I Wish I Could “F”(fix) Every Radio in the World (Every Radio)

I love music. It is like air. It is so integral to everything I am. I love all types of music. R&B soothes the soul. Country is King of the Ballad and Classical is romantic. I love Rock and Roll for its rebellious spirit, and Hip Hop for its creativity and the incorporation of poetry. Pop music is fun and defines eras. I’ve spent my entire life listening to music because I am happy when I am surrounded by its sounds. I don’t think this makes me unique or original. In fact, love for music is more universal than much anything else. I have never met anyone who claimed to dislike music. Music prevails above all ideology.

For decades radio has provide us with music for free and introduced us to many of the songs, genres, and artists we love most. Radio has the potential to be such an awesome means to bond a community over a mutual love and respect for music. However, the way things are going I’m afraid community is the furthest thing from the minds of those controlling our airwaves.

Having spent some time working in the radio industry here’s a quick lesson explaining how radio works. Radio stations are a lot like magazines. They speak to very specific demographics and represent very specific genres. These factors determine what music a given radio station will play in its rotation. Let’s take your typical “hip hop” radio station for example. These stations usually are classified as Contemporary Hits and Rhythmic stations by industry insiders, and typically target women ages 18-34.

Much like television, radio programmers and executives care very little about content; their primary objective is revenue; which is generated through the sale of advertisements. In order to sell advertisements radio stations have to present prospective advertisers with ratings. The higher a station’s ratings the more revenue a station can generate for advertisements. Therefore while the overall objective is to generate revenue by selling advertisements, a radio station’s more immediate goal is to produce ratings. This is why you always here stations going on (usually in exaggeration) about being “#1” (sometimes even the perception of high ratings can benefit a station’s overall ratings). But just claiming to be #1 isn’t enough to produce numbers that really count. To do that stations need real live listeners.

Radio people think radio listeners are pretty simple. In order to get them to listen you give them “things”. And so is born “the radio promotion”. These promotions vary from the charitable to the zany. Nevertheless, promotions cost money! A 30 second radio ad doesn’t pull in the type of money a 30 second television ad pulls in, and opposed to popular belief radio stations aren’t making a ton of money. Just ask anyone who has ever had the pleasure of working as a Jock (a Disc Jockey in laymen’s terms). It is not the glamor filled job many people believe it is. Most Jocks are paid a shameful salary, that does not include any benefits. Believe it or not the “voice of your city” probably isn’t as fabulous as they would like to make you think. No Benz, no luxury pimp suites, no designer clothes. Jocks are usually paid in perception, and access. They are perceived a certain way by listeners, and have access to “perks” most people do not have access to. That’s it! I say all that just to attest to the fact that radio stations do not have that much money, but these promotions they run cost a lot of money. This begs the question… Where are they getting the money from?

A quick History lesson—Payola is the "illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under US law, a radio station can play a specific song in exchange for money, but this must be disclosed on the air as being sponsored airtime, and that play of the song should not be counted as a "regular airplay." The term has come to refer to any secret payment made to cast a product in a positive light (such as obtaining positive reviews)” (Wikipedia- Payola, 2009).

Despite the fact that Payola is illegal—I can tell you, (quote me on this) if it weren’t for payola many program directors would not know how to program their radio stations. While I have never personally witnessed actual cash money being exchanged from record label to radio station—I have seen this practice take place in a more underhanded less obvious way.

You ever win a CD during a radio station’s weekend promotion? Where do you think those boxes of CD’s come from? They are gifts from the label. In exchange for a box of CD’s it is not uncommon for a radio station to run an entire weekend promotion centered around the release of “50 Cent’s (or any other artist’s) new album. This lends itself to more 50 Cent songs being played during that weekend and 50 Cent being cast in a positive light by the Jocks giving his CD’s away. When stations have concert tickets to give away, they don’t buy those tickets, they are gifts from the label. When stations “sponsor” concerts all they do is call in favors to label reps (a subject I will discuss more in depth). Radio stations don’t pay for anything, not the venue, not the artists, not a thing! Nor do they disclose to their listeners that their latest promotion is being sponsored by Interscope, BMG, Columbia, or whatever label they have most recently whored the airwaves out to.

Label reps are another chapter in the payola story that deserves some attention. Label reps are a lot like pharmaceutical reps. They are responsible for a cluster of artists under the label, and a specific geographical region Their job is to promote these artists and get their songs out to the public, specifically within a designated region. A label rep may look at BDS reports, which report how many spins a song has gotten, as well as a breakdown of how many spins each radio station has given a song. After looking at BDS a label rep will typically contact a programming director (PD) at a station where the song is not getting a satisfactory number of spins and ask the PD to rotate the song more heavily in the rotation, or even “break” (introduce a new song) a song into the rotation. If a PD does a favor for a label rep there is an unspoken expectation that the rep will “come through” when the PD needs a favor. These favors don’t always come in the form of promotional material either. Sometimes it is more obscene. As a Jock I received access to countless tables and bottles at clubs paid for by record labels. Wild and crazy private parties exclusively for "radio people" are sponsored by record labels. Entire staffs of radio stations are treated to opulent meals at 5 star restaurants charged to a label reps corporate credit card. Programming directors often receive expensive gifts ranging from flowers to jewelry to designer apparel. The bigger the radio station, and the more influence the station has on the national radio trends the more grotesque the payola.

The reason payola was made illegal was to avoid the very circumstance radio has found itself in today. Small labels can’t get their songs played on the radio because they can’t afford to wine and dine the stations; therefore, the artist represented by these labels rarely enjoy the kind of success less talented artists represented by larger labels are accustomed to. Ultimately the Big labels “own” the airwaves and determine what songs get played. We as listeners are forced to listen to the same 20 tired, and ridiculous songs over and over again until we know all the words, and even find ourselves and our children singing along to a song with lyrics as disgusting and degrading as “I wish I could ‘F’ every girl in the world”.

I should clarify not ALL radio stations partake in this type of practice. In fact many program directors refuse to even take calls from label reps, or receive any promotional material. It is the few stations that are partaking in these practices that are ruining it for everyone. I hope this awareness allows you to experience radio armed with the information necessary to push back. If you have any questions or comments please post and I will answer to the best of my ability.