Davey D: Did the Telecommunications Act of ’96 Stifle Diversity in Rap Music?

A lot of folks point to the 1996 Telecommunications Act and say its the key mark in the sand… I disagree and allow me to give some context..

First I was one of those people who actually spoke at FCC hearings when this was being proposed and covered the 96 Act on my radio show here in SF.. I worked at KMEL which later went on to become a Clear Channel station..

KMEL was a unique station in the sense that it was really the first Top 40 station that laid out a solid successful blue print for how Top 40 stations could play Hip Hop and not lose advertising dollars or be stuck with the stigma of being a Black station.. That Blue print was later picked up by Hot 97 under Steve Smith who was from the Bay Area and worked at Hot 97 in San Jose and later Power 106 in LA..

One of things that was notable about those times in the early 90s.. leading up to 96 was the role Black/Urban radio played and the challenges they faced..

One of the key aspects was there was alot of hatred from some Black program directors for Hip Hop.. This was well before that 96 act and with the exception of a few places.. Rap/ Hip Hop was limited to weekend mix shows which many of us vigorously recorded and passed around..

Complicating this situation was the challenge that Black Urban stations had with securing advertisements if they got identified with playing too much rap.. hence many found there was an economic squeeze to move in a certain direction..

Lastly we had those Black music/ Pop division in the record labels.. Black divisions serviced Urban stations while Pop divisions serviced crossover stations with a much bigger budget..

In the early 90s… say 91 – 92 we saw a number a pop stations emerge and go full throttle in playing Rap.. Ours (KMEL) was one that led the charge.. This resulted in some misgivings among urban stations who felt like they were at a disadvantage because stations like ours were deemed crossover and not stigmatized with Black /urban label..

Some of this came to head at the Gavin Convention when Urban and Pop stations basically had a face off.. The argument made by urban stations was that the CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio) outlets were Urban stations and thus should be classified as such and not get these big pop budgets.. Urban programmers claimed they were warming up all this good Black music only to have CHR outlets get the credit and promotional budget from the labels..

The CHR stations made the argument that Hip Hop was basically crossover music.. and 2 they were playing Hip Hop without hesitation and restriction.. They accused urban outlets of being too cautious and many of them straight haters to Hip Hop.. They also said that it was not their fault these urban outlets didnt have an effective sales team to sell ads..

There was a call for CHR to be classified as urban.. CHR responded and said Hip Hop was crossover and the compromise was for some CHR to be called Churban.. That contentious meeting was the last time urban PDs showed up at Gavin en masse.. Many simply opted to go to the Urban Network convention..

Around that time we saw a switch in formats with many urban outlets becoming adult contemporary and using the slogan we don’t play rap…

So we saw this squeeze early on with playlist shrinking on the urban side.. Later we saw the shrinking of the list on the CHR side before 1996 as labels began to flex muscles and insisted on playlists and heavy on air rotation that centered around the groups they signed and were pushing..Around time you still had a ton of local based labels who were able to shine, but as major labels began to sign acts we saw those local homegrown/regional labels in various markets becoming viable competition..

I recall some of those big labels folks who sat in music meetings and pretty much demanded that stations scale back on regional play.. The logic was the labels had paid for advertisement, sponsored promotions and trips and basically put money on the table that was not being matched by their regional and local counterparts..

I cant speak for every market but the ones I’m familiar with before 96.. had tighter musical rotations being applied both on mix shows, Hip Hop specialty shows and regular programming.. I kept alot of our old playlists and the playlists of other stations if folks wanna ever see those how stark those changes were..

I would also add that when we saw the shutting down of Yo MTV Raps and a limiting of music requests on the Box that added to the centralizing of music..

There is no doubt the 96 Telecommunications Act put a nail in the coffin to all this.. But from where I sit we were already headed in that direction for many of the reasons I mentioned and number of other reasons that I don’t have a lot of time to lay out..

What stands out in my mind is being at new Music Seminar and other conventions in the 80s and early 90s where artists from Queen Latifah to Chuck D to many others were forcely and aggressively speaking out about the lack of airplay they were able to receive and talking about how wack and overly cautious program directors were when it came to rap..

