Tune in or turn out to Wave Farm events this summer

July 7: Tune (Out)))side
Over 30 performers playing into FM transmitters

July 21: Summer Winds
Artists using air or wind in performances.

Aug. 3-5: Campfire Sounds
Weekend avant-folk festival with camping.

Aug. 25: Animals
Performers using "animals" as a theme.

Oct. 13: Radio Festival
Unique radio art performances.


At all performances:

Wave Farm Transmission Sculpture Garden

Inaugural installations by Matt Bua and Jeff Feddersen. Special Wave Farm installations for 2007: Works by LoVid, Douglas Repetto, Michelle Rosenberg, Tianna Kennedy and Tarikh Korula, and Giancarlo Bracchi.

More details below.

Wave Farm
free103point9 Wave Farm
5662 Route 23
Acra, NY 12405
(518) 622-2598
http://www.free103point9.org/wavefarm.php

free103point9 Wave Farm is located on 30 pastoral acres in the northern foothills of Catskill Mountain Park, 120 miles north of New York City. The property features ponds, meadows, walking paths through a mature pine forest, and mountain views. Situated within the spectacular Hudson Valley, Wave Farm programs include artist residencies, a study center, a transmission sculpture garden, and a performance and exhibition series.

WAVE FARM TRANSMISSION SCULPTURE GARDEN
http://www.free103point9.org/sculpturegarden.php
The Wave Farm Transmission Sculpture Garden provides a unique opportunity for artists to conceive of and realize a long-term outdoor transmission-based installation open to the public in a retreat-like rural setting. Artists are invited to submit proposals for sculptural works that incorporate the transmission spectrum in concept or practice. Artists are encouraged to consider recycled materials in their work and utilize renewable energy sources (if power is required). Works will be installed within the 15-acre evergreen forest, situated throughout already the established
walking paths, at Wave Farm. Coinciding with free103point9 tenth anniversary celebration, free103point9's Transmission Sculpture Garden will open July 7, 2007, with inaugural installations by Jeff Feddersen and Matt Bua.

Jeff Feddersen: EarthSpeaker
EarthSpeaker is an installation of multiple units of an outdoor sonic sculpture. Each unit is a large, solar-powered, electro-acoustic speaker, which absorbs sunlight during the day and emits low frequency sounds at dusk.

Matt Bua: Sing Sun - Room
Sing Sun - Room is a customized extension built onto an existing mobile home located on the Wave Farm property. This gazebo-like structure harnesses natural elements (wind, water, and solar) to create a site-specific installation where live-sound is composed based on the surrounding environmental conditions.


SPECIAL WAVE FARM INSTALLATIONS FOR 2007
http://www.free103point9.org/wavefarm.php
LoVid, "7105"
The earthwork, "7105," is a large-scale planting of the self-seeding annual Radio Calendula. These orange quill-like flowers bloom from early summer until frost and are positioned so to create the numbers 7105, which become visible from from the birds-eye vantage point of the Wave Farm Study Center.

Douglas Repetto, "puff bang reverb"
"puff bang reverb" is a kinetic sculpture and semiaccurate, two-dimensional hyper-zoom, which exposes the secret life of displaced air molecules. "puff bang reverb" was originally commissioned by Festival Rümlingen 2005 and recently re-installed for the exhbition [silence], 2007, co-organized by free103point9 at Gigantic ArtSpace in Manhattan.

Michelle Rosenberg, "Auricle"
"Auricle" is a mobile parabolic sound reflector. It amplifies the Wave Farm waterfall to listeners standing in the focus point of the curve with adjustable plastic semi-spheres that include openings for ear placement.

"free103point9: Selected Works"
A video compilation featuring selected recordings from ten years of free103point9 archives. Compiled and edited by Giancarlo Bracchi.

Tianna Kennedy and Tarikh Korula, "Restored Archeoacoustic Recording Kit and Documentation"
Restored recording stylus, circa 1930. Kennedy and Korula performed a series of experiments in Red Hook Brooklyn (Winter 2007). Archeoacoustic research is concerned with extraction of historic, environmental sound from found objects. Exhibited in [silence], Gigantic ArtSpace, 2007.


