Radio geek links

If you're a radio geek like myself, there are a few crucial links you ought to have stashed away in your special bookmarks folder titled "Nerd Alert!" It's how I stay so up-to-date on current events in the radio industry, and it's also how I got this hot ass.

First, of course, is FMQB. I first discovered this site the morning Jamie called me in a panic early one morning in February 2005 to tell me that Y-100 was going to flip formats that day and that she had been maced and drug out of the studio by Radio One riot police along with the rest of the interns. I read updates on that site for the rest of the day and have been hooked on it for industry news ever since. One of their feature articles today, FCC Opens Commenting On XM/Sirius Merger, deals with a topic we've touched on here at Open All Night a couple of times, and is worth checking out.

The second link was relayed to me by one Dany Sloan and is called Arcane Radio Trivia. It can be a bit dry at times but for the most part it's filled with interesting, uh, trivia. What did you expect?

The last link is one I found while trolling around the internet looking for dirt on a former employer that fired me some years ago (not obsessing, I swear - just bored). The search was sparked by a link Bob sent me regarding a station I've applied for work with on more than one occasion and it ultimately led me to this message board: Radio-info.com. Here is the Philadelphia sub-forum, where people call each other names, geeks with delusions of grandeur claim to have inside information, and radio snobs quietly peck at each and every change or rumored change in the #7 market. It is here that I have delightedly taken to trolling the folks that claim that the Kidd Chris show is the zenith of talk radio, or that contestant callers on Power 99 are to blame for the skyrocketing murder rate in Philadelphia. (It's pronounced "Sep-tem-BER" not "Sep-tem-BAH"! If those black folks would only talk right, we might see an end to the violence around here! )

Speaking of racism and radio, check out this commercial for WHIT - Power 102FM if you haven't already.



Link - [FMQB]
Link - [Arcane Radio Trivia]
Link - [Radio-info.com]

CRB set to kill net radio dead

I've mentioned this twice before, and today there's a new shitty update:

Internet radio broadcasters were dealt another blow late Monday, when the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board upheld its decision to raise the level of royalty fees. The suggested new rates could potentially be high enough to put the majority of Webcasters out of business, though the CRB said that the appeals filed had not "made a sufficient showing of new evidence or clear error or manifest injustice that would warrant rehearing."

Also in the CRB ruling, the board opted not to postpone the May 15 deadline that would begin the new rates. It also clarified how royalties would be calculated for 2006 and 2007, allowing the use of estimated ATH (Aggregate Tuning Hours), but just as a "transitional period." The board also noted that the new rates would also apply to music streaming onto mobile devices.

There you have it, folks. Unless something is done to change this at the last minute, May 15th is the day you'll likely hear thousands of internet radio streams go off the air.

In an encouraging sign, a new group has popped up to fight this. I am joining to help and I hope that you will, too:

On the other hand, the new coalition SaveNetRadio has launched www.SaveNetRadio.org, which is made up of representatives from Live365, Pandora and other online broadcasters. Spokesperson Jake Webb said in a statement, "The CRB's ill informed decision to increase royalty fees to this unjustifiable level will quite simply bankrupt most Webcasters and destroy Internet radio. Radio on the Internet is not a passing fad or for a niche audience. It is an enormously popular medium that offers unprecedented diversity for its more than 70 million listeners and for artists. Particularly for independent artists, Internet radio has the ability to reach millions of fans across the country who would otherwise never hear their music. Net radio has changed the way people listen to, buy, promote and market music and we cannot afford to let it die."

Link via [FMQB]