
Occupation: soulless retailer
Last Seen: Bentonville, AR
Bee-otched For: ruining my cousin's sweet 13th

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It was 13 years ago last week that my oldest paternal cousin, Nicole, gave birth to a baby girl named Ashlyn.

In those 13 years, Ashlyn has grown from a sweet little girl who would cuddle next to me when I would visit her and her family while watching her videos of The Wiggles to a mature young woman who gets As and Bs in her school. Not to mention that she's also on her middle school's volleyball team. She is very smart and attractive, just like her mother and her grandmother.

Sadly, I don't get to see Ashlyn, Nicole or the rest of their family very often anymore and it's because of the economic breakdown of the late 2000s. Nicole's husband decided to get back into the construction business and ended up moving the family coast to coast. Currently, they reside in Rock Springs, WY, pop. 23,000. The town is quite remote; it's the biggest town in a 150+ mile radius. Rock Springs is quite the small town; it does have a mall that only has 40 stores and a few grocers here and there. Oh, and there's a Walmart.

Even though Rock Springs does have some major chains such as Albertson's and Smith's (owned by Kroger), my cousin and her family shop at good 'ol Wally World. And when Ashlyn's sweet 13th was coming up, Nicole decided to grab a cake for her there. According to my aunt, the woman at the bakery counter was quite the butch and didn't smile the whole time she was decorating the cake. Nicole wanted a few things on Ashlyn's cake. But, here's the end result:


Yes, instead of an enthusiastic "ASHLYN IS 13!" She became yet another victim of Walmart's world-famous cake screw-ups. But, hey, that's what happens when you buy a cake from Walmart and expect their $8/hr. workers who are being forced to live off assistance to do a good job. According to Nicole, Ashlyn noticed the error, but Nicole herself didn't see it because there was a label on the top covering the cake. Twenty-four hours later, the top was lifted and there it was: "Ashlyn is 13th", not simply 13 with an exclamation point. She posted the embarrassing frosting failure on Instagram and wrote a note to Walmart talking about the error.

You know, this is why I don't shop Walmart. Their workers are grossly underpaid while the Waltons rake in billions. No wonder why the woman who frosted the cake didn't care. Hell, if I was still grossly underpaid at my job, I would make mistakes, too. It's Walmart's fault for underpaying their workers and it's Nicole's fault for not either not finding another baker in town or even baking a homemade cake herself (she is a housewife, after all).

Hopefully, Ashlyn will continue to do well in school so she won't end up bowing to the evil world of Walmart and their half-assery.


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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!

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Thursday, January 22, 2015

1.22.15 Bee-otch of the Day: WFQX/Fox 32


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: WFQX Fox 32
Age: 26
Occupation: TV station
Last Seen: Cadillac, MI
Bee-otched For: choosing money over content
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This weekend will be a sad one for football fans. For the first time in months, the only NFL fix fans will be getting is from the Pro Bowl Sunday night.

Of course, CBS and Fox will have to air something else, too; both networks will be airing college basketball. But northern Michigan's Fox station will also devote three hours to a marathon. But, not just any marathon, it's a three-hour beg-a-thon from the controversial 700 Club.

That's right! It's time for the yearly 700 Club Super Sunday beg-a-thon where Pat Robertson and his buddies ask you to get out your wallets to give to his ministry. After all, the helipad at his mansion in Virginia doesn't re-pave itself! Plus, he needs fuel to fly to his diamond mines in Africa.

Sadly, there's still two stations in Michigan that carry The 700 Club: Detroit's WMYD/20, which was purchased by the Scripps company (whose slogan is ironically "Give light and the people will find their own way") last year, making them co-owned with ABC affiliate WXYZ/7. And then, there's WFQX Fox 32, which makes them the only station affiliated with a top four network in Michigan to carry the show.

In the past several years, Pat Robertson has used his show to attack gays, the middle class, liberals and other groups to scare them all to give to him. He and Jerry Falwell claimed that 9/11 was triggered by gays, he claimed that tornadoes and other disasters were all caused by people ignoring God and so on. Sadly, any TV station that sells themselves out for The 700 Club has shown that they care more about money than content.

