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New school tech, old school advocacy fuel drive for alternative radio
By Saeed Shabazz -Staff Writer- | Last updated: Jul 2, 2009 - 11:08:24 PM
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(FinalCall.com) - Advances in technology and an old school sense of mission are driving Black media makers to find new ways to communicate, organize and advocate.
Charles Clemons, co-owner and general manager of the low power radio station TOUCH 106.1FM in Boston.
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Black ownership of traditional commercial radio stations has fallen 30 percent since the late 1990s, according to the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.
The first Black-owned radio station hit the airwaves in 1942, with Black ownership reaching the height of 274 stations by 1995.
“Three percent is a paltry figure given the community's longstanding and significant involvement in the entertainment industry,” said Charles Clemons, co-owner and general manager of the low power radio station TOUCH 106.1FM in Boston. Mr. Clemons made his point before taking off on March 21, heading to Washington, D.C., on foot to call attention to pending congressional legislation that would create thousands of licenses for low-power FM signals.
His “Walk for Power” was about raising awareness “that we have a right to develop our own media for (our) listeners and have a right to compete against and counter the impersonal, market driven forces of mainstream media,” according to Mr. Clemons. Seventy percent of the music played on TOUCH 106 is from local artists, he noted.
Mr. Clemons joined the activists in Washington, D.C. in April, where for three days the Prometheus Radio Project, a group that advocates for community radio, conducted lobbying and meetings. “I spoke to several members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who said they are on board with the pending legislation (Low Community Radio Act of 2009), that will be good for low power FM radio ownership,” he said.
Representatives Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and 38 others are sponsoring the House version of the bill. “For five years, large broadcasters have tried to block access to low-power FM stations,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), author of the companion Senate bill, which is co-sponsored by Arizona Republican John McCain.
Mr. Clemons said that Rep. Doyle told the activists the bill would become law by summer.
Junious Ricardo Stanton, also known as the Philadelphia-based “Black Communicator,” said another powerful medium available for Black ownership is internet radio. “I realized the power of internet radio as far back as 1995, when we were streaming information out through the spectrum on the Million Man March,” Mr. Stanton told The Final Call.
The Black Communicator was heard on Philly's Black-owned WHAT AM for years, until it was sold to radio conglomerate Clear Channel. Mr. Stanton said he was told by the new owners there was no room for his type of commentary.
Mr. Stanton's “Digital Underground” can be heard on the Atlanta-based Harambee Radio Network (www.harambeeradio.com), which is owned by Dalani Aamon, a publisher and dentist. “What attracted me to internet radio was the opportunity to talk about controversial issues without having to please advertisers,” said Mr. Stanton.
“This is a hard medium to make money in, because the Western model of media ownership flows directly through advertising. But there is infinitely more freedom, that is the up side,” said Mr. Aamon, who started the Harambee network in 2004.
Mr. Aamon told The Final Call it would take around $100,000 to start up an internet radio network. But, he added, the most important resource beyond technical knowledge is the “human resource.”
“It's those other set of skills, those ‘love for humanity' skills—your ability to understand that our people are in need of knowledge—and you can be in 100 percent control of how they receive that knowledge,” Mr. Aamon stressed.
He calls internet radio “the next leap” for Black media ownership.
Keidi Obi Awadu, owner of the Los Angeles-based LIB (Living In Black) Radio, agrees with his East Coast counterpart. “Internet radio ownership is a powerful paradox for Black people; and it will help us make progress on a national level, because we can stream information without interference from the commercial radio oligarchy,” he said. “But if you are only after a big profit, don't look this way.”
Arbitron and Edison Research, radio industry rating companies, reported in March that 47 million Americans age 12 and older listen to radio online.
LIB Radio can be found on the web at talkblackliveradio.com.
The next leap for Black-owned radio is satellite, which has a much bumpier road ahead, according to the radio advocacy organization Free Press. Free Press said there has been no movement from SiriusXM, the satellite radio conglomerate, to keep faith with an agreement to make 12 channels available for women and minority owners. Sirius Satellite Radio bought out XM Satellite Radio in 2008 to form Sirius XM Radio Inc.
Joseph Torres, of Washington-based Free Press, said pressure on the acting FCC chairman has opened a window for discussing minority satellite ownership. “This discussion is long overdue,” he said.
The National Association of Black Journalists and the Congressional Black Caucus in February 2008, called on the FCC to deny SiriusXM's merger until a minority-participation mandate was in place. The conglomerate agreed to a four percent deal, saying too large a set aside would be too costly and would endanger the merger. NABJ and the CBC were asking for a 20 percent set aside.
Andy Schwartzman, an attorney for the Media Access Project, told The Final Call the FCC was requesting comments via its website on how to put the minority satellite radio ownership plan into action.
The Washington Business Journal said the $3.5 billion merger was approved by the Justice Dept. Civil Rights Division only after the signing of the minority ownership agreement, which was to free up the satellite airwaves for community-based and minority programming.
Calls to the SiriusXM for comment were not returned.
Arbitron states that satellite radio has 18 million subscribers, who pay from $13 to $20 a month for 170 digital channels, with 69 of those channels for commercial-free music and exclusive live concerts; and 21 channels for traffic and weather, talk, sports, comedy and children's entertainment.
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