Crystal Bowersox Scoring Hometown Radio Play With 'Holy Toledo'
There's still a month left to go on "American Idol," but [article id="1637509"]front-runner Crystal Bowersox[/article] is already reaping the benefits of a winner.
As of last week, Bowersox could be heard twice a day on the radio on Toledo, Ohio's 101.5-FM, which is located near her hometown of Elliston, Ohio, crooning the original acoustic folk ballad "Holy Toledo."
"We have Crystal pride around here," said Tom Cook, the station's program director. "It's not just a radio thing, it's a cool thing for the people around here to see someone with that kind of talent on a national platform." While assembling videos of Crystal's "Idol" performances, someone at the rock station noticed the homage to the singer's hometown and brought it to Cook's attention.
"I thought, 'It's not just a great song, but it mentions our city!' " he said about the contemplative tune. After dubbing the song from a YouTube video, Cook put it into rotation on May 20, and it's been getting around 15 spins a week since then. So far, he said the station has gotten a number of curious calls about the tune, but no contact from any of the half dozen or more Bowersox family members who live in the area.
"I hope they feel good about it," said Cook. "From her perspective I would think it would be cool to have a radio station in your hometown playing your song."
Though no other stations have picked up the song as far as he knows, "Holy Toledo" has gotten enough spins to make to it to #90 on the "American Idol" airplay chart, according to USA Today, making MamaSox the only one of this year's contestants to crash the chart.
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