NJBA Weekly Newsletter Friday, October 30, 2009

NJBA Promotes AMBER/EAS Compliance

 NJBA President Paul Rotella completed the Department of Justice’s AMBER Alert training certification this week at a DOJ sponsored symposium held in Tampa. The event was attended by broadcasters and law enforcement from around the world and focused on the proper use of the Emergency Alert Protocols to be employed in times of national emergency and proper AMBER alert activations of EAS. The NJBA has been a fierce advocate of alerting government officials of the urgent need to update and upgrade New Jersey’s EAS.

2010 NJ PRESS Credential Applications Now Available

The 2010 New Jersey Press Credential Application is now available and can be downloaded via the NJBA website, or via e-mail, upon request and verification of eligibility.  All checks for registration fees must accompany your application and will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Also, please remember to check your station inspection expiration date and if expired:  it’s time to renew. Please call Mary at the Broadcast House to schedule an Alternate Inspection appointment during business hours.

No Media Attracts an Audience Like Radio

Internet radio and music sales may have muddied the waters for artists trying to forge a bond with fans, but the road to the top of the charts still leads directly through local radio, said panelists at the recent CMJ Music Marathon in Manhattan. RBR.com seconds that sentiment: "Nothing has changed in the relationship between radio exposure and success for a recording artist." It’s all about volume, and that means exposure to as many ears as possible – the kind of exposure that just isn’t available at any one spot on the internet. Only radio…New Jersey radio! The record labels, however, seem insistent on doing whatever they can to destroy their own business model. Whether it’s ignoring the internet, mistreating the artists they depend on for material, suing their customer base or attacking their partners in the radio business, the labels seem to have a singular drive to do the wrong thing.

Radio Outperforms Newspapers

Tom Taylor reports: A media broker used the “…or television” line during a chat last week. And the periscope view of the newspaper industry’s circulation situation is truly Halloween-scary. Daily readership of USA Today is down 17% in the last six months, says the Audit Bureau of Circulations. (Could that be influenced by the drop in hotel stays and airline travelers? Many copies of USA Today are bought by hotels for their guests, and many more are sold at airports.) “Circ” at the Dallas Morning News fell 22%. The San Francisco Chronicle is down one-quarter, 25%. Miami Herald is off 23%. New Jersey’s Newhouse Star-Ledger loses 22%. The average daily circulation drop for the big dailies is 10.6% for the six months between April and September. Sunday editions are down an average of 7.4%.

Why Do Artists Think They Will See Any Share of P-Tax?
It was reported that RIAA just reached a deal with music publishers on late royalties owed to artists. Convenient  timing? Maybe, but the recording industry has agreed to make good on $265 million in unpaid mechanical royalties in a deal with the National Music Publishers Association. The RIAA was feeling the heat to settle because the Copyright Royalty Board, in 2008, established a schedule of late fees on overdue royalties.  

The Trenton Report from The Marcus Group

Down the stretch they come!  With the gubernatorial election coming up next week, Suffolk University’s Political Research Center released a survey showing Governor Jon Corzine with a 9-point lead over Republican Chris Christie (42-33 percent), and Independent Chris Daggett with 7 percent.  However, Public Policy Polling has Christie with a 4 point lead. Both are evidence of a volatile and unpredictable electorate as the race hits the homestretch. The debates are over, and candidates are pulling out all the stops. Christie is increasing his ads and going on a bus tour with former Republican Governors Whitman and Kean at his side. Corzine will have a return visit from President Obama for “get out the vote” rallies in Camden and Newark. Daggett is also hitting the road on a bus tour. Candidates are making their final pushes to recruit supporters and get them to the polls on November 3. Good luck to all of our New Jersey Candidates!

More Good News for FM-iPhone Fans

Radio is more popular than ever among 18-24 year olds and FM chips in iPhones are just the beginning of radio’s ubiquitous golden age, which is fast approaching. RadDallas-based RadioTime says Wunder Radio is now the most popular radio tuner app at iTunes. The app costs $9.99 at Wunder Radio. While TimeTuner “turns the iPhone into an alarm clock radio that lets users search for and tune to radio stations airing all over the world.” The app for iPhones and iPod Touch costs $4.99 at the iTunes App Store.

Performance Tax is a Threat to National Security

Free over-the-air radio & television are the only exclusively local media that exists. Broadcasters are licensed separately and differently. They have a very different mission, mainly to operate in the public interest by providing local emergency notifications through the EAS, such as NJ Amber Alerts and extreme weather hazards, and local news of community events. The passage of a Performance Tax would lead to the closure of more than half of our radio stations across the country. In New Jersey, the closure of these vital broadcast outlets would decimate our already ailing Emergency Alert (EAS) Warning System capabilities and pose a genuine threat to homeland security. And for what? So a few greedy foreign owned record companies can try to line their coffers with more American dollars, taking billions out of our economy? Look at the big picture and let’s tell our Congressmen and Senators to keep New Jersey radio free by opposing the Performance Tax. Call Senators Menendez and Lautenberg, as well as Congressmen Holt, Rothman and Payne, at 201-225-2131 today!

Broadcasters Should Not Give Up More Spectrum