January 16, 2025 • 25 mins
The weekly podcast from The Lynch & Taco Show on 101one WJRR in Orlando
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, how about we try this again. Thank you
(00:02):
for your patience, those of you who are on Facebook
Live right now. It's another episode of Lynching Tacos off
the Air podcast, our weekly podcast from Lynchin Taco Show
on one on one one w j r R. I
had been mentioning before we had our computer crash here
a few minutes ago, that we suspect there might be
a few more people listening this morning than normally to
our podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, there definitely are. I can see it up in
the top left. How many How many are checking out
Facebook Live today?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We do this podcast every Thursday. Today more people listening,
obviously with the Earthday birthday news and pat while you
were fixing the computer, all the people listening get to
watch me over there using my spit can because we
couldn't kill the Facebook Live and I realized they go,
they've been watching me spitting a can call because I
was choking something.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
The Earth Day Birthday news is there's not going to
be an Earth Day birthday this year, and.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It trust me, I know a lot of people are
like upset with it. It upsets nobody more than our
BALLO had to make the decision, Rick because that's like
his baby. It upsets Pat myself. I mean, I've been
to all these. I worked here at the first one,
so yeah, I mean, we'd love to do it, but
there's several reasons why we just can't.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So if you heard the announcement when we made it
during the morning show earlier, you've got the gist of it.
But we thought that we would carve out some time
here for any of you who want to ask questions
or don't understand some of this stuff. We want to
try to make everything as crystal clear as possible with
what we were up against and what has happened over
(01:38):
in the last few years in particular, not just with
this event, but in the music industry in general. Some
things have been going on that have made it incredibly,
incredibly difficult to pull this thing together every year, and
I think that would be a good place to start.
Earthday Birthday started out as a very small event that
(02:02):
was held on what a rooftop in downtown Orlando, Taco Yeah,
with just a couple of bands way back in the day.
This was before I even worked here. You were here
though from the get go, I was.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I was interning at the time, and I remember having Well,
there was a couple of different rooftop ones, but one
of them was a different one, the rooftop rip off.
Remember I told you where we went up there, did
a concert and had and the idea was we were
ripping off downtown Orlando's fireworks because we were on a
building in downtown. But that was the craziest thing ever
that we did.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
That thing.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
But I'll never forget it because I was interning and
then maybe made me wear a long sleeve button down
at tie and slacks.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I was like a precursor to your sales day.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Here's one hundred and eighty degrees.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Anyway, So birthday Birthday evolved into a much bigger show
over the years, obviously, and there's been so many great
memories at you know, over the course of thirty years,
with the exception of the COVID year, where well everything
came to a grinding halt. Back when we first started
doing this show, the landscape was a lot different as
(03:05):
far as getting the talent to play each year. It
was a matter of relationships that this radio station had established,
not only with a lot of artists that we support,
many of artists which we supported before they even broke
nationally who would be eager to come and play in
(03:25):
front of the listeners of a radio station in the
market where their music's getting played. And subsequently their record
labels were also interested in helping support the event. And
it was a joint venture where everybody was involved to
pull this together and make things happen. And the bottom
line was we were able as a result of this
cooperation keep the ticket price affordable. Okay, those of you
(03:50):
who are old enough to remember, you used to be
able to go and see shows for hell under twenty bucks,
not just birthday birthday, which you could way back in
the day it was under twenty bucks. Of course, prices
have gone up over the years, not just on Earthday Birthday,
but on all concerts in some cases that the prices
are mind boggling.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, without a doubt.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And see the idea is Earthday Birthday was the radio
station's birthday party slash event.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So it was a party that we'd throw for you
and make it as affordable as we could. That's not
really the case right now.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And over the years, as the competition grew, the festival,
the concert festival business started to actually become a business
unto its own If you recall, big, huge music festivals
used to be much more of a European thing, all right.
It's newer here in the US on a regular basis.
(04:49):
Don't don't get me wrong, don't hear me wrong. We
of course have always had music festivals, but these just
big days long music festivals that go on in many
places in Europe for years and years and years are
now being blueprinted here in the United States. You won't
know that you've been to many of the shows yourself,
and they can go on three four days, sometimes over
two weekends, and in some cases hundreds of bands perform.
(05:13):
Who pays for that, Well, the short answer is the
concert ticket holder does, all right. And these shows are
so big and have so many bands that the amount
of money that's needed to fund everything that goes along
with putting on one of these shows can be covered
because you've got so many fans coming and paying a
(05:36):
high fee to go to these shows. That covers the
cost of all this stuff. And everybody ends up making
a little bit of money because at the end of
the day, it is a business, all right. That model
doesn't work for birthday. Birthday, it just does not.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
At the end of the day, what we could afford,
and that in turn, our listeners you could afford, would
be not the best bands. I mean, they're not shitty
bands by any means, but not the best bands. And
we want to have the best bands like we always
used to and at an affordable price.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
We don't want our listeners. You havn't paid too much
for a concert.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So with that, I know there's probably some of you
if you're thinking this, I want to get out ahead
of it. You're probably going, what do you mean? You guys?