And that, my friends, is Fox 32.

Fox 32 has carried The 700 Club since 2007 when WGTU ABC 29&8 dropped the show when it was sold to Barrington Broadcasting. Because Fox 32 and sister CBS affiliate WWTV 9&10 are locally co-owned by Heritage Broadcasting, they are notorious for carrying lots of paid programming and occasionally news stories that are really commercials. Recently, while covering grocery stores on Thanksgiving, 9&10 predominately featured the Ric's Food Center in Mt. Pleasant and even featured their logo on a shopping bag as a lead-in graphic to the story.

Reportedly, Fox 32 is paid $40,000 yearly to carry The 700 Club.

The point is, there's a TON of syndicated shows that don't have homes in northern Michigan. Yet, Fox 32 wastes their time airing Pat Robertson's idiotic hate. But that's northern Michigan, where there's four TV stations owned by two companies. One bows to Pat Robertson and his drivel and another, Sinclair - which owns NBC WPBN 7&4 and 29&8 - is famous for their stance against Democrats. Want a liberal media in northern Michigan? Well, at least there's the Northern Express-er, never mind, especially since their stories are becoming more watered down, plus the fact that they now carry Glenn McCoy's hate-filled cartoons ever since that paper was sold.

I guess it's up to the people up north to use the internet to tell the truth.



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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

1.21.15 Bee-otch of the Day: The Republican Party


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: The Republican Party
Age: 161
Occupation: America's right wing
Last Seen: Washington, DC
Bee-otched For: not caring about the average American
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Facing the fact that both the House and Senate are now run by the Republicans, President Obama has finally decided why people voted him in the first place.

Earlier in the week, it was announced that the President would propose raising taxes for those making over $500,000 per year to help with tax breaks for the middle class. The President also announced recently a provision to give college students two years' free tuition, which would cost $60 billion over 10 years.

The plan is to raise the wealthy's tax to 28%, the same level it was under Reagan.

However - you guessed it - the Repukes want the President to simply fix the tax code instead. Utah senator Orrin Hatch says that Obama wants to kill off small businesses and slapping on taxes would hurt jobs. Really? Too bad this assclown was born during the Depression when there wasn't a middle class thanks to years of idiotic Republicans who kissed the wealthy's ass. Right now, the gap between the poorest Americans and the wealthiest is at its highest, and it's all thanks to people like Reagan and the two Bushes.

Look. When FDR was president, he raised taxes for the nation's wealthiest to 90%. End result: the middle class was BOOMING. Men could support their wives and get their kids into a good school. Plus, they could get a new car every two years. Now, one man can barely take care of himself and in many cases, their kids end up moving back in with them because even with a four-year college degree, they can't get a good-paying job.

It's time for the 1% to realize that it's time to help the middle class, and I'm happy that many of them - e.g. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett - know that they're paying close to nothing in taxes. However, I think some of the people the President have in mind in regards to this proposed tax hike include the Koch Brothers and the Walton Family, who are notorious for hardly giving any of their income to charity despite being worth over $100 billion.

But, Obama has a lot of work to do. Convincing the modern Republican is like, well, trying to lead an elephant to water. Since the House and Senate have been bought by the Kochs, I highly doubt if Obama's plan will follow through. Even worse, it's a shame that most Americans seem to don't care, knowing the disastrous result of last year's midterms. But the good news is that at least under Obama, more Americans are working and the economic collapse of seven years ago is only a memory. It's too bad that many Americans are too fucking stupid to get out and help the President achieve dreams.

But the good news is that Hope is floating. After all, he won both elections.


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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

1.20.15 Bee-otch of the Day: Saturday Night Live


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: Saturday Night Live
Age: 40
Occupation: comedy show
Last Seen: New York, NY
Bee-otched For: going in the wrong direction
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If you're a fan of Saturday Night Live, it seems that every year is a rebuilding year.

