I am not so blind to think that a radio station should not play what a majority of people want to hear. That is obviously the intent, not only because of the advertising dollars, but because it makes no sense to play music nobody wants to hear.

However, radio stations have rotations of songs that *MUST* be played, and you cannot possibly tell me that the people who make those rotations have total free reign on what they play. I'm not saying that the program directors and jocks at the stations are puppets to the conglomerate, be it your beloved Clear Channel, Infinity, or whomever. What I am saying is that simply by virtue of being connected to the conglomerate, and having to answer to that company's direction, they do NOT have free reign.

I don't have any direct evidence that there is payola in the music industry right now. But clearly there is nervousness in the FCC. I had these three articles marked in my headline client from back when this first came up. I just reread them, and there is clearly some suspicious activity going on.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23996-2002May28.html

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/2020/2020_payola_020524.html

http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2001/03/14/payola/index.html

Is it direct pay-for-play? Maybe not. Clearly, you're of the mind that your group of stations has been unaffected, and I will defer to your advanced knowledge on the subject. But there are questions about other markets, and legitimate concerns about one entity controlling radio. No offense to you or any of our other friends up there in Alaska, but it's not DC, New York, or LA, and the same rules might not apply. I didn't say that Clear Channel enforces their will unilaterally, I just said that based on what I've read, it seems the big radio powerhouses have some questions to answer, and in my opinion, it's ruining radio.

Look, I know everybody hates the big guy and roots for the underdog. I might look like I'm piling on here. But this issue struck me enough back in March to look into it further, and having looked around, I think there is at least a grain of truth, and the government seems to think so too.

Just because I saw it in the news doesn't mean it's happening, but just because you aren't seeing it at your stations doesn't mean it's not happening, either. That's probably the one statement I've made so far that you'll agree with, and I guess we'll let the regulatory bodies to their work.