NJBA Weekly Newsletter Friday, February 26, 2010 

We’re Back! Annual Conference Set for June 7-8 in AC!

The Mid-Atlantic Broadcasters Annual Conference is on! The NJBA and the Maryland, DC, Delaware Association of Broadcasters have agreed on a date for this year’s long anticipated Conference, which will be held in Atlantic City this June 7-8. Trump Plaza was selected as the host hotel for the conference and an informative and exciting agenda is being prepared by the Convention committee. Watch for more details in Quick News, but for now: SAVE THE DATE!

Eternal Vigilance

When NJBA President Paul Rotella heard Mike Huckabee make a causal comment on his FOX News Channel TV Show last Sunday night that he was hopeful “Artists would get paid” after being baited by his guest to comment on the Performance Tax, he was shocked. He immediately notified his NASBA colleagues around the nation and his Arkansas counterpart and friend Jim McCall immediately sprang into action, contacting the former Arkansas governor forthwith. The chatter caused by this obvious gaffe through the broadcaster community throughout the nation caused Mr. Huckabee to issue the following empathic retraction and explanation of his comments on his show, which he sent to all NJBA, NAB and NASBA members. At Governor Huckabee’s request, Quick News is re-printing at his request, in its entirety below:

Dear Fellow Broadcasters: I wanted to email you personally and explain something that has been brought to my attention and unfortunately misinterpreted. A musical guest on my Fox News show this week voiced his support for a fee to be paid to performers when their songs are aired for broadcast.  While I agree performers should be paid more for their work, it should come from the labels-NOT from broadcasters who promote the artists daily by the airing of their songs and broadcasters are actually those responsible for taking an artist from obscurity to celebrity. Radio Broadcasters already pay fees in order to play an artist's song through ASCAP and BMI. I have never supported the plan for a performance tax, I don't support it now and I won't support it in the future. It doesn't make sense, plain and simple. I have spoken against it publicly and will continue to. I had just a few seconds left after my guest made reference to his position---hardly time to refute or agree other than to say that maybe Congress would listen to him more than to the rest of America.  My comment was a statement about Congress-not broadcasters. I don't want there to be any confusion or misinterpretation of where I stand on this issue. I stand firmly with the Broadcasters and whole-heartily oppose a Performance Tax on them. I ask and would truly appreciate you forwarding this email out to other broadcasters as well and thank you for your service and partnership AGAINST the performance tax. Sincerely, Mike Huckabee

Thank you, Governor Huckabee, and thank you NASBA!

NASBA?

NASBA stands for the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations, and is an important and effective resource for all broadcaster associations in the United States of America. Every Broadcaster Association in the nation has an executive officer who serves on the NASBA Board of Directors. “We share ideas, solutions and concerns with each other on a daily basis, said NJBA President and CEO Paul Rotella, “It is simply an incredible resource for all of us who work to protect our industry. The collective wisdom and warm camaraderie constantly available from my esteemed colleagues from around the US was instrumental in helping me do my job on behalf of our great New Jersey broadcasters”, Rotella added. NASBA will be convening in Washington this weekend to continue to advocate on behalf of important broadcast issues. NASBA, through its EAS Committee, is responsible for producing the annual EAS Summit in Washington. This year, representatives from the FCC, FEMA, DHS and Congress will meet with state EAS coordinators, SECC Chairs, and broadcasters to find ways to fix and improve the nation’s ailing EAS system. The NJBA is grateful for the unqualified support, advice, and friendship, it has received from NASBA and our talented state broadcaster executives from around the country.

Wave of Change at Atlantic

Atlantic Broadcasting Group, which has radio stations  WMGM, WOND,WJSE,WTKU and WBSS in Atlantic City, yesterday announced that Art Camiolo has been appointed  Market Manager of the 5 station group. He replaces current Atlantic Broadcasting President Brett DeNafo, who is moving on to explore other business interests after serving as GM of Atlantic since October of 2008. Both Brett and Art have been active members of the NJBA and serve on our Board of Directors. Mr. Camiolo, who has served on the NJBA Board of Directors since 1993, will be starting at the stations on March 8th. The NJBA wishes both Mr. Camiolo and Mr. DeNafo the very best of luck as they begin new chapters in their professional career and thanks them for their on-going service to our great association.

