NJBA Weekly Newsletter Friday, June 26, 2009 

NJBA Elects New Slate of Officers and Directors for 2009

This week, the NJBA elected the following members to serve as Officers and Directors for the upcoming year: Chairman: Robert McAllan; First Vice Chairman: Dick Taylor; Second Vice President: Scott Taylor; Treasurer: Joseph Bilotta; Secretary: Bill Saurer; Board Members: Dan Finn, Charles McCreery, Dick Irland, Dan Spears, Art Camiolo, Dick Swetits, Pat Delsi, Elizabeth Christopherson, Bob Maschio, Andrew Santoro, John Mozes. The election of Officers and Board members was held on June 23, 2009 at the Association’s Annual Meeting, which was held at Forte Restaurant, 2154 Bridge Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach Borough, NJ.  

NJBA Chairman Bob McAllan set forth five key objectives for the NJBA, including the organization’s commitment to physical soundness, fighting the Performance Tax and Fairness Doctrine, Issue Advocacy in Trenton and DC, working to create and support an effective Emergency Alert System for the entire Garden State, and increase our efforts to enhance the image of the Garden State to benefit all NJ Broadcasters. The NJBA congratulates all of our new Board Members and Officers and thanks them for their dedicated “service above self” in the on-going mission of the NJBA. We are grateful for their support and we look forward to their contributions as leaders in our great industry! 

Another Music Legend Slips the Surly Bonds
The King of Pop, Michel Jackson, died yesterday afternoon at his home in Bel-Air California. A true superstar, his culture changing contributions to the music industry cannot be overstated. Michael was an enormously talented entertainer, and an enormously troubled human being. He leaves behind three small children, and billions of fans around the world. No one can doubt his incredible impact on popular music for almost 5 decades, constantly reinventing himself to please an ever growing global audience. Over the course of his remarkable career, Jackson sold more than three quarters of a billion albums worldwide. He was 50 years old.

Genachowski and Mc Dowel Confirmed; Baker Makes FCC Complete
It's official: The Senate has voted to confirm Julius Genachowski as the new Chairman of the FCC and Robert McDowell, who will continue to serve as a Commissioner, will also get another five years at the FCC. And, President Obama has formally nominated former NTIA chief Meredith Attwell Baker to join her GOP colleague Robert McDowell as the final FCC Nominee, thereby filling all of the seats on the Commission. Ms. Baker is the daughter of former Secretary of State James Baker and appears to be a friend to broadcasters, having said that the FCC should "tread lightly" when regulating the "robust and diverse media marketplace." That includes the Fairness Doctrine, which she depicted as a "u-turn on the road of progress." Ms. Baker is expected to be confirmed over the summer.

Anti-Performance Tax Roster Surpasses Last Year’s

NAB's Capitol Hill headcounters report 237 House lawmakers have now signed a resolution opposing a performance royalty for radio.  That's ten more than a year ago.  Sponsors say they'd like to get more than 240 names to help convince Democratic leadership not to bother calling a vote on a bill that would create a fee. (The NJBA would like more.) No other State has a more dedicated and committed group of Broadcasters, or a more loyal listening audience, than the Garden State, and we will continue to work on making this goal a reality. Thank you New Jersey!

NJ ALERT to be Launched Next Week

The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness and the Regional Operations and Intelligence Center have introduced NJ Alert, the State's new mass text and email emergency notification system, which will augment the EAS in New Jersey to help reach people “off the grid”. NJ Alert will be introduced to the public officially during the week of Monday 6/29. Internally, NJ Alert can be used as a networking tool, a communications tool and another way that you can stay connected to your employees, partners and customers through the USER GROUP feature. NJ Alert is an opt-in service for security purposes, and members of the NJBA can access it at www.njalert.org .  It is also voluntary, confidential and free (standard text messaging fees apply).  Only registered users can receive NJ Alert messages, thus eliminating the possibility of unwanted spam messages.  Additionally, statewide messages can only be disseminated by NJOEM, OHSP or the ROIC in the event of an emergency. The NJBA continues to fortify our EAS in the Garden State and is working with our Governor, State Police, Homeland Security and Congress to secure funding necessary to implement an effective EAS system to cover the entire State of New Jersey.

