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The Straight Skinny
'Scuse Me While I Kiss…The Sky
A closer look at BA
By Carol Archer |
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Most readers of my 750-plus weekly Smooth Jazz editorials over 15 years at R&R have a clear sense of how I view my journalistic responsibilities: 1. to explore Smooth Jazz's most trenchant issues; 2. report facts accurately and evenhandedly; 3. and provide analysis, like a mirror to reflect format reality. Some may also be surprised to learn that I was not constrained in creating editorial content because Broadcast Architecture (or any client) advertised in my section – or for any other reason, for that matter; nor was I encouraged by my superiors to "make nice;" or not ask hard questions -- many of which concerned BA. Ass-kissing, and backing away from controversial matters, was emphatically discouraged. I intend to uphold those same principles in The Straight Skinny.
However, I continue to hear criticism of BA, which I understand as expressions of anger and pain over the attrition of the format in many major markets over several years, along with countless lay-offs. Programmers who take more progressive approaches to Smooth Jazz – some over-the-air, and especially on the Internet side (a few of whose comments have run here in recent weeks) – are especially vocal, and some say they don't want to hear what the firm's President Allen Kepler has to say. But BA is the 900-pound gorilla in the room. In the interest of balanced reporting, we need to explore this terrain – that is, BA -- at this pivotal moment.
This was a momentous week for BA, as the firm severs ties with Clear Channel, effective January 1, 2010, with Kepler assuming full ownership of the organization he has led since 2001.
Clear Channel Senior Vice President Tom Owens comments: "Allowing Allen to acquire BA was a perfect solution to Clear Channel's desire to transition from a fixed to variable cost of research while providing Allen and his excellent team an opportunity to expand their service to other content providers without restriction."
At the same time, BA reached an agreement with United Radio Stations Networks, which will assume responsibility for affiliation and national ad sales for the Smooth Jazz Network, also effective Jan. 1. Kepler comments: "We are already getting the message into the advertising community that the Smooth Jazz format has new representation, and we intend to raise the profile of the format with agencies as we roll out our new partnership. This is a very exciting development as this new partnership will shift more focus toward the smooth jazz format with advertisers and broadcasters as well. This should be very helpful to all of us."
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