RELENTLESS RADIO

 

Author:	Jerry Williams
Published:	March, 1999

 

The sun came up today. It has a way of doing that, regardless of the events of the day before, every morning you can count on the sun, a new day, new challenges. Amy files for divorce. Next day, the sun comes up. KLTY gets sold. Next day, the sun comes up. CCM Communications buys CRR and the Christian music industry goes to one chart. Next day, the sun comes up. Salem buys CCM. Next day, the sun comes up. FCC chairman Kennard wants to strangle the airwaves with thousands of low power FMs. Next day, the sun comes up. You see a pattern here? I'm not suggesting that these and other recent events aren't worthy of concern, they are. But I am suggesting that we take a step or two back to gain a little perspective on how these things will affect our industry and, in the greater scope of things, how much any of them will really matter. Amy & Gary: The separation didn't last long enough for reconciliation, or perhaps it came too late to do any good. It's tragic for the couple we watched grow up. We came to know them, either personally, or at least through their music. We loved them as we saw them work through the ups and downs of a marriage complicated by the spotlight and two distinctively creative personalities. It's even more of a tragedy for the kids. Over the next few weeks pds will struggle with how to handle on air the divorce of our most visible couple. Some will drop the music of both artists (a number of stations did this at the announcement of the couple's separation). Others will wait to see if any details beyond "irreconcilable differences" emerge and, depending on the sordidness of those details, may drop one or both of the artists from their station's playlist. And there will be those who will continue to play the whole catalogue of both artists. It's been several years since we as an industry have had to deal with such an issue. The revelation of extramarital affairs by Michael English and Sandi Patti opened the debate over how the lifestyle of artists should affect Christian radio's willingness to play their music. Some stations developed official policy to deal with the matter, while others opted to handle each case individually. It's a sticky situation at best. Where do you draw the line, providing you believe a line needs to be drawn? Even if you've adopted a station policy, can any policy anticipate every possible circumstance? In the case of adultery we drop the artist, unless there's repentance, then we drop them for 6 months. Unless the adultery took place across state lines on a Sunday and there's only conditional repentance in which case we play the artists songs only on alternate Tuesdays, but not in Morning Drive.... It seems there are more questions than answers: Do the artists' songs still have the ability to minister, what will playing songs by these artists do to your station's ability to minister and to your credibility? How equitably do you enforce this policy, do you still air Charles Stanley, is the fact that In Touch pays to be on your station influencing your decision? There are sound defenses for positions all along the spectrum of possible reactions, from totally dropping all of the artists music to not adjusting your library at all. As we wrestle with the implications of Amy and Gary's situation for our own stations, let's remember to pray for them and their children. And let's make it a point to lift up each other and our other artists as well. The Rest The first 10 weeks or so of 1999 have been filled with Story Of The Year type headlines. And as Y2K looms closer, there surely will be more. The most troubling, so far anyway, and the one with the most potential to rock the entire radio industry, and specifically non commercial radio, is the FCC announcement that they want to put thousands of low power FMs on the air by this summer. Since these new facilities would be actual stations, they would get priority over translators, and could possibly endanger already existing translators. Many broadcast industry organizations have strongly condemned the proposal, but keep in mind that Commissioner Kennard is the same guy who dragged his feet on shutting down pirate stations, and then only did so reluctantly. Now's the time to get your engineer to tweak your signal to make sure you're getting the most out of it you can. The sale of KLTY, while certainly newsworthy, shouldn't have much of an impact. Not if the word of Sunburst president John Borders is to be believed. Borders has been quoted as saying Sunburst has no plans to make any changes which would alter the basic direction of the nation's premiere Christian station. With 22 other stations already (though KLTY is their first venture into Christian radio), and Borders' assertion that the company is considering future acquisitions of Christian music outlets, Sunburst has positioned themselves to quickly become an industry leader. But rumors from mainstream radio sources in Dallas making the rounds are that KLTY will be flipped to a light AC and the Christian format could land on a rimshot station outside the metroplex. The current leader, at least in terms of number of stations, Salem, has strengthened their position to influence the industry with the purchase of CCM Communications. With 40+ stations (most of them exclusively talk or a mix of mostly talk and some music), the Word In Music, Word In Praise, and Morningstar networks, the Salem Radio Network, and Salem Radio Reps, Salem still hasn't demonstrated a mastery of the format at the station level. What they have shown themselves to be masters of is acquisitions. The company has its defenders, who claim that they do indeed have a plan, to which its critics (which are numerous) respond, let's see it. On the heels of the announcement of Salem's purchase of CCM Communications came the news that CCM Communications had purchased CRR. Reactions were mixed as details were released. The prospect of full editions of CRR on a weekly basis is the most positive aspect of the deal. With the two top industry playlist chart publications, the CCM Update and CRR, now under one roof, only one chart will be continued. And while it's pretty much universally agreed that the survivor, the CRR chart, is the stronger, more accurate of the two, there has been concern expressed about the industry going to a single chart. Initial questions were raised by those with the most to lose, those stations who were Update reporters only and now stand to lose that status, and with it preferred servicing by and clout with the record labels. Of course, the labels themselves will lose half of their opportunities for number 1 songs, and see competition for chart placement increase.

 

copyright 1998-2004 RELENTLESS COMMUNICATIONS

Recommend RELENTLESS RADIO