Cathy Hughes Campaign Antics over Radio One Airwaves Annoying Listeners?

Yesterday I read a very interesting article on The Root about Cathy Hughes and her campaign against HR 848 which the blog clearly states, the listeners don’t care about. When a mother is taking her kids to school in the morning the last concern she has, as one mother pointed out, is HR 848 and how it will affect black radio. Nevertheless, that has not stopped Cathy Hughes from using her huge platform to express her dismay over the issue. I am amazed that people are so scared of Cathy. I certainly think she deserves her respect for what she has accomplished but shouldn’t we all feel that way? Many of us have paid heavy dues too with NO rewards or we end up working for one of her stations, frustrated in a dual and triple capacity with minimal pay, since she now owns so many urban outlets. While her accomplishments are credible, Cathy Hughes is an INDUSTRY celebrity. The average everyday listener could care less about her crisis and artists being paid for their music being used on the air. Some have pointed out that Cathy has made this a race issue and it’s not. Urban will not be the only format that has to pay and her efforts to convince listeners about how it will destroy black radio seems to not only be falling on deaf ears it also appears to be exaggerated. One MUST ask what IS “Black radio” today? If it’s about the music, then we are 2 decades too late, we are not the only ones playing black artists anymore, if it’s about the community well, that’s a whole different story. One that I don’t even have the time to write here. Lest I say our influence over the black audience began to dissipate with the advent (and radio’s ignorance) of technology AND when we flooded our airwaves with national syndication, banter at best, denying the listeners (ESPECIALLY the 18-34 year-old demo, the ones who create trends) an opportunity to connect with our local stations and intellectual stimulation.  The article questions who’s going to challenge Cathy in her constant attacks on sponsors and co sponsors of the bill. Who needs to? This seems to be a futile and contradictory effort to rally support from listeners who don’t connect with her… or the cause. Her PSAs during shows like Tom Joyner’s Morning show have some listeners upset as one listener states she immediately turns the dial the minute Cathy comes on but she is frustrated because Cathy owns the hip hop station and the same spot is running there too.  In today’s economy, the listeners are trying to keep their jobs, maintain households, go to school at night, keep an eye on their kids and put food on the table. What’s the chance they REALLY care about a wealthy black woman on the air during one of the only times they get to relax, telling them about the Performance Tax? They want to be entertained and informed (well, 1 out of 2 isn’t bad). If Cathy could get Beyonce’ to talk about the issue, the point would EASILY be driven home and while we can all certainly appreciate all that Cathy had to endure to reach her current status, the results of that do not impress those outside of the industry community.  The attacks on her character are blatant in the article calling her everything from obnoxious to greedy to a hypocrite. To prove my point further the article, on the very well ranked Root site, only drew 12 responses at our press-time. Indicating what I have already known from doing the Radio Facts blog for 3 years, it is not an issue people really care about. We work in an industry that is a trade industry split in many different facets: Music, radio, celebrity, production, publishing, sales, video, awards, concerts, promotions and marketing etc. They are all related but can be independent at the same time. Out of all of them, the mother is the music industry. The labels love the support of radio but they also have a growing list of ways to promote their product. How many ways does radio have? We barely even man our websites. What we fail to realize is even though the music industry is our cousin it is a separate industry. If Cathy wants her campaign to work, she would need to hire another spokesperson, one who connects with the listeners. Here is the article in The Root

Kevin Ross

www.mrkevinross.com