Of Course We Delete Douchebags

My job title has changed over the years.  What used to be called a "Program Director" is now called a "Brand Manager".  The reason for this is that our "brand" is now all over the place an not just the radio.  Chief among these side uses of "FMX" is our website and social media.  My job is to promote and protect "the brand".

When somebody puts something our webpage we can either answer it, leave it alone or delete it.  The decision is often arbitrary and usually has a lot to do with how much time we want to spend on it, or the credibility of the person behind it.  I'll usually leave stuff up if it isn't too bad, isn't too hateful and if people seem to enjoy reading about it.  When people are just piling on to be piling on, then I ax them.  A great example would be the Duck Dynasty mess. I came out against them.  After that, for about five days, no matter what I wrote about, someone would be ripping it apart.  All I had to do was click over to their page and check out their stuff to know they didn't really have a problem with my story on Metallica or whatever, they were still pissed over the Duck Dynasty stuff and were taking advantage of the situation.

I've also had someone try to pick apart my own personal business and the way we operate (Nightmare On 19th Street). Well, I don't feel like I should have to discuss how much in debt I am, what I make, what I pay out, the volunteer structure, what my rent is, what time I take a dump in the morning and so on. It's easier just to delete the folks.

Then there's the fact that we are popular, and I mean all over.  When I woke up this morning there were over 90,000 views on my last blog. It had comments from all over the world and some of them were just cursing the bands or each other for no apparent reason other than they were trying to learn English.  Some one even put up a picture of some poo (I was pretty sure you didn't want to see that first thing in the morning).

All of this usually becomes a problem when we have a concert. We have listeners complaining to us on how they were treated, promoters (and their friends) saying it isn't their fault, moms writing angry notes, and a bazillion other people with their own little personal agendas writing mostly half-truths on the site. It's my job to police this stuff.  Of course, we're going to do what makes us look good and what's good for the brand.  Name me a company that doesn't do that, and is still in business. Go write "Microsoft Sucks" a couple of dozen times on their website and see how long it stays up there.  This is America, you can go write all of the awful hateful little things you want about anybody on your feed.  On ours, we protect our brand.