DIXIE CHICKS BAN DRAWS SENATE CONCERN ON RADIO CONSOLIDATION
A Senate Commerce Committee hearing on radio ownership and consolidation Tues. plunged into debate on the circumstances surrounding the country music performers the Dixie Chicks. Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) grilled Cumulus Media CEO Lewis Dickey on whether he had ordered the country stations in his chain to stop playing the Dixie Chicks’ music after they made widely publicized criticisms of President Bush. McCain said the incident was a textbook example of concerns about media consolidation.
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Dickey acknowledged the company had issued a month-long ban on Dixie Chick songs after a “hue and cry” from what he said were outraged country music fans. He said that the ban applied only to country stations and that Cumulus top-40 stations continued to play their music. Dickey said the stations aired an interview with the Dixie Chicks after the controversy, which he said incensed country music fans even further. He said the interview, syndicated by ABC radio, was an effort to allow the girls to tell their side of the story.
McCain expressed great concern about Cumulus’s actions, particularly because the order came down from headquarters. “This is remarkable,” he said: “You restrained their trade because they exercised their free speech.” He asked whether, if he made controversial comments that country music fans didn’t like, Cumulus would ban all news broadcasts relating to McCain. Dickey said the company wouldn’t and termed that a different scenario.
Dickey said the controversy surrounding the Dixie Chicks was unprecedented and left many program directors confused about what to do. He said he issued the ban after program directors and other corporate officers voted on how to handle the situation. Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) asked several questions about the rights of stations to cater to their audience’s desires and make business decisions on what to play. McCain emphasized that his objection was to the decision’s being made on the corporate level.
Simon Renshaw, the Dixie Chicks’ manager and representative of the Recording Artists’ Coalition, said the often-maligned Clear Channel Communications was “getting a bad rap” on its handling of the Dixie Chicks incident. “Clear Channel was very proactive at the local level,” he said. “The people who acted, acted at the local level. Nothing was done at the corporate level.”
But others complained about Clear Channel. Dickey said the new FCC radio rules approved June 2 would reinforce the status quo, under which Clear Channel has bought hundreds of stations and now has more than 2,100. He said instead of using an Arbitron-based system, which still would lead to markets with ownership anomalies, the FCC should have continued with the coverage contour-based system, and instituted restrictions only to prevent undue consolidation in small markets. MediaCom Co-CEO Jon Mandel said Clear Channel’s concentration, coupled with its advertising ventures, effectively raised radio advertising rates nationwide.
Rep. Menendez (D-N.J.) also testified and urged that Spanish-language media markets be treated as separate from the media market as a whole. He said the proposed merger of Univision and the Hispanic Bcst. Corp. should be rejected. McCain said minority media ownership was an issue the Committee would continue to study, but a committee spokeswoman said no hearings had been scheduled.
McCain also said the National Assn. of Black Owned Bcstrs. (NABOB) was supporting a proposed amendment to the media ownership legislation (S-1046) that would force divestiture of radio stations that exceeded the FCC’s newly adopted limits for small markets. However, while he had NABOB’s support for his amendment, McCain said Clear Channel would fight the amendment, as would the NAB, which he described as “a wholly owned subsidiary of Clear Channel.” The comment drew chuckles from the audience, including NAB Pres. Edward Fritts.