First off, I want to thank everyone who bought tix to the FEZtival, and apologize for any inconvenience suffered at the hands of Ticketmaster. Secondly, thx to the bands for agreeing to try to stage a festival with an online station. We all tried to do something that had never been attempted before on this level.

Thirdly, well, back to the drawing board. When we put together the show with the folks at Electric Factory Concerts (our partners on all things FEZ since day one) we all thought that the lineup would sell through, even if there was no radio station, online or otherwise, to help push it along. With a database of 60,000 names, the online Y100Rocks.com station, and bands like Interpol (who had recently sold out the Electric Factory) and Garbage (who had underplayed by doing a sold out show at the TLA), this should should have sold a lot more tix than it did. And, we did everything at Y100Rocks.com that we could think of to help that process along - from soliciting local bands to get involved, to asking listeners to help with getting the word out, to going out ourselves to shows and putting flyers under the hoods of cars, etc. And everytime we talked to someone, they seemed a) surprized that Y100 / Y100Rocks.com was around at all, and b) even more shocked that a FEZtival was happening... so, all the ads in the CP, all the flyering, all the pestering on the online station just didn't penetrate the consciousness of the general public. The difficulty to generate sufficient awareness and tix sales led to the decision from all parties (bands, EFC, Y100Rocks.com) to cancel the show. We are all saddened by this. And... it means we have learned a few things:

Distribution of alternative culture via the web exclusively is not suffient to execute major events like the FEZtival.
While the web is growing leaps and bounds, it is still not bigger than traditional media.
60,000 names on a petition does not guarantee tix sales.
Most people are very busy and not really paying attention to things like online radio stations.

What was weird is that the music industry - the labels, bands, writers, promoters, etc., all saw this show as a slamdunk... and we were all wrong. So - we take the lessons and will move forward. Some postives - we found a bunch of great bands on the Big Break! We got nearly 200 entries to our contest in two weeks! Local bands are screaming for an outlet! Hopefully we'll pull a few of them together and organize a show at a smaller venue like the North Star perhaps. We've been playing them on the online station much more than we were ever allowed to at Y100, and they sound great in the mix - proof that there are worthy local bands out there!

We also helped educate a lot of people about Y100Rocks.com and the streaming station. Our persistent flyering brought some new listeners - welcome to the club!

In the future I think we will view Y100Rocks.com as starting at ground zero, not as a continuation of what Y100 once was. I'm into staging small events, when and where we can pull them off confidently and successfully, and building a community. That means the station eventually can open up and be more inclusive (we have lots of ideas but are not yet at a place where this is easily feasible) - with listeners as DJs, as staff - a real community of music people coming together to share - not just 'songs Jim/Josh/Alan/Joey think are cool.' If we get set up in a place that's not our houses, we might be able to build a true outlet for the community - and that's something that could be beautiful.

Finally, Wednesday was the day I realized that I don't have a job. No one really had any idea what was going to happen when we flung ourselves into Y100Rocks.com on February 25th. To me, it's been a non-stop quest, driven by my usual tendencies, but also by a sense of responsibility and commitment that I felt coming back from the disenfranchised listeners who were reaching out to us over the course of thousands of emails, message board posts, and chat room discussions. It drove me, and in the white hot passoinate frenzy of trying to put this thing together, I never really gave a thought to the fact that not only did I no longer have a paycheck, but also no real responsibilities, no real authority, and no set thought for where it would lead me/you/us. Some of the other displaced former Y100 staff has gotten jobs - I'm really proud of that, because it's proof that this was a great team. But I've got to get it into perspective, try to figure out where it can and will go moving forward, and if it's not going to pay the bills, then I need to get my life set up where this takes up 15-20 hours per week, instead of the 60-70... and also to take a break - the pressure of mounting the FEZtival was weighing down on us, and I'm coming to realize that after 15 years of being a PD, I could really use a break... so, I'm not sure what is next for Y100Rocks.com - the people that have been working on it (and that includes Josh and Alan and Zack but also all the DJs and all the volunteers, street squad, designers, helpers) want it to keep going in some fashion, and I imagine we will use the message boards to communicate with you about where you want us to go and how we can all get there. So no, I don't think this is the end by any means. There is too much music and too many fans that need an outlet and place to form a community together. It's a long road - and we're on it. But I may need to pull off at the rest stop for a little breather and some fresh air...

Jim McGuinn