Are iHeartRadio? You do all these big shows we hear
you promote all year long. Those are company produced destination shows.
And that's right, like the iHeartRadio Music Festival, and they
(06:37):
do one for country, they do one for hip hop,
they do one for Top forty. That's a different animal.
That's where the company as a company is putting this on,
not just for one radio station, but for all the
stations across the country. All right, we WJR happen to
be one of the few remaining rates video stations in
(07:01):
any company in this country that does their own radio festival,
books it, produces it and puts it on by ourselves. Locally.
We don't have a national budget. We don't have the
entire company behind as the company supports us doing this,
but at the same time they got to look at,
(07:24):
you know, budgets because they are a business as well.
For us to get approval to put the money out
to even do an Earthday Birthday level sized show, with
the cost of entertainment and everything that goes into this,
the math doesn't work out in the end to where
we could keep your ticket price within a reasonable ask
and we're just we're not going to gouge you on tickets.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
That's this year.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
We may still do Earthday Birthday next year and the
following year. That's what the boss is saying, definitely, so
don't worry about that.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Also, to answer a.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Question some people are saying, oh, because these bands are
gouging you guys now charging it too much. It's not
the bet. It's mainly their promoters. A lot of those
bands don't even know what they're.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
They're specifically, it's booking agents is with the promoter is
the the outfit that puts the show on and pays
the artists. The booking agents are the ones who secure
the contracts, book the tours, and do the business end
of things.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So, Hey, you want this insert huge band.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
All of a sudden they come back ey with that's
gonna cost just seven one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And I'll tell you this right now, a lot of
booking agents do not care if insert name of band
has a great relationship and is getting supported by insert
name of radio station. They don't care. They want whoever
wants to hire their band that they represent to pay
the maximum amount of money that they can get. Yeah,
(08:54):
because well, as you alluded to talk to, the band
may not necessarily know about these negotiatings going on, but
that booking agent is out to make money too, and
the more they can get for the artists in turn,
the more they make from their cut of booking the show.
So there's no mercy on that level anymore. Labels don't
(09:17):
a lot of times get involved in the process on
a local level like they used to, because the whole
model in the music industry is completely different now and
the relationships are well, a lot of them have gone
by the way side, to be quite honest with you.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, and a lot of the bands that's still that
would still do it for us.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
You know, you've seen a bunch, you know. You know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
We always have some of them that, Hey, our management
will get behind it and we'll do it because we
love what the radio station has done for us over
the years, and all their listeners will come and play
the show for you.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Still got to pay them, though, Okay, but we don't
want to book the same bands year in and year out.
We just don't want to do that. And also a
lot of these, I'm gonna be honest with you, they
could get paid more doing a larger festival, a multi
day festival, and a lot of times they do because
the booking agent never even lets it get to our
(10:13):
level of hey, why don't you go play at w
j r r's Earthday birthday? And then you know, you
got another big festival happening somewhere else, maybe that weekend
or shortly thereafter. They if they have the option, they're
gonna try to do the bigger money grab and the
band's none the wiser do this. They're not, so we
are not putting this on bands whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, somebody said book lower level bands.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
There's so many out there. That's the problem.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
If you do that, you don't have enough tickets to
pay even those you know, baby bands is what we
call it, refer to a mask.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, and I'm gonna be honest with you, if you
don't have some name talents, you will not sell anywhere
near the amount of tickets you need to to justify
the event. And it's not just the cost of talent.
You have got to pay, you know, for the facility.
Those prices have gone up. You have to pay for security,
(11:09):
you have to pay for staging, lighting, sound, all of that.
All those prices have gone through the roof and they
all go into the budget on top of what the
entertainment costs. So you know, between that and then you
have to pay people to staff the event too. Again,
if you're doing it locally on our own, we're not
a concert promoter. We're a radio station who is you know,
(11:33):
masqueraded as a promoter for this event for thirty years
and it's just got to the point where, well, here
we are.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We've had we have a bunch of guys and ladies
that sleep out at the fairgrounds for this concert in
RVs or some of them.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
In their car over a week to set it all
up and execute it.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
So we put a lot in it. It takes a
lot to do it. Somebody, Mike Connolly said you should
have done Florida bands. Trivium nonpoint, and then it went away.
Of course, trivium non point. It is seven to us,
he said, shine down and named a couple more that even.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
That would be too expense.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And you're naming all bands that we've recently had too, Hey,
and a lot of these bands. Hello, what happens the
month after when Birthday Birthday would have been well, Welcome
to Rockville Multiple Day Festival right here in our own backyard.
So if you take all the info we just told you,
the reality of it is just about any band that
(12:29):
we would consider trying to book for Earthday Birthday for
all intentions purposes, you're gonna have the chance to see
them in May at the Speedway.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
The great thing about that is there's a positive to everything,
of course, I believe. And the positive to that is
that we are partners with Danny Wimmer dw D Danny
Weimmer Production and and so we are very involved with
Welcome to Rockville. We do you know, broadcasts out there.
