Grammy chief tries to put new shine on awards show.

HAVING been hired only three months earlier to head the organization that puts on the annual Grammy Awards, Neil Portnow had only one idea to contribute to last year's show: pairing the venerable New York Philharmonic with the moody sounds of the soft rock band Coldplay.

The novelty helped reverse a three-year ratings decline. This year, the president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has the chance to pull off a few more tricks.

Portnow, looking to lure younger viewers for the Feb. 8 show at Staples Center and the L.A. Convention Center, plans a vignette that sandwiches hip-hop act OutKast between old-time R&B artists George Clinton and Earth Wind & Fire.

After taking over an organization roiled by infighting and controversy, the one-time record producer has made some progress getting things back on track. He's on a quest to boost the nonprofit's profile; within the last two months, the academy has hired its first marketing czar and is now interviewing advertising agencies. With the academy's two charities, he's looking to establish partnerships with other philanthropic events.

"Until every viewer in America is watching the Grammys, we still have work to do," said Portnow. "Good ratings on that side will help us on the other."

For Portnow, who has just completed his first full year as head of the academy, it also marks the end of a long clean-up campaign that began after the resignation of his controversial predecessor, Michael Greene. Portnow has been trying to reassure industry types of the academy's new commitment to openness, and he's revamped the way the academy manages its oft-criticized charitable operations.

"He's done a tremendous job of reaching out to people," said Joe Galante, chairman of Bertelsmann A.G.'s country music division. "He goes out there and asks people about their issues. It's friendlier than in the past."

Troubled history

The Grammys are the most visible aspect of the academy, which was founded by five record industry executives in 1957 at the legendary Brown Derby restaurant after they were approached about suggesting musicians for stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Greene made it an industry powerhouse by updating the awards show and luring younger members. The effort culminated in a five-year contract, ending in 2005, in which Viacom Inc.'s CBS network pays $20 million a year to broadcast the show.

But Greene also attracted controversy, both for his hefty paycheck and for ruffling feathers. He blocked acts from performing on rival musicfests: A successful effort to get Michael Jackson to back out of appearing on the rival American Music Awards in 2001 led to a legal tiff, since settled, between the academy and the AMA' s producer, Dick Clark Productions.

"Mike could either be friendly for his own reasons or get real unfriendly. Then he'd never mend fences," said Galante.

There were also a string of sexual harassment suits. In April 2002, Greene resigned with a $6 million severance package. (Greene's attorney, Bert Deixler, did not return calls.)

The academy spent the next eight months considering successors before settling on Portnow, then the head of the west coast division of BMG's Zomba Recording Co., home of pop star Britney Spears.

Portnow's style is much different than Greene's.

"I'm my own man and I have my own ethics. I'm here to reset the tone and reset trust and I think I'm succeeding in that," Portnow said.

He started clearing out holdovers from the Greene era, but realized that more had to be done, especially with the academy's two charitable wings. The NARAS Foundation, which funds music education projects, was little-known outside the industry, while MusiCares, the drug rehab and financial assistance wing, had a tainted image since 1998 when it was revealed that all but a smidgen of its $1.7 million in donations was spent on overhead.

MusiCares filings with the IRS showed that it gave $1.4 million in grants in 2002 versus $1.2 million in the previous year, while donations climbed 28 percent, to $4.1 million. Among the expenditures: $368,578 to produce lavish galas.

To cut overhead, the academy combined most of the two charities' operations and created a joint production wing to supervise events production. It then lopped off two executive directors and put them under one vice president.

Portnow also felt the membership operations weren't reaching younger musicians whose votes would help keep the Grammys relevant. So the academy split its membership operations into two, adding an office to help its 12 branches lure local talent.

"It's going to take Neil a while before he really can get things going. But so far, he's doing fine and he's keeping the academy honest," said Garth Fundis, who was chairman at the time that Greene was ousted.

New directions

Two months ago, Portnow hired former Sony Pictures executive Evan Greene as vice president of marketing, then started interviewing ad agencies for a branding campaign that will likely play off the prestige of the Grammys.

But success will depend on bringing more eyeballs to the show. Part of the problem: An ever-increasing slate of award shows, including cable network MTV's own video awards show. This, along with pressure from advertisers to cut ad rates, may create problems for the academy on the revenue end when the CBS contract ends.

Meanwhile, there are complaints that the awards themselves don't reflect popular tastes and don't fully represent genres such as country--the biggest format in radio--and gospel. "Some of those guys voting on the awards haven't listened to a country record in years, but they'll vote for Johnny Cash because they know his name. It turns people off," said Galante.

To keep viewership on the upswing, Portnow wants to continue being creative with the offbeat duets, while adding new categories to stay up to date with new musical tastes. Part of that also plays into boosting membership, which select the categories and vote on the artists. As part of a membership campaign that's being launched around the Grammy festivities, the academy is targeting artists who have albums submitted for consideration, but aren't members themselves.

"If we want to be relevant at every level," Portnow said, "we have to broaden ourselves while maintaining what makes us special in the first place."