TUNE (OUT)))SIDE 2007
http://www.free103point9.org/event.php?eventID=1168
July 7, 2007 : 3pm - 9pm
$5 admission
This outdoors variation of free103point9's Tune(In))) event features artists playing directly into five FM transmitters at free103point9's Wave Farm. No sound is amplified. Attendees tune in with radio headphones as they explore 30 acres of meadows, forests, and ponds.

Streamed live on free103point9 Online Radio.

CHANNEL ONE (entrance stage)
Marina Rosenfeld
Todd Merrell
Chris Forsyth
Matt Bua
Edmund Mooney + Jonny Farrow
Marievel Knievel
Mara Barenbaum

CHANNEL TWO (under large tree in the forest)
ben owen is curating this channel.
Gill Arno
Richard Garet
Scott Allison
Andy Graydon
ben owen
Michael Farley
Andy Hayleck

CHANNEL THREE (stage near the ponds)
Giancarlo Bracchi is curating this channel.
Mudboy
Elliot Sharp
Blues Control
Bunnybrains
QXW: Ron Rosenmon + Kyle Lapidus
Giancarlo Bracchi + Juan Matos Capote

CHANNEL FOUR (DJ booth)
()
Radio Ruido
Tom Roe
Tianna Kennedy
Sarah Margaret Halpern
John Morton
Oh My Fucking God: Jamie from Bunnybrains with Shemika Moody

CHANNEL FIVE
"free103point9: Selected Works"
A video compilation featuring selected recordings from ten years of free103point9 archives. Compiled and edited by Giancarlo Bracchi.



SUMMER WINDS
http://www.free103point9.org/event.php?eventID=1166
July 21, 2007 : 1pm - 8pm
$5 admission

Artists using wind instruments, breath, or air. Performances will take place throughout Wave Farm, both in the fields near Wave Farm's ponds, and in the forest. Free jazz, sound art, installations and other forms of wind will blow.

Audio and video web streams for this show available at www.free103point9.org.

Performers include:

Tintinnabulate - an ensemble of improvising artists founded by Pauline Oliveros at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2005. Performers often include Jonas Braasch, Alex Chechile, Pauline Oliveros, Elizabeth Panzer, Charles Veasey, Jefferson Pitcher, C. Ryder Cooley, Mike Bullock, Dan Valente, and Bart Woodstrup. The lineup for this show is not yet set.

Stars Like Fleas (Brooklyn) - In contrast to similarly free-mindedgroups currently fusing folk, noise, electronics, and as in the works of Marcel Dzama (who created the cover art for their last record) Stars Like Fleas stands out for the delicate way they commingle the disturbing, harsh and confrontational with something undeniably direct, sincere, silly, joyous and unashamedly romantic. Their set will play to the theme of wind and air.

Hassay, DeChellis, Nakatani Trio
- Gary Hassay (sax) + Dan DeChellis (piano, synth) + Tatsuya Nakatani (percussion).

Sparkle Projects - Members of the Gold Sparkle Band, with special guests.

DizzySparkle - Tom Roe with members of the Gold Sparkle Band.

Kenta Nagai + Michelle Nagai

Christopher McIntyre and others. - "Simultaneous installation-style solo and ensemble performances scattered around Wave Farm."



CAMPFIRE SOUNDS 2007
http://www.free103point9.org/event.php?eventID=1167
A
ugust 3, 2007 : 5pm - August 5, 2007 : 1pm
Camp overnight for $18. $7 admission.

free103point9's Campfire Sounds is a two-day avant folk festival on 30 acres at free103point9's Wave Farm in upstate New York. Enjoy views of the Catskill Mountains with ponds, streams, fields, and forests. Food/beverages sold. This year will be the third annual Campfire Sounds show at Wave Farm.

Streamed live on free103point9 Online Radio.

FRIDAY AUG. 3
6-9 p.m.

DJ Dizzy

Mike Tamburo (PA)

Coal Hook
Featuring Ron Schneiderman (of Sunburned Hand of the Man, Aethr Myth'd, Massachusetts) and Jørgen Teller (Belgium).

