Let me expand on this tweet from last Wednesday.
If you don’t know me from my standup comedy, you know me from my radio career. I spent twelve years working for radio stations in the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia and in that time I worked with a total of five Black people. There is a HUGE diversity problem with the talent in Canadian radio (just two of those five were on-air personalities) but that’s not why I wrote this. This piece is about the music you listen to on the radio, the way that music is chosen and the systemic racism that keeps many artists from being played on the radio.
Top 40 radio in Canada is broken into two categories, hot AC meaning hot adult contemporary and CHR, which stands for contemporary hit radio. Hot AC stations are the stations that are deemed appropriate for the dentist office while CHR stations tend to be the ones that are a little more edgier. A lot of Canadian top 40 stations tend to dance around the line between hot AC and CHR so it is often hard to figure out where they stand.
The music you hear every day is not chosen by the people you hear chatting between songs. It’s chosen by a music director, who collaborates with the program director, who’s influenced by a few other people higher up in management. You rarely see these “other people” because they work out of the radio station parent company’s head office. So if you’ve ever asked your local radio personality, “why won’t you play my band’s song?”, I hope this brings you some clarity.
The music director chooses and schedules the music for the radio station. They are some of the most receptive people in the industry because they often look for a second, third and even a fourth opinion about what new songs should be added so they hold music meetings. I’ve sat in on numerous meetings and I’d like to point out some of the racist things I’ve heard over the years.
“It’s too urban”
I’ve also heard this phrased as “it’s too rhythmic” which means they know everyone knows that “it’s too urban” really means “it’s too black”.
“There are so many great songs right now but they all feature Cardi B and Nicki Minaj”
I cringed when I heard this but because of the White-catering culture of top 40 radio, I begrudgingly had to agree. The radio industry doesn’t like to play Black music because they think their (mainly white) audience doesn’t want to hear it. Barely any radio stations in Canada touched Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” in 2017 but some how every White woman had it on her workout playlist. Seems like a lack of communication for an industry that literally is communications but let’s be honest with each other, it’s just systemic racism. The radio industry is scared of change.
“We can’t sell urban music in this market”
I’ve heard this just as many times as “it’s too urban”. Ask any sales rep in the radio industry as to why there’s no hip hop stations outside of Toronto and they’ll say something which basically translates to “I’m a bad sales rep and I’m afraid of talking to people of different cultures”. Radio sales have got into a comfortable groove where they deal with the same six car dealerships to get their revenue. No one is willing to expand their horizons because they believe BIPOC businesses can’t afford their rates so they stick with the white businesses that they know.
Hip hop music was created by Black artists in the ‘70s and has grown into one of the most popular genres of our time. Hip hop songs are constantly in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, the gold standard chart when it comes to pop music. Hip hop’s influence on pop music is bigger than ever with many songs featuring a verse from a top rapper or a rapper looking to break into the mainstream. These songs also have a “no rap” version more commonly known as a radio edit. The radio edit allows a popular song to be played on a hot AC station without the rap which is deemed too harsh for their audience. Some recent examples would be Maroon 5’s “Girls Like You” featuring Cardi B and “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth. In the radio edit for “See You Again” Charlie Puth becomes the main artist because Wiz is completely removed. Puth and Khalifa co-wrote the song together and I feel horrible because they must have had a conversation that went all long the lines of “Charlie’s gonna do his own version because old White people don’t like your Black music, Wiz.” That makes me tear up just as much as knowing the song is about Paul Walker’s death.
Canadian radio is in a trap right now. It’s kind of like the coaching situation in the NHL where the same 31 old white guys keep getting fired only to be rehired by another team soon after. Radio needs to know that rock music is no longer king, it’s no longer the ‘80s and it needs to be open to multicultural influences. If you want to see a change at your local radio station, here are three things you can do.
- Call them
Look up the phone number for the front desk, not the studio line. There’s a very good reason as to why on-air personalities never pick up the phone. It’s because they’re not there. They’re usually pre-recorded and often times from out of market. When you call, ask for the program director. The music director picks the music but the final call comes down to the PD because they’re in charge of the entire sound of the radio station. Be straight up with them and ask why they don’t play a lot of Black music.
2. Support your local community station instead
If you want to hear what a truly diverse station sounds like, tune into your local community station. These are often found on university campuses and feature block programming. You’ll hear a different show every one to two hours and they always feature people from different ethnic backgrounds.
3. Let it die
Podcasting is to radio as what streaming services are to television and movies. Former radio hosts have been thriving in the podcasting world and they finally get to be their own boss because they’re not working for a large corporation. Take your support somewhere else and don’t forget to call your local program director and let them know you’ve found something better and more inclusive.
The Canadian radio industry needs to take a hard look in the mirror and make some changes. They’ve been saying for years that “radio isn’t a dying industry” but it’s struggling. Have you ever noticed that every radio station runs ads saying that radio is relevant? They need help and they can get it from a larger audience if they open up their sound to include more Black influences. I don’t see what’s wrong with playing something like 2Pac’s “Changes” or “Tha Crossroads” by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on a hot AC station. I might actually enjoy some real variety of music the next time I’m at the dentist.
Hip hop isn’t “too urban”, we’ve just got a racist way of thinking.
Johnny Novak 
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