Black Music Fans Say They Can’t Always Get What They Want

Black radio programmers say they are giving their listeners just what they want.

Are they?

“It’s unfortunate that black audiences seem content to let radio determine what we will and won’t accept,” said Joy Childs, 36, an employee relations administrator for the California State University system. “It isn’t fair to expect black audiences to appreciate (non-mainstream black artists) if they’re not exposed to them.”

Childs and other black music fans interviewed by Calendar agreed they wanted to hear a broader range of contemporary black music. But they didn’t indicate much interest in “old” black music, including vintage rock by pioneers like Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Fats Domino.

“Those artists did have a black following when they were still on the chitlin’ circuit back in the ‘50s,” noted Childs. “But black enthusiasm started to dwindle away once white singers took over the sound and began to imitate it.”

And asked why black audiences appear to resist the blues, Gary Robeson, 36, a teacher in the Compton Unified School District, said, “We’re innovative people and innovators don’t look back. As soon as we invent something and it becomes legitimized, we’re on to the next thing. We’re not taught to appreciate our roots, so the blues is a ‘past’ thing with us.”

While aware of such artists as blues guitarist Robert Cray and local rock band Fishbone, Aubrey Brown, 34, admitted that, “I don’t know enough about them to buy their records just on the strength of their names.” Brown, a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company, favors artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Anita Baker and Hiroshima.

He frequently listens to KJLH-FM. “But they aren’t too adventurous. They sound like an AM station. Back in the ‘70s the station was more of a musical grab-bag when it was under different ownership. You could hear jazz and reggae artists on the station then.

“Today you hear black stations that will play Madonna, and yet they won’t play black artists with a hard-core sound who don’t fit the format.”

Kimian Thompson, 28, a data processing supervisor for a bankruptcy court, likes country singers such as Lee Greenwood, the Oak Ridge Boys and Dolly Parton. She also favors Christian pop artists.

Thompson isn’t as interested in reggae, blues or black rock artists: “I could take it or leave it--although I have bought 45s by certain rap groups like the Fat Boys and Run-D.M.C.”

Rap seems to split the black audience along generational lines. The older listeners interviewed rarely mentioned it among their favorite styles of music but rap is the main style most black teen-agers listen to.

Onna Brown, 19, is a Washington High School graduate who has worked as a rapper and is now a deejay in local teen-oriented clubs. He echoed Robeson’s observation that blacks are innovators who don’t look back.

“I don’t tend to look on my past or any other past as far as other types of music are concerned,” said Brown, who uses the professional name COSMO-B.

“I try to stick with seeing what the people like now and try to capitalize on it. You can’t go back to what a rapper has done five years ago and bring it back.”

But Brown, Tanesha Jones and LaToya Mills (the last two are cousins who perform as a rap duo called TNT) believe that rap has opened them up to other forms of music. “We rap so much that sometimes we want to mellow out,” said Mills, 17, a Carson High School student who plans to pursue a career in journalism.

“I listen to jazz and my family has a lot of blues records that my grandmother gave my mother. Those songs could relate to us but I think my parents would understand them more.

“We’re growing up with these rap songs, so we can relate to them. “

Radio has always been the predominant element in shaping most people’s musical preferences. Yvette Taylor, a 26-year-old executive secretary at MGM Studios, was born in Decatur, Ill. “I was raised differently,” she said. “I didn’t grow up hearing much black music because there weren’t any black stations in Decatur.”

Today, her musical tastes run to jazz artists like David Sanborn and Lee Ritenour. She was recently introduced to reggae music by a white friend, but noticed that reggae concerts don’t attract many black fans. “My frustration comes from wondering why these concerts and artists aren’t advertised and publicized more.

“I mean, I like Luther Vandross. I hear him more on the radio so I have the chance to like him. It’s hard to like something if you never get to hear it.”

Radio plays a big role with younger black listeners, too. Mills mentioned Vandross and Anita Baker among her non-rap favorites, while Jones cited Baker and Herb Alpert.

Brown agrees that black radio generally doesn’t expose listeners to a broad cross-section of music. While Brown, Jones and Mills have heard some reggae, the name of African star King Sunny Ade drew a blank.

“A lot of the young black generation of L.A. do not hear that type of music and don’t get a chance to get involved in that music,” said Brown. “Most of the kids here listen to one station, KDAY. And 80% of their (format) is rap.”

Gary Robeson believes in the home-training method when it comes to music. He has tried to instill in his own 17-year-old son an appreciation of all forms of black music, ranging from the blues and reggae to jazz.

“He can tell you who Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and Eric Dolphy are. He’d want to watch TV, and I’d say, ‘No, shut up and listen to this!’

“Robert Cray, Peter Tosh and Sonny Rollins are the epitome of black music. And it shouldn’t be a luxury for us to be exposed to artists like that.”