Voices On The Radio

Internet radio has had its share of trouble.

Until a little more than a month ago, when President Bush signed the Small Webcaster Settlement Act into law, it was doubtful whether many small webcasters could have continued their operations into 2003.

The Act was designed to exempt small and nonprofit webcasters from paying royalties and licensing fees that had accumulated since 1998, and it met opposition from the Recording Industry Association of America and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. These unions proposed an alternative bill in mid-October that would have required all webcasters -- including nonprofit webcasters -- to begin paying the more than $500 annual fee immediately.

The demand could have spelled shutdown for hundreds of small webcasters, but the November passage of the Act allowed them to keep broadcasting.

But even though the Act is exempting webcasters from retroactive fees now, there is no guarantee that further legislation won't bring them back. Webcasters were left with a June 30, 2003, deadline by which they either must pay the retroactive fees or work out a negotiation with Sound Exchange, the group working for the RIAA.

Larger webcasters with corporate sponsors whose budgets likely won't be affected by retroactive fees, such as Live365.com, might be on their way up to competition with AM and FM broadcasters.

But for small, nonprofit webcasters, such as Duke University's WXDU, 88.7 FM, Internet radio could be on the downswing, said Jeff Herrick, WXDU programming director.

The station isn't alone. Because nonprofit webcasters struggle financially even without the possibility of retroactive fees, webcasts such as Xact Records' online radio station and Cablemusic.com shut down even after the passage of SWSA.

WXDU, which had to shut down its Internet broadcast for several weeks in September, is one of many college radio stations waiting for a fee negotiation.

Many of the stations say even the possibility of resurfacing fees ultimately might make Internet radio too financially risky to become a mainstay at their stations.

"The tenuousness comes from the fact that we're on a small budget that's dependent on undergraduate students' fees," said Joe Franklin, co-manager of WXDU and a junior at Duke.

"If we can't even justify an expense as small as $500 a year, it's hard to justify staying on the air. There's a lot of things to be concerned about, and Internet radio can't take attention away from other important business," Franklin said. "It's frustrating."

But Herrick said that despite the trouble WXDU has had with Internet radio, it is a worthy venture.

"I think we really need to fight this battle because the noncommercial band of the radio is very crowded," Herrick said. "If you have a small station, sometimes the only way to get (the music) heard is through the Internet."

Franklin said WXDU's Internet broadcast has garnered listeners from across the United States and in Europe who tune in to hear Chapel Hill and Durham bands they can't hear elsewhere.

"We really do care about getting our name out beyond the Triangle area, beyond North Carolina, and to do that, we have to have Internet radio," he said.

Franklin said that webcasting is essential to the station's mission but that having to shut it down probably would not affect the number of listeners.

"A big part of our mission is educating students in music, arts and radio, and the result of that is a listenership that is diverse," Franklin said. "We're worried about the education side, not just the commercial listenership side."

Jason Perlmutter, general manager of UNC's student-run radio station WXYC, 89.7 FM, echoed WXDU's sentiments about the importance of the medium to public service.

WXYC has broadcast via the Internet since 1994, when it became the first station in the United States to use Simulcast -- a method in which identical material is broadcast via the Internet and the airwaves at the same time.

"(Internet radio) isn't our main thing, but it allows a lot of people who aren't from around here to keep listening when they're out of town," said Perlmutter. "It allows people who like the way we do radio to tune in from around the world."

Perlmutter said that anticipated retroactive fees are causing some worry but that for the time time being, Internet radio is "alive and kickin'."

And according to Internet radio analysts, it's more than just alive. Although Internet radio's listening base makes up less than 1 percent of all American listeners, its audience is growing at five to 10 times the rate of FM radio's, said Kurt Hanson, founder and publisher of Radio and Internet Newsletter, an online archive of Internet radio news.

"(Internet radio) is not in danger of being shut down anymore because of the Small Webcasters Act," Hanson said. "Once all consumers have access to wireless broadband everywhere they go, and once we're all carrying devices that can access that connection, then it will be a more convenient mechanism to get radio than AM/FM."

But the advantages go beyond convenience, Hanson said. He said Internet radio broadcasts musical genres -- such as bluegrass, electronica and alternative country -- that normally don't get airplay on mainstream radio because of space constraints.

"Dozens of genres of music and thousands of writers are now getting airplay," Hanson said. "This is all being done by people rather than the traditional radio broadcasters.

"There's a certain pleasure in downloading files and building playlists," Hanson said. "I think a lot of people would be surprised at how pleasurable it is to find an Internet radio station where someone else has done all the work for you and will expose you to great music."

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.