Headlines

You may recall our story with Galaxy CEO Ed Levine ("An Argument For More Deregulation") where he detailed how his company is no longer fighting for advertising dollars just with the newspaper, other radio stations, and a TV station. He detailed how the unregulated world of digital is gobbling up ad dollars while radio continues to find itself handcuffed by ancient FCC rules. We found another example for you thanks to BIA/Kelsey's Mark Fratrik...

They say they are leveling the playing field. Congressman Jerrold Nadler and Congressman Marsha Blackburn have reintroduced the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, which is a bill, they say, " to create a modern and uniform system of rules governing music licensing for digital and terrestrial radio broadcasts." Translation: you will pay a tax to play music. Here's what the bill says...

Regarding Nadler's bill to tax radio stations, musicFIRST Executive Director Chris Israel said, “This bipartisan legislation, together with recent developments that demonstrate strong support for the performance rights of artists, shows clear momentum for reaching a solution to copyright reform that establishes free-market pay for all music creators and technology-neutral rules for music services."

In response to the Nadler bill, NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith said the legislation is a job-killer and radio plays an indispensable role in breaking new artists and promoting record sales. Here's Smith's full statement...

(By Laurie Kahn) There is an art and a science to successful recruiting. You need to have a strategy for attracting and retaining those you want and need to hire. It is not a quick or easy fix, but one that needs to be put in place, with accountability, or you are going to be lost in the dust when it comes to hiring and turnover.

(By Ronald Robinson) As the only “passive” commercial medium, radio is still getting more listening than it deserves – certainly more than it has earned. Instead of researching and exploiting this strangest of phenomena, radio is also passive about its own potentials – and has been for decades.

Educational Media Foundation will cut a check for $525,000 to purchase KXOR-FM in Thibodaux, LA. The seller is My Home Media Team, which also owns stations in Texas and New Mexico and is headed by President Susan Lucchesi. Bill Whitley of the Dallas office and George Reed of the Jacksonville office of Media Services Group represented My Home Team in the deal.

The new deadline is Friday, April 21. The Radio Mercury Awards were established to encourage and reward the development of effective and creative radio commercials. The competition draws entries from advertising agencies, production houses, radio stations, and educational institutions across the country. Over $87K in prizes are up for grabs.

If you've been to a few radio conferences over the last five years (at least) you've probably gotten tired of hearing radio executives explain or complain that radio needs to "tell a better story," in order to increase the share of ad dollars it receives from advertisers. It leaves you scratching your head wondering how long it takes them to write this story. Wednesday at Radio Ink's Hispanic Radio Conference, Nielsen's Managing Director of Audio Brad Kelly made a killer presentation about radio and showed off a nifty one-piece about your industry that every single seller should have with them every day.

Nielsen Audio SVP/Business Development Rich Tunkel revealed two pieces of new information at Radio Ink's Hispanic Radio Conference on Wednesday that you will certainly find very interesting.