Author Topic: Something I didn't know about Damizza, Power 106, Shade Sheist... (Read 238 times)

R-Tistic · « **on:** August 11, 2005, 03:19:20 PM »

"Radio Station Programmers Owning Record Labels

Where this really came to light was the scenario
involving the Assistant Program Director of LA’s
number one music station Power 106 named Damon
‘Damizza’ Young. He took things a step further by
starting his own record label Baby Ree which featured
his artist/producer Shady Sheist. Shiest who
relatively unknown at the time was able to get lots of
love in the form of guest appearances from A-List
artists who many industry insiders suspect was done in
return for airplay on the giant Emmis Broadcast
station.

In addition to all this, there were lots of stories
floating around the industry alleging that Damizza
abused his position by insisting on being allowed to
rap or produce tracks for many of the artists the
station played. Eventually this story was broke by LA
Times writer Chuck Phillips who did a comparison with
the amount of airplay Shady Shiest was receiving at
Power 106 and the number of units he actually sold.
Shiest who did not sell well, left a lot of folks
including Phillips , asking hard questions as to why
he was getting so much love. How was Shady Sheist able
to get primetime airplay while other more qualified
artists were left outside with little or no access.
Eventually it was revealed that Emmis Broadcasting
which owns Power 106 was also financially connected to
the record label.

Executives at Emmis tried to flip the script by saying
that the FCC said it was ok for them to do what they
were doing as long as Damizza wasn’t in the room
making decisions about Shady Shiest being played. Of
course, people who have been in the industry for a
while knew better and clearly understood this was a
case of the company protecting its point person who
collected monies under the guise of production in
exchange for airplay. In any case Damizza is no longer
at Power 106, but this does not mean there aren’t
other hustles going on of a similar nature going on at
other stations."

-from Davey D's article - Wanna know how the "machine" is fucking over Hip Hop?

Don Seer · « **Reply #1 on:** August 11, 2005, 03:21:40 PM »

yeah i remember this.. you can probably find quite a few articles from around the time

theres just been a big story about labels "buying" spins by ordering gadgets for radio DJs.. *on request* for spins.. since these kind of things go unnoticed easier..

bad huh?

allfromtheIE · « **Reply #2 on:** August 11, 2005, 03:40:38 PM »

yup, i heard about this a long time ago. I guess it goes to show how much that duio sucked seeing that they owned the biggest radio station in LA and still couldnt sell squat. Fuckin pathetic
IE