(12:58):
We're out there, which means a lot of our listeners,
a lot of you will win tickets to it.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
We're their local media outlet and partner. We are for
Welcome to Rockville and DWP does these large festivals all
over the country. And I can tell you right now
that as someone who's been to a lot of concerts
over the years, I've never ever ever seen anything like
(13:22):
Welcome to Rockville. And knowing what things cost, I can't
even ballpark what the total cost is to put on
that event. I can't No, I.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Could not stomach to do an event like that if something,
you know, goes sideways.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Which you know, they've run into issues over the years
at that event with bad weather and stuff, and then
you've got to deal with bad publicity. And it's a
huge risk in gamble, it really is. And that's what
they do year round is produce huge festivals, and they're
working on this year round, and it is what. It
is true And as much as I hate that phrase,
(14:02):
it's the truth.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Dixie said, not everyone can afford Rockville tickets. The good
thing about that, Dixie is, as I said, WJRR is
giving away boatloads of tickets for Rockville, so you have
a good chance to win either. On our socials on air,
we do talkbacks for it all different contests, so you
have a good chance to win them. Also, with Rockville,
(14:27):
you can choose your day. You don't have to buy
every single day.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
They also for future reference, who those of you, like Dixie,
may be turned off by the price for a Rockville ticket.
They are aware that their tickets are costly, and they
also have payment plans where, you know, literally like after
the upcoming one completes, they'll send out information, Hey, you
can put ten dollars down on next year's festival and
(14:52):
make small payments. Yeah, break it up, genius, a lot
of ways to do that. So we're not gonna, you know,
criticize them for their ticket price because what you get
for that ticket prices, it's hard to argue with north
of one hundred and fifty bands over you know, multiple
days at the Speedway. It's an incredible, incredible show. So
(15:15):
like we're saying, we can't even ballpark how much it
costs them to produce and execute that show. And then
if you look at something like Earthday, Birthday and all
the things we just told you, you see what we're
up against.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Liz said, I agree, Welcome to Rockville is one of
the best run festivals. They get they gonna have it
dialed in, just like we had Earthday Birthday dialed in
over the years. And again to reiterate our boss Rick,
this is is his baby Earthday Birthday. Yeah, it's all
of our baby because we've been at this station so
long now, calm Wood, and he said, this doesn't mean
(15:51):
that we're not doing it next year.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So my understanding from some of the conversations I've had
with him is we are looking at and I think
we're pretty far down the road of a couple of
arena type shows that maybe w j R rcentric that
we're going to partner on in hopes of you know,
doing some There'll be big shows, Yeah, there'll still be
(16:14):
big shows. They're not going to be a festival, but
there'll still be big shows and hopefully shows you'll be
interested in. So we are working on that. There are
other great festivals coming, as Taco was mentioned, and we
always are going to have tickets for that stuff. But
as much as we hate ripping this band aid off,
we figured the best way is to deal with this
(16:34):
the way we deal with everything, and ours tell you
straight up what's happening and why. Yeah, we hope you'll understand.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
LORI said them over forty can't hang at multiple day
festivals again, Rockville, you can just pick a single day
with that.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, And somebody did mention something that we could possibly
look at Earthday Birthday pre sale with a payment plan
similar to the to the rock film model.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Well, again, you have to have you have to have
an approved budget, and the cost of everything that goes
along with this these days has pushed that price to
where we're just we're not going to get a green
light on budget needed with the current constraints. Re under
I don't need to get into the weeds on that.
It's just if you it's it's business, and uh, you know,
(17:25):
I cannot fault our company one bit whatsoever. You know,
it's it's it's something. If we're gonna put it on,
we want to make sure it's successful.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And right done. Yeah, done correctly, because we don't half
ass stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And I think that you know that. You know, when
if we did an Earthday Birthday in the past and
something was a little screwed up with like a VIP
for instance, that shit was addressed the next year. It's
the first thing that our boss asked us to do
after Birthday Birthday is. I want to hear any feedback,
positive or negative so we can correct the negative. The
(18:00):
there's so many questions. I really can't. I need to
open it up, but I got to turn down my volume.
Bear with me here Holy welcome only.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah. So again, if you're just hopping in here, we're
talking about earth Day Birthday. We made announcement this morning
on our show on the air. It's not happening this year.
It doesn't mean it's gone away forever. Perhaps it comes
back in another iteration. I don't know. These are all
unknowns at this point. We're just telling you what we
know at the right now. It's not happening for a
(18:30):
whole litany of reasons and hoping you understand those.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Here, I was able to open this up without the
volume going crazy.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
H I volunteer as the staff.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Okay, Earthday Birthday probably lost money last year and they
couldn't do it again.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
No, it didn't.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Didn't lose money last year, did not?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
No, did not.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
It's also at the same location. This is what happens
when you have shined down as the headliner many in
a row. People lose interest.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
No, nothing to do with that has nothing to do
with shine down, nothing to do with the loss of interest.
