Payola is skewing the charts again

Chart watchers all know what payola is – but for the rest of you, here goes.

Payola
was the name given to a scandal that hit American radio in the late
fifties, when the music biz was dominated by sales of seven-inch
singles.

Record companies offered radio stations and
individual DJs cash to play their product on high rotation. Under the
laws at the time stations had the ability to play specific songs in
exchange for money, but the plug had to be disclosed as sponsored
airtime. Payola represented paid, but unacknowledged, advertising –
particularly since then and even now key stations report spins of the
newest and most popular songs to industry publications, influencing
other stations’ playlists.

Big names got caught up. Alan
Freed, the man often credited with inventing the term “rock and roll”,
saw his career destroyed by the payola scandal. Dick Clark, the
American Bandstand host, only survived by selling his own record
company interests and cooperating with the authorities.

A quick look at this week’s Canberra Top 40 will let you know where this is all leading us.

Australian
Idol John Howard is in his usual Number One spot – but look who else
makes up the Top 10. The places in our own political payola row
dominate this week’s chart.

Rehame has Nationals Leader
John Anderson coming in at Number Two. He’s closely followed by the
Independent MP making the allegations, Tony Windsor, who’s jumped 65
places in the chart and increased his mentions from just 11 in the
previous poll to a massive 1,597 this week to hit Number Three. The
go-between in the row, Nationals Senator Sandy Macdonald, has done even
better. He leaps an amazing 169 places in the Canberra Top 40 to come
in at Number Nine.

Some usual favourites, like Treasurer
Peter Costello, haven’t even made the Top 10 and, ironically, the
payola scandal means that the only real rock and roller in this week’s
Canberra Top 40, Peter Garrett, is languishing way down at Number 39 –
despite his almost perpetual state of confusion over his electoral
enrolment or where and when he’s voted.

Irony of ironies, that must be sweet music to the ambitious new MP’s ears.

Who’s hot, who’s not: The Rehame Top 40 Pols

Rank Name Mentions Mentions
Last Report		 Rank
Last Report
1 John
Howard		 2704 1973 1
2 John
Anderson		 1697 358 7
3 Tony
Windsor		 1597 11 68
4 Mark
Latham		 975 563 6
5 David
Hawker		 884 35 38
6 Bronwyn
Bishop		 529 56 22
7 Alexander
Downer		 481 673 4
8 Tony
Abbott		 476 548 5
9 Sandy
Macdonald		 427 0 178
10 Chris
Ellison		 389 17 54
11 Bruce
Baird		 373 43 34
12 Peter
Costello		 297 675 3
13 Mark
Vaile		 246 61 21
14 Stephen
Smith		 208 4 101
15 Kevin Andrews 172 49 29
16 Wayne
Swan		 167 26 43
17 Julia
Gillard		 161 90 17
18 Warren
Truss		 160 109 15
19 Bob
Brown		 156 50 27
20 David
Jull		 141 21 49
21 Anthony
Albanese		 135 2 131
22 Brendan
Nelson		 128 705 2
23 Chris
Evans		 126 2 131
24 Philip
Ruddock		 114 305 8
25 De
Anne Kelly		 112 50 27
26 Dick
Adams		 97 3 115
27 Paul
Neville		 92 4 101
27 Wilson
Tuckey		 92 24 45
29 Kevin
Rudd		 91 243 11
30 Helen
Coonan		 89 257 10
30 Ian
Macdonald		 89 56 22
32 Andrew
Southcott		 80 2 131
33 Amanda
Vanstone		 71 277 9
34 Sharman
Stone		 66 56 22
35 Ron
Boswell		 63 7 85
36 Alex
Somlyay		 62 2 131
37 Craig
Emerson		 59 4 101
38 Natasha
Stott Despoja		 58 9 78
39 Peter
Garrett		 52 94 16
39 Simon
Crean		 52 5 94
41 Alan
Cadman		 46 6 90
41 Chris
Pyne		 46 81 19