Chewy Gomez, KMEL, and the evil empire (Clear Channel)

My Thoughts on Chuy Gomez and KMEL

Gomez at the Fruitvale Station premiere

Rapper E-A-Ski once said in reference to KMEL... "I've had cats that just really want to say, 'If they ain't gon' support us, then why are we supporting them? Don't let them come out to the streets and the clubs." -HE SAID THIS IN 2003.* 


But, KMEL remains one of the most popular stations in the 4th largest market in the country. Despite the fact that they ceased being the "people's station" in the late 90's, and yet... "the people" keep listening. 


Recently, with the abrupt firing of Chuy Gomez, the Twitters, the street, the hood, are all collectively upset about the Bay Area icon being let go after 20 years on air, but simultaneously I promise you that there's also whispers of... "My boy Q gonna come up tho."  Or, "I'm gonna txt Sana right now and make sure she knows we still cool."


Bottom line is this: if you really care about the Bay Area community and hip-hop music, you would never support KMEL (Clear Channel). Since about 99, the station has systematically disenfranchised local artists, and helped to destroy the local music scene. Meanwhile, for a decade+ the average KMEL listener has been stuck with mostly tired, bland, homogenous playlists of the same 7 songs that they play nationwide on all their other "hip-hop and r&b" stations (thanks to ‪#‎payola‬ and politics).

RATM album cover

But (if you care to know), its actually much deeper than that. KMEL isn't just a crappy mainstream "urban" rap station. If we look into the complexity of it all, the station is actually owned by a group of right-wing evangelical conservatives from Texas  that were instrumental in supporting the Bush administrations quest for war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They even banned songs nationwide by artists such as Rage Against the Machine, Public Enemy, the Dixie Chicks, and even John Lennon's "Imagine" in the lead up to these wars on their now infamous "blacklist." (editorial note: Clear Channel is controlled by Bain capital, and its failing finances are putting a squeeze on CC & KMEL as described here by Davey-D)

Boots Riley and Davey-D

How is it possible to ban classic songs nationwide? Well, in 1996, Bill Clinton, enabled the Telecommunications Act to pass (one of his many big failures in office), with this passing Clear Channel was able to gobble up almost all of the mainstream radio stations nationwide, thus controlling all the markets. A complete monopoly of how Americans would be able to listen to the radio and get information. They then dumbed it all down in order to boost their bottom line for share holders. But, it didn't stop their of course with conservative agendas creeping into every nook and cranny. Even at good 'ol KMEL. See: the firing of Bay Area radio legend Dave 'Davey D' Cook from the station in 2001 after 9/11 when he had Rep. Barbara Lee and Boots Riley of the Coup on his show to talk about the Bush administrations aspirations for war in the middle east. 


When we look at the station supposedly representing the people here in the Bay, from a "hip-hop" perspective, a youth outlook, and from a black and brown vantage point, we begin to see what KMEL and Clear Channel is all about. We begin to see (and hear) that they do not truly support local music, and certainly do not support any progressive, or conscious rap music on the air. We can claim that the audience does not want more diverse playlists because they keep listening but this is misguided. 


As a youngster when I first listened to KMEL (or KYLD), I was able to get a variety of rap sounds that spoke to many national and local issues of social inequity and injustice (Ghetto Bastard), as well as fun party jams (OPP). Today, kids grow up on those same 7 songs that proclaim "I'm different," when really its just more of the same mindless, blackface rap music. We can indeed blame rappers for putting out this homogenous, often ignorant and shallow content (I am definitely all for calling them out), but its bigger than these mainstream fish. Who is ultimately controlling the dam and polluting the water? That is the major labels, that is Clear Channel. 


Luckily, with the way music is now hosted and shared on the internet, mainstream radio is much less relevant than it once was, but it is still highly influential. This is especially true with young people, and communities of color, where folks don't always have the ease of access to the internet that many of us take for granted. Unfortunately, not everyone takes public transit or Uber's to work, or can walk, like us lucky (spoiled, #blessed) people here in San Francisco, where most people don't really listen to the radio anymore. 