It has to do with everything that we just explained
over the last twenty minutes.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
The cost of bands is one of the main things.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
The cost of everything. Yeah, and then the added competition
of the festival business in general, which is what these
festival promoters do year round for a living. Again, we
are one radio station that remains that still was trying
to produce a large festival one day event, one of
the last few stations in the entire country that was
(19:36):
managing to still pull this off. Quite honestly, I'm surprised
we were able to continue to put this on here
in the last four or five years, because you know,
it's been you know that heated a competition to try
to get entertainment booked.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Somebody came back at that last one ago. Are you
actually listening to what they're saying exactly?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I mean it is. It's like when you go online
with this stuff, you're gonna have people picking at every
little thing, and you know, if you want to, you
want to fault for being honest. Okay, fine, fine, we
could lie to you if you'd like.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Earthday birthdays, have me and my wife celebrate our anniversary
every year. Teletal bummer. Don't worry, we have other shows
hopefully you know that.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Okay, So I don't know is there anything else anybody
needs to know at this point? Somebody questions coming in
that we have an answer in the morning.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Would you both agree that Welcome to Rockville has limited
your choice of bands to book?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yes, yes, Sue like definitely we said that.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
She may have texted that in before there.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
If you look at the lineup for for Welcome to Rockville,
just go through it. And obviously there's a lot of
our core artists that are that are playing that festival
that we would have loved to have for an Earthday birthday.
But you know, competition is competition, and you know, we're
still thrilled that we are local media partners with Welcome
(21:04):
to Rockville and Danny Wimmer Productions and going to be
a big part of that show coming up, and we're
fired up for it. Fired up for it, definitely.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Dude. Sorry, I'm reading all these different comments.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Have we answered everything that's coming into.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I'll continue to do it and have the boss to it.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
In the middle of all this stuff, then there's Matt
who says Bobby.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
They all have such big, fat.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Asses throwback reference to an ongoing gag with Oma Taco's
late grandmother, who was almost one hundred and four years old.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, she was talking about the nurses without our hearing
aids in and they could hear every damn thing she said,
including how big, how big and fat their asses were.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
The lady just walking away shaking her head.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Oh bit, so, yeah, somebody said, always, Brian, always have
to make the best business decision at the end of
the day. Yeah, and for and for a lot of you,
so that you don't have to pay an exorbit the amount.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah. That, and look, we're just we're not going to
do a show that we don't feel good about and
then muddle through it only to have a bunch of
you know, folks afterwards going well that was really shitty.
You know, it's not our goal here, No, man, you know,
it's it's into the exact opposite. I don't know what
(22:18):
else to say. That's good. Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Somebody said, uh, does that mean ninety eight rock Fest
in Tampa is not happening?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
You can't speak for any other No, that's not our call,
not our call, or any of our Yes, it's another
iHeart station. You'd have to reach out to them and
ask what their situation is.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
And and yeah, pretty much a lot of the stuff
that's being said. You you kind of you answered already.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Right, it's math. Math is hard.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah, math is hard.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Well it's always been hard for pat but this math
is hard for everybody.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
The business math as it pertains to entertainment.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
And uh, and thank you overall for understanding.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I mean, it's it's our festival too, it's our you know,
it's everybody's birthday concert we all love. I mean shit,
people have gotten engaged out there. People have watched people crokreate.
I talked to somebody who lost their virginity out there
in a portal that which to me was quite disgusting.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yes, yes, it's uh, its memories made every sure so
anyway that that's the that's the straight up, God's honest truth.
That's the only way we know how to deal it
to you.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
And you know, and then Patty, we don't want to
say this for everybody, Patty, but she says, Bah, they
bitch and complain no matter what you do.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
There's just a handful that always do.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, that's just anything.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
So there you go, folks, and again thank you for
your ongoing support and understanding. Uh, We're always going to
be here for you, doing the best weekend with what
we got.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Yeah, so I believe that, brother.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
All Right, there you go. That's this week's off the
air podcast. I'm sure the comments section will be lively. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And for those that are just tuning into it, going, man,
I've listened to this radio station for a long time,
never checked out their podcast. We do our podcast every
Thursday here on Facebook Live, and.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
It just it goes whatever direction it goes. Sometimes we'll
have great artist on with us. Sometimes we'll just be talking.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
About you know, like God knows what.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
How an egg comes out of a chicken. It can
be anything, just throwing stuff out there. So check it out,
check it out and spread the word about our podcast.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
And again this week we felt the need to dedicate
exclusively to this topic. So we hope you understand and we'll.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
And our boss was upset that he had to be
in meetings today in Jacksonville so he couldn't be on
the podcast with us, because again, this is his baby.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I'm sure he may be lurking right here watching and
listening as we wrap this up. What up?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Rich?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
It's gotta be all right, Rick, It'll be all right.
