FHR Radio's David Archuleta Fan Appreciation Day
Written by: Larissa Cheong, Singapore
With contributions from: Christine, Canada
Imagine being taken on an unforgettable journey spanning more than half-a-decade, chronicling the life of a remarkably gifted, kind and loving young man - the American Idol Season 7 runner-up, David Archuleta, and his phenomenal music that has touched and given hope to millions world-wide. Imagine a wondrous 1.5-hour musical extravaganza chock-full of David Archuleta's songs!
For those of us who tuned in to FHR Radio on September 1, 2008, at 7pm US EST, we got just that, and possibly more.
On that day, FHR Radio played a special program dedicated to "David Archuleta and his fans around the nation and around the world", aptly named David Archuleta Fan Appreciation Day.
Listeners tuned in from a record 503 cities from 33 countries worldwide.
The program began with David's rousing, powerful rendition of Star Spangled Banner, and DJ Rescue introducing David Archuleta as the American Idol Season 7 runner-up, who is "currently on top of the music charts and making headlines around the world."
DJ Rescue narrated a heartwarming story of how the folks at FHR Radio first came into contact with David's music. Back in 2002, on the first anniversary of the 911 tragedy, David, at just 11 years old, sang "I Will Always Love You" at New York Fire Station #54 in Manhattan, which "meant the world" to the firefighters there. The DJ himself was a firefighter for 19 years, so he could relate personally to David's act of kindness, which by itself was a harbinger of the immense blessings he would bring to the world, 6 years down the road.
Songs from David's pre-Idol days, including his performances on the CBS talent show Star Search in 2003, were played - Dream Sky High (composed by David's father, Jeff Archuleta), I'll Be, Climb Every Mountain, A Thousand Miles, Contigo En La Distancia, I Could Not Ask For More (which he sang at a wedding), Fallin', and You Are All I Need.
It was nothing less than a spectacular feast for many listeners to travel back in time and soak in the soulful performances of the then child prodigy. But for Christine from Canada, who listened to Contigo En La Distancia for the first time, young David's voice reached out to her in a personal way that she had never fathomed, as she writes in her blog:
"When I was listening to this song for the first time on the FHR dedication to Archie.I broke down and cried so hard you'd think someone in my family died! [.] I had never heard him sing this. I tend not to listen to his young voice, since it's so young compared to his lovely deep voice now, but I heard this song on the FHR dedication, and it took me by surprise so hard. It hit me in the heart so hard I couldn't hold it, I broke down and cried so hard, through the whole song, I couldn't stop until the song [.] was finished. Then I finally calmed down. I wanted to share this experience with you, it was a really special moment. I had never broke down and cried that much for any of David's song, let alone other songs by other artists."
Interspersed among the songs were several shout-outs from David's fans across the US and the world - Larissa (this writer) from Singapore, Meetha from Florida, Linda from China, another Linda from California, Wincy from Hong Kong, Gary from Manila, Lia from Iowa, Rick from Maine, Madeleine, Rebecca from Minnesota, Gigi from Hong Kong, Cindy from Georgia, Mary from North Carolina, Debbie from Virginia, and Rika from the Philippines.
At 12 years of age, David became the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2 in 2003. An interview with David that was conducted around the time of Star Search was played, giving listeners a rare but palpable insight into his passion for music way back in the days past.
DJ Rescue then recounted the time when David suffered from vocal paralysis, but he miraculously rebounded from this, "stronger and more powerful than ever". David later auditioned for American Idol Season 7 in San Diego on July 31, 2007, at just 16 years old, and the rest is history.
To the sheer delight of those who tuned in, FHR Radio played David's songs from the American Idol competition, which we have all grown to love, including You're The Voice, Waiting On The World To Change, Think Of Me, Angels, Sweet Caroline, Love Me Tender, and Imagine.
Orlando, station manager of FHR Radio, joined us at the Team Archie chat and very kindly interacted with the fans. The mood was jubilant.
This part of the program was a sweet reminiscence of the time when this writer first fell deeply in love with David's music when she heard his rendition of Imagine at the Top 20 semi-finals, of the days when she would stay glued to the TV every week in awed anticipation of his appearances, with his every performance forever etched in her human consciousness, having reduced her to tears and stolen her heart.
A special message from Archuleta Fan Scene was aired, encouraging all fans to legally buy and gift David's single, before and on September 2, which was designated "National Archie Download Day".
The story now turned to David's post-AI experiences - he was runner-up to Season 7's American Idol, inked a deal with Jive Records, and is now on tour with American Idol Live. His album is slated for release in November 2008.
The program culminated in a special blurb by FHR Radio on David's new single, Crush, which topped the iTunes charts at the #1 position on August 12 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. It noted that David "has received the highest debut ever for a song not performed in the American Idol series; he's the second runner-up to have out-performed the Idol winner from the same season, since the days of Clay Aiken in 2003". There were more shout-outs from fans on their love for Crush!
The grand finale of the program was fittingly, the playing of Crush. FHR Radio also gave away free iTunes downloads of Crush to the first 10 fans who emailed the station.
I loved it that at the very end of the program, DJ Rescue gave a shout-out to the various devoted fan sites and MySpace pages dedicated to David - Archuleta Fan Scene, Team Archie, Fans of David and david-a.net etc. It seemed to offer a precious glimpse of how the fan sites, despite our differences, could somehow unite to achieve our common goal of actively promoting and supporting David Archuleta. After all, David bonds us together in a brotherhood of man.
A Heartfelt Thank You to FHR Radio and Archuleta Fan Scene for this very special and never-before-seen program! It is an affirmation of the prodigious impact of David's music on all the corners of the world, an especially moving tribute to David and his fans, and a strong motivation to us fans to continue to go the distance with the one-and-only David Archuleta.
Thanks so much!
Larissa