SATURDAY, AUG. 4

Shawn Onsgard (Brooklyn)

Kim Cascone (California)

Sunburned Hand of the Man (MA)

MV & EE with the Golden Road (Vermont)

Samara Lubelski (NYC)

Franklin Mint (Ulster County, NY)
Phil Franklin of Sunburned Hand of the Man plus others.

Dan Matz (Philadelphia)
Matz is a member of Windsor for the Derby.

The Dust Dive Flash (Laura Ortman, Brooklyn)

The Dust Dive (Brooklyn)

Latitude/Longitude (Brooklyn)



ANIMALS
http://www.free103point9.org/event.php?eventID=1181
August 25, 2007 : 2pm - 8pm
$10 admission

Artists performing works on the theme of "Animals." Curated by Slink Moss. A portion of the proceeds goes to Animal Kind.

Audio and video streamed live on free103point9 Online Radio.

Performers include:

Evolution Revolution
- From Albany Times Union: "Led by the one and only reel-to-reel tape manipulator Jason Martin, the band not only sings Martin's quirky fauna-friendly anthems, but the floating membership of musicians also regularly performs in animal costumes, too."

Dan Saxton Bunny
- From Justin Stewart review in The Wire of Bunny Brains set at "Campfire Sounds 2006" at Wave Farm: "Beefheart disciples...feral freak-act...head-scratching mindfuck circus show."

Latitude/Longitude
Brooklyn-based free103point9 Transmission Artists Michael Garofalo and Patrick McCarthy began performing as Latitude/Longitude in 2004. Teasing melodies out of prepared and alternately tuned guitars while electronics murmur in a nest of instrument cables at their feet, the duo weave electro-acoustic dream songs from cross-circuit chaos.

S.M.O. (Slink Moss Orchestra)
- From Mark Guarino, Daily Herald: "Moss is an enigma, with a persona more in line with voodoo wildman Screamin' Jay Hawkins and T. Rex.... Vocally, Moss is Buddy Holly without the hiccups."

Guitar Trips
- From Mike Wood in foxy digitalis: "Guitar Trips is New Yorker Doug Anson, who makes a joyful solo noise on his axe, creating bluesy, trippy sound loops with plenty of sonic paths to follow. The lo-fi, recorded in a bedroom feel adds to the richness, as if this is a series of improvs done quietly, out of sight and only for self-satisfaction."

Flaming Fire
- "Well, at least some of the kooks have stuck it out in New York City and they are in Flaming Fire, an awesomely kooky, theatrical band singing songs of biblical plagues and Egyptian sexual practices. Picture the Butthole Surfers, the Residents, the Manson Family, and the B-52s all running amok in a Kenneth Anger film."
-Meg Sneed, Vice.

Animental
- Animental is an outlet for expression in its purest form, drawing inspiration from animals. Animental explores the ideas of innate reactions and behavior of animals vs. the programmed or acceptable actions of the human animal. It hopes to empower the individual who is performing as well as transport the audience to another realm of reality. Inspiration, freedom, hope, creativity, individuality, power, and feminism are things Animental hopes to transpire. We use sound, costumes, movement, storytelling, props, lights and what ever else the participants and performers bring.

Melanie Moser
- "Adult contemporary psych."

Owl

Cabinet of Natural Curiosities



RADIO FESTIVAL 2007
http://www.free103point9.org/event.php?eventID=1230
October 13, 2007 : 2pm - 8pm
$5 admission

The public component of a weekend long artist retreat including the free103point9 Transmission Artists and 2007 AIRtime residents, Radio Festival features a series of afternoon workshops and evening performances.

2007 Call for Submissions on the theme
A Sonic Portrait

Categories: Radio Art, Electroacoustic Music,
Videomusic and Installation Art
September 30, 2007 Deadline
www.naisa.ca

New Adventures in Sound Art invites artists of all ages and nationalities to submit works on the theme A Sonic Portrait for consideration in 2008 future programming for the annual Deep Wireless, Sound Travels, and SOUNDplay festivals, produced by New Adventures in Sound Art in Toronto, Canada. Artists may submit works in one or all of the following four categories: 1) Radio Art, 2) Electroacoustic Sound Art, 3) Videomusic and 4) Installation Art (Note: please send separate submission forms for each entry).

