KD 9NoZ ! LO9O6 Ala ObL£ it sdV :rINH3tID AZNOW ZHN994YW LIL9 IOW/ £L6LI9000 Heavy 906 ZIDIOE**xx***>r****:= Metal r Follows page 48 VOLUME 99 NO. 18 THE INTERNATIONAL NEWSWEEKLY OF MUSIC AND HOME ENTERTAINMENT May 2, 1987/$3.95 (U.S.), $5 (CAN.) Fla. Clerk Faces Obscenity Radio Wary of Indecent' Exposure Charge For Cassette Sale FCC Ruling Stirs Confusion April 20. She was charged with vio- BY CHRIS MORRIS lating a state statute prohibiting ington, D.C., and WYSP Philadel- given further details on what the LOS ANGELES A Florida retail "sale of harmful material to a per- BY KIM FREEMAN phia, where Howard Stern's morn- new guidelines are, so it's literally store clerk faces felony obscenity son under the age of 18," a third -de- NEW YORK Broadcasters are ex- ing show generated the complaints impossible for me to make a judg- charges for selling a cassette tape gree felony that carries a maximum pressing confusion and dismay fol- that appear to have prompted the ment on them as a broadcaster." of 2 Live Crew's "2 Live Crew Is penalty of five years in jail or a lowing the Federal Communications FCC's new guidelines. According to FCC general coun- What We Are" to a 14- year -old. As a $5,000 fine. Commission's decision to apply a "At this point, we haven't been (Continued on page 78) result of the case, the store has The arrest apparently stems from broad brush to existing rules defin- closed its doors. the explicit lyrics to "We Want ing and regulating the use of "inde- Laura Ragsdale, an 18- year -old Some Pussy," a track featured on cent" and /or "obscene" material on part-time clerk at Starship Records the album by Miami-based 2 Live the air. (For details of the FCC deci- Winter Arbs: Hot And Cold & Tapes in the Florida panhandle Crew. The album, released by Luke sion, see page 3.) town Callaway, was arrested on Skyy Walker Records of Miami, has Those in radio seem to feel that Up, N. Y. been on Billboard's Top Black Al- without specific guidelines, viola- Classics Hit Radio Hurt bums chart for nine weeks, rising as tions in this area can only be cited NEW YORK It was a harsh winter of radio. high as No. 28. Dealers and distribu- after they occur and complaints for most contemporary music sta- (Overall 12 -plus shares for New MCA Price Hike tors in the Southeast and South re- have been filed. Some question the tions in New York, while classic York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and port extremely heavy sales action constitutionality of the policy in rock again proved its strength in San Diego appear on page 15; rank- on the record (see holiday sales sto- light of the First Amendment. Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Die- ings for the rest of the top 25 U.S. Softened By CD ry, page 6). "I don't understand the move," go, as the latest Arbitron results markets will appear in coming is- "The parents called me several says Ken Stevens, general manager added their usual mix of surprising sues.) Midline Intro (Continued on page 87) of Infinity stations WBMW Wash- and predictable chapters to the book In New York, crossover outlet WQHT was the exception to gener- ADVERTISEMENTS ally declining shares for contempo- BY GEOFF MAYFIELD rary music here, as the station NEW YORK MCA Distributing is OEIN FARNHAM moved up steadily to a 3.5 share hiking the wholesale cost of $8.98 from a 3.1 fall rating. and $9.98 list product, but other Top 40 WHTZ held its status as moves by the company are aimed at Gotham's leading music outlet, even softening the blow to retail and with a drop to a 5.1 share, down wholesale customers. from a market-leading 5.8 in the In MCA's seven -tier price struc- fall. Talk outlet WOR and all -news ture, the cost of affected albums WINS popped into the No. 1 and No. and cassettes rises by 3 cents for 2 overall slots this winter with 5.6 some customers and 4 cents for oth- and 5.4 shares, respectively. ers, effective May 4. Top 40 WPLJ suffered its third The distributor, however, is hold- down book, slipping to 4.8 to tie with ing the line on midline albums, cas- urban leader WRKS for the second settes, and compact disks. A recent- consecutive sweep. Urban outlet ly adopted incentive /disincentive re- WBLS is on their heels with a 4.7 turns plan and a CD midline share. program -for which orders will (Continued on page 81) soon be solicited -are making the price hike an easier pill to swallow. 