Rock and Rolla Payola

Roger Friedman on the latest payola scandal:

As in the Sony BMG scandal, Spitzer's office has released a detailed account of how Warner Music execs got their records played on the radio by paying off deejays in various ways.

The announcement by Spitzer's office details: "Direct bribes to radio programmers, including airfare, electronics, tickets to premier sporting events and concerts; Payments to radio stations to cover operational expenses; Radio contest giveaways for stations' listening audiences, including flyaways, concert tickets, iPods, gift certificates and gift cards; Hiring independent promoters to act as conduits for illegal payments to radio stations; Purchasing 'spin programs' to artificially increase the airplay of particular recordings."

From Spitzer's web page Warner Second To Settle In Payola Investigation:

The financial benefits provided in exchange for airplay, also known as "payola," took several forms:

• Direct bribes to radio programmers, including airfare, electronics, tickets to premier sporting events and concerts;

• Payments to radio stations to cover operational expenses;

• Radio contest giveaways for stations' listening audiences, including flyaways, concert tickets, iPods, gift certificates and gift cards;

• Hiring independent promoters to act as conduits for illegal payments to radio stations;

• Purchasing "spin programs" to artificially increase the airplay of particular recordings.

The Assurance of Discontinuance summarizing the Attorney General's findings alleges that the illegal payoffs for airplay were designed to manipulate record charts, generate consumer interest in records and increase sales.

much more at the link

Here's the PDF's with emails including names, call letters, dollar amounts, bands etc.

The only local station named in the files that I saw was KCNL.