First of all, before anything else let me say "Thank You" to Congressman Bobby Rush for an attempt at serving the people.
When I heard that the film makers of Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio were invited to a panel at the 39th Congressional Black Caucus Convention. I was truly excited. What an opportunity for Black Americans to express their feelings about the current state of radio! After seeing the film I thought "Now is the time for all persons who care about radio to come to aid of the community and state the case against deregulation and the 96 percent of media owned by corporations headed by white males.
Boy did I get fooled! The session from the start got away from Disappearing Voices: The Decline of Black Radio as the new FCC Chairman Julius Genakowski began speaking of the virtues of Broadband. Now don't get me wrong, I love the Internet and the Internet must never fall into "corporate" hands. Corporations will undoubtedly place a toll booth everywhere on the information superhighway. What bothers me is the fact that it seems that both sides of the political fence feel that it is alright for corporations to have an unlimited ownership of radio stations. And we the people owners of the airwaves should just live and let go any ideas of owning radio. Invest and seek to program content on the Internet that's the future. If the Internet is all that give up the airwaves, but that won't happen because Radio is the most personal of all mediums that is why they(white males) want control of it and ownership of all the airwaves. We can forget about help from politicians. As my colleague always reminds me "there is not one politician who will take a chance at taking on the media."
In the session, I thought that the film would be shown and it was not. I realized then that the course of the session would be all over everywhere from Katrina to Health Care with everything in between from freeing political prisoners and what's being played on radio. Only the film makers of Disappearing Voices and Congressman Rush stayed on course with the issue of policies effecting media ownership.
Warren Ballentine was the moderator of the session. He is a brilliant man and I don't want to sound like I'm hating but I am sick and tired of "syndicated" hosts moderating media issues of the community that they contribute adversely to. For every station that airs syndicated shows 6 - 8 people lose jobs in radio. Common sense will tell anyone not to cut the hand that feeds you. As my colleague always states, one can't serve two masters.
When I told Mr. Ballentine that I think he is doing a great job but I hate syndication. He looked at me as if to say "take that up with my boss." So having a syndicated host as a moderator for an important issue regarding Disappearing Voices in Black radio doesn't seems to be moving towards revealing any solutions to the problem. It is a oxymoron. The syndicated host will protect his syndicated territory.
Also the panel was loaded with radio people. Skip Finley, Paul Porter, and Jim Winston. All of these brilliant men did not provide one solution to the people regarding freeing the airways from the supremacy of "white male ownership." Black Radio station owners were making a case for more syndication because the economic downturn is affecting their revenue. They must reduce expenses and syndication is the only way that Black Radio can survive and stay competitive with other radio stations. They want us to feel empathy for their plight while they make money, cut jobs, make us laugh, and provided no local information.
Inside the session, there were many older individuals. And judging from the comments, I am sure that many in attendance were not aware of the reasons Black Radio is in the state that it is in today. I say that because the media rarely reports on itself or the FCC. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was done through a lot of "non discussed" stealth legislation.
I would have liked to see more young people in the audience. It's their future. Media policy and ownership is something that should be presented to them. The history of Black radio and the impact that Black Radio had on the Black community is gone. It's Gone ! Martin Luther King in his 1967 Speech to radio announcers stated, "For better or worse you(radio announcers) are opinion makers of the community." No more...
I am amused when people talk about the recent power of what is termed Black Radio. Many refer to the effort that Michael Baisden made in rallying people over the Jena 6 case. Truth of the matter is this on May 9, 2007 a local journalist Jordan Flaherty editor of Left Turn Magazine was the first to bring the case to a national audience via the Internet. The Jena 6 issue hit public radio before Black Radio on Democracy Now. Black radio picked it up after the local reports of Mr. Flaherty.
And one final thought, I wish when people are at these forums that they stay on the subject. I stood in line waiting my turn to speak and time ran out. People never seem to look behind them when they get a mic in their hands they go on and on.
I left the session concluding that the minority owners are too tied in to the status quo to support any change in policy. As a result the McDonaldization of what is termed Black radio will continue. There is no more Black Radio. It's corporate radio that targets Blacks for profit. The once potent, proud, and essential communication element of the African American community is no more.
What remains now is to educate the younger generation in hopes that they find in themselves an effort to lead the fight to take radio back. The older generation is too caught up to do anything.
Just my take