The fact that we saw 5 year opening for Hip Hop on Crossover/pop stations was always borrowed time.. They would dance with Hip Hop as long as it was trending and in style with that pop audience.. But the goal in those outlets was to never nurture the essence of Hip Hop but to find the best pop formula..

Its funny how in looking back there were artists like the Snap, Heavy D, Redhead KingPen and some of the early New Jack swing that was deemed pop and even soft compared to the hard hitting Hip Hop produced by others.. 25 later those pop sounding Hip Hop songs that fused R&B are deemed bonafied classics.. that we all wax nostalgic over ..

Lastly I’ll close by saying that some of what I wrote I think changed from region to region.. If there is one thing the 96 Act killed was a regional sound and style.. There was a time you could go to Washington DC and listen to the radio and it had a different sound a rhythm than a station like KDAY in LA.. and KDAY had a different sound then KUBE in Seattle and that sound was different then the sound on WGCI in Chicago.. Nowadays you cant tell what city you’re in listening to those outlets.. They all sound the same musically and even personality wise thanks to voice tracking and syndication..

Harry Reid, Michael Steele, Negro Dialect & Political Grandstanding on the Backs of Blacks

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Harry Reid, Michael Steele, Negro Dialect & Political Grandstanding

by Davey D

By now everyone has heard about the racial firestorm that has brewed because of some remarks attributed to Senate majority leader Harry Reid in a new book called Game Change. They were made in a private conversation during the 2008 campaign where Reid noted that then Senator Obama might be successful because he was light-skin and didn’t speak with a ‘Negro Dialect’. Obama in typical fashion avoided the mess that can come when discussing race by quickly accepting Reid’s apology, downplaying the remarks and announcing ‘the book is closed’ on the subject.

Of course Obama’s Republican counterparts seeing that Reid is in a tight re-election race have been trying their best to blow this issue up. The party of Ronald Reagan who supported South African Apartheid, the party of John McCain who said ‘No to a Martin Luther King holiday are suddenly getting all Jesse Jackson-like and riding hard for all those who have been on the receiving end of racial insults and oppression.. Thank you Republican Party-I guess…Not! LOL

Reid’s remarks have been the lead story on every news channel with news directors feverishly pouring through their rolodexes, seeking to get a Black pundit, seemingly any Black pundit to come to a studio where they would normally never see the light of day except during Black history month. Here they’re asked to wax poetic about Reid’s remarks. Some of these outlets have gone so far as to have two or three Black folks on at the same time thus violating the unwritten ‘one-Black-on-set-at-a-time’ rule.

It was good to Black scholars like Marc Lamont Hill weighin in on Harry Reid's remarks, but it would be good to see him and others weighin in on Sunday morning talk shows

To me I was more offended seeing a Professor Tricia Rose, Professor Marc Lamont Hill, BET’s Jeff Johnson and the dozen of other Black faces invited to discuss an old white man using the word ‘Negro’ versus seeing them invited on a regular basis to discuss a variety of other topics that have arguably more impact. I would’ve like to have seen some of those Black voices on the Sunday morning talk shows earlier this year dragging Harry Reid’s ass through the coals around the Healthcare debate when single payer and later public option got snatched off the table. To me the insult was seeing Black intelligence limited to just this topic whereas I might see a dimwit like Ann Coulter invited to weigh in on everything from the War in Afghanistan to what Chris Brown did to Rihanna.

I suppose I shouldn’t blame Harry Reid for that lack of Black visibility on these news outlets, but I will. As the Senate majority leader, I want him pushing for legislation that de-consolidates media and makes it more accessible to the wide array of voices and perspectives in the community. I want him to be leading the charge to undue the damage he helped create when he voted Yes for the infamous 1996 Telecommunications Bill.

