BLACK BROADCAST GROUP HEARS STRIDES, SETBACKS

Black executives and programmers in the recording and radio fields are making the biggest strides ever despite the continuing failure of white-dominated industries to fully reflect the contributions made by black artists and consumers.

This theme of cautious optimism ran through much of the 11th annual radio and recording industry conference sponsored by Black Radio Exclusive, a private, Hollywood-based trade publication. But time is running out, warned a representative of the 154-member National Assn. of Black-Owned Broadcasters.

“Either we are going to be cut in, or we are going to cut it out,” said James J. Hutchinson, association chairman and president of Inter-Urban Broadcasting, a chain of seven Southeastern and Midwestern black-owned radio stations.

Acting upon repeated complaints raised by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, the Broadcasters group has begun implementing a plan which Hutchinson suggested could lead to a boycott of record company products if labels refuse to confer on the association’s five-point agenda.

Meetings with some companies have already been held to discuss such matters as record company commitments to provide seed money for starting black-owned record stores in inner city areas and increased contributions to scholarships and job training programs for black youth.

Still, the recurring message, heard by more than 1,900 mostly black conference participants who attended the four-day event that ended Saturday with an awards banquet in Universal City, was that a new generation of black professionals is emerging.

“Today there is a new breed of young black executives who will not (accept) the word no, “ said Sidney Miller Jr., publisher of the trade magazine and founder of what is billed as the nation’s largest black radio/recording industry conference. “They will not go away from the wall. The wall will have to go away from them.”

Miller cited Sylvia Johnson, senior vice president of the black music division of Capitol Records, and John McClain, who was promoted last month to senior vice president of artists and repertoire for A&M; Records, as examples of the recording industry’s rising new stars.

Yet, Miller added, “We are still looking for some presidents. The day a black becomes the head of a major record label, then we’ll know that we’re on our way.”

In March, the NAACP charged that racial discrimination is “rampant” in the $4-billion recording industry, despite the fact more than a quarter of record sales are attributed to black artists.