The Wires (Mar 10, 2007)

Kurt Hanson 3-9-07: Should the recent CRB royalty rate ruling stand, SoundExchange would become a "$2.3 billion a year business", according to a new article from online news source BetaNews. The article also compares the proposed rates against what terrestrial broadcasters currently pay performance royalty organizations like ASCAP, and points out the glaring disparity between the figures. Read more details from the article in today's issue of RAIN, available now at http://www.kurthanson.com.

Karmazin: Satcasters Would Need to Support Legacy Radios for About 10 Years. If the two satellite radio companies merge, they would need to support two separate technology platforms until about 2016.

The Wires (Mar 9, 2007)

(read more - Bill Virgin-Seattle PI) One of the industry's continuing worries is the level of listenership among young people. The current crop of 12- to 17-year-olds has grown up not counting radio as its primary channel for learning about or hearing music. To find out what stations young listeners are tuned in to, the Seattle P-I asked Arbitron Inc. for the five most popular commercial stations among listeners 12-17 in the most recent quarterly ratings for the Seattle-Tacoma market.

Internet Radio Represented At Congressional Hearing. WASHINGTON—March 8: In addition to radio industry names like Karmazin and Smyth, Real Networks SVP, Legal & Business Affairs, Robert Kimball, also testified before yesterday’s congressional hearing. His area of interest and concern: Internet Radio.

RAIN 3-8-07: Congressional representatives and industry figures alike took time in yesterday's "Future of Radio" subcommittee hearing to express their alarm at the recent CRB ruling, with one key rep calling the decision "a body blow to many nascent Internet radio broadcasters." Read more details from yesterday's hearing in today's issue of RAIN, available now at http://www.kurthanson.com. Also in today's issue: RBR gets reactions from broadcasters to the CRB ruling, and exhorts the NAB to get involved with the situation immediately. David Oxenford gives an overview of what Webcasters can expect from an appeals process, and suggests a few possible ways the next few months of life under the CRB ruling could play out. Net Radio Sales president Jennifer Lane issues a "call to action" for broadcasters to start defending their streams. One RBR reader submits a new CRB twist on a classic fable.

BREAKING NEWS: Captain America is DEAD (Mar 8, 2007)

103.7 Free-FM Changes Uninspiring (Mar 8, 2007)

Welcome Back Jerry, Ted, and Andy (Mar 8, 2007)

Rudeness at La Mesa Pizza Place (Mar 8, 2007)

All in all, I left and ate at the nearby Round Table Pizza. The $6 pizza offer just wasn't worth my money to do business for a boss that rude.

Tom Leykis is right. Fat women are mean and rude. Hire some cute Latina ladies and dump the bitch that's driving away customers.

Also a turn-off: smoking employees outside the building. I can't stand cigarette smoke and I find such people to be arrogant and disrespectful. I don't do business with that store. I don't think I will live after walking through the thick cloud of smoke by the doorway.

The Wires (Mar 8, 2007)

WestStar TalkRadio Network's Kim Komando, which is aired on more than 400 radio stations, has received a 2007 Gracie Allen Award for Individual Achievement (Program Host) by the American Women in Radio & Television for her work hosting the nation's largest syndicated weekend talk radio program, The Kim Komando Show. Way to go, Kim! Great show. Too bad it's not carried in San Diego.

Coinciding with St. Patrick's Day, XM Green: Radio Ireland (XM channel 200) will offer a special 72-hour national broadcast channel devoted exclusively to the music and culture of Ireland

Kurt Hanson 3-7-07: National media coverage of the CRB ruling and its potentially disastrous consequences for the Webcasting industry has begun to spread through mainstream news outlets like the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, among several others. We've compiled links to numerous sources which will be updated as more continue to pop up across the Web. Read that full list in today's issue of RAIN, available now at http://www.kurthanson.com.

Forbes: Internet music broadcasters worry that a new ruling could put many of them out of business by drastically increasing the royalty payments they have to make to record labels and artists. Though only fractions of a penny per performance -- $.0008 for 2006 to $.0019 in 2010 -- these payments will mount quickly for traditional over-the-air stations that simulcast their music programs to large Internet audiences, critics say.

NJ Star-Ledger: Internet music broadcasters worry that a new ruling could put many of them out of business by drastically increasing the royalty payments they have to make to record labels and artists. Though only fractions of a penny per performance -- $.0008 for 2006 to $.0019 in 2010 -- these payments will mount quickly for traditional over-the-air stations that simulcast their music programs to large Internet audiences, critics say.

Milwaukee JS: Wal-Mart's decision this week to carry the JVC HD-W10 receiver - which features HD radio for less than $190 - is a step toward getting the new technology into the hands of radio listeners. It's not a big step. But it does, at the very least, delay the demise of HD radio

FMQB Exclusive: A2IM's Gordon Looks To The Future Of Indie Music On The Radio. Saying the pending agreement is "not the end of a negotiation, but the start of a relationship," A2IM's Peter Gordon speaks with FMQB about the landmark deal for independent artists.

Kevin Martin Speaks On Satellite Merger. FCC Chairman questions how much satellite radio subscribers will be charged if XM and Sirius merge.

Copyright Royalty Board Votes For Internet Fee Hike

Reader Blurt and SD City Beat: nothing on radio again.

The Wires (Mar 7, 2007)

Sosd: Radio giants agree to pay hefty fine to the FCC. Settlement ends pay-for-play probe.

Webpro News: In a decision that could drive the nail in the coffin to Internet radio providers, the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board has endorsed a proposal by SoundExchange to enact royalty rates for webcasts and streaming music sites that will stay in effect from 2006 until 2010. SoundExchange, the royalty collecting division of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), will seek to retroactively charge webcasters for streaming content delivered throughout 2006 to users, a decision that could send the sites packing for good (read more - WebPro News).

Happy Hare: Last week, I promised that I would tell you about my adventures while working weekends at KPOP, the San Diego Pop Standard station. I took the gig, because I felt like riffing, nothing serious, so I had promised myself not to get too involved in a dubious cause, which every Pop Standard (65 median demos) station is these days. I also took it because it was a dirty job that no Illegal alien was willing to take. However, I did not keep that promise to myself, and got serious not long afterward. I was compelled to help resurrect this marvelous.

RadioandRecords: NAB Places More Ads Opposing Satcasters' Merger. Ads appear in publications aimed at legislators. The NAB, which has been relentless in its efforts to convince all who'll listen that the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio is a bad idea, is buying full-page advertisements in newspapers and ad space on a new political news Web site aimed at a Capitol Hill readership in hopes of convincing legislators that a merger would hurt consumers.

Kurt Hanson 3-6-07: Webcasters and audiences alike are rushing to contest the CRB ruling on Internet radio royalties, publishing online petitions and creating sites loaded with information aimed to draw attention to the grave fate Net radio would face should the rulings go uncontested and unchanged. We have compiled a list of those resources, which will be updated as more continue to pop up across the Web. Also: Pandora executives declare that the CRB ruling would mean certain death for their service, as co-founder Tim Westergren notes that "it's over for us and every other Internet radio service" unless action is taken. A payola settlement could change the sound of AM/FM radio, as part of the agreement demands more airtime for indie labels and artists.

Winter P1 2007 Arbitrends (Mar 7, 2007)

Note to Blazin' 98.9 (Mar 7, 2007)