The Internet Radio Equality Bill..YEESSS!!!

Kudos to Congressman Jay Inslee (D-WA) for introducing and co-sponsoring the Internet Radio Equality Bill.

Ever since March 2, internet webcasters and listeners have heard little else except the rumbling of the CRB's new royalty rates.

The Equality Bill is very, very good news. Of course, getting it passed by Congress before May 15
will mean a lot of folks need to call lawmakers and ask them to co-sponsor, and better yet, sign the book, in support of this bill.

In very simple terms, the bill:

Requires $500 per licensee per year ("licensee" meaning groups like LoudCity, Live365, etc.)

Proposes the equivalent of 7.5 percent of revenue.

Represents a 0.5% increase in royalties.

It also nulls the CRB's action of March 2.

Fellow webcasters, this is the chance! And probably the only chance, of survival.

I encourage all listeners of ANY station..ask your Congressmen and Representatives to pass this bill NOW.

This bill could be a lifesaver for webcasters.

Writing Website Update

I realize it's been a while since I've written anything about my copywriting course/career so I
thought I'd take a moment to update you on that part of life.

After months of studying and finally getting out to the real world with my Pro-Results copywriting,
I realized something..

..something that I knew already but tried to ignore..

These long, drawn-out, multi-page sales letters BORE me.

I mean, they're all over the Internet..they're in your mailbox..

but do YOU ever read them ALL THE WAY THROUGH? I don't!

In 2006, I wrote 3 of them. One for my coursework, and, it did get very good feedback and a good grade; one for a personal radio project..that one did well, at about a 10% response rate; and a series involving real estate that I produced for Mom and Dad.

The real estate one worked, but the land offer fell through due to a number of factors that were NOT related to my sales letter. Of course, that meant no commission, basically:(

This past week, I felt that I had reached yet another crossroad. While it is true that I am getting ready to begin building a new Part 15 AM radio station, it is also true that I realize that said station is never going to produce an income that will provide for us. I have to do something else
to make a living. I've had very little success finding clients here that need the long sales letters.
We need to eat; I need paying jobs.

And I stumbled into the world of catalog copywriting..literally, writing very short copy, or "blocks," as they're called, for catalog companies. With more than 17,000 consumer and business-to-business catalogs being printed, it certainly seems that I should be able to tap into this market, at least part time.

So now I have one final block of training to complete. I'm going to skip writing the final long, drawn-out vitamin sales letter that I can't seem to complete, and instead, persue the catalog industry in hopes of getting clients faster.

I've updated my Pro-Results-Advertising copywriting site to reflect exactly the kind of writing projects I will take on from this day forward. I will still do longer projects if the money/product/client combination seems "right," but for now I'm changing direction.

The new Pro-Results site is here

Moving Forward with Part 15!

In my Sunday post, "Streaming vs. Part 15," I mentioned my idea for a local AM station.

That idea is starting to move forward and I'm encouraged. This week I have received a couple of emails concerning advertising and some offers of equipment to help us get on the air.

The website is being constructed and I'll unveil it soon.

The studio equipment is mostly ready to switch over.

I do have some work to do in the spare building to get things ready. I'm not quite sure where things will go just yet but have been drawing out the plans for the new studio space. It will be
wonderful to have some real working space. Two studios in 200 square feet along with the music storage is just too cramped. It's gotten almost impossible to navigate around either room.

It looks like this will be my only way to survive in the radio business right now.

A Prediction..

In an article on CNN.com this week concerning the royalties that webcasters are facing,
the CEO of Live 365.com, N. Mark Lam, was quoted as saying with these royalty rates,
"there is no industry."

The webcasters who have been broadcasting under the SWSA along with X5000 stations with listings on iTunes and similar platforms, have begun announcing their plans to cease broadcasting on May 15 - the day that the new rates will go into effect.

There are about 50 SWSA broadcasters. I don't believe there will be many (if any) of these stations that can afford to keep going. At the least, they'll totally cap off free listening slots and probably reduce their VIP listener slots as well.

