The temporarily unofficial street team, take four: turn up your radio...

Lots to smile about! Bucky Covington on stage in Weldon, NC with the GAC Christmas tour in late December; photo by the very kind BluIsDixieGurl. Please click the image to enjoy more of Blu's great concert shots.

Edited to add a radio update right up top: A kind fan who was listening to Fayetteville's WKML earlier today reports that Bucky's "Different World" is likely to be part of tonight's "Top 5 at 6" countdown, too. (If you're local, call in a request at 323-9570.) Tune in 95.7 or listen online at 6 p.m. Eastern and enjoy the show...

What an incredible week this has been! Mrs. Covington is celebrating her birthday today, and the celebration of Bucky's airplay on both satellite and FM is in full swing. The news of Bucky's signing to Lyric Street Records is out and about, too--it's front page news at MJ's Big Blog (thanks, MJ!), and a hot topic at USA Today's Idol Chatter.

Yep, it's party time all right--but there's also a lot of highly enjoyable work to be done, slightly earlier than we'd thought. (The good news is that it won't even feel much like work at all...)

BuckyCovingtonMusic.com will more than likely have an official street team set up very soon, and their expert advice will be the very best to go on. But with yesterday's extremely favorable response to "Different World" at WKML-FM, and with one very kind fan at the Fox boards already reporting a successful contact with Eagle 92.9 in Florence [link corrected], it looks as though we'll have to get ourselves radio-savvy ahead of schedule.

So until we get the official guidelines from Bucky's site, here are some very general radio-contact tips culled from successful parties on the web. Feel free to add any information you'd like to share--the success of "Different World" on the radio is a priority for all of us, and every tip helps!

Most of the following will seem fairly obvious (and apologies in advance for that), but taken together, it's all been proven to work...

Tip #1--Unless you can and do listen online, request locally. This was the number one mistake that previous Idol fan-bases made a few years ago--station directors hate dealing with multiple requests from people who can't even hear the station, and sadly, sometimes that annoyance is taken out on the artist. Be sure to request "Different World" only on stations you can actually listen to--and if you can, be sure to let the station know that you're local or that you do listen online.

Tip #2--Target country stations and listen to make sure the song fits their format. You're probably already familiar with the country radio stations in your area--if not, Radio Locator and RadioTime are the quickest way to find them. But be sure to actually turn on the radio or stream the station and listen before calling and emailing for Bucky's single--stations change format faster than these online lists can catch up, and there's nothing that says "inept street team" like calling a hip-hop or talk-radio show with a request for a country song!

Tip #3--Once you find the right stations, request often--and wisely. The best way to do this is to be enthusiastic and smart. A quick list:

• Call and/or email for "Different World" at least once a day--but not at the same time every day. Talking or writing to the same DJ over and over will get old fast for him/her and for you. Listen carefully for special request times, new music hours, etc., when stations will be more likely to play a brand new song, and pounce.
  
• Ask your local friends who love country music and/or Bucky to send requests, too! Stations want mulitiple listeners as much as we do--if Bucky's a local favorite who'll keep people tuned in, the station needs to know.
  
• Keep in mind that radio stations have caller ID and IP tracking. Calling or emailing every half hour from the same phone number or computer/email address is a huge annoying no-no!
• Give them positive feedback after they've played "Different World". If it's being played during a "pick it or pitch it" style show, that's a no-brainer...but even if it's just a casual spin, letting the station know you like the song and want to hear it more often is a nice touch. If your local station has an online song survey, so much the better.
• Stay positive! Again, apologies in advance for the blindingly obvious statement that follows. (We have a reputation as the "nicest fan group" for a good reason!) It shows belief in Bucky, in the song, and in ourselves as fans to stay positive, friendly and upbeat when dealing with the media, even when things get frustrating--as they occasionally will. Not every country station will play the song right away, and that's fine--slow and steady will win the race. The merest hint of "why won't you play Bucky--is there a conspiracy?" will bring back very bad memories to radio staffers who had to deal with previous fan groups who might have been less than pleasant. Sweetness counts--and we want the radio industry on our side now and for the rest of Bucky's career.
  

Tip #4--Keep the faith. We are very, very blessed in a hugely important way--Bucky Covington has given us an excellent single to support. This is no quickie souvenir or half-baked cash-in; it's a solid, strong, beautifully-done single that will fit gracefully on the playlist of any country radio station in the world. Bucky's got an excellent label and a great promo team behind him, too--having faith in Bucky's talents, in the professionals who are working with him, and in ourselves will mean a great deal in the coming months. So hang in there! The best is yet to come.

I'll be posting radio updates (with contact info and airtimes, when available) as things get rolling--if you hear any local Bucky Covington buzz, please share the info and I will gladly post it up front!

More soon...enjoy the day!