Similarly Different

Welcome To The Velvet Ghetto

In the past few years our industries have become deregulated, consolidated and integrated. Some of those are good moves. Others have taken their toll in jobs, creativity and passion. As a result, many of America's radio stations, labels, station groups, publishing entities and diversified communications corporations have become overleveraged, corporate time bombs -- hopeless hostages in a debt-laden limbo of their own design.

In 2007 the record industry is witnessing an interesting process of A&R evolution -- from the recording of acts mainly by in-house producers to the use of indie producers who deliver the finished goods to the labels and presently to total creative control by the artists of their recordings. Interestingly, this situation completes the creative package offered by today's acts. Many, of course, write and perform their own material and the fact that some now produce their own efforts reflects their ultimate desire to be fully responsible for their sounds. Also, it should perhaps be noted that many acts enjoy associations with producers who once were artists themselves.

In the case of radio, what was once a business of predominately locally owned, independent stations, some even in the largest markets, has suddenly and sadly turned into a battlefield for some of the biggest media giants in the world, who are using satellite-delivered, singer-syndicated shows, jockless formats, voicetracking techniques and other new technologies to attract listeners.

Welcome to the "velvet ghetto" -- that brave new world of radio, where 10 companies control more than 80% of the revenue in the top 100 markets. This is a revolutionary development in a business where, until 1972, no one was allowed to own more than two stations in the same market and a station had to fulfill stringent programming and public-service requirements in order to even get and keep a license to operate.

What's happening now in radio is what has happened in every other industry in the country in the past 10 years. Other businesses have seen consolidation, downsizing and boiler-plating. Just as you don't have a neighborhood hardware store or a neighborhood drugstore anymore, you also don't have a neighborhood radio station.

The impetus for these changes came in 1993, when Congress deregulated and allowed the formation of what came to be called duopolies. One owner could hold two AM and two FM stations in each market, twice as many as had been permitted under the original depression-era rules that had regulated radio for more than 70 years.

That was just the beginning though and most savvy owners sensed or had reason to hope that Congress would further relax radio's ownership restrictions. The Telecommunications Act did exactly that in 1996, allowing one company to own as many a eight stations in larger markets, five in smaller ones and as many as it wanted nationally.

Urban McRadio

Despite the objections from critics and listeners as diverse as ex-DJs, consumer advocates, members of Congress and academics, radio continues to sound similar all over America. Urban radio is seeing more and more formats are that are cookie-cutter. They're seeing programmers who go from being a music director to a PD without being undergirded by the training, hands-on experience and knowledge that will allow them to become true leaders. And this is happening in major markets. Add in a huge number of syndicated shows, many of them done by singers who never thought of doing live radio, and you have a bland blend of so-called, researched ingredients that lack variety, passion and flavor. Ironically, one of radio's strengths under regulation was its diversity. That vanished when deregulation ushered in an era of "McRadio," when every company's stations would sound exactly alike in much the same way a Big Mac tastes the same in Baltimore as it does in Baton Rouge.

Early advocates of deregulation claimed there would be no sudden absence of local programming. New radio may not be where its adherents had hoped, when the resources of corporate ownership provided formats for everyone from kids to kleptos, in much the same way magazines do, but it's more closed than its detractors give it credit for. They also point out that even if 10 companies wound up dominating the national radio market, it would still be a more diverse industry than fast food or automobiles. We're not so sure.

The universe of radio stations implodes upon itself. A Big Bang in reverse, with ownership accumulating on a few electronic barons. And the world continues to be consumed by conglomerates.

Big business can control its content in a way that big government can't. Radio is an important part of people's lives, and decisions should be based on more than what will bring in the biggest bucks. Studies have revealed that affirmative action may be needed to level the playing field and to help overcome old-boy networks and hiring practices. And while it is generally believed that people flee to the suburbs as a way of avoiding the poverty, crime and welfare unhappily common and associated with inner city problems, the way people listen to radio is not affected in the same way. You can listen from a safe distance.

Because invariably inner-city communities are primarily African-American and Hispanic and the suburbs are primarily white, it is a short step to accusations that "white flight" is merely a way for those who can afford to do so to turn their backs on the problems of America's worst-off residents.

But wait, they often get to the suburbs and find reasons to return. Long commutes, exclusionary neighborhood clusters, drugs, gangs and other crimes all take their toll. In markets all across America now these same affluent folks are returning to the inner cities, buying condos, eating sushi and enjoying their new lives.

Returning too is the "spin cycle" of consolidation, "white flight" and downsizing. Our generation is probably the first to be affected by Wall Street-driven distractions. Distractions which were natural but often counter-productive to the operation of stations and the music they play. In many cases, less focus on programming issues and ratings resulted in greater focus on sales issues and revenue. However sales and revenue success is not mutually exclusive from of programming. In fact, the two are inextricably combined since greater rating success obviously drives higher revenue.

Finally, concern over social change and its implication on radio programming, along with the role of government in broadcasting and career opportunities, affects us all. So these issues continue to be areas of major concern. This is what we meant by "similarly different." It's real and it exists on both sides of our industry. I personally think there is something in the air. Air is still free, but today, it costs more to breathe it or fill it with music.

Word.