4 '7 HISPERING i.ACK "Why did we do the price in- crease? We were a little behind NAIRD Keyboari giant of the Crusaders, composer, producer, jazz PSSSST. Lister to w'tat the whole world's talking about. JOHN most other companies," says John legend are among JOE SAMPLE'S many roles. "ROLES ", Joe's FARNHAM (Best Australian Male Artist). WHISPERING JACK. '87 Burns, executive vice president of new solo release, ar inspired burst of fresh music from the 6300 -1 -R (Bes: Australian Album, 6x platinum. #1 18 weeks). INDIE LABELS MCA Distribution. "They were a lit- creator of "Carmel ", "Rainbow Seeker" and numerous Now debuting It US with single YOU'RE THE VOICE, 5146 -7 -R tle higher-priced than we were. And Crusaders hits. L.A.' a finest studio players and special guests (Best Australiai Single, #1 8 weeks). Record -breaking sales: Follows page 52 interpret Joe's jazzy. R &B laced tunes. JOE SAMPLE "ROLES" Australia, Holland, G srmany, Scandinavia, France, UK. (Continued on page 86) MCA -59'8 CD (includes bonus track). Hi -Q cassettes & records. THE WORD IS SPREADING. RCA / e c Fir - Class CDs A n CO Miff* reNIIPACT JAll 20 Great Extended Play Titles Available in June comp(1cr o May -Chuck Mangione, Dinah Washington, Wes Montgomery. June - Billie Holiday, Stan Getz, Erroll Garner. And many more. PolyGram Records www.americanradiohistory.com TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS , . '..' . ...... .'.'.'. .".".'....'.'. ..,..-.....-..-.-.:-:-:.::. -- /-* FEATURING THE FIRST RELEASE JAMMIN' ME PRODUCED BY TOM PETTY AND MIKE CAMPBELL MANAGEMENT TONY DIMITRIADES/ELLIOT ROBERTS. LOOKOUT MANAGEMENT MIXED BY MIKE SHIPLEY MCA RECORDS c 1987 MCA RECORDS INC www.americanradiohistory.com . - __________________ ______________ __________ FCC Goes To War On Seven Words -imi Billboard _ -- - - - - - -_-- - --- - --- Takes Stricter View Of Shock Radio ---_--- to a Mass Media Division staff re- The FCC found the three radio BY BILL HOLLAND ---------- port and the conclusions of General stations with indecency cases be- WASHINGTON The Federal Com- Counsel Diane Killory, also made fore it to have broadcast indecent VOLUME 99 NO. 18 MAY 2, 1987 munications Commission unani- clear that there no longer needs to programming under the new stan- mously voted April 16 to crack down be a "repetitive assault" of the sev- dards. However, because the sta- BLACK ACTS WITH HIT POTENTIAL on what it views as indecent broad- en words or phrases for the commis- tions may have been guided in pro- A few years back, black music editor Nelson George predicted Whitney casts. The action signals a move sion to act. Staff data also indicate gramming by earlier FCC staff rul- Houston's success. This week he picks three more candidates for star- away from a strict interpretation of that children and teens listen to ra- ings with narrower standards, the the U.S. Supreme ruling on dio beyond the only dom: Rene Diggs, lead singer of Starpoint; Jonathan Butler, who has Court far assumed cutoff commission issued warnings to such programming toward what the point of 10 p.m. (Continued on page 78) played on Billy Ocean albums; and Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss commission terms a "generic" view America. Get the in The scoop Rhythm And The Blues. Page 26 based on the court's 1978 "seven - dirty- words" decision. Will Fleetwood Fans Have A Big Mac Attack? The vote came in the last hours of Fleetwood Mac has just released its first album in five years, "Tango In Chairman Mark Fowler's term in Arista Warns Radio: Don't The Night," and the industry is watching to see whether the Warner the FCC. Fowler is known for his Bros. act can repeat the 20- million -copy success of "Rumours." Initial marketplace- oriented, hands -off policies; the vote is seen as a para- signs at radio and MTV are positive. Billboard's Dave DiMartino reports. dox for a commission usually ob- Jump Gun On Whitney Page 33 sessed with safeguarding First day (27) with a letter stating that Amendment rights and eschewing BY KIM FREEMAN acceptance of the package consti- HEAVY METAL THUNDERS HOME regulation of program content. NEW YORK Arista Records is tutes an agreement not to air the Thanks to the astounding success of Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Poison, Me- However, as Chairman -designate giving equal rights to all radio sta- song before 7:30 a.m. Thursday tallica, and others, hard rock and heavy metal are now considered a sol- Dennis Patrick said during the hear- tions on Whitney Houston's up- (30) and not to reproduce it. "If id part of any major label's roster. Dave DiMartino tells the story. ing: "Let us not forget that the coming single "I Wanna Dance you do not wish to accept the en- Follows page 48 First Amendment does not protect With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" closed materials subject to the obscenity.