Reframe the Debate and Hold Reid Accountable

In any case, while this Harry Reid saga runs its course, I think its important that folks push the envelop a bit and reframe the debate away from the narratives seemingly designed to fit the agendas of media outlets, disingenuous politicians or media darlings trying to blow up their names. I wish people who went on these shows were more aggressive in dismissing the Harry Reid vs Trent Lott angle which has resulted in wasteful discussions about who was more offensive and whether or not double standards are at play. That discussion is a trap.

Comparing Harry Reid to Trent Lott is a trap. It only serves the purpose of media outlets looking for conflict and GOP folks trying to stay in the news cycle

The thing we needed to be focused on was the rationale behind Harry Reid‘s remarks and his political relationship to an African-American community that votes to the tune of 96% for the Democrat political party that he leads in the Senate. Our discussion needed to be centered on us evaluating whether or not one of the most powerful lawmakers in the country was setting policy that met the needs and wants of our community.

What caught most people’s attention about Reid’s remarks was him using the phrase Negro Dialect.  It was used in a private conversation and it raised eyebrows because as far as most of us know Senator Reid has never publicly called Obama a ‘Negro’ Senator or President. We haven’t heard him call his African American colleagues in Congress, Negroes.. So where did this phrase ‘Negro dialect’ come from? Why did he use such an out of date word? Was his use of the word just a bad habit or was it reflective of old-time thinking filled with whatever baggage and stereotypes that many whites had stuck in their heads back in the 50s and 60s when the use of that word was pervasive?

Sadly too many pundits were falling over themselves making ding dong excuses for Reid. Some were saying he’s elderly and thats how old folks talk. Others were jumping through hoops talking how we have the United Negro College Fund, the NAACP-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and how the word is used in the 2010 Census therefore it was ok for Reid to go there.

All thats fine and dandy, but last I checked Senator Reid is not a historic 66 year old or 100 year Civil Rights old institution. Last time I interviewed NCAAP head Julian Bond, he didn’t call me Negro and neither had Ben Jealous. I’ve hosted events sponsored by UNCF and no one walked up to me and handed me a script that would would’ve had me addressing our people as ‘Negro’. If these folks stay up to date so can Senate majority leader Harry Reid.

When I first heard of Reid’s remarks the first thing that came to mind was ‘How often does he interact with Black folks on the Capitol Hill’? Cause I’m sure by now someone would’ve checked him. He would’ve had to run into a Maxine Waters, Keith Ellison or someone else who was outspoken who would’ve said; ‘Look Senator, I know your 71 years old, but its 2010 and if my 90 year grandmother from the backwoods of Mississsippi ain’t using the word ‘Negro’ therefore you too Senator Reid can stop using it ‘.

Now unless someone is covering for him, we haven’t heard that such conversation took place. Hence that makes me think, that Senator Reid knows all about speaking multiple dialects? I guess during the day when he’s in in the Senate chambers, he has a distinguished ‘US Senator-dialect’ by night when he’s kicking it in private he loosens up a bit and becomes more Archie Bunkerish with his language?

So again, just to make sure…since Senator Reid used Archie Bunker type language then our primary concern should be examining his voting record to make sure the Senator’s not pushing Archie Bunker type policies. His slip up gave us an extra excuse to hold him politically accountable.

We need to see if Harry Reid's outdated words are reflected in outdated policies

For example, earlier this year Senator Reid voted to prohibit funding for ACORN, an organization that played a key role in helping get President Obama elected. Was Reid’s vote a calculated political decision or did he come across one too many folks from that organization who he felt spoke with a ‘Negro dialect’ thus getting him to draw some far gone  conclusions that ‘Negroes can’t be trusted to do things right’ so hence no funding?

2 or 3 years ago Reid voted to make English the official language for the country. What was going on in his head? Was there no room for Negro dialects? Did he want people to speak only ‘good ole American English’ thus inspiring to cast a vote to make sure?