Individual interpretations or variations on the theme are encouraged: A Sonic Portrait could be a portrait of a person, place or thing done entirely in sound, an audio journal, a soundscape portrait, sound mapping, a visualization of a sound and so on.

All submitted works must respond in some way to the theme A Sonic Portrait in order to be considered for 2008 NAISA programming.

1) Radio Art (for Deep Wireless)

The Radio Art category is for works conceived for radio or that use radio and other wireless technology in their creation and that play with the medium. Works submitted to this category must be less than 60 minutes in duration. Special consideration will be given to 1 minute radio art pieces for broadcast as well as 1 page proposals for collaboration on translocal broadcast performances.

Pieces will be selected for broadcast within Canada and on several international radio stations in May 2008 as part of the Deep Wireless festival of radio and transmission art.

Both Canadian and International radio art submissions will be considered for inclusion in the following:

-The Deep Wireless 4 radio art compilation CD
-The radio art interventions (1 minute pieces played guerilla-style on radio stations during the Deep Wireless festival)
-The Radio Art Salon - a listening gallery of radio art works exhibited for the month of May.

A small number of Canadian artists will be chosen from the submissions to be part of the Deep Wireless/CBC's Outfront Commissioning Programme in 2008 with residencies at Charles Street Video in Toronto.

2) Electroacoustic Music (for Sound Travels)

The Electroacoustic Music category is for multi-channel and stereo works less than 20 minutes in duration and conceived for concert performance or presentation in the Sound Travels festival of sound art on Toronto Island. Preferred formats for performance presentation include 5.1, octaphonic and 12 channel formats in both acousmatic (tape), live and mixed formats. Please indicate in the notes the intended format of presentation and any required instrumentation or specialized equipment.

3) Videomusic (for SOUNDplay)

The Videomusic category is for works that explores non-narrative abstraction with equal emphasis on sound and image. Submitted works will be considered for video screenings with either stereo or multi-channel playback. Submitted works will be considered for screenings in either a performance venue or a small-size gallery alongside other works selected from this call for submissions.

4) Installation Art (for Deep Wireless, Sound Travels or SOUNDplay)

Installation proposals of previously realized works for site-specific and gallery installations with no fixed duration will be considered for presentation as part of Deep Wireless, Sound Travels or SOUNDplay. Site-specific works can be for indoor or outdoor locations. Works can use multichannel or single channel playback and may incorporate any number of media, but must feature original sound as a primary element. Please attach a list of the necessary equipment required to mount the installation and which of these items can be supplied by the artist. Submissions should include audio, video or audio-video documentation of previously realized versions of the work.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit a completed application form (in digital format if possible) along with the proposed works on CD or DVD.

For multichannel works, please include a stereo reduction for reference purposes only. For video works, please include a DVD copy for reference only. Screening masters will be requested later if the work is to be programmed. For installation works, please attach a list of required equipment with indications of equipment that can be supplied by the artist.

Materials not submitted with a self-addressed stamped envelope will remain in the archives of New Adventures in Sound Art and will not be returned. Please don't send original copies.

Submissions must be postmarked no later than September 30, 2007 and mailed to: New Adventures in Sound Art, 401 Richmond Street West #358, Toronto, ON M5V 3A8.



Submission Entry Form (attach extra pages if needed)

1) Name of creator/s: ______________________________________

2) Address of creator/s: _____________________________________

City, Province, Postal Code: _________________________________

3) Phone number of creator/s: (____) __________________________

4) E-mail of creator/s: ___________________________________

5) Category of Submission (check one only per work): _____ Radio Art ______ Electroacoustic Sound art ______ Videomusic _____ Installation Art.

6) Title of piece: _______________________________________________

7) Duration: _____ minutes ______ seconds

8) Names of other artists or contributors: _____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________

9) Year of completion: ______

10) Relevance of the work to the theme Sonic Portrait:
_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

11) Equipment used to create the piece:

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

12) Do you own the copyright to your piece: _____ yes ______ no

13) If not please give us the organization that we should contact in order to get permission to broadcast or publish the work on CD:

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

14) Programme note for the piece (50 words):

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________


15) Biography of the artist (50 words):

