Schmidt. move does not stem from any undue pressure from the Broadcast Commission

Reggae format radio station Irie-FM has announced that come January 1, it will not be playing any music that contains, bleeps and/or edits.

In a release from the station Andrea Williams Green, programmes director of Irie-FM stated, "Irie-FM is committed to cleaning up the airwaves and this is one step in that direction. Regular listeners will realise that this sort of music is being gradually faded out already and by the end of December, that process will be complete."

Brian Schmidt, marketing manager asserts, "that while radio edits and club edits are a normal part of the music industry worldwide, artistes must make music that is suitable for radio play first and then create club edits, not the other way around."

Irie-FM believes that this move will be beneficial to the listening public and the industry by improving music made which will in turn help assure the growth of Reggae, Dancehall and other forms of Jamaican music worldwide. It is also hoped that others in the media industry will follow our lead and do likewise, the release said.

Speaking by telephone to the Observer, Schmidt said he expected no negative impacts to the station's listenership from the move. "At the end of the day, both as music lovers and as ordinary citizens, we want songs that are edifying. It doesn't have to be prachy, but it must be edifying," he said.
Schmidt added that the practice of trying to mask profanity to get songs played on air was "something we don't think is progressive. Club edits and similar extensions are exepcted, but they should be derived from material that is already fit for airplay."

Schmidt also says that the move does not stem from any undue pressure from the Broadcast Commission. "We've not had any pressure from the Commssion. There have been general comments that you get out there that the issue should be addressed, we just are of the belief that we need to take it to the next level."

In a written official comment, the Broadcasting Commission said it was commendable that Irie-FM had publicly demonstrated its intent to address concerns linked to the practice of beeping and mixing to delete explicit content, calling the practice "problematic."

The issue of the content of reggae/dancehall songs and music videos, as well as songs in other genres, has consistently been aired in public and at various fora.

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