Pitchfork

It's the first thing they warn you about when you start in radio: dead air is to be avoided at all costs. But unless radical steps are taken to alter the costs soon to be inflicted on web-based broadcasters, there's going to be a whole lot of dead air streaming over the internet.

On June 26, major webcasters such as Live365.com, Pandora.com, AccuRadio.com, and popular Santa Monica, California-based KCRW are among those who will silence their feeds for 24 hours in a show of solidarity against the upcoming July 15 rate hike on net radio royalties. Though regular programming will indeed be interrupted, the broadcasters won't simply be broadcasting silence; many stations will run intermittent PSAs detailing the current plight of net radio interspersed with ambient noise to give listeners an idea of what they'll be hearing should the royalty increases stand. KCRW is producing an hour-long program pleading the case of net radio entitled "D-Day for Webcasters," which they plan to loop all day Tuesday. Additional broadcasters will continue to be added to the roster of supporters for this day of silence.

In other net radio news, late last month, several large webcasters (including National Public Radio and the Digital Media Association) filed an emergency stay to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit, seeking to delay the July 15 rate hike. The decision on whether or not to grant the stay will be made soon in an appellate court. Additionally, on Thursday, June 28, the House Committee on Small Business will hold a hearing between artists and webcasters entitled "Assessing the Impact of the Copyright Royalty Board Decision to Increase Royalty Rates on Recording Artists and Webcasters."

In a related topic, recent bipartisan legislation has been sponsored by Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Lee Terry (R-NE) and Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to expand the way licenses are issued for low-power FM radio stations. (That would be regular terrestrial radio, not internet.)

A 2000 bill permitted churches, schools, labor unions and other community groups to apply for these licenses, but a stipulation in the ruling made the licenses available only in rural areas. The proposed legislation-- the "Local Community Radio Act of 2007"-- seeks to offer urban broadcasters an opportunity to earn one of these licenses, which would allow for innumerable alternatives to the current Clear Channel-dominated terrestrial radio options.

If Doyle's name sounds familiar, that could be due to his fandom of fellow PA resident Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk. Those looking for three minutes of incongruity after all those facts should check out this video of Doyle riding for his dogs Girl Talk and recently-arrested mixtape mastermind DJ Drama in front of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.