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________



16) Format that you are mailing: _____ CD ______ DVD

17) Should you be chosen as one of the artists to participate in the Deep Wireless Commissioning Programme, you will be asked to create a new piece for radio broadcast and performance. Are you available to participate between the months of January and March 2008? _____ Yes ______ No

18) Although this is an international call for
submissions, the Deep Wireless/CBC's Outfront Commissioning programme is restricted to Canadians or Landed immigrants. Are you a Canadian or Landed Immigrant?_____ Yes ______ No

19) New Adventures in Sound Art produces a bi-weekly community radio show called Deep Wireless on CKLN-FM. Would you like your submitted audio work(s) to be broadcast on this or other programs on CKLN-FM?_____ Yes ______ No


Submissions must be postmarked no later than September 30, 2007 and mailed to:

New Adventures in Sound Art, 401 Richmond Street West #358, Toronto, ON M5V 3A8



Contact: Nadene Theriault-Copeland at 416-910-7231, 905-454-5714, or naisa@naisa.ca .

1. Mike Tamburo, Language of the Birds and Other Fantasies box set (New American Folk Hero)
2. Ting Ting Jahe, 18(16) (Winds Measure Recordings)
3. Jeff Arnal + Dietcich Eichmann, LP (Broken Research)
4. Chris Forsyth + Nate Wooley, The Duchess of Oysterville (Creative Sources Recordings)
5. William Parker + Hamid Drake, Summer Snow (Aum Fidelity)
6. David S. Ware Quartet, Renunciation (Aum Fidelity)
7. Uncle Woody Sullender + Greg Davis, The Tempest is Over (Dead CEO)
8. Joseph Nechvatal, Viral Symph0ny (iea)
With Matthew Underwood, Andrew Deutsch, and Stephane Sikora.
9. Jonas Braasch, Global Reflections (Deep Listening)
10. Seejayno, Sedainty (Shinkoyo/Here See/Skulls of Heaven/
11. Andy Graydon, At Bay (Winds Measure Recordings)
12. Tripwire, Looking in My Ear (Creative Sources)
13. William Parker + Hamid Drake, First Communion/Piercing the Veil 2xCD (Aum Fidelity)
14. Annea Lockwood, Thousand Year Dreaming/Floating World (Pogus)
15. Droopy Septum, Howling Lands, Whispering Leaves (NAFH)
16. The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro, Alabama, Singing Songs of Praise (CaseQuarter)
17. The Dust Dive Flash, Tens of Thousands (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 029)
18. Albrecht Maurer + Norbert Rodenkirchen, Hidden Fresco (Nemu)
19. (), "Autecicadas/ocean_db_crash_nue" 7" (Parentheismusic.com)
20. Ignaz Schick + Jorg Maria Zeger + Burkhard Beins with Keith Rowe and with Charlwmagne Palestine, Perlonex Tensions (Nexsound)
21. Eliane Radigue, Jetsun Mila (Lovely Music)
22. Various artists, Selections from Peter Stuyvesant's Ghost (free103point9)
With Michelle Nagai, Edmund Mooney, Andrea Polli, Mike Hallenbeck, Ryan Holsopple, Renee Ridgway, Jonathan Zalben, Hanneke de Feijter, Saskia Janssen, Kaisu Koski, and others.
23. USA Is A Monster + Mudboy/USA Is A Monster + Kites, split CD (self)
24. Mike Tamburo + Ken Camden, Menken and Maas (NAFH)
25. Bob Lukomski + Hajji Majer + Thomas Lail, In the Motherheart of God the Father (Homestijl)
26. The Cutest Puppy in the World, Apotrope (NAFH)
27. Destructo Swarmbots, Clear Light (Public Guilt)
28. Andy Futreal, like twilight bleeding 3" CD (NAFH)
29. Mudboy, LP Bootleg(breadandanimals.com)
30. Eric Carbonara, Seven Pieces for Solo Guitar (Nada Sound Studio)
31. Edmund Mooney, Happy Trails (self)
32. Harm Stryker, Harm Stryker 3" CDr (Public Guilt)
33. Matt Weston, Resistance Cruisers 3" CD (7272 Music)
34. Parts & Labor, Escapers One (Broklyn Beats)
35. Yesterday in Parliament, Ritual Foxy: Tip it Up (Fenland Hi-Brow)
36. J. Crouse, guitar readouts (self)
37. Mouthus, For the Great Slave Lakes (Threelobed)
38. Robert Horton, Sleep, Wake, Hope and Then (NAFH)
39. MPLD, Lapse Phaser (self)
40. Lawrence Blatt, Out of the Woodwork (LMB)