Personal webcasts (like WJJD) aren't hit so hard so soon - but here's the sticking point:

Our futures are tied to Live365. If they can't survive this, none of us will. And I don't expect
relief from other services. Or, if they do survive, how drastic will the rate increases be?

You can expect some changing of the webcasting world in about 1 month.

Streaming vs. Part 15 Radio

Having just had almost a week away from things related to radio, I'm discovering that the basic choice/option available to me (Delta Star Radio of Florida Inc.) boils down to:

Streaming/webcasting OR Part 15 AM Radio.

When you don't have financial investors, or a rich uncle, it's pretty much impossible to get off the sidelines of the radio biz nowadays.

When Delta Star Radio, the corporation, was created in April of 2001, it was our hope that eventually we would be able to attract enough business/sponsors that we could lease/LMA/purchase a broadcast station. I did raise about $4000
at one point. We couldn';t do anything with that amount, so I completed my home studio and began webcasting on July 9, 2001. That stream is now our
WJJD AM 1160 country Internet-only station.

If the royalty rates don't kill it off, I plan to leave that station/format as it is.

But personal streaming stations can't make money by selling time.

So now, I'm looking at Part 15 AM radio again. When I had 1160 on the air before, the over-the-air station did make some money. Even the PI spots worked a bit. Something came in every month.

This time, I'm looking at a Part 15 station in the expanded AM band. I don't want to divulge anything about this venture, other than to say I have the station name, likely frequency and format figured out. It should be sellable. It is FCC
and family friendly. It worked in Tallahassee before, and got decent Arbitron ratings. With a real signal, I can make it work. I didn't create the format, but I helped implement it before, way back in 1979.

I believe in it enough to also tell you that, behind the scenes now, I'm building
this forthcoming station an expanded, 5-page website. It has a real domain name, which I purchased this past week.

If people end up hearing this format, they will not want to listen to the Clear Channel/Cumulus 30-song playlists that pass for "radio" in Tallahassee now.
I just hope I can get enough listeners with Part 15 to make this work.

It will indeed be a new day for Tallahassee radio.

Well, Gee, Radio Folks..

I step away from the world of radio for three days and all hell breaks loose.

Now, I'm no fan of Don Imus or any of the other shock jocks, but really. Do we need to have Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson dictating their control over everyone else? Of course, as you probably know by know, Imus has been fired from MSNBC and CBS Radio.

If this offends you, well...this political correctness/offendedness/wallowing in victimhood stuff is horse puckey.

Why do I say that?

Because the SAME folks that are up in arms over Imus' comments about the Rutgers' basketball players would, no doubt, see nothing wrong with bashing Christians..or straights..or conservatives..or George W. Bush..

In other words, you can't say things that offend me, but I have the right to censor you and say what I want. What is wrong with this picture???!!!

So if you want to play this game fairly, it's also time for Sharpton, Jackson, Randi Rhodes, Rush, Hannity..on and on ad nauseum should also be off the air. Something everyone of these people say is bound to offend somebody somewhere.

I responded to a request for comments to the FCC regarding this issue yesterday. My April 12
letter to the Commission could be summed up like this: "The radio industry has spiraled out of control."

I guess the days are gone of local morning shows with community events, lost pets, and anything resembling a relationship with the listeners. Maybe that's why I don't listen any more.

Radio doesn't serve listeners. It serves Wall Street, stockholders and investors.

Winding Things Down A Bit on WJJD

With the realization that Internet radio is never going to be a venture that will provide any type of income, I've decided, for the time being, that I'm not going to do any more promotion of the station for a while.

As long as I can afford to keep it, I will, for I enjoy listening to it myself, especially while I'm writing on the computer and the boys are taking their naps. I will continue to update the playlists and will likely keep doing the Sunday night shows for a while longer.

But I won't be doing any promotions, emails, or mail-outs promoting it any longer. I just don't feel like spending more time, energy and money on it right now(other than the monthly streaming fees.)

Right now I'm turning to other things to try to survive, especially some direct-mail work with the California company. That continues to show promose. While it has not quite reached the break-even point, it has brought in more money than WJJD did for all of 2006.

