Input Requested on Path to Resurrected DJdom

Update 6-27-09: Still no responses. Maybe this post was too long, or maybe the fact that I failed to mention RIAA issues made me look like an ignorant doofuss (which I am), unworthy of a response. I've done some Internet searching but as far as I can tell the copyright issues have still put a crimp in Live 365 and podcasting, unless you are willing to constantly record the number of listeners you have and pay up according to complicated formulae, or are willing to take the risk of going completely pirate and hope you don't get caught. Please let me know if I have this wrong. Dr. Zarkov

[Original Post] I sent the following email out to my old gang at Radio Free Burning Man and a few other friends who have had radio experience, and I would be interested in getting some input from the folks around here. It's a bit longish, but I hope that isn't a problem for the moderators. Dr. Zarkov

Dear Folks,

As many of you are aware, after I broadcast on Radio Free Burning Man in 2002-03 I also volunteered on the air at Festival FM, the temporary radio station for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, in 2005.

Since then I haven't been broadcasting. Last year I downloaded a couple of computer audio recording programs, eventually settling on the Audacity software, to record some remote broadcasts for RFBM. Unfortunately, by the time I learned how to use Audacity I was in the midst of preparing a large free-lance assignment that took up all my time and wasn't able to put together a program for Gordon in time for Burning Man.

A few years ago I also started to look into the possibility of Internet broadcasting, first exploring possible podcasting and then looking into the idea of mounting a show on Live 365 Internet Radio (http://www.live365.com/index.live).

At the time I first looked into podcasting, ASCAP/BMI had no acceptable avenue for gaining copyright clearance for including recorded music in podcasts. I don't know if this is still the case, but at that time the only (legal) podcasts were talk shows and broadcasts of live music or by the people who owned the rights to the music (usually produced by the musicians themselves).

When I explored broadcasting on Live 365 Internet Radio, in addition to the fee you paid to the website operator there was a clearance fee of $600 a year you would pay to ASCAP/BMI for the recorded music rights. I could live with the equivalent of $50 a month, even in my currently financially-straitened circumstances. However, before I could sign up, Congress passed a law that extended broadcast royalty payments to performers as well as composers, which would at least double the amount I would have to pay for clearances, so I dropped the idea of broadcasting on Live 365.

A few weeks ago I noticed an ad in City Paper (the Washington, DC, equivalent of the SF Gate) for Fairfax Public Access seeking people to broadcast both TV and radio on this cable public access station. FPA (http://www.fcac.org/index.htm) broadcasts throughout northern Virginia over Comcast and Verizon cable television networks, as well as the Internet, and the station is paid for by a contribution of 1% of all Comcast and Verizon subscriber fees in the counties those companies serve. I talked to the people at FPA and toured the station facilities, which were quite impressive, although completely empty when I was there. In addition to TV shows, FPA has a foreign language radio station and a separate English language station called WEBR: http://www.fcac.org/webcasting/webcast.htm

Initially I wondered why they would feel it necessary to advertise for people who wanted to broadcast (anyone remember "Wayne's World" and "Coffee Talk?"), and why all of the studios were empty when I visited the station. Then it hit me [Insert mental picture of Homer Simpson slapping his forehead and exclaiming "D'oh!"]. Cable access TV and radio are Old Media. With the advent of YouTube and multifarious other technologies, anyone can produce video at home and upload it to the Internet using their home computers; you don't have to use sophisticated studio facilities miles from home (the FPA station is about a 25-minute drive from my house).

So why would I then choose to join FPA ($26-a-year membership fee) and sign up for the training classes required before they will let me on the air on WEBR? Because they take care of all of the copyright clearances.

Due to the fact that they are a non-commercial, public access operation, as long as I obey the rules I don't have to pay a penny to ASCAP/BMI. And the rules are extremely easy for me to live with. This is what I was told they are, verbatim:

"1. You may not routinely include in your Broadcast Programming sound recordings within one hour of a request by a listener or at a time
specifically designated by the listener.

"2. In any three-hour period, you should not intentionally program more than three songs (and not more than two songs in a row) from the
same recording.

"3. You should not intentionally program more than four songs (and not more than three songs in a row) from the same recording artist or
anthology/box set.

"4. You should not publish advance program guides or use other means to pre-announce when particular sound recordings will be played or the
order in which they will be played.

"5. You should only include in your Broadcast Programming sound recordings that are authorized for performance in the United States."

In addition, FPA will own the copyright on my broadcasts for a year afterward, at which time the copyright reverts to me.

I fully realize that few people (if anyone at all) listen to WEBR, but FPA does broadcast over the Internet and I believe I could promote the show by setting up my own website, via Facebook and by publicizing it on Tikiphile discussion boards like Tiki Central and other music news websites. If anyone has suggestions about how else I could promote my shows, please let me know.

There's no great rush. My training begins July 25 and extends over five more Saturdays before I can go on the air. I asked the FPA training person why they require six three-hour training sessions when someone like me who has radio experience could learn their way around the board along with all the station rules in one three-hour session, but I was just told that's what they think is needed. My guess is that it really is set up this way for two reasons: So they can collect their $196 training fee, and to weed out the DJ wannabes who might proclaim their commitment to regular broadcasts and then disappear after only showing up for one or two (which we sometimes saw happen at RFBM, as I recall).

Also, during my tour of the station the training director let slip that some DJs broadcast from home. Given the fact that during my tour the studios were empty but they were broadcasting, and that they have an Audacity class on their training schedule, I imagine this could easily be the rule rather than the exception.

So if you would be kind enough to take the time, please let me know what you think of this, and how you think I could best promote my shows once I do start broadcasting.

Thanks for your time,

David (Dr. Zarkov) Sparkman

[ Edited by: Dr. Zarkov 2009-06-27 12:35 ]