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LEGAL PAYOLA ON CORPORATE-OWNED RADIO STATIONS

Today, many if not most broadcast radio stations in your area are likely to be owned by just a few huge corporate conglomerates instead of like in days long gone by when radio stations were owned by single families or much smaller corporations. This means the concentration of the so-called public-owned airwaves ends up in control of just a few corporate conglomerates known as the privileged few.

Remember, this is NOT what the U.S. government had in mind when it created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set rules and regulate the publicly owned airwaves, as well as make sure the American public always had access and not be shut out by corporate interests. What many critics once feared, concerning the loss of public access and control of the public airwaves by the privileged few, may now have become a reality in radio.

This loss of access is similar to what happened with small bookstores, small book publishers and even in grocery stores. The huge national bookstore chains virtually wiped out of business most all of the mom and pop small bookstores and now the corporate conglomerate bookstore chains ask book publishers to pay for shelf space, similar to grocery stores which require that product manufacturers buy shelf space if they want their food products on grocery store shelves and shelf space is not cheap! In fact, the cost is so prohibitive that many good food products, as well as books by unknown writers, book publishers, music artists and music producers, may never get on the shelves or played over the PUBLICLY-OWNED airwaves! BIG BUSINESS, run by the privileged few, has its way of limiting and controlling what we can see, read, hear and even eat! It seems like only those that can AFFORD access get access, like lobbyists for business interests paying-off our elected legislators in Washington, D.C. to have their issues heard and voted on in Congress, while the small business interests may essentially have little or no voice in many matters. Is the American public like sheep being led to slaughter, so-to-speak, not even realizing their fate along the way?

When radio was in its heyday during the 1950s and TV was just a fledgling enterprise, music record companies and music producers were able to pay-off radio station disc jockeys, and possibly station management, to get their records played over the public airwaves. This practice became known as payola and was outlawed.

Payola once allowed record companies to control what music the public would hear. The commercial interests of the privileged few could control Americas PUBLICLY- owned airwaves!

However, LEGAL payola exists today and, to date, the FCC has done little or nothing to stop it! Remember, the FCC was originally established to be the watchdog over the public airwaves and make sure the American public has access to the airwaves and not get abused by big business interests which use the public airwaves.

Today, this is how legal payola works. Independent middlemen called indies are allowed by a loophole in FCC rules and regulations to accept huge sums of money from music companies and music producers. In return the indies may essentially pay-off radio station owners and operators to get certain music selections and music groups played over and over on the radio.

This practice reduces the access to the public airwaves that many unknown music groups are supposed to be entitled to according to the rules and regulations of the FCC.

Radio stations admit this new payola practice continues because corporate-owned radio stations want and may NEED the money so whoever can keep paying-off radio stations with huge sums of money, (up to $100,000 or more), can keep getting their music played over and over on the public airwaves! The little known artist, in reality, may have little or no chance to compete with big business interests!

Like TV publicly-owned airwaves, radio publicly-owned airwaves are now controlled by the privileged few and the American public does not even know it has lost control and access to the music, news and information it may be entitled to.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCE: NBC-TV DATELINE 5/24/02

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