Since the World's been Turning
This podcast series is a journey through history, one guided by the lyrics of Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire". Join us for an educational and fun exploration of the events, people, and inventions that helped to shape the modern world during the Cold War. These roughly half-hour episodes place a microscope on each of Billy Joel’s lyrics, discovering the rich detail that helps breathe life into the past. Narrated by Robin Harrison, each episode also features interviews with guest speakers, including experts in the field and friends and family of the people being discussed. Together, we’ll learn why Billy Joel wrote the lyrics he did and hopefully come to understand what he meant when he sang “We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning, since the world’s been turning.”
Since the World's been Turning
Episode 74 - Payola
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NZpodz
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Episode 75
Todays episode looks into the process of paying for radio time which is called Payola.
A dominant trend in the 1930s onwards, Payola was a core part of the music industry and a huge influence on the dominant trends in popular music. Interestingly, while the practice is illegal, and suggests a rich-get-richer musical hierarchy, it played a surprisingly positive role in pushing forward songs from more niche genres such as Country and R&B at a pivotal time in history, thus presenting a wider range of music to American audiences.
Because of this, the issue remains a complex one with a lot of moral gray areas.
So what is the story of Payola? How dominant really was it? And in what sort of form does it exist today?