Post by Bret Walker on Aug 22, 2003 12:19:48 GMT -5
FROM: "Bret Walker"
DATE: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 12:25:34 -0500
TO: <wglslocalsonly@hotmail.com>
SUBJECT: Loco Locals Bracket, 2003
Jack and Kevin,
You know how much I've enjoyed your show, Locals Only, since I first started listening to it back in February of 2002. Pretty much every single Thursday night in the last year and a half has been completely devoted to listening to your show. In fact, Erin and I have taken to taping episodes of ER and watching them at 11 PM after your show is over. And let's not forget the "official" Locals Only chatroom that we host on our website. We've enjoyed hosting the chats and talking with all the fans of Locals Only; listening to the show and chatting with the listeners has become like a virtual party every Thursday night.
Last year when Max the Dork was entered into the Loco Locals bracket tournament, I was excited beyond belief. I was doubly and triply excited when we moved up to the fourth round, and although I was disappointed that we lost in the fourth round, I found the overall experience to be fun and rewarding, and it gave Max the Dork more exposure to people who wouldn't have ordinarily heard us. It also gave our fledgling fan base a way of helping the band in ways that it couldn't have before. In short, it helped the band and the fan-base bond.
This year, I was also excited to find that we would be once again taking part in the Loco Locals bracket. Our fans were also excited, and have been chomping at the bit the past few weeks for their chance to vote for us. "When is your bracket? When is your bracket?" I felt and empathized with their impatience, but I felt that the overall experience would be even better than the one from last year.
Then some things started happening. After opening the brackets with what I considered a "Fair and Balanced" competition (to borrow a phrase from Fox News), things started to go awry the second week when a bracket was presented where one band had three songs played on the air, and the other band had only two. While I felt that this was an unfair advantage to the former band, I also wondered (and voiced my concern through IM) why all the previous brackets had only one song played by each band. The explanation at that time was that the later brackets deserved more song play because they had more nominations. I begrudgingly accepted this explanation because the brackets continued with two songs played by each band.
But then there was yet another bracket where only one song per band was played. My doubt as to the fairness of the brackets was beginning to grow. Again, last night there was a bracket where only one song was played by each band. (A member of one of the bands told me that he was led to believe that you had in fact played two songs from each band, and was upset over the news that only one song had been played).
And now there is talk that the first round will be wrapped up next week, despite the fact that:
1. You are devoting an hour to Atom and his Package, rightly so as he his holding his final performance next Friday
2. There are eight brackets remaining to get through in ONE HOUR
Surely, even if you only play one song per band, it will still be a tight squeeze. And even so, what happened to the opinion that "Bands in later brackets deserve more play?" Is that giving a "fair and balanced" presentation of the bands to the audience, so that they may make a better decision on which bands they like and will vote for?
In light of all of this, I regret to inform you that Max the Dork has decided, collectively, that we will not be participating in this year's bracket. I know that our fans will be disappointed, and I can assure you and them that this was not an easy decision to make. But we feel that the fairness of the tournament, which was very solid last year, has been compromised. Whether it is for personal reasons or due to a lack of effort is not for me to say; but we do agree that the tournament has NOT been remotely fair this year. And while it's true that we stood a good chance of advancing pretty far into the tournament, we feel that it would be a blow to our integrity if we allowed the farce to continue, even to our benefit.
Hopefully our decision to forfeit from the tournament will not color your opinion of the music that we play. We hope to continue to have a good relationship with Locals Only and with WGLS after the tournament is over. In addition, I will continue to update the bracket chart on our website (http://www.maxthedork.com/images/bracket2003.gif), but for the remainder of the tournament, we will not be hosting the Locals Only chat.
There are some things we feel strongly about, things we feel we must stand up for. This is one of those things. I hope you will understand our position.
Thank you for everything you've done for us.
Sincerely,
Bret and Justin
Max the Dork - www.maxthedork.com
Bringing down the music establishment one power chord at a time!
