Broadcasters voice concern
about new proposed fees
■The suggested fees for radio
stations playing music online
have some college broadcasters
speaking out with their concerns
By John Liebhardt
Oregon Daily Emerald
College radio broadcasters react
ed with guarded optimism about the
Librarian of Congress’ rejection last
week of proposed fees stations
would pay for playing music online.
By rejecting the rules proposed
by the Copyright Arbitration Royal
ty Panel, Librarian of Congress
James H. Billington has until June
20 to determine how much the
streaming fees should be. His deci
sion set up a showdown between
Internet radio broadcasters and mu
sicians over how much royalty fees
are owed to musicians when their
songs are played over the Internet.
“It is time that (Webcasters)
finally start to pay the artists and
record companies whose creative
output is the most important com
ponent of their business,” John L.
Simson, executive director of the
recording industry’s lobbying
group for Internet issues Sound
Exchange, said in a statement.
Journalism professor Al Stavit
sky sees the fight over the pro
posed rules as part of a larger de
bate regarding artists and other
content producers working in new
media, such as the Internet. Musi
cians are closely watching this de
bate, he said, because they believe
the new rule system will fix short
comings in the traditional broad
cast royalty fee structure. Present
ly, radio stations pay royalty fees to
record companies and composers
of each song. Stavitsky pointed out
that artists who write their own
material are compensated for their
work. However, singers who cover
other people’s material are not
compensated when their songs are
played on the radio.
Local reaction
KWVA General Manager Char
lotte Nisser joined a growing cho
rus of college radio broadcasters in
complaining the fees were too re
strictive and unfairly hit small, ed
ucational radio stations that broad
cast on the Internet. Had the fees
gone through, she said, KWVA
would have been forced to pay an
estimated $3,700 more per year in
royalty fees to record companies
and musicians.
KWVA and KPSU at Portland
State University decided they
will continue to broadcast on the
Fossils
continued from page 1
Throughout his search, Retal
lack cracked open rocks to find a
variety of surf, venus, butter and
razor clams as well as scaphopod
tusk shells and Cretaceous moon
snail shells.
“It’s just whack and see what you
can find,” Retallack said, absorbed
in his work. “The best stuff is in
side the rock.”
Retallack took the specimens
worth saving and wrapped them in
newspaper to prevent them from
being scratched.
“A sack-full should do the trick,”
he said.
Alberto Perez-Huerta, a graduate
student in the geology department,
said once the fossils reach the class
room, students will have an impor
tant hands-on chance to learn to
identify characteristics such as sci
entific classification, original cli
Thomas Patterson Emerald
KWVA General Manager Charlotte Nisser and Chief Engineer Nathan Cox disagree with
fees recently suggested by arbitrators for radio stations broadcasting online.
Internet until Billington reaches
a decision.
“Until we get a cease and desist
order, we’ve been told to keep
streaming,” said David Jimenez,
KPSU station manager.
“They’re braver than we are,”
said Ann Robinson, assistant direc
tor of student media at Oregon
State University’s station KBVR.
Robinson said the station is ready
to begin streaming, but won’t begin
until the legal issues surrounding
royalties are cleared up. By staying
off the Internet, KBVR joined a
growing list of college radio sta
tions that have pulled the plug on
streaming out of fear the royalty
fees could be too high to pay.
Billington did not give any rea
sons for his ruling. While most col
lege broadcasters are optimistic, no
one is certain if he felt the fees were
too restrictive for radio stations.
Part of the proposed rules
Billington rejected were:
• Each station broadcasting on
the Internet must pay $500 each
year to the recording industry.
• Noncommercial radio stations
that broadcast on the Internet would
have paid two-hundredths of a cent
for every online listener per song.
• Commercial radio stations
that broadcast on the Internet
would have paid seven-hun
dredths of a cent for every online
listener per song.
• Stations would have been
forced to keep strict records of each
song played on the Internet.
Nathan Cox, KWVA’s chief engi
neer, said that the rules would
have unfairly hit small, independ
ent radio stations. The main prob
mate conditions where the crea
tures lived and whether it was a
larger predator or a victim of prey.
“For us, these fossils are very well
preserved,” he said. “They show
features of the classical mollusk.”
Matt Pearson, project manager
with Lease Crutcher Lewis, the gen
eral contractor for the project, said
the majority of construction work
ers are not as intrigued with what
they find as people such as Retal
lack who study those findings. But
he said it’s important for the crews
to know what they uncover.
“You are always interested in
what you find,” Pearson said. “You
need to know what’s in the hole.”
The dig is not expected to slow
down the construction process of
the Lillis Business Complex, ex
pected to be finished in time for the
2003-04 school year.
Retallack has collected fossils
from digs all over campus, and said
this particular dig is not the largest.
He said construction done to
lem, he said, was the committee
treated all noncommercial radio
stations as equals. This is almost
unheard of in other negotiations
with artists’ organizations such as
ASCAP and BMI, which take trans
mitter size and audience size into
account when deciding on-air roy
alty fees. Because KWVA has a
smaller transmitter and audience
than say, local radio station KLCC,
the University station pays less in
royalties to these companies. How
ever, on the Internet, both stations
would have been equals.
Online issues
The high costs of streaming on
the Internet is another issue.
KWVA, like other streaming sta
tions, must pay for equipment and
a site license to RealAudio, their
streaming provider. Currently, only
50 people can listen to the station
on the Internet at one time. KPSU
has only enough equipment to pro
vide 30 online listeners, even
though the station broadcasts 5
p.m. to 2 a.m. during the week, and
noon to 2 a.m. on weekends. When
KBVR does go online, they will
have capabilities for 20 listeners.
With so few listeners on the Web
and such a small market share,
many college stations asked if it
was worth it for the recording in
dustry to charge them the same
fees as stations with many more
online listeners.
“How many people are really go
ing to listen to us on the Web? Par
ents of DJs, former DJs and some
people who happen upon us,”
Robinson of KBVR said.
Turn to Radio, page 7
Start digging
People interest'd in doing their
own digging at the Lillis Business
Complex need to first clear their
visitsto the site.
They can check in with lease
Crutcher Lewis project manager
Matt Pearson. The construction
company's office is located in
the portable trailer closest to
McKenzie Hall
Visitors must sign liability forms
and wear hard hats while on site.
Willamette Hall in the late 1980s
and to Knight Library and Cascade
Hall were all deeper excavations.
At the Cascade dig, he said they
found trilobites, hard-shelled seg
mented sea creatures that existed
more than 300 million years ago
during the Paleozoic Era.
E-mail features reporter Lisa Toth
at lisatoth@dailyemerald.com.
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