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I don't mean to pick on you, but one of the main reasons I posted the radio & airplay info on this board so closely is that I wanted people to have a better understanding of how the business worked: it's easy to say "we need more promotion!" without realizing that the kind of promotion we're talking about comes after the song/artist becomes a hit, not before. Big magazines and TV shows are not going to put a no-name on their cover regardless of label backing.

It's a snowball effect that we saw first-hand with Utada: the interviews she did and store appearances garnered the attention of local radio, which played her more and since the song was showing some early promise it opened the door to Ryan Seacrest and Z100. Utada and IDJ pretty much did everything they could have, at least before she got sick at the album release and essentially left the project moribund.

I think a lot of people subscribe to the cynical notion that big record companies can just pump out pop stars like a factory and manufacture success. That's a myth for the most part. The song has to take off before the artist can score really big media gigs.