Is it unrealistic to think that a programmer can one day be a broadcast owner? Most people would say that yes, in consolidated radio today, not only is it too difficult for independent owners to compete, there are few stations left to buy that are affordable. And that may be true in the major and medium-sized markets. But there are still opportunities in small markets to begin building a broadcast corporation. In fact, we've seen several veteran Urban programmers accomplish this in the past few years: Steve Hegwood's On Top Communications and Mike Roberts' Macon, GA cluster. More recently, veteran Baton Rouge programmer Lou Bennett ventured into the broadcast ownership when he joined Prime Cor Communications as VP/Operations & Programming and co-owner. In this week's Urban section of R&R, we speak with Bennett on his transition from PD to owner.

Iz U Adding Nelly Next Week?
After joining P. Diddy and Murphy Lee to make audiences shake their tailfeathers, Nelly quickly returns to the fold to issue "Iz U" to Urban radio, the lead single from his upcoming project, Da Derrty Versions (Remix Album). Lee and Ron Isley are among the guests on the CD, which will feature remixes of Nelly's hits, plus some brand new cuts for fans to sink their teeth into. "It's strictly for the fun, you know," says Nelly about the Nov. 25 release. "I'm not trying to gain anything from it. We've been real fortunate enough that I've been able to have this type of success, so it's definitely not a capitalism thing; it's just having fun. We wanted to redo some joints that we thought that people helped made classics to us." As for the Jason "Jay E" Epperson-produced "Iz U," fans of the television show The People's Court are in for an extra treat -- incorporated into the track is the theme song to the TV series.