Wayne M. Manning  

As you may know, I am a part-time radio DJ for an FM country station here in Salt Lake City (KUBL 93.3 fm - streaming online at www.kbull93.com.)  I like it - I only do it a couple of times a week.  I would like to do it more.  By "it" I mean be a DJ at the station.  I became a DJ because I am a fan of the music and wanted to do more with the music than just being a fan would permit.  So, I undertook the study of the science of radio broadcasting, on my own, and now I am on the air.  As part of being a fan, and also a DJ, I have learned to listen to perfoming artists and to make certain assesments about their abilities.  This is easy for me to do because I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket so its easy (albeit hipocritical and unfair) for me to talk about artist and their performance.  Which brings me to the reality show known as "American Idol."

All of you know "American Idol" including the person living in the cave for the last seven years.  How do you know it?  Because if the TV didnt get you, the radio did.  And if the radio didn't get you, the magazine did.  And if the magazine didn't get you, then the record store did.  And if the record store didnt get you... you get the point.  This stuff is everywhere. 

Unlike a few of my radio and fan colleagues, I like "American Idol."  I watch it each season and I try my hand at picking who I think is the best.  The hard part is this: the winner isn't always the one singing the best.  The winner is the one whom the phone voters voted for the most.  I can go on and on about who I think is the best, but unless I know the collective unconscious of the voting populace, then I might as well be playing a drinking game.  Incidentally, my wife and I came up with what I think would be a fun drinking game for the audition episodes of each season - those first few shows where they show the best and the worst footage.  The game goes like this: Fox TV will begin to highlight an artist and you have to guess whether they will be good at singing and impress the judges, or whether they will suck, just based soley on the set up provided by the editors of the show.  If you get it wrong, then you have to take a drink.  The first one to drunk loses.  The game has a couple of flaws though inasmuch as knowing first of all that the first one drunk is actually the winner because they are having more fun than the rest of you and the show would be much much more endurable if you were drunk, and second, because my wife and I don't drink.  The game loses something in translation when you are drinking diet pepsi instead of shots of Jaeger. 

...but I digress.  The thing about the so-called winners is that they are not always the best singer of the bunch.  In the case of Kelly Clarkson she is indeed the winner, and the best singer.  I'm a fan of hers and because this is my blog, I will say that I like her stuff and think she is the best and deserved the number one spot.  She was in season one.  Other than Carrie Underwood, whom I also love and respect as an artist, and as truly an American Idol, the winners have not always been the best.  In fact, the winner - the one who gets the most votes on the phone system - seldom live up to the hype and record sales are weak.  I realize its all relative, and there are artists who would love to have the success these "weak" selling artists are having, but in the juxtaposition of Kelly Clarkson, and Carrie Underwood, the term "weak" really means something.

Consider the seasons after season one.  In Season two, Clay Aiken and Reuben Studdard had a very near tie for first.  Clay indeed came in second, but has since outsold Reuben.  More importantly, the guy who came in 4th that year, Josh Gracin, is doing very well in country radio, and on the Lyric Street Records label owned by Disney.  He still has his original record deal.  Reuben Studdard does not.  Carmen Rasmussen also just came out with her own first album, having finished college and now taken a husband in the meantime.

In Season three was Fantasia and Diana Degarmo.  Fantasia is a great R&B singer, and Diana, not so much.  Fantasia is on broadway now, but she did lose her record deal. 

In Season four, Carrie Underwood did herself proud and is now multi-platinum having just released her second album still on her original record deal.  She won, and indeed deserved it.  Bo Bice?  I've lost track of him.  As for Constantine?  He is also on broadway and seems to be doing pretty well.  There are others.

Season five was Taylor Hicks.  He just lost his record deal after disappointing sales.  From that same season there are a few powerhouses, though.  Chris Daughtry is taking over the world having gone quintuple platinum; Kellie Pickler has sold nearly one million copies of her debut album of which she is on single number 3 from the album, all of which have charted.  And Bucky Covington was the highest debut new male artist of 2007 in country music.  Oh, Bucky and Kellie are both still with their original record company, and so is Daughtry. 

Season six is still kinda new, but Jordan Sparks is just kinda there.  I like her - lots of people like her.  But not lots of people are buying the album.  Phil Stacy on the other hand has signed a deal with Lyric Street Records (the House of Mouse) and is releasing his first single soon.  Undoubtedly, others will come. 

Season seven shows a lot of promise so far from what I have seen (two episodes and the auditions of two cities.)  I like to watch and I expect this season will also be enjoyable. 

In conclusion, let me summarize by saying that the voting public may not quite be the same or the same demographic as the public that buys records or downloads music tracks individually.  Moreover, I think we could demonstrate example after example of how the best may not have won in any given season.  Yes, I like the show, I like the talent revealed, and it is fun to speculate.  However, the winner to be called "American Idol" does seem to be a little far flung.  Maybe they should call the winner the "American-whom-most-people-could-remember-the-phone-number-at-the-end-of-the-show."