Monthly Archives: October 2012

Vance Gilbert, a constant presence on Radio Crystal Blue, since first spinning his music back in 2008, has earned another #1 position, leading the 3rd Quarter of airplay. This period covers music I aired from July through September, and to a lesser degree over the previous 12 months. The top artists on this list represents the absolute best indie/underground/touring songwriters and bands. The chart was just published to the website on the Radio Crystal Blue Chart page.

I measure airplay not only on raw chart scores, but the progressive amount as well. That is, I will rank artists receiving larger recent amounts than those with diminishing amounts.

I also give bonus points to artists whom I’ve interviewed and have seen perform in recent months.

In the last 3 months Vance Gilbert and Eilen Jewell were the only ones to receive airplay 5 times.
These artists were heard 4 times: Avi Wisnia, Aztec Two-Step, Brother Sun, Cary Cooper, Natalia Zukerman, Professor Louie, and The Steel Wheels.

Vance received airplay 14 times over the period from October 2011 to September 2012, ahead of Avi Wisnia’s total of 13. Red Molly and Rod Piazza each received airplay 12 times.Vance is also the reigning Top Artist of the Year, on the strength of airplay from the prior 12 months. I would be hard-pressed to believe that anyone else could outrank him in the final 3 months of the year. Over the next 11 shows, we’ll see how Vance does against some mighty big challengers to his title.

I’ll be selecting a list of Top 100 artists just after Christmas, with a big top 100 countdown on Twitter at @radiocblue I will also announce the top 10 albums of the year, and also announce the title of Best New Artist.

Here are the mathematically eligible artists who could outrank Vance for the title of Top Artist of 2012 for RCB:Avi Wisnia
Eilen Jewell
Brother Sun
Cary Cooper
Red Molly
Natalia Zukerman (prior winner and reigning all-time artist)
Danielle Miraglia
Ryan Tennis
Rod Piazza & The All Mighty Flyers
Spuyten Duyvil
My Pet Dragon
Mark Erelli (two-time winner)
Sirsy

The YaYas
Patti DeRosa
Anna Dagmar

This list is unofficial but is based on the chart ranks from each of the three quarters.  The amount of airplay and exposure from the final 11 shows of the year, starting with the week of 10/7, and ending the week of 12/16, will determine who ranks across all of the lists.