Philadelphia Weekly

"We present the festival as a whole," says 'XPN general manager Roger LaMay. "We don't pay the megabucks to bring in the kind of bands that command those kind of dollars. We do it to just break even, and offer as many bands as we can for what I would call an absurdly low price."

He's not kidding. 'XPN members can get a four-day pass to the festival for just $30. At 40-plus bands, that's less than a dollar per--a whopping artist lineup includes Matt Nathanson, Beth Orton, Joan Osborne, Shelby Lynne and Amos Lee.

It's not all mopey strummers and balladeers either. An impressive cadre of local bands will be on hand--from punks the Loved Ones to neo-soul, rap-rockers the Hustle to funky jam/pop from the Brakes.

"It really has to do with who's available," LaMay says of the booking process. "Bands have become tougher and more expensive to get. And I believe the weak dollar has drawn many bands to Europe."

Festival manager/'XPN special events producer Paul Severin agrees, saying the current music industry makes it tough for promoters to book shows. "Summer festivals have exploded in the last couple years, so the demands for artists in the summertime are much greater. We don't always have the pick of the litter of what we'd want."

Some complaining about the bill this year wish 'XPN would do what they've done in prior years: pepper in local flavor alongside genre-breaking bands, rockers and heavy hitters from other parts of the country or the world. In short, something Y-Rock would play.

Y-Rock was introduced to 'XPN in August 2006, after alt-rock station Y-100 went belly up. Former Y-100 program director Jim McGuinn set to work creating an Internet version of the station. When those efforts proved fruitless, McGuinn partnered with 'XPN to bring Y-100-style rock back to the FM dial. The show was a success right from the start.

The 2007 XPoNential Music Festival sought to promote Y-Rock by devoting the entire Friday set to alt-rock with sets from the Fratellis, Fountains of Wayne and Y-100 darlings Cracker. And while Y-Rock will be broadcasting from the festival again this year, chances are their playlist will be decidedly different from what's onstage.

"We did reach out to a large number of bands that, for one reason or another--money, scheduling, conflicting local dates--weren't able to fit us in this time. And that list included a lot of indie/alt bands including Spoon, Conor Oberst, Sonic Youth, Phantom Planet, Santogold," McGuinn says. "I'm really glad we're able to give exposure to a number of up-and-coming bands we play mostly on Y-Rock like Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer, the Loved Ones, the War on Drugs, the Shackeltons, O' Death, Cheers Elephant--that's a pretty good local music indie rock fest right there."

"Each year the festival takes on a different flavor," Severin says. "Y-Rock was really important to our promotion last year to pique listeners' interest. This year is reflective more of what 'XPN has been over the last five to 10 years. We're getting a lot of good feedback from our longtime listeners."

And it's no wonder why the organizers are going in a more mellow direction. WXPN is a publicly funded radio station whose playlists reflect some of the most eclectic terrestrial radio in the country. They must appeal to supporters. And the fact of the matter is 'XPN--and terrestrial radio in general--is largely supported by older listeners.

According to 'XPN director of individual giving Deb Ashmore, the station does independent studies of listenership every year and has found the average age of an 'XPN listener is 43. A few years back, Ashmore says, the average had been growing by one year every year until it leveled off at 43.

But the average donor, says Ashmore, is 48. And since supporters are offered the most benefits at this festival, organizers had to make sure they were appealing to members first.

Still, festival organizers insist the bill reflects the 'XPN philosophy: a lot of music from a lot of genres for not a lot of money. And the feeling is that the rock presence will come from the Philly fold. The festival has taken local bands off the secondary stages, added four to five local slots a day and stepped up promotion to increase their exposure.

"Ever since we moved to our new building and started to really grow the festival, we said that a significant part of what we do is going to be increasing the local band presence," LaMay says. "We have had some real nice success with that and people come out to see those bands so it all works. We feel like we've got a great lineup this year and now we just hope for good weather. We know folks will be out there."