Lew Dickey Takes A Capitol Beating Over Dixie Chicks Ban
During an appearance before the Senate Commerce Committee this morning to discuss radio-ownership limits and the state of the industry, the Cumulus Chairman/CEO faced heated questioning from Committee Chairman John McCain over his company's decision to ban the band's music on all 50 of its Country stations following lead singer Natalie Maines' comments criticizing President Bush. In fact, McCain told Dickey that the decision stood in the way of the Chicks' First Amendment rights. "I was more offended, or as offended, as anyone by the statements of The Dixie Chicks," McCain told Dickey in one of several terse exchanges between the two. "But to restrain their trade because they exercised their right of free speech, to me, is remarkable. It's a strong argument about what media concentration has the possibility of doing." Even though Dickey insisted the decision was made in response to a "groundswell of negative reaction" from listeners to Maines' comments and was done after several meetings with station PDs, McCain said the fact that the ultimate decision came from a corporate level disturbed him greatly. "If someone else in another format offends you and you decide to censor those people, my friend, the erosion of the First Amendment in the United States of America is in progress," McCain said. Dickey clarified that while the decision did come from a corporate level, it was only made after management on the local level said listeners were objecting to hearing the group's music on the stations; after 30 days, he said, the PDs were invited to decide for themselves whether to resume playing the group's music. At the height of the controversy, Dickey said, Cumulus twice aired an ABC interview with the Chicks on all of its Country stations. And the company's CHR/Pop stations, where the Chicks enjoy crossover success, never removed the group's music from their playlists, he said.
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Kinda refreshing to see someone who wields so much power over the careers of recording artists in the name of jingo to be spanked by a war hero like McCain. Bravo.