free103point9 Online Radio is available around the clock. Programming includes live feeds from the free103point9 Project Space in Brooklyn, the free103point9 Wave Farm in upstate New York, and from performances and events from all over the world. The radio station plays many different styles, especially transmission works, but also field recordings, dub, turntablism, avant folk, free jazz, noise, generative sound, and other fringe styles. Many special live shows feature organizations such as the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology, Squidco, Screw Music Forever, and others. Tune in at www.free103point9.org.

We play transmission works, plus other experimental sounds. Send submissions for airplay to free103point9, 5662 Route 23, Acra, NY 12405. (Do not e-mail mp3s, or links to mp3s, it will be a waste of your time. Mailed submissions will be considered.)

From Science Daily:

University of Utah physicists developed small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity. The technology holds promise for changing waste heat into electricity, harnessing solar energy and cooling computers and radars.

University of Utah physicist Orest Symko demonstrates how heat can be converted into sound by using a blowtorch to heat a metallic screen inside a plastic tube, which then produces a loud tone, similar to when air is blown into a flute. Symko and his students are developing much smaller devices that not only convert heat to sound, but then use the sound to generate electricity. The devices may be used to cool electronics, harness solar energy in a new way, and conserve energy by changing waste heat into electric power.

"We are converting waste heat to electricity in an efficient, simple way by using sound," says Orest Symko, a University of Utah physics professor who leads the effort. "It is a new source of renewable energy from waste heat." Five of Symko's doctoral students recently devised methods to improve the efficiency of acoustic heat-engine devices to turn heat into electricity. They will present their findings on Friday, June 8 during the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center hotel.

Symko plans to test the devices within a year to produce electricity from waste heat at a military radar facility and at the university's hot-water-generating plant.
The research is funded by the U.S. Army, which is interested in "taking care of waste heat from radar, and also producing a portable source of electrical energy which you can use in the battlefield to run electronics" he says. Symko expects the devices could be used within two years as an alternative to photovoltaic cells for converting sunlight into electricity. The heat engines also could be used to cool laptop and other computers that generate more heat as their electronics grow more complex. And Symko foresees using the devices to generate electricity from heat that now is released from nuclear power plant cooling towers.

Symko's work on converting heat into electricity via sound stems from his ongoing research to develop tiny thermoacoustic refrigerators for cooling electronics.
In 2005, he began a five-year heat-sound-electricity conversion research project named Thermal Acoustic Piezo Energy Conversion (TAPEC). Symko works with collaborators at Washington State University and the University of Mississippi. The project has received $2 million in funding during the past two years, and Symko hopes it will grow as small heat-sound-electricity devices shrink further so they can be incorporated in micromachines (known as microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS) for use in cooling computers and other electronic devices such as amplifiers.

Using sound to convert heat into electricity has two key steps. Symko and colleagues developed various new heat engines (technically called "thermoacoustic prime movers") to accomplish the first step: convert heat into sound. Then they convert the sound into electricity using existing technology: "piezoelectric" devices that are squeezed in response to pressure, including sound waves, and change that pressure into electrical current. "Piezo" means pressure or squeezing. Most of the heat-to-electricity acoustic devices built in Symko's laboratory are housed in cylinder-shaped "resonators" that fit in the palm of your hand. Each cylinder, or resonator, contains a "stack" of material with a large surface area -- such as metal or plastic plates, or fibers made of glass, cotton or steel wool -- placed between a cold heat exchanger and a hot heat exchanger.

When heat is applied -- with matches, a blowtorch or a heating element -- the heat builds to a threshold. Then the hot, moving air produces sound at a single frequency, similar to air blown into a flute. "You have heat, which is so disorderly and chaotic, and all of a sudden you have sound coming out at one frequency," Symko says.
Then the sound waves squeeze the piezoelectric device, producing an electrical voltage. Symko says it's similar to what happens if you hit a nerve in your elbow, producing a painful electrical nerve impulse.