Last year, they hired way too many new regulars and about 1/2 of them got canned. At least this year, most of the faces are somewhat recognizable, and some of the sketches do stand out, such as the Calvin Klein ads that featured Kate McKinnon as Justin Bieber. True, there's always getting used to new things, like the reality that Don Pardo is gone and Darrell Hammond is back as the show's announcer, plus the fact that the current Weekend Update team of Michael Che and Colin Jost are the type that you'd most likely see in a smaller market news station

But if there's one negative quality of SNL these days, it's that their musical guests, well, suck so far this season.

If you're into crappy pop like Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Iggy Azalea and One Direction, than this year's crop of musical crap is right for you. So far this year, the only things close to rock the show has gotten was Hozier and Sia, complete with her mime and little girls dressed in skimpy leotards.

But next week's show is going to TOTALLY SUCK. The reason: HE'S A FUCKING COUNTRY SINGER.

Not only is Blake Shelton the musical guest, but he's also the host of next weekend's show. It kinda does make sense since he's one of the judges on NBC's The Voice. Not to mention that he's the first country artist to appear on SNL since Lady Antebellum in 2011. But let's face it: I FUCKING HATE COUNTRY MUSIC.

Musically, has Lorne Michaels lost his mind? Is he trying to make up for the crappy writing this year but hiring crappy pop artists to perform? Hell, I didn't watch the Justin Bieber episode because I knew it would suck, and other viewers tuned out, too.

But, maybe that's what happens when there's no competition anymore on Saturday late nights. MAD TV is gone, The Howard Stern Radio Show is gone and so on. All SNL has is the Animation Domination block on Fox and that's all. It gives Lorne a license to suck and it's only giving certain members of his crew like McKinnon, Cecily Strong and Pete Davidson to shine. Hell, I can tell that Kenan Thompson sure as hell wants out of there.

Maybe I oughta start hitting the bars again....


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Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

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Monday, January 19, 2015

1.19.15 Bee-otch of the Day: WGFM/Rock 105


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: WGFM "Rock 105"
Age: 47 (6 as a regular rock station)
Occupation: rock station
Last Seen: Cheboygan, MI
Bee-otched For: proving how lame they are when it comes to adding new music
---
The good news with northern Michigan radio is that there's no Cumulus, iFartRadio or Townsquare to be seen.

The bad news: local owners can be just as clueless as the fat cats.

Northern Michigan has the distinction of having four stations that consider themselves rock. However, three out of the four stations - KLT, The Bear and Q100 - are with quasi- or pure classic rock.

The only new rock station up north is of course Rock 105. True, it was once Real Rock 105 and 95-5, but on April Fools Day 2013, the station lost 95.5 when it flipped to boring easy listening WQEZ/EZ 95-5/106-3 (simulcast with 106.3 in Onaway). It also lost the Free Beer and Hot Wings morning show, claiming lost ratings, even though Real Rock was the highest-rated out of Del Reynolds' stations. Thankfully, FB&HW has resurfaced on WMBN 1340 Petoskey and WKAD 93.7 Cadillac, both sports stations as "The Ticket".

On Sunday afternoon, I decided to give Rock 105 a whirl. I listened for about an hour, and the music mix was OK. I heard Metallica ("Wherever I May Roam"), The Pretty Reckless ("Messed Up World") and Green Day ("Longview"). But it's what I didn't hear that pissed me off.

In one hour's time, I heard only ONE song currently on the rock charts, and it was Foo Fighters' mega-hit "Something From Nothing".

Meanwhile, last week, I was listening to their daily feature "The Rock Radar", which is where they play a tune "currently getting some love on the rock charts, but we're not playing it." The song chosen for that day: "Sick Like Me" by In This Moment.

Funny. That tune is currently #11 on the rock charts and was shipped to radio three months ago. AND IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BE IN REGULAR ROTATION?!?!

This is proof that even with four rock stations, northern Michigan radio flat-out blows. They think that their listeners are retarded, so they cram the same fucking 200 tunes over and over again into their brains. I even shook my head when the DJ Sunday afternoon announced that Marilyn Manson was coming up, and the tune played was "Sweet Dreams", probably his 'safest' song. He also has a new single out, "Deep Six" that might be one of his best in years.

