KZLA Takes Imus Challenge, So Group Wins Charity Spins

Texas alternative-country group the Flatlanders became a charity case on Wednesday as Los Angeles country radio station KZLA-FM (93.9) took New York talk-show host Don Imus up on his offer to donate $10,000 to charity for the first top-10 market station to play any song from the band’s “Now Again” album.

“The Flatlanders get some exposure, our listeners get to hear something a little different, and a charity gets some money--everybody wins,” said KZLA operations manager R.J. Curtis.

He had worked a deal whereby Imus would donate $5,000 if the station played one song, “Wavin’ My Heart Good-Bye,” hourly throughout the day on Wednesday. That would be about half the plays needed to place it in the station’s top-10 rotation, the only condition Imus placed on his offer.

But during an on-air interview Wednesday with morning show host Peter Tilden, Imus said, “I’m going to give you the whole 10 grand.” The money will go to Tilden’s Children, an organization with eight transitional homes throughout Los Angeles for homeless kids and their families.

“Now Again” has won the praise of critics and sporadic airplay on a few small stations, but no country station in a top-10 market had played anything from the album, according to Lon Helton, country music editor of Radio & Records.