Does censorship make business sense? Inner City Broadcasting has joined the battle against violence in music - New York, New York radio station owner bans offensive broadcasting of offensive lyrics

Black Enterprise, April, 1994 by Fonda M. LLoyd

Inner City Broadcasting has joined the battle against violence in music.

When radio stations censure offensive lyrics from their airwaves, is it an act of civic responsibility or a shrewd marketing move? According to radio station executives could be both.

Last December, Inner City Broadcasting Corp., a New York-based concern ranked No. 51 on the be Industrial/ service 100, joined a growing number of radio station owners in banning lyrics they consider derogatory, sexually explicit or violent. A month earlier, All Pro Broadcasting's KACE/ KAVE-FM in Los Angeles made a similar move.

The connection between media and violence in society has become a major issue for the television, motion picture and music industries. Most recently, "gangsta" rap, which has been charged with glorifying gun-related crime and misogyny, has been associated with the wave of violence and black-on-black crime plaguing urban America. African-American leaders from the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Calvin Butts to the Congressional Black Caucus, which is holding hearings on the issue, have taken a stand on rap music.

While announcements of the so-called "ban" generated mostly positive media attention for the stations, some industry experts believe the policy is much ado about nothing. They say broadcasters are always sensitive to what may offend listeners as well as advertisers, and that the "new" attitudes of these stations reflect business as usual. "I think this is a narrow problem," says Doug Willis, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, D.C. "There are relatively few urban stations and an even smaller portion that actually play songs with [objectionable] lyrics."

However, officials from both KACE and Inner City, the $22 million company that owns New York's WBLS-FM, insist that the bans are not a media ploy, but a genuine expression of concern for the black community. "We are being responsible," says Inner City Chairman and CEO Pierre Sutton.

It's too early to tell how "being responsible" will affect listenership and advertising revenues, but early response from listeners and community leaders has been positive. Both Inner City and KACE say they've received calls and letters praising the new policy - this despite the fact that the radio stations remain vague about which songs they ban and how they determine what crosses the line of propriety. In most cases, the decisions are made on a song-by-song basis by station management.

Observers say the ban fits in conveniently with the repositioning these stations need to compete in tough markets. In summer 1993, WBLS tied for fifth place in the New York market. (WRKS-FM, its rival in New York with an urban contemporary music format, is No. 1, according to Arbitron radio ratings.) KACE tied for 37th place with several other stations in the Los Angeles market.

Indeed, the ban could attract additional advertisers to the stations. KACE has shifted its target audience away from teens and young adults to listeners age 25 and older - an audience more likely to be offended by gangsta rappers like Snoop Doggy Dogg (a.k.a. Calvin Broadus).

Nationally, more than 50% of advertising dollars go to the 25 and older demographic, according to Brian Knox, director of sales for New York-based Interep Urban Radio Format Network. "I suspect we will see far more stations jumping on the bandwagon," Knox says. "The ones who step up to the plate and clean up their environment will capture more advertising."