Everything always has a way of working itself out. You
all have a nice day, and again thank you for
checking out Lynching Tacos Off the Air podcast
All right, how about we try this again. Thank you
(00:02):
for your patience, those of you who are on Facebook
Live right now. It's another episode of Lynching Tacos off
the Air podcast, our weekly podcast from Lynchin Taco Show
on one on one one w j r R. I
had been mentioning before we had our computer crash here
a few minutes ago, that we suspect there might be
a few more people listening this morning than normally to
our podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, there definitely are. I can see it up in
the top left. How many How many are checking out
Facebook Live today?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Thank you?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
We do this podcast every Thursday. Today more people listening,
obviously with the Earthday birthday news and pat while you
were fixing the computer, all the people listening get to
watch me over there using my spit can because we
couldn't kill the Facebook Live and I realized they go,
they've been watching me spitting a can call because I
was choking something.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
The Earth Day Birthday news is there's not going to
be an Earth Day birthday this year, and.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It trust me, I know a lot of people are
like upset with it. It upsets nobody more than our
BALLO had to make the decision, Rick because that's like
his baby. It upsets Pat myself. I mean, I've been
to all these. I worked here at the first one,
so yeah, I mean, we'd love to do it, but
there's several reasons why we just can't.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
So if you heard the announcement when we made it
during the morning show earlier, you've got the gist of it.
But we thought that we would carve out some time
here for any of you who want to ask questions
or don't understand some of this stuff. We want to
try to make everything as crystal clear as possible with
what we were up against and what has happened over
(01:38):
in the last few years in particular, not just with
this event, but in the music industry in general. Some
things have been going on that have made it incredibly,
incredibly difficult to pull this thing together every year, and
I think that would be a good place to start.
Earthday Birthday started out as a very small event that
(02:02):
was held on what a rooftop in downtown Orlando, Taco Yeah,
with just a couple of bands way back in the day.
This was before I even worked here. You were here
though from the get go, I was.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I was interning at the time, and I remember having Well,
there was a couple of different rooftop ones, but one
of them was a different one, the rooftop rip off.
Remember I told you where we went up there, did
a concert and had and the idea was we were
ripping off downtown Orlando's fireworks because we were on a
building in downtown. But that was the craziest thing ever
that we did.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
That thing.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
But I'll never forget it because I was interning and
then maybe made me wear a long sleeve button down
at tie and slacks.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I was like a precursor to your sales day.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Here's one hundred and eighty degrees.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Anyway, So birthday Birthday evolved into a much bigger show
over the years, obviously, and there's been so many great
memories at you know, over the course of thirty years,
with the exception of the COVID year, where well everything
came to a grinding halt. Back when we first started
doing this show, the landscape was a lot different as
(03:05):
far as getting the talent to play each year. It
was a matter of relationships that this radio station had established,
not only with a lot of artists that we support,
many of artists which we supported before they even broke
nationally who would be eager to come and play in
(03:25):
front of the listeners of a radio station in the
market where their music's getting played. And subsequently their record
labels were also interested in helping support the event. And
it was a joint venture where everybody was involved to
pull this together and make things happen. And the bottom
line was we were able as a result of this
cooperation keep the ticket price affordable. Okay, those of you
(03:50):
who are old enough to remember, you used to be
able to go and see shows for hell under twenty bucks,
not just birthday birthday, which you could way back in
the day it was under twenty bucks. Of course, prices
have gone up over the years, not just on Earthday Birthday,
but on all concerts in some cases that the prices
are mind boggling.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, without a doubt.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And see the idea is Earthday Birthday was the radio
station's birthday party slash event.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
So it was a party that we'd throw for you
and make it as affordable as we could. That's not
really the case right now.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And over the years, as the competition grew, the festival,
the concert festival business started to actually become a business
unto its own If you recall, big, huge music festivals
used to be much more of a European thing, all right.
It's newer here in the US on a regular basis.
(04:49):
Don't don't get me wrong, don't hear me wrong. We
of course have always had music festivals, but these just
big days long music festivals that go on in many
places in Europe for years and years and years are
now being blueprinted here in the United States. You won't
know that you've been to many of the shows yourself,
and they can go on three four days, sometimes over
two weekends, and in some cases hundreds of bands perform.
(05:13):
Who pays for that, Well, the short answer is the
concert ticket holder does, all right. And these shows are
so big and have so many bands that the amount
of money that's needed to fund everything that goes along
with putting on one of these shows can be covered
because you've got so many fans coming and paying a
(05:36):
high fee to go to these shows. That covers the
cost of all this stuff. And everybody ends up making
a little bit of money because at the end of
the day, it is a business, all right. That model
doesn't work for birthday. Birthday, it just does not.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
At the end of the day, what we could afford,
and that in turn, our listeners you could afford, would
be not the best bands. I mean, they're not shitty
bands by any means, but not the best bands. And
we want to have the best bands like we always
used to and at an affordable price.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
We don't want our listeners. You havn't paid too much
for a concert.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
So with that, I know there's probably some of you
if you're thinking this, I want to get out ahead
of it. You're probably going, what do you mean? You guys?
