Radio: Isolationism - NAB style.

It started last Friday when the NAB tried to pull a fast one but got outed for a clandestine maneuver in Congress to block passage of the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008, which allows negotiations to continue between the RIAA’s SoundExchange and Internet radio over Internet radio royalty payments.

The NAB didn’t like all the attention Pandora was getting.

It later withdrew its objections when the negotiation deadline was extended from December 15 to February 15.

Under the present copyright laws, The RIAA’s SoundExchange isn’t allowed to negotiate for non-members who are eligible for royalties.

It’s akin to allowing the Paris Peace Talks to continue during the Vietnam War. You may not get anywhere – but at least you’re talking.

A few months back I suggested that the NAB and SaveNetRadio combine efforts to collectively stop the strong-arming by the well funded and lobbied RIAA.

But, true to form, the NAB will never criticize what it doesn’t understand – it’ll just try to kill it.

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It has been wallowing in isolationism for many years.

Let’s travel back to the year 2002 when AFTRA did their Radio Commercials Contract, entitling voice-over talent a 300 percent increase of their session rate fee if a spot recorded for terrestrial radio broadcast was streamed on the Internet.

Radio learned about the AFTRA deal only after it had already been signed, sealed, and delivered.

When ad agencies were hit with the augmented fees because their radio spots were also carried on terrestrial stations’ Internet streams, they demanded that the responsible stations pay that freight since they didn’t authorize carrying the spots on-line.

So here’s the NAB - an organization that’s supposed to rep radio and lobby for its causes on Capitol Hill –caught completely off-guard. It was unaware of a deal that had a direct impact on – and created still another financial burden for its member stations.

The NAB’s negligence and isolationism had stations scrambling for streaming media ad insertion technology, which, six years later, remains a hit and miss affair.

Three years later, the NAB’s isolationists missed another one: The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005.

This act makes the sharing or broadcast of any pre-release U.S. copyright material a felony punishable by up to three years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

Today, if a radio station plays a track before its official label sanctioned release date – it’s a felony – and violating stations and management can be fined and threatened with imprisonment.

Eleven months after the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act was signed into law, the NAB hired David “Fumbles” Rehr in its cushiest hack job as its new President and CEO.

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He was hired because of his alleged contacts in the Bush administration, which he later proved not to have.

The best description of Fumbles I’ve heard came from inside the NAB. He moved in with his ineptness and let it rub off on the place around him.

Harry Truman was known for that sign on his desk that read “The Buck Stops Here.” The sign on Fumbles’ desk says “Pass the Buck.”

Following the NAB convention in Austin, don’t you think it would make more sense to have the first three letters in the word convention capitalized – or at least hyphenated?

The NAB has proven itself incapable of making the right decisions, organizing its priorities, and understanding the industry it represents.

Instead, it prefers to waste time and money on campaigns that will do nothing for terrestrial radio’s survival.

Take the NAB’s effort to push for a law, which would make AM, FM, and HD reception on all Sirius XM satellite receivers mandatory. The bipartisan Radio All Digital Channel Receive Act is led by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA).

Let’s go straight to Fumbles’ comments. "The NAB salutes the leadership of Chairman Markey and a bipartisan group of lawmakers for sponsoring this important bill that will boost the integration of HD Radio in satellite radio receivers, including those installed in automobiles.”

He neglected to mention the $10,000 the NAB has funneled to his coffers so far this year for his support of this bill. Markey has received $242,051 or 33.5 percent of his total donations from the communications-electronics industry to date in 2008.

"In addition to providing 235 million weekly listeners with entertainment and music programming, free local radio stations have a long tradition of serving as a lifeline during times of crisis,” Fumbles added. “This legislation will extend and enhance these services as radio stations embrace our digital future."

Let’s not bring up how most local radio failed to provide adequate weather and traffic information during a recent windstorm that devastated parts of the Midwest just a couple of weekends ago.

Keep in mind that this is just another grandstand play just to make the NAB look like it’s doing something for its member stations. The FCC and the DOJ already approved the merger of Sirius and XM – and the NAB has zero influence to force this issue now.

Instead of forming alliances with both old and new media, the NAB will carry on its quest to make more enemies and further isolate terrestrial radio from other medium that could save it.

It makes you wonder if the N in NAB stands for North Korea. Fumbles must make Kim Jong-Il proud.