Date:         Sun, 13 Jan 2002 13:41:09 -0500
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Live Radio Broadcast from Bus Depot this Friday!
Comments: To: Blake Thornton <thornton@MATH.UTAH.EDU>
In-Reply-To:  <Pine.LNX.4.33.0201131108360.23267-100000@sierra.westminstercollege.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> How about a streaming media web address for us to hear?


I had been hoping for that. WMMR used to simulcast their station on their
website.  But the record industry pretty much put a stop to many music radio
stations doing that, by demanding that they pay them royalties (beyond what
they already pay to broadcast the music on-air) if they were also putting
the station on the internet.  Of course,  the record industry wanted
mega-bucks, claiming that there are millions of people on the internet
(even though few would actually listen to the simulcasts), whereas the radio
stations realized that simulcasting their broadcasts over the web really
generated little additional revenue (since most people within the stations'
market have a radio, and most people outside of their market are not their
local advertisers' target audiences). So most of them just stopped
simulcasting their broadcasts (including WMMR).  Just one more thing to
thank the entertainment industry for - along with the demise of Napster, the
existence of Macrovision and other copy-jammers that degrade audio/video
performance, the royalties charged on blank audio CD-R's used to record
music you already own, their 10 year battle to have the VCR declared
illegal, their ongoing battle against TiVo, etc. etc. etc.  When I used to
work in a stereo store, the RIAA even threatened to sue us if we played any
of the radios in our store without lining their pockets them first, claiming
that it amounted to an "unlicensed public performance."  ("Can I listen to
that stereo receiver before I buy it?"  "No sir, that would be illegal.")

- Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  (215) 234-VWVW
  www.busdepot.com