Payola Bribery In The Record Business And Television
by Robert Grey Reynolds, Jr
Payola, or paying disc jockeys and other radio and television employees to play particular songs, was the subject of Congressional hearings in 1959 and 1960. Dick Clark, host of American Bandstand, was summoned to testify before a House subcommittee of investigators. At issue was censorship, the suspension of radio and television station licenses, etc. The lessons of payola are pertinent today.