by Telemachus Gaffiganiakis
March 2, 2008
BOISE-- Radio station WQXQ 103.9 FM in Boise, Idaho recently spent an entire day playing Timbaland featuring One Republic’s song, “Apologize” over and over again. The commercial-free event allowed the song to play 470 times in a row to eager listeners.
103.9 morning radio host Dee Vine remarked, “We had seen other radio stations play this song so frequently, and we knew we had to one up them. Just playing this song five times every hour sandwiched between Maroon 5, Fallout Boy, and Rihanna wasn’t enough. We had to go all out because people love this song.”
Rival station 106.3 FM’s afternoon radio host Will Van was not happy. “This is ridiculous. My station can’t afford a commercial-free day, nor were they willing to shoot above playing this song 10 times per hour. Once again, 103.9 is a leg above us, and I’m getting really sick of their domination of pop music in the Boise community.”
Fans of 103.9 had mixed feelings. “I like ‘Apologize,’ but 24 hours?” Deidre Campe wondered. “It was a little much. I had to change to Glenn Beck for a little while just for variation. But, as much as I wanted to hear One Republic, 103.9 needs its moments when Kanye West’s ‘Stronger’ comes on the air to surprise us.”
In lieu of the day-long marathon, One Republic arranged for a special concert sponsored by 103.9 at the Boise Amphitheatre Pavilion. However, the 3,000 spectators at the show became antsy when One Republic played other songs off their album.
The crowd called for ‘Apologize’ to be played, but when the band did not respond in kind presumably because that song would close out the show, the audience rioted. Chairs, pop bottles, and even a prosthetic leg were heaved onto the stage causing One Republic to cut the night short and left eleven people in the crowd injured. All were released by the end of the next day.
“From what we can understand,” Sergeant Carl Farrior said, “it seems the crowd just wanted them to play ‘Apologize’ about fifteen times and then leave.”
“Let’s face it,” audience member Kate Baskett remarked, “I didn’t buy the One Republic album to hear all the songs on it, so why are they playing any other ones? It’s like going to a Winger concert and they just play songs off their new album. I didn’t pay $8 to not hear ‘Headed for a Heartbreak,’ damn it!”
Asked for any comment about the Boise incident, One Republic released a statement, which in its entirety, read, “It’s too late.”