DATE: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 12:25:34 -0500
TO: <wglslocalsonly@hotmail.com>
SUBJECT: Loco Locals Bracket, 2003
Jack and Kevin,
You know how much I've enjoyed your show, Locals Only, since I first started listening to it back in February of 2002. Pretty much every single Thursday night in the last year and a half has been completely devoted to listening to your show. In fact, Erin and I have taken to taping episodes of ER and watching them at 11 PM after your show is over. And let's not forget the "official" Locals Only chatroom that we host on our website. We've enjoyed hosting the chats and talking with all the fans of Locals Only; listening to the show and chatting with the listeners has become like a virtual party every Thursday night.
Last year when Max the Dork was entered into the Loco Locals bracket tournament, I was excited beyond belief. I was doubly and triply excited when we moved up to the fourth round, and although I was disappointed that we lost in the fourth round, I found the overall experience to be fun and rewarding, and it gave Max the Dork more exposure to people who wouldn't have ordinarily heard us. It also gave our fledgling fan base a way of helping the band in ways that it couldn't have before. In short, it helped the band and the fan-base bond.
This year, I was also excited to find that we would be once again taking part in the Loco Locals bracket. Our fans were also excited, and have been chomping at the bit the past few weeks for their chance to vote for us. "When is your bracket? When is your bracket?" I felt and empathized with their impatience, but I felt that the overall experience would be even better than the one from last year.
Then some things started happening. After opening the brackets with what I considered a "Fair and Balanced" competition (to borrow a phrase from Fox News), things started to go awry the second week when a bracket was presented where one band had three songs played on the air, and the other band had only two. While I felt that this was an unfair advantage to the former band, I also wondered (and voiced my concern through IM) why all the previous brackets had only one song played by each band. The explanation at that time was that the later brackets deserved more song play because they had more nominations. I begrudgingly accepted this explanation because the brackets continued with two songs played by each band.
But then there was yet another bracket where only one song per band was played. My doubt as to the fairness of the brackets was beginning to grow. Again, last night there was a bracket where only one song was played by each band. (A member of one of the bands told me that he was led to believe that you had in fact played two songs from each band, and was upset over the news that only one song had been played).
And now there is talk that the first round will be wrapped up next week, despite the fact that:
1. You are devoting an hour to Atom and his Package, rightly so as he his holding his final performance next Friday
2. There are eight brackets remaining to get through in ONE HOUR
Surely, even if you only play one song per band, it will still be a tight squeeze. And even so, what happened to the opinion that "Bands in later brackets deserve more play?" Is that giving a "fair and balanced" presentation of the bands to the audience, so that they may make a better decision on which bands they like and will vote for?
In light of all of this, I regret to inform you that Max the Dork has decided, collectively, that we will not be participating in this year's bracket. I know that our fans will be disappointed, and I can assure you and them that this was not an easy decision to make. But we feel that the fairness of the tournament, which was very solid last year, has been compromised. Whether it is for personal reasons or due to a lack of effort is not for me to say; but we do agree that the tournament has NOT been remotely fair this year. And while it's true that we stood a good chance of advancing pretty far into the tournament, we feel that it would be a blow to our integrity if we allowed the farce to continue, even to our benefit.
Hopefully our decision to forfeit from the tournament will not color your opinion of the music that we play. We hope to continue to have a good relationship with Locals Only and with WGLS after the tournament is over. In addition, I will continue to update the bracket chart on our website (http://www.maxthedork.com/images/bracket2003.gif), but for the remainder of the tournament, we will not be hosting the Locals Only chat.
There are some things we feel strongly about, things we feel we must stand up for. This is one of those things. I hope you will understand our position.
Thank you for everything you've done for us.
Sincerely,
Bret and Justin
Max the Dork - www.maxthedork.com
Bringing down the music establishment one power chord at a time!
I mean I understand that the station is run by college students, but always before I've thought that the station shows dedication and professionalism, especially the locals only show. What I'm thinking is maybe Jack and Kevin bit off more than they can handle with terms just beginning again. If they decide to do the competition next year perhaps in the planning phase of the competition they'll decide to do it at a time when they can dedicate more time to the planning. 