Cumulus Considers ‘In-House’ Liaison

Radio station chain Cumulus Media Inc. is considering hiring an independent record promoter as an “in-house” liaison to record labels, a move that critics say smacks of payola.

Cumulus plans to name John Kilgo, a veteran of independent promotion firm Jeff McClusky & Associates, as its director of label relations, sources said. The move would make Kilgo the gatekeeper for Cumulus’ pop music stations.

The initiative is sending a shudder through the major labels, which say such an arrangement appears to run afoul of federal anti-payola laws that prohibit broadcasters from accepting money in exchange for song airplay without disclosing it.

To sidestep the law, an independent promoter can pay an annual fee to a radio station for the exclusive right to pitch songs to programmers. The promoter then collects a fee from record labels for each song added to the station’s playlist.

Cumulus has had a contract with McClusky’s firm but plans to let it lapse at year’s end and designate Kilgo as the labels’ contact. Cumulus officials said late Monday that they had not finalized their decision and that Kilgo could still end up as an outside contractor with an arms’-length relationship to the radio stations.

Record executives said Monday that they believed it would be against the law for an “in-house” Cumulus employee to bill them for each song. But Cumulus Executive Vice President John Dickey said the plan “stays well within the confines of how these relationships have been set up. It really is going to allow us to maximize our relationships with the labels.”