Radio Station Changes Format, Racism Afoot

HT--Tongue Tied

Racism found in Denver:

(CBS4) DENVER A Denver radio station's switch from R&B to country is drawing criticism from a Denver city councilwoman.

KDJM's "Jammin" made the switch this week. The station fired its 7-member on-air staff and management.

On Tuesday afternoon, city councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth went to CBS Radio of Denver to voice concerns.

"I'm not really comfortable (with the situation), but I think that the bigger picture is how we move forward and how we work with this station in the future," said Wedgeworth, who said she's concerned about the "constituencies that have lost their station."

Constituencies? No, dear friends, radio and other media outlets do not have constituencies, they have markets, or in this case, market shares. Call them the listening public, subscribers(if they pay), or simply fans. This constitutes the extent to which the parent company has an obligation; in other words, they promote a brand--in this case a particular genre of music, and the public is free to tune in at will. As is the case sometimes, an audience simply does not exist to support a particular offering, and the company, which has an evil obligation to--GOD FORBID--make money, makes a decision to switch to another format, more likely to draw listeners, better ratings, and an increase in revenue from advertising sales. This is called basic market economics, and the law of supply and demand. There was no demand, so the company decided to change what they supplied.

Very simple.

Alas, no. Racism must be at the very source of this malignant capitalist move. How dare CBS (or any corporate entity for that matter) change so capriciously the format of their own radio station! Arbitron is really a member of the vast right-wing conspiracy bent on making every station a country music outlet. That would definitely explain the increase in Spanish-language offerings in the Denver area in recent years. This councilwoman has more real issues to deal with than pulling out the race canard whenever a hip-hop/R&B/rap outlet disappears in favor of country. Geesh!