WHAT’S GOIN’ ON?: Another issue-oriented song that’s...

WHAT’S GOIN’ ON?: Another issue-oriented song that’s having trouble getting played on the radio is “City of Fallen Angels,” the Los Angeles riot-relief rap recording organized by Kid Frost and Hen Gee & Evil E--at least in its namesake city.

Tim Sweeney, vice president of Instinct Entertainment, a Los Angeles company that is marketing and promoting the single, says that more than 80 commercial stations across the country are playing the song--but not a single one in L.A., where the single was recorded just a week after the April riots.

“(L.A. R&B; station) KJLH-FM tried it once to show support, but it’s not their kind of song,” Sweeney says. “Otherwise, we’ve gotten the kind of responses ranging from people who said they don’t want to deal with the riots to people saying it attracts people who don’t buy from their sponsors.”

Explains KJLH-FM Program Director Lee Michaels, “We don’t play rap. If it was a singing type of song, we would play it. But I’m surprised that some of the other youth-oriented stations have not embraced it.”

But Rick Cummings of KPWR-FM, one of the stations Michaels singled out, says, “We stayed away from all the rebuild L.A. records. A lot of them started feeling self-serving and we decided we would do our best just trying to entertain our audience. It felt like someone had an agenda here. That record wouldn’t have been a hit in and of itself on this station and we don’t want to play records for any reason other than that. We’ll do our own stop-the-violence campaign instead.”

One non-L.A. station that is playing “City of Fallen Angels” is Chicago’s WJPC-AM, which instituted a rap format last month. Program director Jay Alan says that the song is getting terrific response at his station and that he is mystified that L.A. radio won’t play it.

“It’s their area, their kids,” he says. “I would figure that they would play it if anyone would. Songs like this need to be made.”