REC Networks has had a chance to review the language of the Ask Musicians For Music Act of 2019 or AM-FM Act as submitted by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10).  

The intention of the bill is to put into place a method where the recording industry would obtain payment in connection with music played on terrestrial radio.  Historically, radio has been on a statutory exemption as it was perceived that radio acutally promotes music.  When you look at today's post 80-90 environment with stations so heavily narrowcasted and the lack of local talent (i.e. DJs) and more of a public expectation of "more music and less talk", especially when faced with competition by "non-radio" (streaming) services, with the exception of a small number of noncommercial and commercial stations that still care about the music, radio is not promoting music. When was the last time you heard a DJ say what label a certain song is on?  For many years now, the recording industry had relegated that task to Walmart.  

"Growing pains" associated with the Federal Communications Commission recent conversion of FM engineering applications such as modifications and licenses is causing substantial delays in the processing of broadcast applications.  

The FCC has released a draft Report and Order (R&O) in MB Docket 19-3, the Noncommercial Educational (NCE) and Low Power FM (LPFM) administrative proposal.  The R&O will be voted on at the prior to the December 12, 2019 FCC open meeting.  Rules will not be implemented until they are published in the Federal Register.  The following is a run-down of the changes in the draft R&O:

REC Networks has filed comments with the FCC in MB Docket 17-264.

The Communications Act requires broadcast applicants (existing and new entrants) to make public notice of certain types of broadcast applications at the time they are accepted for filing at the FCC.  Currently, those notices are made through purchasing ads in newspapers.  In an effort to modernize the rules and to reflect the current state of media, the FCC has proposed to eliminate the newspaper requirement and replace with an online announcement.   The FCC also proposes changes to the public notice announcements heard over the air and officially implements public notices for LPFM.  The LPFM implementation was an oversight from 19 years ago.

In Reply Comments before the Federal Communications Commission, REC Networks called-out the National Association of Broadcasters and their ongoing excuses and fear mongering over the past 20 years in their war on new voices in radio comparing the conflict to something out of Tom and Jerry cartoon.  REC demonstrates how the NAB had used deception back in 2000 to fool Congress, who are not necessarily broadcast engineers of what third-adjacent channel interference would “sound” like and how the NAB’s 2012 conc