Congress's New Radio Job Killer
By Hugh Hewitt

While the threat to talk radio from a new Fairness Doctrine is receding, there is another torpedo in the water aimed at our industry--the radio Performance Tax.

Music companies, hard pressed by declining CD sales now, want Congress to impose a tax on every song played on the radio--a burden that would quickly bankrupt many radio companies and shutter many radio stations.

Ever since radio has been bringing music to fans, the arrangement has been that the radio stations would play the music for free and the music companies and artists would benefit from the exposure. Now these companies want a royalty--a tax--on every tune that is played.

Radio will simply have to give up playing music on hundreds if not thousands of stations. The industry--like many others in media--is already struggling to survive in the new media world. A new tax will spell the end of thousands of jobs across the land. Congress must say no to this new tax, which is every bit the radio killer as the Fairness Doctrine.