Are iHeartRadio? You do all these big shows we hear
you promote all year long. Those are company produced destination shows.
And that's right, like the iHeartRadio Music Festival, and they
(06:37):
do one for country, they do one for hip hop,
they do one for Top forty. That's a different animal.
That's where the company as a company is putting this on,
not just for one radio station, but for all the
stations across the country. All right, we WJR happen to
be one of the few remaining rates video stations in
(07:01):
any company in this country that does their own radio festival,
books it, produces it and puts it on by ourselves. Locally.
We don't have a national budget. We don't have the
entire company behind as the company supports us doing this,
but at the same time they got to look at,
(07:24):
you know, budgets because they are a business as well.
For us to get approval to put the money out
to even do an Earthday Birthday level sized show, with
the cost of entertainment and everything that goes into this,
the math doesn't work out in the end to where
we could keep your ticket price within a reasonable ask
and we're just we're not going to gouge you on tickets.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
That's this year.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
We may still do Earthday Birthday next year and the
following year. That's what the boss is saying, definitely, so
don't worry about that.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Also, to answer a.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Question some people are saying, oh, because these bands are
gouging you guys now charging it too much. It's not
the bet. It's mainly their promoters. A lot of those
bands don't even know what they're.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
They're specifically, it's booking agents is with the promoter is
the the outfit that puts the show on and pays
the artists. The booking agents are the ones who secure
the contracts, book the tours, and do the business end
of things.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
So, Hey, you want this insert huge band.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
All of a sudden they come back ey with that's
gonna cost just seven one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
And I'll tell you this right now, a lot of
booking agents do not care if insert name of band
has a great relationship and is getting supported by insert
name of radio station. They don't care. They want whoever
wants to hire their band that they represent to pay
the maximum amount of money that they can get. Yeah,
(08:54):
because well, as you alluded to talk to, the band
may not necessarily know about these negotiatings going on, but
that booking agent is out to make money too, and
the more they can get for the artists in turn,
the more they make from their cut of booking the show.
So there's no mercy on that level anymore. Labels don't
(09:17):
a lot of times get involved in the process on
a local level like they used to, because the whole
model in the music industry is completely different now and
the relationships are well, a lot of them have gone
by the way side, to be quite honest with you.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yeah, and a lot of the bands that's still that
would still do it for us.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
You know, you've seen a bunch, you know. You know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
We always have some of them that, Hey, our management
will get behind it and we'll do it because we
love what the radio station has done for us over
the years, and all their listeners will come and play
the show for you.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Still got to pay them, though, Okay, but we don't
want to book the same bands year in and year out.
We just don't want to do that. And also a
lot of these, I'm gonna be honest with you, they
could get paid more doing a larger festival, a multi
day festival, and a lot of times they do because
the booking agent never even lets it get to our
(10:13):
level of hey, why don't you go play at w
j r r's Earthday birthday? And then you know, you
got another big festival happening somewhere else, maybe that weekend
or shortly thereafter. They if they have the option, they're
gonna try to do the bigger money grab and the
band's none the wiser do this. They're not, so we
are not putting this on bands whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Yeah, somebody said book lower level bands.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
There's so many out there. That's the problem.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
If you do that, you don't have enough tickets to
pay even those you know, baby bands is what we
call it, refer to a mask.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, and I'm gonna be honest with you, if you
don't have some name talents, you will not sell anywhere
near the amount of tickets you need to to justify
the event. And it's not just the cost of talent.
You have got to pay, you know, for the facility.
Those prices have gone up. You have to pay for security,
(11:09):
you have to pay for staging, lighting, sound, all of that.
All those prices have gone through the roof and they
all go into the budget on top of what the
entertainment costs. So you know, between that and then you
have to pay people to staff the event too. Again,
if you're doing it locally on our own, we're not
a concert promoter. We're a radio station who is you know,
(11:33):
masqueraded as a promoter for this event for thirty years
and it's just got to the point where, well, here
we are.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
We've had we have a bunch of guys and ladies
that sleep out at the fairgrounds for this concert in
RVs or some of them.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
In their car over a week to set it all
up and execute it.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
So we put a lot in it. It takes a
lot to do it. Somebody, Mike Connolly said you should
have done Florida bands. Trivium nonpoint, and then it went away.
Of course, trivium non point. It is seven to us,
he said, shine down and named a couple more that even.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
That would be too expense.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And you're naming all bands that we've recently had too, Hey,
and a lot of these bands. Hello, what happens the
month after when Birthday Birthday would have been well, Welcome
to Rockville Multiple Day Festival right here in our own backyard.
So if you take all the info we just told you,
the reality of it is just about any band that
(12:29):
we would consider trying to book for Earthday Birthday for
all intentions purposes, you're gonna have the chance to see
them in May at the Speedway.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
The great thing about that is there's a positive to everything,
of course, I believe. And the positive to that is
that we are partners with Danny Wimmer dw D Danny
Weimmer Production and and so we are very involved with
Welcome to Rockville. We do you know, broadcasts out there.
