Please Help Save Internet Radio
Many of us who gather online also listen to radio while we are online.
That’s about to change. If Congress doesn’t act now to effect a change the fees charged to internet radio stations for broadcasting online are about to go up drastically. Effective May 15, 2007 and retroactive to January 1, 2006. A move that will most likely cause most internet radio stations to go bankrupt. Thus, once again leaving the likes of Clear Channel and their ilk to dominate the radio industry with their homogenized version of top 40, smooth jazz, fake country and Christian rock. Most new and independent artists depend on the small independent radio and internet radio stations for airplay. Without internet radio their voices will fall silent. Many internet radio broadcast stations are college based or Public Radio stations who, as well as broadcasting on the lower bandwidths over the radio waves also stream their feed on the internet to reach a broader audience outside their limited reach with their low power broadcast towers.
Personally I would miss my fix of WWOZ out of New Orleans, and the ability to listen to my local college station any where that I go and have Internet access.
To find out more about this threat to internet radio and to find out how to make your voice heard in this matter you can go to
http://www.savenetradio.org/index.html .
