By David Hinckley
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 15th 2009, 4:00 AM
Last week, with tabloid headlines and newscasts shouting the sensational charge that Bruce Springsteen had an affair with a Jersey girl who isn't his wife, his biographer and friend Dave Marsh was hosting his weekly Springsteen update show on Sirius XM radio.
Since Marsh is a news junkie and it's a live call-in show, he saw no point in pretending something wasn't going on. He also saw no point in deluding any listener into thinking a show devoted to Springsteen's music was suddenly going to dive into his personal life.
"First, I don't know anything," said Marsh. Second, even if he did, his loyalty to Springsteen as a friend would preclude him from sharing it with random radio callers.
The same morning, the hosts on rock station WRXP (101.9 FM) came to a remarkably similar conclusion.
"We couldn't not talk about it," says program director and morning co-host Leslie Fram. "We want to be open with our listeners.
"But we also reported that the woman's father denied it. We talked about how Bruce has obviously had this wonderful relationship with his wife, and how it's sad that a person who is so private can get dragged into a public thing like this."
On WAXQ (104.3 FM), Jim Kerr and his morning team talked about the story and posted a poll on the station Web site asking listeners' opinions.
Neither WAXQ or WRXP seemed to play any more or less Springsteen music. Rock radio in recent years has had Springsteen in regular but not especially heavy rotation.
That's one reason the E Street Channel was born. In return for almost unlimited access to his catalogue, including tapes of past live shows, the channel provides continuous Springsteen music and promotion.
Marsh and guest co-host Caryn Rose spent two hours Friday talking with callers about the first half-dozen shows of the current tour, with Marsh warning that fans who haven't seen shows shouldn't make hasty judgments based on set lists.
That's the hard-core aspect of the channel. But it's consistent with the "regular" programming, which focuses on the four decades of his musical journey.
Last week's story was widely reported on the "gossip" and "entertainment news" segments of radio, and no one argued that Springsteen has led a perfect life. Who has? But it's a tribute to his own determination that most of the focus stayed on the music.
Quelle: http://www.nydailynews.com
Magie