Just like his political enemies we need to be looking at his voting record and making sure his private conversations of insensitive language was used is not matched by his votes and the agenda he sets for the Senate. You can peep his voting record here: http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=53320&category=13

Dealing with Republican Hypocrisy

Moving beyond Reid, one needs to look closely at the how the Republicans are handling this. I found it funny to see RNC chair Michael Steele express his supposed outrage for Reid’s remarks when he himself was chin checked by disgruntled members of his own party who felt like he was tarnishing the Republican brand by going on televison talk shows trying to be hip by using Hip Hop jargon which isn’t too far removed from what some might call Negro/Black dialect.

RNC Chair Michael Steele is gonna have a Jesse Jackson moment, he needs to tell Rush Limbaugh to stop playing the Barack the Magic Negro song

Steele said he was trying to make the party more attractive and more Hip Hop like. That whole thing got shut down with the quickness. If you recall, Steele got a verbal ass whupping from radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh who was annoyed and later outraged by Steele’s behavior. It all reached a boiling point when Steele went on the now defunct DL Hugley show which aired on CNN. Sitting between Hughley and Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, Steele got jammed up about why he would hang with a political party that had leaders like Rush Limbaugh who at the time was underfire for saying he ‘wanted President Obama to fail’. Those remarks were coming at the heels of Limbaugh enraging African Americans by repeatdly playing a song during Obama’s campaign called Barack the Magic Negro.

Steele tried to laugh it off, talk a little hip hop slang and assure critics that Limbaugh was ‘just an entertainer’. When Limbaugh heard Steele tried to play him, he went off and smashed on Steele in the tirade of tirades. Limbaugh took to the airwaves and publicly reminded Steele he had 20-30 million listeners and that if he doesn’t start showing some loyalty to the party  he might discover that conservative will not wanna talk to him when he came calling. Limbaugh told Steele that he needed to stop going on TV and start raising money for the RNC. It was a brutal tongue lashing, that resulted in Steele apologizing to Limbaugh and being a lap dog ever since..

We won’t even mention that Steele didn’t have the guts to tell Rush to retire when he was playing the Barack the Magic Negro song. He didn’t even tell him to stop. In fact not too many of the outspoken GOP members stepped up and expressed outrage for racial insensitivity expressed by someone who claimed to be advocating for them.

Just to show you how meeley mouth Steele and his people are let’s see the lack of reaction in April 2009, one month after he got the verbal beatdown by Rush Limbaugh. In the great state of Texas, during a televised session on voter protection fellow GOP party member state rep Betty Brown said Asian-Americans need to come up with more accessible names.

She said;“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?”

Brown went further when she told Chinese-American community organizer Ramey Ko, “Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?”

Here’s the video of that incident…

Perhaps Senator John Coryn should clean up his own backyard and ask Texas State Rep Betty Brown to resign before stepping to Harry Reid

Like I said Steele was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t on TV calling for Brown’s retirement. And not to make this a partisan issue but facts are facts, the Democrats in the Texas House asked only for an apology. They did not ask for her to resign. To this day you don’t hear too many Republicans talk about this infamous incident. They try to downplay it. But I guess we’ll have to bring this up now that Texas  senator John Cornyn went and opened his big mouth by demanding that Harry Reid resign.

This is the same Senator Coryn who resides in a state that is 30% Latino voted ‘No’ to confirm President Obama’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Sonia Satamayor. Coryn was all up in arms, being pompous and showing outrage at remarks Justice Sonia Satamayor made that he considered racially insensitive. I guess I can understand that if he was consistent. He said ‘No’ to Sotomayor,  but not once did he ask representaive Betty Brown to step down… Coryn has no creditibility thus nothing more needs to be said. I guess Steele, Coryn and that whole cabal are only willing to do the Jesse Jackson thing to a point.

On a somewhat lighter note one has to wonder if Senator Reid expressed concern about the use of ‘Negro Dialect’ when Senator Hillary Clinton broke it out  during her campaign. In the same vein did Michael Steele, Senator Coryn or any of their ilk ask Hillary to step down and resign for her ‘Negro speaking moments’? This of course raises the question to which the answer should be more than obvious, ‘Is what we seen expressed over this past week, righteous indignation, a genuine response to racial insensitivity or political opportunity’? As they say in the hood It’s all politics-It’s all politricks.

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