Jann Arden – Facebook Photo
By Drex
I’ll start off by revealing my true feelings. Jann Arden is a nasty two-faced piece of work. That’s that. For someone who speaks out so passionately against the abuse of animals, the judgment of the obese, the struggles faced by the LGBTQ community – she seems to ignore her own rules when it comes to bullying.
Graham Slaugher, a staff reporter at the Toronto Star, wrote a story on Tuesday about Jann Arden. The topic? The singer’s hate for a new radio format now on-air in Calgary, her hometown.
Newcap Radio, the owner of AMP 90.3, has been looking for a way to reinvent itself in a market where pop stations are a dime a dozen. So, along comes Sparknet, a Vancouver media company. It’s the company that invented the Jack FM format in 2002.
They now have a new patent-protected format called QuickHitz, promising twice the music in half the time. The format is designed for an on-the-go young audience who are prone to flick around the dial. Their formula is to edit down the songs to roughly two minutes. Done well, most edits aren’t even heard and before you know it, your next favorite song is playing. Hence, keeping you tuned in. This is nothing new. Radio has been doing this for decades!
Most of the big names have edits airing on radio stations around the world, Aerosmith, Dire Straits, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, I could go on.
It’s business; the artists still walk away with their royalties regardless of how long the song is. It’s the same for bands who have the word ‘fuck’ in their composition, most North American stations require an edit that sometimes sounds like crap, but, it is what it is and no one seems to complain.
No one loses money; I’m yet to hear an artist complain that their song was edited, most of them don’t care, they’re just happy that their songs are still being played on radio.
Jann on the other hand, she’s furious!
A quick scan of an industry website here in Canada called BDSRadio shows us a handful of radio stations in Canada still play her music, and practically NONE outside of this country.
Now, this is where it get’s interesting. Arden, who is not shy about spewing her vile thoughts through her Twitter account, went ballistic. I wasn’t sure why. Is it the edits? Is it the fact she’s barely played on Canadian radio these days? Or maybe her latest job where she’s being relegated to judging donut creations for a Canadian franchise. Or, is it because music programmers struggle to find a decent song of hers to fill their 35% CANCON Canadian quota?
For the record, there’s plenty of talent to fill that required percentage. Not for Arden’s genre of music, though, which is known as ‘Adult Contemporary.’
Arden famously, a couple of years ago, revealed on Twitter she thought the bustling city of Oshawa, Ontario was ‘the middle of nowhere.’ Well, Oshawa was not impressed and she apologized for being a foolish shit dribbler.
Can you believe she’s actually going to play a show there on September 19th? Who really has time to go to a show in ‘the middle of nowhere?’
Now let’s turn to her hatful tirade against a hometown station and one of the men that programs it.
Graham Slaughter’s Toronto Star article opens with:
Does Jann Arden need some advice on how to be more sensitive?
Read More HERE
Thumbnail Photo of Steve Jones on Homepage
Drex is right. Stuff like this has been happening in radio for years. In the 1970s legendary PD Paul Drew at CKLW would speed up the turntables to 47 1/2 when they were dubbing 45’s onto carts. The Big 8 would get an extra two or three songs on the air every hour as a result. Jann Arden is lucky to be getting any airplay anywhere these days.
Drex lost me when he didn’t know Dire Straits name. Come on if you want to make a point make sure you know what or who you are using to make your point.
I’m torn!
1) I wouldn’t listen to a station that cuts all the songs in half.
2)I don’t listen to Jann Arden under any circumstances.
Anonymous @ 12:06 p.m. – Clever move on CKLW’s part to tinker with the speed of their 45 RPM turntables to squeeze in some extra songs. Also, if I were a radio PD right now, Jann Arden would be off my station playlist entirely – mostly because I think she’s overrated.
Not sure what to think. On one hand, it was a brilliant move at that time tweaking the turntables, but yet, if someone, for example, who thought “it” needed more colour, took their own paint brushes to The Mona Lisa, the end result may not be what the artist intended. I am not saying most songs these days are works of art of that magnitude, but certainly, I believe no established artist would be keen on this format. Even ones like Jann, who aren’t getting much airplay anyway. I’m just a dumb jock though, so what do I know?
Drex should hit a gym before he starts to make comments like “she’s being relegated to judging donut creations for a Canadian franchise”.
Maybe he’s pissed that she’s actually funnier than his sorry act?
I think the key here is that this is happening in a market with no shortage of pop songs. It’s not like newcap is making every radio station in the country edit down their music to 2 minutes.
They are one station, trying to offer something different & doing what radio has always tried to do: adapt & survive.
Having said that, when I first read the AMP presser on their format change, I felt like we’re all being trolled by Newcap.
Drex is right. What’s her problem with the new format. No one else is complaining.
Radio formats come and go with the good ones surviving.
hacking a song in half is not the same as a radio edit. Jann has a right to an opinion, just like radio personalities. It doesn’t matter if you think the opinion is stupid. Funny enouh I was just on the air this morning talking about how I don’t play “hacked up versions” of the hit songs we play. yes.. we play occasional”single” versions. but to be honest.. most of our songs are 3 min or less n this format 🙂
Sorry, Rex, must disagree with you about the editing of songs, (which goes way beyond Jann Arden’s rant).
First of all, I could care less for fat Jann Arden and her MOR music. The main issue is the editing of creative copyrighted works.
The darker side of today’s internet is mostly about blatant hucksterism and thievery.
Essentially, lazy fucking bastards surfing the internet for a quick poach and a false sense of entitlement to essentially steal whatever they need ?
Once you carve up musical songs in half, what is next on the list ?
Cutting up other creative works such as published stories, novels?
How about half a painting, or sculpture ?
Radio stations who play only half a song to showcase more artists are much like electronic highway billboards who rotate 20 companies within a two minute loop, with each company getting 30 seconds of highway exposure.
This type of gimmickry is pure bullshite fueled again by greed and huckerism.
So Drex Willcomes, beware of the PT Barnum adage, “there’s a sucker born every minute,” lest you be the next sucker ?
I try to be fair & honest without being cruel. With Jann Arden it’s tough.
If Canadian content rules didn’t exist, she probably be making a living flipping burgers or cleaning motel rooms.
The cow should be thankful if someone plays even 1/4 of one of her overly produced crap songs.