For The British Blacklist 26th October 2013: http://www.thebritishblacklist.com/shakara-speaks-choice-fm-capital-xtra-battle-black-radios-soul/
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I have no desire to insult or disrespect any DJ or presenter who has decided to join or remain at the station formerly known as Choice fm. I have even less desire to simply complain about the fact that the Capital take over of Choice is now fully complete. My intention here is simply to highlight some of the dynamics that I feel are often overlooked when events like these take place, and hopefully provoke some thoughts in the process.
The Capital take over of Choice fm is not a singular event confined to the present moment, but the culmination of a process that spans at the very least, a decade.
Choice fm hit our airways in 1990. Under the leadership of Patrick Berry and Neil Kenlock, its expressed purpose was to provide a legal platform to cater for the Afrikan-Caribbean community. While community ‘pirate’ radio had dutifully served the Black community for some time, Choice becoming legal meant that DJ’s were not in fear of Police kicking down the door at any moment. Instead the door was now open to take full advantage of the economic prospects that come from not being restricted to an under ground operation.
For the first time therefore, Black music enjoyed uninterrupted air-play. At the height of Choice’s success, all prominent forms of Black music in the UK enjoyed prime-time placement, with the station’s Black owners developing a viable business brand.
There are many levels to the significance of this. DJ Abrantee had a prime time show for playing music from the Afrikan continent long before ‘Afrobeats’ became a trend mashing up dancehalls all over the nation. Soca hasn’t gained widespread notoriety, yet ‘Soca Prince’ – Martin J, presented a successful show for years on the only legal Black music platform.
It is because of such stellar efforts against the grain that Black music became more recognizable as commercially viable throughout the 90’s. As a result previously uninterested major entities swooped in to reap the benefits from all angles. The Capital take over of Choice from 2003 onwards is just one factor in this story and it would be easy to dismiss such events as simply good business decisions unavoidable according to the unwritten manual of what it means to grow and expand successfully. However the story of Geoff Schumann is one factor that would seem to contradict this argument.
Geoff Schumann joined the Choice roster in 1997, as a successful comedian doubling up with Martin J to host very popular ‘Two Tons of Fun’week day breakfast show. He later went on to host his own show, ‘The Schumann Shuffle’ on Saturday mornings. I recall quite vividly when Geoff began stating publicly that “Choice was a station that played far too much music” and began dedicating one hour of his three hour show to discussing serious issues; all guided by the slogan “We can not dance our way through life”.
The show was an immediate hit. Inundated with callers every week, Schumann facilitated debate on Black Youth in education, Black community/Police relations, Black History, Homosexuality, Reggae Dancehall and much more. He even took time to profile Black children who were academically successful at a time when high exclusions rates were more or less all that could be heard about Black children in British schools. As well as the dedicated and ever growing callership, Geoff featured Black community activists, workers & MP’s such as Dianne Abbott, Gus John, Rosemary Campbell and Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka (Full disclosure – he is my father), to name but a few.
Not only was the show a success, it became the number one show in the station’s history, revolutionizing the nature of Choice in the process. It appears to me that pure business sense would suggest that this was a show that required investment, marketing and promotion. A prudent business mind may further consider the fact that there may be more room for serious discussion on a station like Choice and therefore develop more shows to meet an obvious demand. Instead however, it appears that Schumann’s Shuffle was of a rhythm too vibrant for they who would call the tune. Becoming one of the first casualties of the Capital take over and reshuffles of 2004.
For years, Commander B and DJ 279 had provided a platform for profiling UK Garage, Grime and Hip-Hop MC’s. Their shows were the hub that artists flocked to for promotion, live exclusives, ciphers and even battles. Following the Capital takeover, their shows were moved and hours reduced, leaving the way clear for Tim Westwood to adopt the formula, taking advantage of a bigger platform to corner the market. Reggae music in general was a casualty as the popular shows of Daddy Ernie and Natty B were relegated to the graveyard shift. For the first time in Choice history there was to be no Reggae between 7am-7pm.
