Clear Channel's B93/Grand Rapids is handling the aftermath of last week's flood at their 17th annual birthday bash is as professional and open way as you'd expect from a great radio station.Meanwhile, their listeners - even ones whose cars may be a total loss - appear to be holding the station harmless, by and large.
It's all a great reminder: any time you contemplate a stunt or an event, make the first call to your liability insurance agent. Adding a short-term rider to your business insurance policy is a small price to pay, letting you sleep at night in case something horrible like this ever happens to your station.Ionia Public Safety Department was to have contacted even more on Saturday evening in hopes of moving more on Sunday, said Tim Feagan, vice president and market manager for Clear Channel West Michigan, the company that owns WBCT-FM (B-93).
"We're ramping it up, and we're going to call more than 200 today," he said. "It's working pretty smoothly."
Feagan, who helped put on the first Birthday Bash, said Clear Channel hadn't yet decided if there will be an 18th Birthday Bash next year. Weather permitting, he estimates they'll be done removing cars Thursday.
Zienert said she and Pace enjoyed this year's show, at least until the rains came down.
"I wouldn't think twice about coming back," she said.
4 comments:
Cody Austin at 3:05am June 29
We had Hurricane IKE wipe our Birhtday Party last year.. over 32,000 free tickets given away.. What gets me is the Artists cashed the check but never tried to do a Make good show. I know they can't come together again due to routing but to not even try drives me crazy.. The checks cleared come back and do the show... We had to call the show off 24 ... Read Morehours before the Event. Sure some were upset but better to handle a few thousand that are sad they missed a free concert than to have to tow a few thousand cars out of the mess. I feel bad for B93 this is a Huge Event for Them. Hope they can Bounce Back.
Barbara Tallo Farkas at 4:23am June 29
Cody, that isn't true for ALL artists. I watched Stephen Cochran and Gary Nichols offer to come back to a festival they got rained out on. Just depends on the artists and their management I suppose.
Terry Coffey at 4:38am June 29
Stephen Cochran and Gary Nichols? Were they really looking at a full schedule?
Barbara Tallo Farkas at 4:53am June 29
Can't speak for Gary Nichols, but Stephen spends 99% of his time on the road performing and also speaking for the military since he is a wounded vet himself. He also does festivals, clubs and radio just like others. But it doesn't matter, it should be just as much about the music and the fans and not just all about the money. I have to agree ... Read Morewith Cody on that. I realize expenses still need to be covered too but it wouldn't hurt for more artists to have a heart and at the very least try! And I realize that major artists deal with tougher schedules but nothing is impossible. I do think the rising artists tend to bend more. They are hungry for people to love them and their music. And regardless, I hate for any promoter (radio or otherwise) to lose money.
Seems like there's an opportunity for a promotion here. Shouldn't B93 work to create some kind of deal with local car repair shops for quick turnaround for impacted listeners? Now is the time to step up.
It was a very unfortunate event and its very encouraging to read that B93's listeners are holding the station blameless.
One reader sent an email that said the station’s voice tracking was still promoting the event Saturday afternoon even as thousands of cars were increasingly under water and stuck in the mud.
Some locals say the National Weather Service – you know, the free weather bureau – had issued warnings as early as 5 am the day of the concert, but when so-called local stations do voice tracking they apparently think their stale weather forecasts will actually turn out to be what they say it will be.
Oh boy.
What a mess.
Fortunately, no one was killed or seriously injured.
But the spin doctors at Clear Channel who first bragged of 100,000 fans at the B93 Concert Bash quickly revised that number downward to 80,000.
Funny about that -- can you imagine a radio station changing an attendance figure so that it winds up being lower for a popular annual event?
Their current estimate has been downgraded again like a hurricane to a tropical storm – except now their official attendance figure is 60,000.
Maybe they can't count.
Maybe they don't want to count.
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