Black Music Month 2009 - Part II: Saluting Our Past ... Shaping Our Future

As the sizzle of the summer sun coupled with a busy backyard filled with family and friends and the scent of barbeque ribs and grilled steak fill the air, we continue to celebrate another June -- which is also Black Music Month. In this, the second in our current series for Black Music Month 2009, we're going to revisit black music and radio, examine how they both survived life's storms and remained hungry for more of the unexpected.

As any true history buff will tell you, American history is rich with the names and the blood of African-Americans -- farmhands and astronauts, housewives and mayors, factory workers and presidents, accountants and entertainers ... men and women who surfaced above the raging waters of slavery, racism and discrimination and applied their full energies toward setting a truer course for America. For history, especially musical history, to have meaning, function and power, it must live. It must be alive in the present, in the minds of all the people, but especially in the minds and hearts of the people who make that history and their descendants.

For history, especially musical history, to have meaning, function and power, it must live.

So, as we celebrate another Black Music Month, we ask the question, "Is that spirit still alive in our minds and hearts?" Because of the current economy, are Urban formats at a crossroads? Maybe. Let's go back a few years and look at what has happened with Urban radio. In a few major markets there were usually at least two or three different versions of Urban and Urban Adult formats. Eventually, the formats were whittled down; the strongest player or players survived and the others changed, or such as what just happened in Pittsburgh, they just went away.

Born On The Bayou

God has a strange way of taking things away ... and often there is no explanation ... at least none that He shares with us. Such was the case a few years back when an overwhelming natural tragedy named Katrina wreaked havoc on many in the Gulf region, especially New Orleans.

New Orleans was and is home to some of the best singers and musicians this country has ever known. Like many of you, I was stunned by our government's response to the Katrina tragedy. The rebuilding that is necessary is something this country has never had to do before.

What about the long-term demographic changes to New Orleans? It may never be the same because much of the cultural diversity has been erased. Many of the city's African-American population will spread across the South and to other regions because, for many, there's simply no reason to return. And the government's reaction before, during and after has ensured that the racial makeup of New Orleans will be changed forever. How that city continues reinvent itself will be interesting to observe.

While we're observing the changes taking place in the "Big Easy," there are other changes taking place throughout the country ... this time with the generation everybody wants to target -- Generation X. But has it expired? For years it was an all-purpose marketing symbol for corporate America's version of edgy, funky and hip -- from X Games to the must-have Xbox for video gamers. Now, Douglas Coupland, who got the X party started, wants to bury that concept and replace it with a new generational term, or "X it right out."

That's because Coupland feels -- and he's not alone -- that we've become a depressing assemblage of pop culture influences and cancelled emotions, driven by the sputtering engine of only the most banal form of capitalism. We spend our life feeling as if we're perpetually on the brink of being obsolete -- whether it's labor market obsolescence or cultural un-hipness.

While we don't want to take this un-hipness too seriously, the reality is that it does exist and the result is that because of it, some general-market stations have found their formats fragmenting. In recent years, Urban radio also had its own set of problems with un-hipness, particularly with some Urban Adult stations and those that continue to use "the ballads and oldies" approach.

The decline of total audience in some markets is also affected by the increasing disaffection of our core audience of women 25-49 in middays. This trend is not related so much to the vagaries of research, but to improper programming. Stations are suffering from image problems. They were perceived as being too laid back. They're much like some Smooth Jazz-formatted stations, whose owners realized that if they were to remain true to their cause, they would have to accept a much smaller slice of the ratings pie. Then along came Arbitron's PPM and many of these stations changed formats quicker than you could say, "Dave Koz."

This trend is not related so much to the vagaries of research, but to improper programming.

So the state of today's Urban format in 2009 is affected by many things, including moments of distinction. But wait, there's something missing. In these times of mainstreaming and streamlining, monetary motivation is still a healthy stimulant. Business needs a healthy stimulant. Lack of it changes the status and attitude of everyone. An important question remains: Will people who are driven by this monetary motivation forget their old needs because of new needs?

Focusing their binoculars on these new needs and the future, those standing upon the promontory see a world vastly different from the one that now exists. Then, as now, there were similarities as well as differences. The similarity is that Black radio, like its general-market counterpart, provided entertainment and information to its listeners. However, since in the beginning this was a highly specialized form of entertainment, it was virtually impossible in the early years for it to earn a healthy profit. Without profit, it was hard to keep the dream alive.