(12:58):
We're out there, which means a lot of our listeners,
a lot of you will win tickets to it.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
We're their local media outlet and partner. We are for
Welcome to Rockville and DWP does these large festivals all
over the country. And I can tell you right now
that as someone who's been to a lot of concerts
over the years, I've never ever ever seen anything like
(13:22):
Welcome to Rockville. And knowing what things cost, I can't
even ballpark what the total cost is to put on
that event. I can't No, I.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Could not stomach to do an event like that if something,
you know, goes sideways.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Which you know, they've run into issues over the years
at that event with bad weather and stuff, and then
you've got to deal with bad publicity. And it's a
huge risk in gamble, it really is. And that's what
they do year round is produce huge festivals, and they're
working on this year round, and it is what. It
is true And as much as I hate that phrase,
(14:02):
it's the truth.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Dixie said, not everyone can afford Rockville tickets. The good
thing about that, Dixie is, as I said, WJRR is
giving away boatloads of tickets for Rockville, so you have
a good chance to win either. On our socials on air,
we do talkbacks for it all different contests, so you
have a good chance to win them. Also, with Rockville,
(14:27):
you can choose your day. You don't have to buy
every single day.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
They also for future reference, who those of you, like Dixie,
may be turned off by the price for a Rockville ticket.
They are aware that their tickets are costly, and they
also have payment plans where, you know, literally like after
the upcoming one completes, they'll send out information, Hey, you
can put ten dollars down on next year's festival and
(14:52):
make small payments. Yeah, break it up, genius, a lot
of ways to do that. So we're not gonna, you know,
criticize them for their ticket price because what you get
for that ticket prices, it's hard to argue with north
of one hundred and fifty bands over you know, multiple
days at the Speedway. It's an incredible, incredible show. So
(15:15):
like we're saying, we can't even ballpark how much it
costs them to produce and execute that show. And then
if you look at something like Earthday, Birthday and all
the things we just told you, you see what we're
up against.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Liz said, I agree, Welcome to Rockville is one of
the best run festivals. They get they gonna have it
dialed in, just like we had Earthday Birthday dialed in
over the years. And again to reiterate our boss Rick,
this is is his baby Earthday Birthday. Yeah, it's all
of our baby because we've been at this station so
long now, calm Wood, and he said, this doesn't mean
(15:51):
that we're not doing it next year.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So my understanding from some of the conversations I've had
with him is we are looking at and I think
we're pretty far down the road of a couple of
arena type shows that maybe w j R rcentric that
we're going to partner on in hopes of you know,
doing some There'll be big shows, Yeah, there'll still be
(16:14):
big shows. They're not going to be a festival, but
there'll still be big shows and hopefully shows you'll be
interested in. So we are working on that. There are
other great festivals coming, as Taco was mentioned, and we
always are going to have tickets for that stuff. But
as much as we hate ripping this band aid off,
we figured the best way is to deal with this
(16:34):
the way we deal with everything, and ours tell you
straight up what's happening and why. Yeah, we hope you'll understand.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
LORI said them over forty can't hang at multiple day
festivals again, Rockville, you can just pick a single day
with that.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, And somebody did mention something that we could possibly
look at Earthday Birthday pre sale with a payment plan
similar to the to the rock film model.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Well, again, you have to have you have to have
an approved budget, and the cost of everything that goes
along with this these days has pushed that price to
where we're just we're not going to get a green
light on budget needed with the current constraints. Re under
I don't need to get into the weeds on that.
It's just if you it's it's business, and uh, you know,
(17:25):
I cannot fault our company one bit whatsoever. You know,
it's it's it's something. If we're gonna put it on,
we want to make sure it's successful.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
And right done. Yeah, done correctly, because we don't half
ass stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
And I think that you know that. You know, when
if we did an Earthday Birthday in the past and
something was a little screwed up with like a VIP
for instance, that shit was addressed the next year. It's
the first thing that our boss asked us to do
after Birthday Birthday is. I want to hear any feedback,
positive or negative so we can correct the negative. The
(18:00):
there's so many questions. I really can't. I need to
open it up, but I got to turn down my volume.
Bear with me here Holy welcome only.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Yeah. So again, if you're just hopping in here, we're
talking about earth Day Birthday. We made announcement this morning
on our show on the air. It's not happening this year.
It doesn't mean it's gone away forever. Perhaps it comes
back in another iteration. I don't know. These are all
unknowns at this point. We're just telling you what we
know at the right now. It's not happening for a
(18:30):
whole litany of reasons and hoping you understand those.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Here, I was able to open this up without the
volume going crazy.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
H I volunteer as the staff.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Okay, Earthday Birthday probably lost money last year and they
couldn't do it again.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
No, it didn't.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Didn't lose money last year, did not?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
No, did not.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
It's also at the same location. This is what happens
when you have shined down as the headliner many in
a row. People lose interest.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
No, nothing to do with that has nothing to do
with shine down, nothing to do with the loss of interest.
