The FCC isn't quite as aggressive as Eliot Spitzer and, as a result, radio may well end up walking away essentially unscathed by the payola probe started by New York's pro-active attorney general. This quote from the Hollywood Reporter nearly makes me want to gag, "While details of the Enforcement Bureau's proposal were sketchy, sources said that radio station groups would be required to set aside a certain amount of airtime for music produced independently. The radio groups also would agree to a code of conduct and an education program, the sources said. As part of the deal, the radio broadcasters would not admit to any wrongdoing."
It's disgusting that what passes for a settlement with the FCC amounts to little more than playing a few indie bands every once in a while and promising not to be bad little radio stations ever again. Message received, find more creative ways to violate the public trust next time. Meanwhile no one takes blame, no one admits any wrongdoing and the practice essentially continues unabated.

These are your airwaves, and the FCC is selling you down the river. Everyone seems to have forgotten that the FCC has a mandate to protect the public interest in the radio spectrum, rather than that of the station owners.

Oh how things have changed. When a payola scandal hit in the late 1950's, DJ's were run out of town on rails, Alan Freed ended up broke, drunk and eventually dead for taking songwriting credits and cash to play rock music and Dick Clark only narrowly escaped a similar fate by divesting his interests in recording, and sticking to radio.

See Also:
Payola Evidence Street
Spitzer forces 2 million dollar settlement from CBS
ClearChannel busts (only) two programmers for payola
Universal to cough up $12M in payola case
Eliot Spitzer noses into radio payola