Consolidation has led directly to downsizing, format changes, and the lowest number of black-owned stations in decades. Black music radio was born just a few years after the second World War. Returning black soldiers, who had fought hard for a double victory victory against fascism abroad and racism at home -- rejoined a 1940s America still characterized by strict segregation laws and unprosecuted lynching.

It took years and a heavyweight contender named Martin Luther King, who used an unconventional nonviolent strategy to win the championship fight that led to the Civil Rights Act guaranteeing freedom, justice, and equality for all people. Beginning with WDIA-Memphis in 1948 and continuing through the 1970s success of WBLS in New York, black stations increased in numbers, wereconsistently profitable, and established relationships within their communities that many of the surviving outlets still value today.

At the same time, black-owned record companies appeared on the landscape and also prospered. Nonetheless, the radio and record industries remained extremely segregated throughout that 20-plus year time span. Black radio was considered inferior and backward; the music it played was stigmatized as "the devil's creation. It held little appeal for mainstream corporations or the elite tastemakers in the country.

But in black neighborhoods from Memphis to Harlem, where individuals sought affirmation and entertainment to escape the struggles of daily life, black radio and R&B music was just what the doctor ordered. In those days, white-owned record stores kept small, separate sectionsfor "race music."

There was no such thing as "crossover potential" in radio, and due to widespread racial discrimination and a total lack ofinterest in black culture, black radio and music -- exiled together -- were allowed to flourish inside their respective communities. With the advent of television in the 1950s, radio had to reinvent itself. That's when music radio took hold. Rock & roll was born (originating on black radio) and became the musical force. Interest in black music began to blossom. Black radio expanded from block programming to 24-hour status.

The music (initially viewed only as cover material for artists like Pat Boone, Ricky Nelson, and Elvis) achieved "mainstream" acceptance and success, as did entrepreneurs like Berry Gordy and James Brown who, in the '60s, took star-studded showcases on the road to entertainment- starved fans.

Later, both Gordy and JB became role models and mentors,opening doors and helping other black people get directly involved in the music industry. In the '70s, black-owned radio stations continued to increase, while black- owned record companies began to decline in the face of record industryconsolidation. In the '80s, black music divisions at mainstream record companies were very strong. Today there are many boutique black labels, but very few black-owned record companies. At the same time, black radio was delivering large profits.

Sometime in the late '70s, general market corporations discovered that black equaled green, and that black music had already "crossed over" to a much wider audience. Thus began the buying of black-formatted stations -- and a new, advertiser- friendly name: Urban. The two-fisted assault of deregulation and consolidation now has blackradio on the ropes. Consolidation has led directly to downsizing, format changes, and the lowest number of black-owned stations in decades. Given the death of the minority tax certificate, the finite number of radio licenses available, and the banking industry's sole interest in funding multiple station deals, the possibility of increasing the number of minority owners is minute.

There exist fewer opportunities than ever before -- and more barriers that have tobe broken down, jumped over, or otherwise resolved. Deregulation was a knockout blow for black radio. It landed hard, right in the midsection, knocking the air out of many and sending others running from the ring. But a few fighters have held their ground and intend to make this a 15-round decision.