You see, local station owners in northern Michigan are fucking clueless. I even have a saying about them: instead of entertaining people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, they'd rather entertain people BORN in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Too many stations playing country, classic rock and oldies and not enough new and current stuff.

Personally, I think the only rock station owner up north that seems to give a damn is Q100's Jerry Coyne, who has taken the "no consultants" approach. Yes, there's a ton of classic rock, but the station also spins a lot of stuff the bigger stations up north have never touched. Hell, Sunday afternoon, I heard James' 1990s classic "Laid", and I DOUBT if anybody up north played that one back in the day! It might also explain why Q100 now has more Facebook likes than The Bear.

Despite the fact that there's services like Sirius, Slacker, Pandora and TuneIn, northern Michigan radio operators seem to don't give a damn. Play the same 200 shitty songs over and over and collect from the advertisers. Maybe they oughta explain why the last time I walked into a northern Michigan grocery store, they had Sirius over the intercom. Hell, if I owned a business up north and a northern Michigan station came to me to advertise on their stations, guess what I would say to them? GIVE ME A COPY OF THE MOST-RECENT NIELSEN 12+ RATINGS. IF YOU CAN'T, THEN GET THE FUCK OUT OR I'LL CALL THE GODDAMNED COPS.

If northern Michigan radio doesn't change real soon, then I'll suspect that many stations up north will be silenced within the next 10 years or so. Hell, I just recently went to WJML's website and it's blocked because of malware. The fact that they've only gained seven likes on Facebook within the past year proves that nobody cares anymore, even though they're northern Michigan's affiliate for Glenn Beck and Dave Ramsey.

Look at shopping malls. In the past decade, dozens of them have either turned into dead malls with less than 20% occupancy or closed altogether. Why? Simple: competition from internet sites such as Amazon and big box chains such as Walmart and Meijer, and even larger, nicer malls. Plus, there's also the issue of crime. Here in Grand Rapids, there was Centerpointe Mall, which was a dead zone for years until the owners finally decided to tear down 1/2 the mall and convert it to a "lifestyle center" where all the stores are outside. Guess what? IT'S WORKED! They've added new stores and the parking lot is even more full these days. Their across-the-street rival, Woodland - once Grand Rapids' largest mall - even did good when RiverTown Crossings opened cross town in 1999. Over the years, the owners renovated and refurbished the mall and even added on everything from a food court to a 14-screen movie theater. Even though some say that malls are as good as dead, try to get a good parking spot at their main entrance on the weekends these days.

That's what northern Michigan radio should do: do things nobody else is doing! It's working for Q100, so why can't it work for stations that are apparently failing? Station owners and managers need to get people on the streets and ask them what they want in a radio station instead of assuming. When Rock 105 dropped 95.5 and Free Beer and Hot Wings, people complained. Now, it's probably either the safest active rock station playlist-wise or a mainstream rocker that simply doesn't play 1970s butt rock. If I were Rock 105, I would bump currents to four per hour and increase the amount of new songs out there to full rotation.

As long as the internet get faster and better - especially up in northern Michigan - station owners need to either fight or get their heads out of their asses.

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Thursday, January 15, 2015

1.15.15 Bee-otch of the Day: Al-Qaeda



Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: Al-Qaeda
Age: 27

Occupation: terrorist group
Last Seen: worldwide
Bee-otched For: showing how EXTREMELY unpopular they are
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Last week, three members of Al-Qaeda popped themselves into the offices of satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo and killed several of the paper's artists and editors. Their reign of terror killed 12 people including several policemen with the paper's staff.

The incident resembles The Sorcerer's Apprentice, where Mickey Mouse breaks a broom only to have it turn into many mini-brooms. Well, Al-Qaeda did the world a favor and turned Charlie Hebdo, a paper I personally never heard of until last week into a worldwide phenomenon. The phrase "Je suis Charlie" has become a household term, even with American cartoon figures such as Maggie Simpson and even Baby Trixie from Hi and Lois.

