Happy Hour: No More Free Radio?!

by Miss Santos | 7/01/2009 in happy hour, public radio, raiderette |

Ok, so the topic isn't necessarily a "happy" one. Sue me.

I was listening to the radio and every other commercial on every third radio station is talking about a tax on listening to the radio. They say something along the lines of "Congress wants to charge for listening to the radio."

CBS Radio has some information on their website here (CBS Radio also applauds the Zune HD!) and this is the actual website that is trail blazing the stand against the Radio Performance Tax. Once at the site, click on "Get The Real Story" to read on what it all really means. But if you're uber lazy, just click.

You bum.

Now, to be completely honest with you, I'm not sure that this tax would affect me in any way. Unless I'm listening to my Zune (which desperately needs to sync) I listen to the historic 91X; their towers are located in Mexico. Regardless of its affect on me, I think it'd totally SUCK to have this tax implemented. The amount of music on the airwaves will be dramatically poor (worse, in some cases) and new artists will have an even more difficult time breaking out onto the music scene.

What are your thoughts on the issue? What do you think of this proposed tax? Do you agree or disagree with it? Do you even care? Is it a good idea to tax on music in this manner?

For Further Reading:

5 post(s):

1. Joe on 7/1/09 10:58 PM

   Yeah this is what we need another tax. Thanks by the way for bringing this up.This sort of thing will just drive up the prices that radio stations charge for spots at a time when advertisers are few and far between. If this goes through, radio as we know it will be gone. Stations already pay for a license to play music as pointed out in one of the links provided.
   Very bad idea!!! :(
   Follow the links provided in "*alfa* (Raiderette_87)" post and make your voice heard.

    
2. Marques Lyons on 7/2/09 6:57 AM

   I'm with Joe -
   
   My concern extends farther than that. If they do this kind of stuff to terrestrial radio, what'll happen to satellite and HD radio eventually. But what happens to a station that broadcasts only on the internet or publicy-funded radio.
   
   Yes, I haven't read Alfa's links yet but I wanted to give my general impressions before diving into the technical nuts and bolts of it.

    
3. *alfa* (Raiderette_87) on 7/3/09 5:35 PM

   Yeah, sure thing, Joe.
   I didn't know about this proposed tax until I listened to a Clear Channel or CBS Radio station. I can not believe what They want to do! If worse comes to worst, you'd think that we'd (the general public) at least have a radio station with substance to bump our tunes.
   
   From what I've read, if the tax goes through, radio stations will be forced to play more commercials or will turn into talk stations, while smaller, local stations will be fully pushed out of the picture.
   
   @ Marques: I think that public-founded radio stations would need more help from their supporters if they want to keep the commercials and whatnot down to how they are now. Totally not sure what'd happen with Internet based stations. I'm thinking more commercials and/or pay subscription.

    
4. Julio Angel Ortiz on 7/4/09 8:10 AM

   I know the economy is tough right now, but man...
   
   There will always be alternatives to radio. There's always Pandora and SHOUTCast, and Sirius XM if you're obliged. The state of radio in Philadelphia has been fairly poor over the past couple of years IMHO; short of a couple of stations there just isn't a lot of interesting things going on. I'd much rather listen to my Zune and Zune Pass combination (plus Auto-Playlists) than to the radio.

    
5. Anonymous on 8/15/09 12:00 AM

   radio sucks

    

Post a Comment

Care to leave your thoughts? You know you want to!