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ftm Radio Page - July 30, 2010

 

Listening Drops, Commercial Stations Surge
green radio In almost every market, recent radio ratings have shown significant changes. Audiences, it appears, have become unpredictable. Programmers and media buyers will have much to think about over the summer.

 

 

There’s Still Payola?

The US government recognizes payola when it hears it – even in Spanish – and although the deeds apparently ended four years ago it has now announced $1 million in fines against Univision Communications Inc. that runs Spanish language stations and at one time owned  a Spanish language recording label. The government claimed that from 2002 until 2006 the Univision Music recording label paid program managers at Univision radio stations to play some of their music without disclosing those payments and that makes it payola. The payments allegedly were made against false invoices for services never performed. (Ed. note: Similar "arrangements" in Europe are generally not illegal and considered standard practice.)

There really hasn’t been much on the payola front since 2007 when the Federal Communications Commission reached settlements with four of the US’ largest radio companies for alleged  payola violations although the companies involved did not admit any wrong doing. The radio companies – Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio, Entercom Communications, and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. – agreed to pay a $12.5 million fine, and also agreed their 1,653 stations would not engage in payola.  They also accepted a separate agreement with the American Association of Independent Music to provide 8,400 half-hour programs of free airtime featuring independent music labels and independent artists.

CBS the year before had agreed to a consent decree reached with former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. His name is back in broadcast news because this is the same man who went on to be governor of New York state, but who then in 2008 fell from grace for some sexual and banking hanky panky, but he is soon to pop up again on US TV screens as a co-host of a CNN one hour daily prime time program. Which just goes to show if you can’t get a job any more in politics, there’s always the media to fall back on.

 

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