NJBA Weekly Newsletter Friday, April 10^th, 2009 

NJBA Joins Other State Broadcasters on Capitol Hill

NJBA Treasurer Dick Taylor and NJBA Board Members Scott Taylor, Dick Swetits and Pat Delsi, accompanied NJBA President Paul Rotella to Washington last week to make the views of the NJBA well known to the Garden State’s Senators and Congressman, as well as FCC Commissioners Copps and Adelstein during the 2009 National Association of Broadcasters State Leadership Conference, which was held March 30-April 1 in Washington, D.C. The conference program included keynote speeches by Representatives Rick Boucher (VA-09), Mike Conaway (TX-11) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (MN), as well as former Senators John Breaux and Trent Lott and senior writer for U.S. News and World Report, Michael Barone. At the annual conference dinner, broadcasters honored former Federal Communications Commission Chairman James H. Quello. During the conference, approximately 500 broadcasters went to Capitol Hill to inform their members of Congress about legislative issues that could affect the broadcast industry, such as the performance tax and fairness doctrine.  The NJBA wants to express their appreciation to the hard work and dedication of its entire Board, especially those members who traveled to DC last week to amplify the voice of New Jersey broadcasters!

NAB Creates Anti-Royalty Site
The NAB's just-launched www.NoPerformanceTax.org aims to give stations a one-stop resource site in radio's effort to block a performance royalty. The site includes on-air spots, several banner ads for station websites and sample letters to send to Congress. As you know, the foreign-owned record labels continue to aggressively advocate that Congress impose a tax on local radio. Some analysts estimate this tax could cost the radio industry as much as $2-7 billion annually. Broadcasters are fiercely opposed to a tax on local radio to line the pockets of foreign record executives. It’s time for local stations to remind Congress why a performance tax is bad for radio, bad for artists and bad for communities. Through the great medium of radio, we can ensure members of Congress know listener support is strong. Members of Congress are currently back in their districts while Congress has adjourned for the Easter work period. Your representative's commitment to supporting local radio will help us in our efforts to defeat the performance tax. It is very important that you take action today. The international record labels are asking Congress for a handout – and they want to take it from your local radio stations. That may mean New Jersey Radio stations (like yours) will have to cut back on the music we play or the community services we provide. Learn more at: www.NoPerformanceTax.org Let them hear from you now, while they are in your area. Thank you for your efforts to help prevent a performance tax on local radio.

NJBA Speaks Out Against Performance Tax

NJBA President Paul Rotella, in reaction to advice from House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., that Broadcasters reach a deal on performance fees with record labels, responded by telling the Chairman in a face to face meeting in Washington that the music industry needs to resolve its relationship with artists before any other talks could begin. "The NJBA has great respect for the Chairman, but cautions broadcasters of the slippery slope they would embark upon if the door is opened for a new confiscatory tax plied upon NJ Radio. Rotella told the entire NJ delegation, as well as the FCC and other Congressional leaders, that the proposed performance tax would cripple the already struggling radio industry across the country. “The economy has its foot on the windpipe of broadcasters already, and this unfair tax would crush it!” Real negotiation should take place between the record labels and recording artists to renegotiate all of the abusive deals they have forced on artists, not seek unearned revenue from the very people that helped make their careers successful in the first place.   

Senate Joins in Opposition to Radio Performance Tax
Sens. Blanche Lincoln (AR) and John Barrasso (WY) introduced The Local Radio Freedom Act, (S. Con. Res. 14) last week while NJBA delegates lobbied the National Legislature against the tax. The resolution, which opposes the introduction of "any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge" on local radio stations, mirrors a House Resolution supported by 170 lawmakers Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK) has also voiced her support for the Local Radio Freedom Act by signing on as an original cosponsor.  

Millennium Radio Makes Big Changes in New Jersey
The New Jersey Broadcast Mainstay announced the promotion of Shari Lynch to VP/Director of National Network Sales, Wendy Wesley to VP/Director of Non-Traditional Revenue and Digital Initiatives and Lorenzo Caldara to Vice President/General Manager. These announcements came a few days after NJBA Chairman Andy Santoro revealed that he would be making his exit from Millennium as COO earlier this month. Santoro has been a steadfast proponent of the NJBA and NJ radio, recognized nationally as an industry leader. Bill Sauer, Millennium’s CEO, pledged his group’s continued support of the New Jersey Broadcasters Association and the NJBA wishes Shari, Wendy and Lorenzo good luck in their future roles.  The NJBA would like to extend our very best wishes to Andy Santoro as he starts the next chapter in his distinguished career. 

NJN to Honor NJBA’s Elizabeth G. Christopherson

The New Jersey Network will be honoring former NJN President and CEO Elizabeth Christopherson of the Rita Allen Foundation with the NJN Distinguished Service Award at NJN’s 2009 Benefit Celebration, which is set for June 2, 2009 at the Heldrich, 10 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, NJ. The Gala event will start at 5:00. The purpose of the 2009 NJN Benefit Celebration is to raise funds, ensuring that NJN can continue to provide high quality news and public affairs programming that millions of New Jerseyans rely on each year. Proceeds from this event will also be used to produce series and documentaries about the arts, cultural diversity, health issues, the environment and much more. For additional information, please contact Jill A. Hargrave at 609-777-5197 or jharg@njn.org.

Gary Locke has a Lock on Commerce

The Senate confirmed former Democratic Washington Gov. Gary Locke's nomination to serve as Secretary of Commerce by a unanimous vote last week. 
Locke was the third candidate to be nominated by the President after his first two choices to head Commerce, Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) withdrew from consideration for the post. Locke served two terms as Washington's governor. Congratulations to our new Commerce Secretary.

NAB Pushes Motorola
FM is coming closer to US cell phones! The latest FM-equipped Motorola ROKR EM35 mobile phone includes an internal FM antenna, which eliminates the need for a wired headset or connections to external speakers. NAB chief David Rehr and NJBA President Paul Rotella are urging Motorola to release it to the U.S. market. The FM “Chip” is in almost one billion phones worldwide already.

Job Seekers Beware

Job Seeking Broadcasters need to be vigilant when seeking employment online. Numerous job seekers have fallen victim to work-at-home scams. Victims are often hired to “process payments,” “transfer funds,” or “reship products.” These job scams involve the victims receiving and cashing fraudulent checks, transferring illegally obtained funds for the criminals, or receiving stolen merchandise and shipping it to the criminals. Other victims sign up to be a “mystery shopper,” receiving fraudulent checks with instructions to cash the checks and wire the funds to “test” a company’s services. Victims are told they will be compensated with a portion of the merchandise or funds. Work-at-home schemes attract otherwise innocent individuals, causing them to become part of criminal schemes without realizing they are engaging in illegal behavior. Job scams often provide criminals the opportunity to commit identity theft when victims provide their personal information, sometimes even bank account information, to their potential “employer.” The criminal/employer can then use the victim’s information to open credit cards, post on-line auctions, register websites, etc., in the victim’s name to commit additional crimes. If you have been a victim of Internet crime, please file a complaint at www.ic3.gov.

QuickNews wishes all members a Happy Passover and Easter!

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.