Radio Dodges A Bullet - For Now...

Eventually there will be some kind of compromise hammered out between the radio and music industries regarding performance royalties, but it won't come in 2010. Radio can have a Merry Christmas royalty-free. Congress has adjourned without a vote on the controversial bill. The new, more radio friendly Congress will convene in January when both sides will start lobbying for their side all over again. The Performance Royalty Act would have imposed performance royalties on broadcast radio for the first time. Radio nerves were on edge when the act passed in the House and Senate Judiciary Committees over the summer...

All eyes were on Congress in early December when the PRA was reported out of committee to the full House but that was just a procedural step and the bill did not come up for a vote. The NAB's Dennis Wharton had the NAB on full-alert against a "dark-of-night attempt" to push the bill through but apparently net neutrality was the major issue de jour for the FCC and Congress. PRA was put on the back burner in hopes that a compromise will be hammered out by radio and music...

This is the second time in the last three years that the performance royalty issue has stalled at the end of another session of Congress. The money spent by NAB in lobbying has apparently paid off for now. Both sides are barely talking about a compromise but in order for an agreement to be reached, that must be done or we'll be talking about this again next Christmas...

10 Timeline Memories:
1.1818] Shhhhhh: “Silent Night”, written by Josef Mohr with music by Franz Gruber of Germany is composed (12/24)...
2.1906] The first disc jockey: No, it wasn’t Bruce Morrow. It was Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden who becomes the 1st person to broadcast a music program over the radio from Brant Rock (MA) (12/24)…
3.1947] Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow: A major snowstorm blankets New York City under 25.8" in 16 hours. 80 die in the northeast as a result of the storm (12/26)...
4.1948] Massing together: A Midnight Mass is broadcast on TV for the first time from St. Patrick’s Cathedral (12/24)…
5.1982] Time Man of the Year: A computer. It's the first time a non-human receives the honors (12/26)...
6.1989] “Happy Trails“: Former Yankees manager Billy Martin is killed in a pickup truck crash in Fenton (NY) at 61 (12/25)…1996] 6-year old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family’s home in Boulder (CO) (12/26)…
7.2002] The kick is up: Katie Hnida becomes the first woman with or without a missing vowel to play in a Division I football game when she attempts an extra point for New Mexico against UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl (12/25)...
8.2004] Deadly storm: A tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean leaves more than 216,000 dead or missing in Southeastern Asia (12/26)…
9.2007] Hold that tiger: In the San Francisco Zoo, a tiger escapes from its enclosure and attacks three visitors, killing one of the men and mauling two others (12/25)…
10.2009] Losing a friend: Radio & TV veteran, George Michael dies from leukemia at 70 (12/24)...


Music Memories:

• 1896] Named that tune on this date: John Philip Souza puts a title to the new music he composed, calling it "Stars and Stripes Forever" forever (12/25)...
• 1958] The Big Beat live on this date: Alan Freed's "Christmas Rock 'n Roll Spectacular" at the Loew's State Theater in Manhattan stars Frankie Avalon, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, the Everly Brothers, the Moonglows, Johnnie Ray & Jackie Wilson (12/25). This audio clip is from a 1956 Freed Show at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater...
• 1961] Recorded on this date: "She Cried" - Jay & The Americans (with Jay Traynor singing lead (12/26)...1966] "I Think We're Alone Now" - Tommy James (12/24)...
• 1963] Released on this date: "I Want To Hold Your Hand" - Beatles (12/26)...

Commentary:
Today (December 24) is the 104th anniversary of the first radio broadcast of a music program. In 1906 Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden became the first disc jockey by broadcasting a program over the radio from Brant Rock (MA). Remembering this historic Christmas eve event is the perfect way to say to one and all - Merry Christmas...

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday": (12/24) Ryan Seacrest (36), Ricky Martin (39), Mike Curb (66) and Dave Bartholomew (90)...(12/25) Dido (39), Rickey Henderson (52), Annie Lennox (56), Karl Rove (60), Sissy Spacek (61), Barbara Mandrell (62), Jimmy Buffet (64), Al Jackson (75) and Tony Martin (97)...(12/26) Chris Daughtry (31), Carlton Fisk (63), John Walsh (65), Paul Power (66), Phil Spector (71) and Abdul "Duke" Fakir (75)...

Timeline Countdown: Merry Christmas, 7 nights until New Year's Eve & 15 days until the NFL Wild Card Playoffs...