It has to do with everything that we just explained
over the last twenty minutes.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
The cost of bands is one of the main things.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
The cost of everything. Yeah, and then the added competition
of the festival business in general, which is what these
festival promoters do year round for a living. Again, we
are one radio station that remains that still was trying
to produce a large festival one day event, one of
the last few stations in the entire country that was
(19:36):
managing to still pull this off. Quite honestly, I'm surprised
we were able to continue to put this on here
in the last four or five years, because you know,
it's been you know that heated a competition to try
to get entertainment booked.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Somebody came back at that last one ago. Are you
actually listening to what they're saying exactly?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
I mean it is. It's like when you go online
with this stuff, you're gonna have people picking at every
little thing, and you know, if you want to, you
want to fault for being honest. Okay, fine, fine, we
could lie to you if you'd like.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Earthday birthdays, have me and my wife celebrate our anniversary
every year. Teletal bummer. Don't worry, we have other shows
hopefully you know that.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Okay, So I don't know is there anything else anybody
needs to know at this point? Somebody questions coming in
that we have an answer in the morning.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Would you both agree that Welcome to Rockville has limited
your choice of bands to book?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Yes, yes, Sue like definitely we said that.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
She may have texted that in before there.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
If you look at the lineup for for Welcome to Rockville,
just go through it. And obviously there's a lot of
our core artists that are that are playing that festival
that we would have loved to have for an Earthday birthday.
But you know, competition is competition, and you know, we're
still thrilled that we are local media partners with Welcome
(21:04):
to Rockville and Danny Wimmer Productions and going to be
a big part of that show coming up, and we're
fired up for it. Fired up for it, definitely.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Dude. Sorry, I'm reading all these different comments.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Have we answered everything that's coming into.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I'll continue to do it and have the boss to it.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
In the middle of all this stuff, then there's Matt
who says Bobby.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
They all have such big, fat.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Asses throwback reference to an ongoing gag with Oma Taco's
late grandmother, who was almost one hundred and four years old.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, she was talking about the nurses without our hearing
aids in and they could hear every damn thing she said,
including how big, how big and fat their asses were.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
The lady just walking away shaking her head.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Oh bit, so, yeah, somebody said, always, Brian, always have
to make the best business decision at the end of
the day. Yeah, and for and for a lot of you,
so that you don't have to pay an exorbit the amount.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah. That, and look, we're just we're not going to
do a show that we don't feel good about and
then muddle through it only to have a bunch of
you know, folks afterwards going well that was really shitty.
You know, it's not our goal here, No, man, you know,
it's it's into the exact opposite. I don't know what
(22:18):
else to say. That's good. Uh.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Somebody said, uh, does that mean ninety eight rock Fest
in Tampa is not happening?
Speaker 1 (22:26):
You can't speak for any other No, that's not our call,
not our call, or any of our Yes, it's another
iHeart station. You'd have to reach out to them and
ask what their situation is.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
And and yeah, pretty much a lot of the stuff
that's being said. You you kind of you answered already.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Right, it's math. Math is hard.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah, math is hard.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Well it's always been hard for pat but this math
is hard for everybody.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
The business math as it pertains to entertainment.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
And uh, and thank you overall for understanding.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I mean, it's it's our festival too, it's our you know,
it's everybody's birthday concert we all love. I mean shit,
people have gotten engaged out there. People have watched people crokreate.
I talked to somebody who lost their virginity out there
in a portal that which to me was quite disgusting.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yes, yes, it's uh, its memories made every sure so
anyway that that's the that's the straight up, God's honest truth.
That's the only way we know how to deal it
to you.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
And you know, and then Patty, we don't want to
say this for everybody, Patty, but she says, Bah, they
bitch and complain no matter what you do.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
There's just a handful that always do.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, that's just anything.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
So there you go, folks, and again thank you for
your ongoing support and understanding. Uh, We're always going to
be here for you, doing the best weekend with what
we got.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Yeah, so I believe that, brother.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
All Right, there you go. That's this week's off the
air podcast. I'm sure the comments section will be lively. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
And for those that are just tuning into it, going, man,
I've listened to this radio station for a long time,
never checked out their podcast. We do our podcast every
Thursday here on Facebook Live, and.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
It just it goes whatever direction it goes. Sometimes we'll
have great artist on with us. Sometimes we'll just be talking.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
About you know, like God knows what.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
How an egg comes out of a chicken. It can
be anything, just throwing stuff out there. So check it out,
check it out and spread the word about our podcast.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
And again this week we felt the need to dedicate
exclusively to this topic. So we hope you understand and we'll.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
And our boss was upset that he had to be
in meetings today in Jacksonville so he couldn't be on
the podcast with us, because again, this is his baby.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
I'm sure he may be lurking right here watching and
listening as we wrap this up. What up?
Speaker 3 (24:53):
Rich?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
It's gotta be all right, Rick, It'll be all right.
Everything always has a way of working itself out. You
all have a nice day, and again thank you for
checking out Lynching Tacos Off the Air podcast
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