Thank You to NJBA and Local Radio Supporters and Allies

So far, over 15,000 letters to Congress have been generated as a result of our advocacy efforts against the unfair and reckless Performance Tax. "We're pleased that the bipartisan congressional opposition to an RIAA tax on free radio continues to grow," NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said. "We're hopeful that Congress will ultimately reject RIAA's reckless campaign against America's hometown radio stations." The NJBA wishes to express its gratitude to our fellow broadcaster Mike Huckabee for his quick response in setting the record straight and putting forth this strong, and passionate, support of the Local Radio Freedom Act, which is being championed by the NAB and our fellow broadcasters throughout the nation as well as our magnificent NASBA colleagues. Most especially, we continue to send New Jersey Congressmen Smith, Garrett, Adler, LoBiondo, Andrews, Frelinghuysen, Pallone, Lance, Pascrell, and Sires our fervent appreciator for standing up to the greedy, foreign owned record companies by co-sponsoring the Act (H. Con. Res. 49), and we continue to pray for the enlightenment of Congressmen Holt, Payne and Rothman, who have yet to stand up for the people of New Jersey and the local broadcasters who serve them. Hopefully, Mr. Huckabee’s commence sense will pervade the rest of Washington this week as we respectfully, but forcefully, ask these Congressmen for their support once again. Learn more at the  www.noperformancetax.org website and see why local Radio must remain free!

NJBA Headed to Washington, D.C.

NJBA President Paul Rotella and a delegation of NJBA Board members led by NJBA Chairman Bob McAllan, are headed to Washington to advocate on behalf of Garden State broadcasters next week at the annual NAB State Leadership Conference. Broadcasters from around the nation will descend on the nation’s capital to discuss the many issues facing our industry like the Performance Tax, Fairness Doctrine, EAS, Broadband and Spectrum reallocation, the inclusion of FM Chips in Cell phones and many other new FCC regulations. As of this writing, NJBA Board Members making the journey to DC include NJBA Vice Chairmen Scott Taylor, Dick Taylor, and Board Members Dick Swetits and Pat Delsi.  Quick News will report the result of our bi-partisan congressional visits in next week’s “Washington” edition.  

New Jersey has a New Treasurer

NJBA President Paul Rotella was in Trenton last week at a Senate Budget Committee meeting where Andrew Eristoff was recommended for confirmation by just one vote. This week, the full NJ Senate did confirm Governor Christie’s treasury designee this week. With one of the most difficult jobs in Trenton (or America for that matter) Mr. Eristoff will be working hard to close the estimated $2.2 Billion budget gap.  Eristoff had been serving as acting treasurer since the governor’s inauguration on Jan. 19. The Garden State has been forced yet again to make mid-year spending adjustments as tax revenues fall below projections due to the ailing economy. The NJBA wishes Treasurer Eristoff and all of our elected and appointed leaders in Trenton good luck as they grapple with this ever growing veritable quandary.  

Answers to FCC Future of Media Project Extended to May 7th

Well, once again, the future will be put off, at least for a while!  That’s the word from Washington as the deadline for FCC’s Future of Media project (FOMp), which posed a long series of extraordinarily broad questions for public comment to our broadcasters, was put off for a few months. The deadline initially set for those comments was March 8th. If you’ve been burning the midnight oil in a desperate struggle to pull your thoughts together in time to meet that deadline, relax. You can take a breather! The Commission has announced that the deadline for comments has been extended to May 7, 2010.

 The Trenton Report: From The Marcus Group

First things first - Congratulations are in order! Paula Dow has been sworn as attorney general - promising to keep pursuing high level (and all level) corruption and Street gangs while balancing her office’s divergent responsibilities; Senator Bill Baroni was appointed by Governor Christie to the position of deputy director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and Lee Solomon’s nomination to the Board of Public Utilities was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. In addition, this week Governor Christie signed an executive order putting restrictions on state authorities, boards and commissions to curb spending. His order includes capping travel expenses at $250 unless approved by his office and calls for department heads in the Executive Branch to provide a recommendation to the Governor's Office of whether or not certain State Authorities should be eliminated. Reminiscent of the leap Butch and Sundance took off a cliff a generation ago, the Gov said he and the leaders in the Garden State must “jump off the cliff and do what needs to be done.” (Hope for a soft landing!)

QuickNews is provided for general information purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal or tax advice pertaining to any specific factual situation. Legal and tax related decisions should be made only after proper consultation with a legal professional of your choosing.

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