Marty Ronish Nashville, Apr. 1, 2009 —
Engineers at the Nissan plant in Nashville TN have made a unique discovery: they found that radio waves can increase the fuel efficiency of their new Altima hybrids. The radio waves work by setting up an oscillation of a razor-thin panel that was developed to keep the intake manifold from overheating, reports the April edition of Living Green.
A blog post last week on the Future of Music Coalition site asks “which side are you on?” when it comes to the Public Performance Rights “Tax.”
There are plenty of places you can read about the issue if you Google around and follow links. There are lots of opinions out there. I’m a member of AFTRA, and my union supports the tax. I work with a lot of radio stations, and most of them don’t.
When people buy CDs, the record companies and the licensing companies are supposed to pay royalties to the artists. In addition, radio stations pay blanket license fees to BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC to air CDs, money that is supposed to end up in the artists’ pockets. But now, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is trying to levy a new performance tax on radio stations, and Congress is currently debating the issue. WCLV in Cleveland is asking its listeners to write to their members of Congress.
I’m at the national conference of the Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio, being held in a newly remodeled Fort Worth Sheraton. I’m sorry for those of you who couldn’t make it, because the sessions have been very good, and the food is outstanding.
Mona has taken detailed notes, and I think we’ll ask her to write up the great advice we got on announcing from a morning session by John Dodge, Program Director at KBPS in Portland OR. John had a very lively, engaging list of do’s and don’t’s for classical announcers, based on long experience, a keen ear, and his own personable style.