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http://www.thedailypage.com/going-out/music/news/managedit.php?intmusicnewsid=646Triple M linked to payola allegationsThe Madison radio station is cited in New York lawsuit documentsBy Rich AlbertoniIsthmus
[Click link above for the complete Isthmus newsweekly article.]http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/node/1520Commercial radio payola in Madison?Kristian Knutsen on Thu, 05/18/2006 - 2:27pm.IsthmusNew York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit against radio chain Entercom Communications on March 8, alleging the company illegally traded airtime for pay. Evidence made public by Spitzer as exhibits to his complaint link Madison's 105.5 Triple M (WMMM), which is owned by Entercom, to two of the alleged deceptive practices.The first involves "CD Preview," a program created by Entercom corporate management in 2001. The suit describes the program as a formal channel through which record labels were encouraged to buy sets of song "spins" to be played by certain Entercom stations in the overnight hours when listenership was at its lowest.According to Spitzer's complaint, Entercom explicitly offered "CD Preview" to record labels as a means to increase airplay detection, thereby improving a song's chart position. Songs become Top 40 hits based on radio airplay frequency. Charting services such as Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) use "electronic fingerprinting" to automatically detect spin frequency.In an exhibit to his complaint, Spitzer attached a one-page Entercom itemization of station-specific price listings for the number of "CD Preview" spins. A price of $1,000 is listed in exchange for "14 BDS Detections" on Triple M. ...
[Click link above for the complete Isthmus newsweekly article.]Is radio station payola in Madison a recent phenomenon? Rich Albertoni investigates this in Isthmus in Triple M linked to payola allegations. As detailed in a lawsuit filed against Entercom Communications on March 8 by New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, Entercom-owned stations are allegedly engaging in the practice. "Evidence made public by Spitzer as exhibits to his complaint link Madison's 105.5 Triple M (WMMM)," Albertoni writes, "to two of the alleged deceptive practices."Albertoni details the allegations presented in a March 8 press release from Spitzer's office, including those pertaining to WMMM. "The first involves 'CD Preview,' a program created by Entercom corporate management in 2001," he writes. "The suit describes the program as a formal channel through which record labels were encouraged to buy sets of song 'spins' to be played by certain Entercom stations in the overnight hours when listenership was at its lowest."There are two documents (and a radio broadcast actuality) that accompany the press release. The first is the complaint (PDF) filed in the State of New York by the attorney general’s office against Entercom, its New York subsidiaries, and its clusters of four and seven stations in the Rochester and Buffalo markets, respectively. Accompanying the complaint is a document containing eight exhibits, the eighth in three-parts, that include references to WMMM. ...