Until last week, Charlie Hebdo only sold 60,000 copies a week. Now, it's selling three million this week with two million more in various languages, including English. Even though the paper lost some of its most-important artists and employees, they are now stronger than ever.

A few days ago, surviving cartoonist Renald Luzier (aka "Luz") showed off the first post-massacre issue of Charlie Hebdo, complete with a caption "All is Forgiven" and the prophet Mohammed holding a "Je suis Charlie" sign. Luzier drew some of the paper's most-controversial covers, seen here. It's amazing that he continues to still draw Mohammed despite the fact that several of his colleagues were gunned down over his art. But, he knows that the terrorists were once kids themselves but lost their humor as they got older.

You see, when somebody buys an issue of Charlie Hebdo, it's simply telling the same fuckers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon - taking nearly 3,000 souls with them - that terrorism doesn't win. If I see an issue on the newsstands here in Grand Rapids, damn right I will buy an issue. I want to show my country and the people of France that what Al-Qaeda did will not be tolerable. True, the paper slams most religions other than Islam, but that's their problem. Don't like it? Don't buy it.

But otherwise, I am Charlie, not a terrorist.  
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Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com!

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Wednesday, January 14, 2015

1.14.15 Bee-otch of the Day: Cumulus Media


Bee-otch of the Day honors are awarded Monday through Thursday, Bee-otch of the Week is awarded Friday on Chuck69.com.



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Name: Cumulus Media
Age: 18

Occupation: media giant
Last Seen: Atlanta, GA
Bee-otched For: proving that Nash should be sacked
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Who could ever remember the story of CBGB?

What happened was in the early 70's, Hilly Kristal started a small country nightclub in New York City that catered to those that loved country, bluegrass and blues (hence the name). But, the club was little-attended. So, several concert bookers convinced Hilly to book several rock bands including Squeeze (a local band, not the "Tempted" group) and Television. Soon, punk bands such as The Ramones, Patti Smith Group and The Cramps took over CBGB's, helping them zenith into bigger heights.

In other words, New Yorkians just don't like country music, and the ratings prove it.

When Cumulus snatched the WRXP call letters for their acquired 94.7 in the Big Apple, speculation was that the former religious station - owned by Family Stations and doomsday preacher Harold Camping - would be flipping to rock. The WRXP calls were formerly on 101.9, which was a rock station twice and did well each time it was. But instead, Cumulus thought that country would be the best format to introduce to New Yorkers. But so far, Nash 94.7 has been a dud. In the last Nielsen book for 2014, the station finished tied in 19th place with talk sister WABC with a 1.5. Oddly enough, sister WPLJ 95.5 is barely beating the two in 18th place with a 2.1.

Sadly, New York doesn't have any new rock stations. It does have a classic rocker in iHeartRadio's Q104.3, which has a 4.7, good for 6th place. The station does have a new rock show Sunday nights, but that's it. Otherwise, New York's rock radio scene makes my homeland of northern Michigan - a traditional classic rock hell - a cornucopia.

I find it funny that Cum-u-less would even hype the Nash format nationally. Hell, there's a Nash station here in Grand Rapids, and it's getting CREAMED in the ratings by B93.

Oh, maybe they should explain why they do have a success story in Chicago with the newly-relaunched WKQX 101.1. It's in 14th place with a 2.8, but it's beating out the likes of  104.3 K-Hits and even rock stalwart WLUP. It's even beating sister station WLS, which is at a measly 1.4.

Personally, I want to punch anybody in the face that proclaims that rock is dead. IT'S NOT. It's simply evolving. True, I love the bands I grew up with (Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Nirvana, etc.), but I do enjoy the modern bands like Arctic Monkeys, Royal Blood, Black Keys and so forth. These bands sell a lot of albums and it sucks that no station in New York City dare touch them all because iFartMedia, C-BS and especially Cum-u-less have no fucking clue. This is why I have moved away from terrestrial radio and I ain't coming back until they can wow me.

But hey! The people of the Big Apple have their own station where they can listen to some drunk southerner yodel about drinking, beating their wife and hanging black people. Gotta love country music!
 
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