Fate of College Radio Charts Uncertain at CMJ After Almost 40 Years
One of the remaining bastions of the college-rock era has fallen silent, at least for now. For the second week in a row, CMJ has not published its weekly college radio charts, calling into question the fate of an institution that has tracked the music played by college stations around the country since 1978. No date has been set for when the venerable—and, once, invaluable—charts will resume.
Adam Klein, who owns CMJ through his Abaculi Media, has not responded to Pitchfork’s requests for comment on the matter. The charts typically go out on Tuesday afternoons. On Tuesday, February 7, in an email to radio promoters and publicists obtained by Pitchfork, Klein said the charts might resume by the end of last week, and would “definitely” be back this week. On Tuesday, February 14, in another email viewed by Pitchfork, Klein told the CMJ community, “There will not be charts this week and I will let you know where we stand on timing before the end of the week.”
The chart hiatus is just the latest in a series of setbacks for CMJ. The last-known remaining employee, Lisa Hresko, recently took a new job with indie-label trade group A2IM. And last year’s lack of a CMJ Music Marathon, for the first time in the event’s 35-year history, came despite Klein’s assurance it “absolutely” would happen in 2016.
Here is Klein’s February 7 email to radio promoters:
CMJ Community:
Hi – regarding CMJ charts today – Unfortunately with Lisa’s departure we are scrambling a little – we will hopefully have this week’s charts up later in the week, but definitely will be back next week and stabilizing our service rapidly.
We are so sorry for this break here break here but will be in touch with the community shortly and sincerely appreciate your patience and support.
Best
CMJ Editorial Staff
And Klein’s February 14 email:
To our community – stabilizing the Radio Charts as part of the broader process of putting new resources into CMJ is well underway, but simply taking longer to finalize than we hoped for.
I sincerely apologize for this disruption and assure you that we are doing whatever we can to get this done as rapidly as possible.
There will not be charts this week and I will let you know where we stand on timing before the end of the week.
Thank you and please know how committed we are to rectifying the situation expeditiously.
Best
Adam Klein
Launched by Bobby Haber, College Media Journal published its first issue on November 10, 1978, with the Who’s then-current Who Are You at the top of its charts. Aimed at college radio programmers, the publication rebranded as CMJ New Music Report in 1982. The rise of the CMJ charts came at a time when college radio was beginning to drive U.S. listeners’ tastes, providing early introductions to bands like U2, R.E.M., the Cure, the Smiths, Dinosaur Jr., Hüsker Dü, Minutemen, and the Replacements.
In 1993, CMJ began publishing CMJ New Music Monthly, a fan-oriented magazine with a CD compilation in each issue. The magazine ceased publication in 2009, and the CMJ New Music Report and charts went digital-only not long afterward. The most recent charts published on the CMJ website were for year-end 2016, but charts continued to go out each week to users of the CMJ service. Other services providing charts for non-commercial radio include Spinitron and NACC.
Since 2013, CMJ has been ensnared in a lawsuit by New York promoter John Scher over a failed deal to buy the company from Haber and Joanne Abbot Greene, who co-founded CMJ Music Marathon. Klein’s Abaculi, which acquired CMJ in 2014, has also been added as a co-defendant. A trial in that case began in January in New York and is set to continue on February 17.
In December, two former CMJ employees sued CMJ, Abaculi, and Klein personally on claims of unpaid wages. In January, a federal judge in Massachusetts entered a $446,307 judgment against Abaculi in favor of contractor Remote Facilities Consulting Services, which has also sued Klein personally for the funds. Since then, a judge has issued an order freezing $110,000 of the value of one of Klein’s homes.
Read “CMJ Owner Adam Klein’s Professional Past Raises Questions Over Music Marathon’s Future” on the Pitch, as well as our new feature “Does College Radio Even Matter Anymore?”
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