Monday August 8, 2005
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Week of August 8, 2005
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Since the "payola" scandals of the late 1950's and early 1960's, many radio listeners have been skeptical about their favorite stations' playlists. But recent investigations by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer have cast light on the extent to which pay-to-play arrangements remain an integral part of commercial radio. Join Kojo for a look at the interdependent relationship between big music companies and commercial radio, and the phenomenon of "payola".
Christopher Sterling, Professor of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University; Editor "Encyclopedia of Radio" (Fitzroy-Dearborn/Taylor & Clark)
Jonathan Adelstein, Commissioner (D), Federal Communications Commission
Tom Lee, President, American Federation of Musicians
Thomas Paine is best known as the author of "Common Sense," a document that galvanized popular opinion around the idea of American independence. But few realize he was one of the revolution's most defiantly radical voices -- advocating loudly for an end to slavery, for women's rights, and for the separation of church & state. Hear his story, and why his ideology scared many of our better known Founding Fathers.
Harvey Kaye, Ben and Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Social Change and Development, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay; Author, "Thomas Paine and the Promise of America"
It's sweet, sugary...and scandalous? For many Americans, chocolate is connected to indulgence and pleasure. But human rights advocates say chocolate has a darker side. In West Africa scores of children are forced to harvest the cocoa beans that make our chocolate. A look at the issue of forced labor and the chocolate industry.
Lowell Satre, author of "Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics, and the Ethics of Business"
Jolene Smith, Executive Director, Free the Slaves
Natacha Thys, Associate General Counsel, International Labor Rights Fund
Eliot Engel, Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives (D-NY)