Which should we save: A) Black Radio or B) Black Colleges & Universities. Don’t worry if you're wrong because President Obama doesn’t know either

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers is attempting to pass Bill HR848. You know U.S. Representative (Detroit) John Conyers, don’t you? If you don’t know him, I bet you know his wife Monica. Remember this piece of “Professionalism”. Black politicians working hard for their constituents!!!! Bill HR848 would require radio stations to pay artists (the word artist is used so loosely these days) for songs played by the stations. These payments are separate from the royalty fees the musicians already receive. Can you believe someone gets paid for the song “I’m in love with a Stripper”?

Anywho…Individuals associated with black radio (local black radio in particular) are concerned because of the financial implications. In other words, black folks can’t afford the prices. I rarely listen to black radio these days. Mostly a little bit of Tom Joyner, some Steve Harvey and a bit of Michael Baisden. We have a local show that comes on Saturdays at 9am. If you can get up at that time, it’s not a bad show. When you take away the syndicated shows (the individuals I listed above). And you take away the shows that provide information on local news. You are left with a lot of bad music. No…let’s make that a lot of terrible music. Sometimes Citizen Wifey sings hooks from these “Hood Nursery Rhymes” that are disguised as songs. The creativity and artistry of music has gone the way of the Dodo Bird.

Black Colleges and Universities are fast approaching Dodo Bird status as well. President Obama wasn’t checking the books when they were balancing the budget. Also please refer to my previous post on HBCU’s. The saving grace for HBCU’s is that they can’t be replaced. People have so many ways of listening to music and news these days. You can go online and download your favorite songs. It’s that wild and crazy internet people!!!!! HBCU’s give opportunities to many black folks and those opportunities can’t be measured on any scale. The tradition and heritage of these institutions have made them cornerstones in their communities. But I am sure that black radio can make the same argument. I will use the internet as my counter argument to their argument. Black bloggers have been doing weekly and weekend radio shows. Is it not possible for current/former radio hosts to have on line shows? Not only can they reach a local audience but a national audience as well.

Now I’m not banging the drum for the banishment of black radio. I’m just getting people to think outside of the box. If this economy has taught us one thing, it’s that we need to have options. When black radio isn’t beefing about what we should listen to: Syndicated Shows vs. Local Shows. Or they aren’t playing straight garbage disguised as music. You have an effective tool to reach the masses. So it is time for President Barack Obama to get in the fight. Black radio and HBCU’s helped him get elected. He might not be able to help black radio but HBCU’s he can help. I generally don’t like to say the Obama owes folks but this time he needs to pay up.