Payola: Is it back or did it just never leave?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/radio-stations-hit-pay-for-play-867825/ –“When I first started, it was hookers and blow [to help get songs on the air]. “Then that disappeared and it became sports tickets, trips, sneakers and the like. It changed over time so that it became much more sophisticated. At the end of the day, the labels still wanted hit records and the radio stations wanted cash.”

https://radioink.com/2019/08/07/payola-is-real/ —
(Excerpt) Tim Moore, managing partner of Audience Development Group in Grand Rapids, MI,
I’ve had a couple of phone calls in the last six months about payola. The most recent, about three weeks ago, was the most alarming. It was from a quality program director at a longevity station in their format that has performed well. He has been in the business for some time, has great credibility, and has a great track record. If I were to pick a Blue Ribbon Panel of PDs I’d work with, he would be a member of it. He doesn’t endorse what he has seen happening at his station. He’s concerned it’s going to contaminate his successful career.

Stan Freberg – The Old Payola Roll Blues Pat 1 & 2

Alan Freed, a disc jockey and early supporter of rock and roll (and also widely credited for actually coining the term), had his career and reputation greatly harmed by a payola scandal. Dick Clark’s early career was nearly derailed by a payola scandal, but he avoided trouble by selling his stake in a record company and cooperating with authorities.