[BC] "all new" format

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 01/27/2006 11:23:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
harold at hallikainen.com writes:

> After seeing all the garbage stations
>  receive from record companies, I'm not convinced that submissions from the
>  general public would be any worse. There's gonna be some good stuff
>  submitted.

Ugh... having received some submissions from "the general public"... I can 
assure you, there is some stuff that is absolutely, positively *Puke*-inspiring! 
How these poor, misguided (but sincere) souls ever got the idea that they 
could even sing, is beyond comprehension! Perhaps family members & friends were 
just being a little *too* polite?

There was one submission (given with sincerity) that was so bad it was 
positively laughable. It sounded like it was recorded on a $19.95 K-mart special 
(with the noisy, built-in microphone) at the lady's kitchen table. (You could 
hear the fridge start-up behind her at one point, and traffic noise from 
outside.) She sounded like she was seated maybe 3-4 feet from the recorder, and was 
singing acapella. Her voice was only barely OK. (With lessons, she may have had 
potential.) She actually submitted this horrible tape, expecting us to play it 
on the radio! <:O When one of our staff (who has a recording studio) offered 
this lady some assistance, she never responded. Go figure.

Then there are the nails-on-chalkboard voices, who submit their songs, and 
wonder why you don't want to play them. Ugh. There was one gentleman who pretty 
much insisted that i listen to it right now, with him there. I barely managed 
to keep from wretching, I kid you not. He said, "Well? What do you think?" I 
suggested bringing the instruments up and using reverb on the vocals. "Will you 
play it?" I said that I am going to have to submit it for approval. 
(Technically, it was already submitted & rejected, but I didn't want to be perceived as 
mean, so I passed the buck to a non-existent "submissions committee".) We 
never heard form him again... much to my relief.

The hardest part, for me, is *How* do you tell them they absolutely *stink*, 
without being insulting? That is the dilemma! Thankfully, we haven't gotten 
too many of those, lately.

Then, once in a great while, you actually get a good one. :)

Willie...