NJBA President Appointed to National EAS Committee

NJBA President Paul Rotella has been appointed to the National Alliance of State Broadcasters of America (NASBA) Emergency Alert Planning Committee, which will convene in Washington next week.  The committee is charged with trying to facilitate the task of making sure the EAS works in every state across the country, which, unfortunately, is not the case in New Jersey and many other jurisdictions across America.  We are hopeful that state and federal authorities will address this unacceptable circumstance in consultation with our committee.

iPhone Radio App is More Popular Than Ever

In the new OS 3.0 model released last week, Internet radio will continue streaming and can be heard in the background while you’re using the Safari browser to visit your favorite internet site. Our industry can reinvigorate radio now more than ever because of the younger people coming back to radio through the digital revolution and the ever present hand held, which, if you’re old enough to remember, is merely the latest incarnation of the modern day transistor radio! Radio works in spite of every obstacle that comes before it. It just may not do a good enough job of promoting itself as the supreme media of choice, which it is! There is simply no comparison to the reach and depth of Free Over the Air Radio!  I hear you can hear it here everywhere!

The Trenton Report from The Marcus Group

Busy, Busy, Busy trying to get a State budget approved. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will be done in the State Capital until the budget is struck and all we can do is hold our breath hoping for the inspired wisdom of our leaders in Trenton to wisely resolve the budget crises in New Jersey, equitably and intelligently. 

As this is written, the New Jersey Assembly and Senate are considering the state budget, which has almost $29 billion in spending and increases certain taxes. The tax increases include cigarettes, liquor and wine, as well as on individuals who earn more than $400,000 and an elimination of property-tax deductions for households earning more than $250,000. The budget was scheduled for a vote last week, but was delayed because $400 million was “found” - the recent tax-amnesty program was more successful than originally thought. It was so successful that rebate checks, for households earning less than $75,000, were restored.

Webcaster Act Awaits President Obama’s Signature

The Webcaster Act has been approved by both Houses.  Once the Act receives the signature of President Obama, the law will go into effect, and give webcasting groups and the recording industry 30 days to reach a settlement (or settlements) on Internet radio music royalties for the use of sound recordings.  While the parties did not need the Act to reach settlements for the period of 2011-2015, which is subject to a new royalty proceeding which is now in its early stages, the WSA extension was necessary to cover royalties for the period of 2006-2010, which are covered by the Copyright Royalty Board decision released in 2007.  Be warned New Jersey broadcasters: Don’t let this happen to you!

NJ Broadcaster Legend Opts for Better Programming

Few people know that Ed McMahon got his big break by being noticed as a “barker” selling his wares in New Jersey on the Boardwalk of Atlantic City. But it’s true. Best known for his 30 years as Johnny Carson’s second banana on NBC’s “Tonight Show,” Ed McMahon continued in show business long after Carson retired in 1992. McMahon died Tuesday morning at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 86. McMahon’s long career in broadcasting began in the 1940s at WLLH-AM in Lowell, MA. He moved on to WCAU-AM &TV in Philadelphia in the 1950s, where he was first noticed on the Boardwalk selling produce. He was paired with Carson in 1957 as announcer for the ABC daytime game show “Who Do You Trust?” When Carson left to join the “Tonight Show” as host in 1962, McMahon went with him and delivered the two most famously paired words in show business:  “He-e-e-e-e-e-ere’s Johnny” for Carson’s entire 30-year run on the NBC show. Lesser known than his media career was his brave military career. McMahon was a US Marine Corps pilot in World War II and took a break from his early broadcasting career to return to active duty as a fighter pilot in the Korean War. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve as a Colonel and was then commissioned as a Brigadier General in the California Air National Guard. To be sure, we’re gonna miss him. Hi-yoooo, Sir!

NAB Radio Show set For September 22-25 in Philadelphia; Register before July 4^th and Save $200.00

The NAB Radio Show is close to home this year and we’re expecting a great

Garden State turn-out. Be sure to take advantage of the early registration discount price, which saves attendees $200.00 by registering for the show by the Fourth of July.  For more information on early registration discounts and registration, check out www.nab.com right away. Hope to see you in Philly!

Quick News Correction: Oops!

Bob Lund of WMCN was good enough to point out that in last week’s Quick News, we cited the new TV station being developed by Bob McAllan and Company was NJ’s only full power commercial station. In fact, there are actually four full-power commercial TV stations licensed to NJ…WMCN (IND), WMBC (IND), WMGM (NBC), which was actually Howard Green’s former station, and WWSI (Telemundo). WMCN and WMBC are non affiliated independents, while WMGM is an NBC affiliate. We thank Bob for alerting us of this error and apologize to all of our readers for the inaccurate classification in last week’s edition.  

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.