1) The entries are in and the judges are receiving their category packets for the inaugural CBI Awards. I hope your station had the opportunity to send in at least one entry. Finalists in each category will be announced this summer and the winners presented at the fall conference October 31-November 2 in Kissimmee, Florida. Best of luck to all.

2) Hotel reservations are being taken now at the Hyatt Kissimmee (fax-407-396-5090) for the fall conference. Registration forms will be sent out and available later this summer.

3) Nominations are being accepted for two faculty/staff positions and one student position for the CBI Board. Faculty/Staff positions are two years terms, student position is a one year term. All commence January 1, 2003. Self nominations are acceptable. Please forward your nominations to our Election Coordinator Andy Marlow at the University of Minnesota (amarlow@cce.umn.edu).

4) We are eagerly awaiting the June 20th decision by the Librarian of Congress regarding web casting rates. Thanks to all for your collective efforts in raising issue awareness, your action with local political leaders, your station efforts via on-air and web sites and to Will Robodee and Joel Willer for traveling to Washington, D.C. to be a part of the hearing process. Hopefully we have been heard. Just on of many things we can accomplish when we pool our resources!

5) In case you missed it, check out the recent case of a $21,000 indecency fine to WNEW-FM in New York City for material aired on the "Opie and Anthony Show" (www.rbr.com/e/0607021.html). One of the two incidents cited involved a listener complaint without tape or transcript, which in the past has been a required part of the complaint process. According to the article cited, "under a new policy initiated recently..the Commission no longer requires complainants to submit tapes or transcripts in indecency cases..." Please make your staffs aware of this issue and we all may want to look into logger systems of some sort for our own protection. Infinity claims in this case that they have no record of the material broadcast.

6) LEGAL CORNER--From CBI Legal Counsel Cary Tepper:

Is a station at risk legally if they choose to use/play music not licensed by ASCAP, BMI or SESAC?

"As you know, if a station has a blanket agreement with BMI, ASCAP or SESAC, they can use any of their music without risk of copyright infringement because these music licensing organizations make it unnecessary for individual stations to seek direct permission from each artist. It's a convenience service, so to speak.

If an artist is NOT associated with BMI, ASCAP or SESAC, they still have 100% copyright in their works. Thus, to legally use the work of such an artist, the station would have to get their permission and, if necessary, pay the requisite fee.

So, in answer to your question, users of non-BMI, non-ASCAP or non-SESAC material risk copyright infringement action if they do not get the direct consent of the artist before using their work."

7) A little on the lighter side for summer (From AllAccess.com PD Chronicles). Some of us have already been there, others will soon...some of us are the GM.

Take My GM, Please by The Mystery PD, June 11, 2002

Money can make GM's do crazy things.

For instance, there was the time my GM inquired whether we could cut back on newspaper subscriptions by having the four morning shows in our cluster share one morning paper. He was serious.

"Can't they just copy the articles they want?" he asked.

I wanted to have him drug tested the day he came to me wanting to know if our News/Talk station really needed the AP wire.

All I can figure is that now, my GM must need some extra revenue to make his bonus this quarter. How else can you explain his latest proposition?

"What if we turn overnights on the news/talker into broadcasting school?"

He's got this goofy grin on his face, which makes me think this is a put on. I look around my office for a hidden camera. But, unfortunately, this is no joke.

"We'll have the overnight talk host solicit for listeners who want to be on the radio," my GM explains. "We can charge them $350 an hour, non traditional revenue."

Over my dead body.

Turns out, I'm wrong on both counts. Madam Controller needs a demo for each of the stations in our cluster.

"Why?" I harmlessly ask.

Seems all the controllers in our company are being flown to San Diego for a bean counting extravaganza.

"I have to get up in front of all the other controllers and critique our stations," she says.

"But you're an accountant, not a PD," I protest. "Did they get their company conventions mixed up?"

"No," she says. "We're all required to play demos of our stations and tear them apart."

Must be something in the water cooler.

My GM's back. He's got that Cheshire cat grin again, so I know what's coming. Another helpful programming idea.

"Hey, I was thinking," my GM says, interrupting a really important conversation I'm having with my assistant PD. We were dissecting Saturday's Lewis-Tyson fight.

"No, guys, I was thinking…"

Whenever my GM thinks, and it has something to do with programming, there's trouble.

"You know how popular that millionaire game was on ABC? Why don't we play trivia on the news/talker at night?"

Help!

"I'll bet we could set up a 900 number where listeners could call in and register for a chance to play trivia on the air. We could charge them $1.50 a minute."

My assistant PD and me look at each other and smile. We both know the GM just came up with a dumb-ass idea. It'll be up to me, as usual, to humor him.

"Wouldn't that be considered game-ola?" I ask.

"No, I think we could make some big money. I'm going to go back to my office and calculate the potential revenue. Minimum buck-fifty a call. 500 calls a day…"

God, it sucks to be me.

My CSD (creative services director) beckons me to his studio. "You gotta hear something," he says. And whenever he says that, I know he's whipped up a promo that will knock my socks off.

I sit down in his studio, he closes the door behind me, then cranks up the volume on his speakers to "bleed." He plays a promo for a ticket giveaway to a local amusement park. But instead of it being blasé, he's used creative writing and clips from the new hit movie, "The Sum of All Fears," to make it jump out of the speakers.

"So…?" he asks after it's done playing.

"Awesome," I respond, high-fiving him for the great work.

It plays once before I get a call from the account rep for the amusement park.

"Rob needs to re-do it," the AE says. "My client thinks the promo is too artsy. He'd really prefer just a dry read."

This guy must be related to my GM.

Warren Kozireski
Chair-CBI