Page 222 - A Handbook Genre Studies in Mass Media
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INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

                  Industry Abuses

                  Industry pressures can easily lead to abuses involving popular genres.
                  A famous example of industry corruption was the quiz show scandal
                  in the mid-1950s. In 1955, the hottest program on television was The
                  $64,000 Question. This high-stakes program, sponsored by Revlon, was
                  a phenomenon, spawning imitators such as The $64,000 Challenge. For
                  a while, these shows ran 1–2 in the ratings. One of the successful ele-
                  ments of these quiz shows was establishing “identifiable” contestants
                  for the audience. In 1957, Charles Van Doren, a professor of English at
                  Columbia University, won over $100,000 on the NBC game show Twenty
                  One. Handsome, charming, and erudite, Van Doren became a national
                  celebrity as he held forth as champion on the quiz show. Millions tuned
                  in to see him ward off the weekly challenges to his title.
                    However, in 1959, the House of Representatives appointed a special
                  oversight subcommittee to investigate the fixing of quiz shows. The sub-
                  committee found that several of the producers and sponsors of these pro-
                  grams had provided answers to contestants—including Van Doren—prior
                  to their appearances on The $64,000 Question, The $64,000 Challenge,
                  and Twenty One. Many quiz shows were cancelled. The networks insti-
                  tuted stricter policies and surveillance procedures over all quiz programs
                  and took program control away from advertisers such as Revlon.
                    In the 1950s, the House Oversight Subcommittee investigated the radio
                  industry and found widespread instances of payola, a practice in which
                  deejays accepted gifts from record companies in return for playing their
                  records on their shows. Twenty-five deejays and program directors of
                  top ten rock n’ roll shows were caught in the scandal.
                    Given the big stakes involved in giving artists exposure, it is not surprising
                  that payola has reemerged in the radio industry. In 2006, the Federal Com-
                  munications Commission conducted an investigation into accusations of pay-
                  for-play practices at four of the nation’s biggest radio station owners: Clear
                  Channel Communications, CBS Radio, Citadel Broadcasting, and Entercom
                  Communications. The FCC’s enforcement unit was looking into accusations
                  that broadcasters violated the law by accepting cash or other compensation
                  in exchange for airplay of specific songs without telling listeners.

                  Cyclical Nature of Genres

                  As with any product, once a genre attracts commercial interest, the
                  industry reacts quickly to reap maximum profits. This has resulted in a

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