Radio’s Payola Settlement: Where’s the Outrage?
by Rick Rockwell
Further evidence that radio is dead or irrelevant appeared today, in the backpages of The Washington Post.
Perhaps you missed it, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is ready to levy the largest collective fine in U.S. broadcast history at the four firms that control a big slice of the radio spectrum. The crime: payola.
Technically, none of these firms admit in the settlement that they accepted cash or other benefits in exchange for playing particular songs or artists. What the firms agreed to was to pay a fine to end a probe into payola by the FCC.
The Post quoted Andy Levin of Clear Channel Communications as saying: “While no violations were found, we are pleased to announce that Clear Channel has agreed to settle this longstanding payola investigation with the FCC. We believe it is time to close the door on this ongoing inquiry and move forward." Levin also noted his firm had worked to prevent payola at the company’s stations.
But would they really be paying if something didn’t smell?
The FCC will collect fines from Entercom Communications ($4 million), Clear Channel ($3.5 million), CBS Radio ($3 million), and Citadel Broadcasting ($2 million). Collectively, those groups own more than 1,500 stations.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, payola (the corrupt practice of disc jockeys promoting artists or songs for under-the-table payments and inducements) became a huge national scandal. Exposure of their corrupt practices forced some prominent disc jockeys and music entrepreneurs out of radio and entertainment.
But today’s fine and practices barely register on the national psyche, although the current amount of corruption makes the nationwide payola scandal of the late 1950s and early 1960s look like a party with Pat Boone records that just got a little too loud. Back then, the country seemed to care about the pollution of the airwaves. Today, in our cynical times, no careers of corrupt executives or disc jockeys will be ruined. No one will be pilloried. The fines are a form of corporate contrition and smack of the “just go along to keep business moving” philosophy that has undercut the ethical dimensions of communication in this nation. This may be the biggest penalty ever by the FCC but it is not enough.
Congratulations to Eliot Spitzer (now governor of New York) who as a prosecutor got the payola investigation started and who forced Warner Music Group and Sony BMG to pay $5 million each to settle his probe in 2005.
But what the cold language in the settlements and the business pages of the newspaper doesn’t tell you is the real crime. These are the companies that killed music radio. This is the answer to why so much junk gets played on the airwaves. Who is buying this stuff? Apparently, no one was until stations were paid to overplay under-talented artists.
The best part of the FCC settlement: the big four radio firms agreed to program 4,000 hours annually from small record labels and lesser-known local and regional artists. That part of the settlement could double and it would not be enough to make up for what these corporate programmers have done to radio.
But folks mostly don’t care today, unlike the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, radio had just been dethroned as the king of the media by television and it was still a strong presence in American homes. Today, folks have moved away from the polluted pool of radio to their iPods, computers, and other sources for music.
So when the historians come looking for who killed radio, they need look no further than the list of companies in this story.
(Photo by mconnors of Brooklyn, NY, from morgueFile.)
radio
music
payola
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2 comments:
I can't agree enough. I remember being so elated when Spitzer took them on, and took them to task. I used to have a favorite radio station here in town, WHFS. When I was in high school, I remembered them always playing cool local music. The Aq and Kath show kept me awake late at night listening to b-sides and new music.
I moved out of the area for half a decade, and when I came back, it was top 40. It was MTVradio. It turned into a latino music station shortly after that. I was still reeling from that when I heard the Spitzer story. "Thank God," I thought, "that someone is going to keep the easy money out of radio." But things still haven't changed. I'm thrilled to hear the minimum requirements for local and independent music - - especially because 4,000 hours is about half of a year. The sad part is that in a full year, there are plenty of hours while people are at work or are asleep.
I do not expect my morning or evening commutes to be filled with the sounds of exciting new tunes. I anticipate turning on the radio at three in the morning to find a pleasant surprise. Maybe I'll hear a new song on my lunch break. The rest of the time, it will be that same nauseating refrain:
"You must not know 'bout me,
you must not know 'bout me"
Lady, you're forced into my ears everywhere. I know 'bout you, I just don't care 'bout you.
For some, there is more than enough Beyonce in the recent Sports Illustrated.
Yes, many of us mourn the death of progressive radio and in the DC area that was WHFS.
But perhaps we can point you to the Pandora banner on the left, and you can find a music mix there.
Or if you like B-sides, alternative tracks, and the sound that made FM the main radio destination, then perhaps we can interest you in our latest podcast. Some of us haven't forgotten what made radio great.
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