College Radio Issues

We will spend some time examining issues related to college radio in the coming posts.

1. Webcasting Fees and recordkeeping/Reports of of use.
2. The “Performance Tax”
3. “Localism”

1. Webcasting Fees and Recordkeeping/Reports of use.
For a background on these issues, see the links on the right. The current status report is that the bills introduced in Congress to address the fees have stalled. There are two other avenues being pursued to correct the fees. The first is the courts. Various parties, including CBI have filed an appeal of the fees set by the CRB in the Courts. The second avenue is a negotiated settlement.

Other than cap on the total minimum fees referenced in a previous post, which is inconsequential to college radio stations, no settlements have been announced. With respect to recordkeeping/reports of use, they are still required, even though no regulations have been announced that would require a due date for this data.

2. The “Performance Tax”. A bill, know as The Performance Rights Act, would require all FCC licensed non-commercial stations to pay an annual fee of $1,000 per year IN ADDITION TO the fees already paid to ASCAP, SESAC, BMI and SoundExchange for the use of recorded music on the station.

3. Localism and the FCC. The FCC has proposed new rules concerning every broadcast stations programming to insure diversity and localism. See the text of the proposal here. If implemented, this would require stations to have someone present in the studios during all hours of operation, even if automated. It would also require detailed reports concerning how music is selected, the music played, the formation of community advisory boards and weigh license renewal based on how well the station complied with the proposed(?) localism guidelines.

Each of these issues are extremely pertinent to stations at schools across the nation.

Future entries, coming soon(!), will discuss these issues in detail and suggest how you can respond to these proposals that will impact your station.