Rush Limbaugh

So, just as we should not assume that radio is no longer highly influential, we also should not underestimate their political power. Clear Channel not only dominates rap radio channels, they also control the news market on rightwing political talk radio that spreads bigoted hate on the air daily with the Rush Limbaugh types (although Limbaugh has cost Clear Channel millions of dollars in sponsorships lately with sponsors dropping like flies due to his consistently hateful speech against women, gays, and people of color). 


(Long F-ing story short) I guess what I'm trying to say is that while things have gotten better lately with the internet expanding our ability to gain access to music and information, we've still got a really long way to go when one company owns most all the stations and controls what we all hear on the radio nationwide. So, if you're pissed about Chuy getting fired, step it up and DON'T LISTEN TO THE STATION ANYMORE. I'd encourage you to go even further and write them and tell them that you are no longer going to listen and WHY. Let Clear Channel know how you feel. 


Contacts -- http://www.kmel.com/pages/CONTACTUS.html

KMEL program director
donparker@clearchannel.com
KMEL asst program director
kenardkarter@clearchannel.com

[note: at the end of the day as long as vulture corporations like Clear Channel, or even worse, Bain capital, continue to control our nations airwaves and finances, we are in deep, deep, trouble. If we want changes, it starts with awareness, behavior, and participation. If you are not happy about something, speak on it publicly. Talk to friends, family, etc. Write a letter to congress, get active, get involved, get organized.]

Kanye West & the Ghost of Emmett Till

"Sticks and stones may break my bones..."

My last post was about the now infamous Kanye West/Taylor Swift incident at the VMA's and the dumbing down of our society thanks in part to a soulless pop-culture driven youth and the Reality TV-reality in which we now live. But, after seeing the intensely personal and sometimes virulent public reaction to West's silly publicity stunt I was once again reminded that 'sticks & stones' always start with silly little words, and people can and do get hurt.

The dangers of this slippery slope are boldly highlighted in "media assassin" Harry Allen's recent piece addressing West's antics and the subsequently frequent and causal usage of the N-word all over Twitter in the aftermath. Coincidentally, as the N-word was flying around the Twittersphere and no doubt the water cooler, classroom and dinner table in many parts of our diverse yet confused nation, president Obama was caught on tape calling West a "Jackass." While the video shows the prez casually laughing off his comments, assuming his lighthearted but poignant remarks are not being filmed, he exemplifies an honesty and yet a naivete to the potentially dangerous situation looming.

You see, however stupid, unimportant and even harmless his actions were, West, a black man, was upstaging a young, beautiful, blond hair, blue eyed white woman; a country singer none the less. By threatening the very image that has long epitomized Aryan purity and white supremacy, something to be protected in the eyes of certain white people, West opened up a Pandora's box full of worms.

Think about it, if Kanye would have upstaged Keisha Cole, a black female singer, the outcry would definitely not have been nearly as intense. At least not in the mass media nor in white circles. And, if you think this desire to protect such a manufactured image of racial purity is not a potentially dangerous subject you are obviously not familiar with American history.



To point out the most obvious example, it was the brutal murder in 1955 of 14-year old African-American, Emmett Till, in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman that helped to shift the civil rights movement into gear. Of course, many other black men met similarly horrific fates before and after, lynched and murdered by groups of white men, victims of 20th century 'Jim Crow justice.' Today, the unsettled souls of that very ugly period in our country's history continue to haunt our national subconscious.

This high level of seriousness that continues to be the issue of race in America is why it is not only important to call out West for being a "jackass," but to also call out the people who feel comfortable with using overtly offensive, hurtful and racist language in response. Such behavior, whether unchecked or simply misunderstood, only work to reinforce a very insidious, systemic oppression of people of color.

In 2009, it is up to us all to refuse to remain silent when faced with these ghosts. Silence is merely acceptance, and such acquiescence is very dangerous. Indeed while president Obama laughs off his Kanye West comments, he has hate filled language being piled atop of him every day of the week by the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the Joe Wilson's of the world. He may have to take the highroad and pretend that they are not there, ominously looming in the shadows like the barrel of an assassins gun, but we cannot afford to do so. We need to take notes from former president Jimmy Carter, an 84 year old white Southerner, who's recent remarks addressing the racism facing the Obama administration, were not only brave but more importantly responsible and necessary.