This dream, like Dr. King's dream, may have been deferred, but it has not vanished. And what a tragedy if those dazzled by the messenger but deaf to the message were to miss out on the opportunity to make even a small contribution. We in Urban radio still have the ear of many and the responsibility to put a little history, hope and knowledge in those ears. We've got knowledge about the musical history that reinforces the vital messages that are an integral part of the overall formats that have made Urban radio the power it has become throughout America. Black music has not just influenced American music, it has influenced American life. In so doing, it has become the popular medium for our national expression.

This kind of thinking continues right up to today. Tomorrow's black music history will show that, like the Energizer bunny, we kept going, kept experimenting and developing these formats and new ideas until "we got it right." And it's important that we keep trying because if just one of us gets it right, discovers something newer, faster or more compelling, we all benefit.

Sowing Wild Notes

In this segment of our current series for Black Music Month 2009, we're going to look back at some of the musical highlights from the decades of the '80s and '90s and how they were impacted by Black radio.

Donna Summer

The '80s and early '90s were a very dynamic period for Black music and radio. For one thing, it was the end of the so-called disco era. This meant that artists such as Donna Summer, K.C. & the Sunshine Band, the Spinners, Gloria Gaynor, The Tramps, The Ohio Players, The Gap Band and dozens of others who managed to have at least one hit during this period, all made musical contributions, some of which found their way into our oldies libraries.

Many Urban stations found that for the first time, they could have it both ways; the demise of disco gave many stations the flexibility to now be whatever the listeners wanted them to be. Say what you will, but disco increased the foothold Black stations needed to be part of the general media picture. There would always be brands targeted to the Black audience, but the growth of disco meant the Black market was now going to be subjected to more growth and more fragmentation.

The Research Renaissance

Another significant change that took place in the '80s was the beginning of serious music research for Black radio. Up until this time, most well-run Black radio stations depended on the ears and minds of the program and music directors to make the decisions on what songs were to be added and played. Toward the end of the '70s and the beginning of the '80s, Top 40 radio was looking beyond just calling record stores and processing requests to determine what songs were selling. They discovered what they already knew -- some songs that did not sell well at the retail level were still favorites among radio listeners. And the requests lines in many markets were totally controlled and dominated by 15-year-old girls. We need to also know what adults wanted to hear.

In the beginning of research for Black radio, as you might imagine, there was no budget. You would think that given Black radio's rapid rise in many major cities, the owners and managers would have been anxious to increase their knowledge and ratings by making available a research budget to get some answers. That was simply not the case. The reasons given were predictable and varied, but most often the simple reason given was that the GMs at the time had no frame of reference for making a decision to increase their programming budgets to allow for even some basic research.

Those of us who were programming at the time had no other choice but to tap into the knowledge bank of some of the white broadcasters. They were putting together groups of people who represented their core audience and asking them all sorts of basic questions about their listening habits. They would recruit these respondents from newspaper ads and pay them between $20 and $25 apiece for their opinions on music, disc jockeys, news, etc. Then they would process the results of this information and decide on future programming strategies.

Those of us who were programming at the time had no other choice but to tap into the knowledge bank of some of the white broadcasters.

We figured if it worked for Top 40, it should work for us, too. After all, the audience we were serving was not that far from Top 40. In fact, much of the music we were playing turned out to be songs that eventually wound up on the playlists of the nation's leading Top 40 stations.

Eventually, toward the end of the '80s, we were able to convince our owners and managers that research had its place in Black radio, as it did in other formats. As a result, Black radio stations that were researching their music and applying the results of that research properly prospered ... and Black radio and music both took a giant step forward.

Soon research and all the obstacles echoed those faced by early Black music and radio pioneers (including the impact made by those who began it all) became penetratingly real. The ground had been broken. In spite of all the discussions, setbacks and barriers, because of a need, Urban music grew into an effective medium of expression, fulfilling an important niche in history.

There was a need to embody African-American music and radio history. This brought about a kind of Urban magic, one which heralded changes. Today's Black radio seeks something with its own valid purpose, something far more meaningful than simply becoming a syndicated or voicetracked juke box that occasionally gives away money and prizes. Today, Black radio needs to involve its listeners with the same excitement, spirit and struggle that motivated its originators.

Word.

(Next Week Part III)