As all this was going on, BBC 1Xtra had burst on to the scene in 2002, declaring itself the Number one station for non-stop Black Music (yes BLACK Music). 1Xtra was launched along side the nationalising of BBC Asian Network in a push for the public service to greater cater for ‘Ethnic Minority’ sensibilities. Interestingly however, while 1Xtra was all about music, the Asian Network was promoted as providing music, news, reviews, discussion and debate for the Asian community. A few years later, 1Xtra had successfully dropped its ‘Black Music’ proclamation, leading the charge for cementing “Urban” as the preferred replacement for acknowledging Afrikan heritage.
The “Urban” label was also carried by Choice fm’s new Capital incarnation. Aside from protests outside its new residence in Leicester Square, the take over went ahead without substantial challenge. The station therefore went forward with a more top 10 chart commercial playlist, which by then heavily featured Hip-Hop and RnB, and 100% music programming. The transition from Choice FM to Capital Xtra now signals the completion of that process.
Capital Xtra is setting itself up as the rival of BBC 1Xtra, from its snapping up of ex BBC 1 Hip Hop champion Tim Westwood, to the name, even down to the layout of its website. What this means is that Black Music Radio is now a prime commodity in a competitive business between the BBC, Global (owners of Capital) and maybe to a lesser extent Bauer Radio Group (Owners of Kiss, Magic) – none of which is owned by Black people.
All in all however it appears that this move could have been foreseen. Akosua Annobil had reported the possible rebranding in the New Nation newspaper as early as 2003. Westwood and Capital radio Manager Stuart Grant have a shared history in the Capital, Kiss fm networks, which makes it highly unlikely that Westwood would have joined choice without knowledge of the intent to rebrand.
But even without that, many Black art forms have met the similar fate of having been developed both in their creative and business progression, by Black sacrifice only to be co-opted and taken over by White male dominated business networks. This is the narrative that accompanies every popular Black music art form; it was a nice little underground thing until some major corporation and/or a white audience bought into it.
It is not fashionable to talk about Black music in terms of Race nowadays. We are supposed to ignore it in order to submerge ourselves in the universal language. But it seems obvious in the present climate that from the stage to the board room and every studio in between, the people reaping the greatest rewards from Black music – are not Black. Is it ok to acknowledge that? Or are we suppose to continue to revel in the supposed cultural melting pot, whilst by our silence we sanction the development of a grossly unequal and apparently discriminatory industry.
Amidst the smoke there has been renewed vigour for the need for Black owned media that serves the Afrikan-Caribbean community. Other than community radio, Voice of Africa Radio (VOAR) appears to represent the best of potential in this regard. VOAR now stands as the only Black own legal Radio Station in London since winning its license after a long campaign in 2006. Ever since it has carried a wide range of programs features music, news, discussion and debate shows catering for a broad spectrum of the Afrikan-Caribbean community in the UK. CEO Space Clottey has actively sought to develop unified platform for Afrikans from all over the Continent and the Caribbean residing in Britain.
Unfortunately however its existence has been marred by a consistent battle with Newham council which has severely affected the station’s development to the point of threatening it with shutting down. In the past VOAR has turned down large sums of money, (labelled investment) as the strings attached would have cost the station its integrity. While VOAR continues to stand firm, it appears that only economic support from the Black business community as well as the moral support of the Black community at large will allow the station to prosper and not meet the same fate as the institutions before it.
In the interim I believe it would be necessary to gain a deeper appreciation of the business development of Choice fm and other institutions under Black ownership. This is essential in order to challenge a destructive narrative that by implication dismisses Black people as lacking economic ability. Many challenges were overcome in the development of institutions like Choice, and the budding business genius among present day Black youth, will be well informed by the principles, values and expertise to be learned from this.
interview conducted by @ShakaRaBKS for the british blacklist
Very good article. However VOAR is not the only Black owned legal radio station in London. http://www.wearebang.com