This is likely the last time I'm going to write about WJJD, or the royalty rates for a while. It's
getting time to move forward to the next project..which is raising money for the next real project. More later.

I've got renovations to help with, so won't be back to write any more this week. Take care!

This is Renovation Week!

Well, we haven't gotten the Home Makeover folks to Tallahassee, but we have begun some
home improvements..the do0it-yourself kind.

Weather permitting, this week the front of the house will get a new look. The outside paneling
is going to be replaced; insulation will be added; and the place is going to be pressure-washed.

Then, the utility room will be gutted, we'll take everything out, and a new floor will be put in.
I don't know if we'll get the laundry equipment back in operation here or not. We also need some new boards on the back deck.

Thanks to our handyman friend, Robert, for coming to help with this..well..overwhelming project!

Marianne and I spent Easter weekend redoing the living room, moving furniture, and doing some major cleaning. We're going to keep going until the entire house is done.

At least a somewhat better look for the house makes the world feel a little better!

Live365's Open Reply to SoundExchange Regarding the Recent Royalty Decision

On March 23, SoundExchange executive director John Simson released a blanket email to SX members defending the new, higher royalty rates for Internet radio.

With the permission of Monty, Live365's Director of Marketing, I invite you to read his letter, along with comments from Live365 interspersed:

Read Live365's open reply HERE

Looking for Answers and Not Finding Any...

Several months ago, I wrote on this blog that since my retirement from a local AM radio station,
(to paraphrase it just a bit) that "I felt lost, like I'm not sure of the direction I should go" or something to that effect.

After having kind of worked through all that, this week I find myself back at square one.

Internet radio? I have to be blunt about it, I don't believe webcasting as we know it today is going to survive. Financial analysts are saying that no webcaster will be able to generate enough advertising revenue to sustain the new rates. I believe it, especially having seen my own station's numbers.

In February, WJJD was averaging 60 streams per day, and ended up with 1,880 streams with about 1500 in total listening hours (TLH.) The numbers absolutely tumbled during March.
March shows 771 streams and our current TLH has fallen to the 400's. There is only 1 listener online now (no, it's not me) where there used to be 6 to 8 during middays.

While I'd like to be optimistic, in reality I believe most internet stations will be controlled by affiliates of the RIAA, SX and the Big Four record labels. They are the only ones who can play the music and afford the rates. Make no mistake: They WANT us shut down.

I'm considering relaunching my Part-15 AM station. The biggest problem now is, I (along with
Marianne) are struggling to survive at this point. Whatever I can come up with has GOT to work. It's that serious. Because:

*Allstate is cancelling our homeowners insurance, effective July 31. That's scary. Why? Because we live in Florida.

*Our home, which now needs to be insured by another carrier, is structurally unsound. An inspector may check it out and discover that it should be condemned. Those are the exact words I heard this past Saturday, when a family friend and handyman looked the place over.

*We never received our renovation grant. Nada. Not one word, although we were supposed to hear by March 1.

*All of this places my Arbor money, used to help with Benjamin's and Daniel's preschool learning, in jeopardy. We are facing an inspection this month, and there's no way this house will pass. This will cut our income even more.

*Marianne's school loan is now due. Despite her degree, she has not received a single job offer in her field of rehabilitation services and remains at Chaires Elementary in the afterschool program.

I'm frustrated because I have pleaded for help with our housing situation for over a year. We
spent this past winter with no furnace. The siding is rotten. Outlets are falling out of the walls.
We have Christmas lights on the front porch because the front light's electrical circuit no longer works. The laundry room floor is falling through. (We don't use the washer and dryer, and gaven't for many months now.)

Frankly, I don't know when I've felt quite this "bombardment" from ever direction. Even
for me to "work" will require me to net at least $1450 a month to even consider it.

The good news, if there is any, is that for my marketing hours, I made about $36 per hour. I just can't get enough hours in along with everything else.

Whatever the answer is, I don't believe it will be found easily. I'm just spending early morning prayer time "giving it all over to God" and waiting for His answer.

Whatever that may be.