Longer resonator cylinders produce lower tones, while shorter tubes produce higher-pitched tones. Devices that convert heat to sound and then to electricity lack moving parts, so such devices will require little maintenance and last a long time. They do not need to be built as precisely as, say, pistons in an engine, which loses efficiency as the pistons wear.

Symko says the devices won't create noise pollution. First, as smaller devices are developed, they will convert heat to ultrasonic frequencies people cannot hear. Second, sound volume goes down as it is converted to electricity. Finally, "it's easy to contain the noise by putting a sound absorber around the device," he says.

From Broadcast Law Blog:

The past few days have been eventful ones in the battle over Internet radio royalties. Appeals from the decision of the Copyright Royalty Board decision (see our memo explaining that decision, as well as our coverage of the history of this case) were submitted by virtually all of the parties to the case. In addition, the National Association of Broadcasters, which had not previously been a party to the case, filed a request to intervene in the appeal to argue that the CRB decision adversely affects its members. Also in Court, a Motion for Stay of the decision was submitted, asking that the CRB decision be held in abeyance while the appeal progresses. The "appeals" that were filed last week are simply notices that parties dispute the legal basis for the decision, and that they are asking that the Court review that decision. These filings don't contain any substantive arguments. Those come later, once the Court sets up a briefing schedule and a date for oral arguments - all of which will occur much later in the year. As the CRB decision goes into effect on July 15, absent a Stay, the appeal would have no effect on the obligations to begin to pay royalties at the new rates.

The Stay was filed by the large webcasters represented by DiMA, the smaller independent webcasters that I have represented in this case, and NPR. To be granted a stay, the Court must look at a number of factors. These include the likelihood that the party seeking the stay will be successful on appeal, the fact that irreparable harm will occur if the stay is not granted, the harm that would be caused by the grant of a stay, and the public interest benefits that would be advanced by the stay. The Motion filed last week addressed these points. It raised a number of substantive issues including the minimum per channel fee set by the CRB decision, the lack of a percentage of revenue fee for smaller webcasters, and issues about the ability of NPR stations to track the metrics necessary to comply with the CRB decision. The Motion raised the prospect of immediate and irreparable harm that would occur if the decision was not stayed, as several webcasters stated that enforcement of the new rates could put them out of business.

SoundExchange will have the opportunity to respond to the Motion, and the Court will then consider its merits. Watch to see a decision on the Motion by July 15. In addition to the actions in Court, SoundExchange publicized an offer of settlement made to noncommercial webcasters, an offer which was similar to that made to small webcasters (summarized here) - extend the provisions of the Small Webcaster Settlement Act until 2010, with a few tweaks. The SWSA for noncommercial webcasters required fees of between $250 and $500 per year for each noncommercial webcaster, as long as the webcaster had less than 146,000 aggregate monthly tuning hours of listening. If the webcaster exceeded that listening, it would pay at the rate of .251 cents ($0.00251) per aggregate tuning hour over the limit. The SoundExchange offer suggested a few tweaks, including requiring that noncommercial webcasters provide records of use of sound recordings - something not required under the SWSA. The current requirements for Internet radio recordkeeping are summarized here.

The offer was made to a number of noncommercial webcasting groups, so there will need to be negotiations before any deal is final. And as NPR had its own deal arrived at outside of the SWSA framework (a deal that is not public), they may well have concerns with this proposal which requires the same sort of record keeping about which its has expressed concerns in the Motion for Stay.

From DIYMedia:

It seems that the FCC's sweep of microradio is not leaving the old guard alone. Several long-running microradio stations have been visited by the FCC recently, including two individuals specifically targeted from the Free Radio Olympia collective, which sent out this missive: "Free Radio Olympia, a 6-year-old consensus-run pirate radio collective, has come under heavy harassment from the FCC. Although we have temporarily gone off the air while maintaining our internet stream, we have decided to continue broadcasting once we have found a new, willing transmitter site, despite the strong possibility of an immanent FCC raid...We especially would appreciate your being alert for any news of an actual raid, and spreading the story as rapidly and widely as possible."

Mediageek details another communiqué which details the station's long history of being a good steward the airwaves while posing a radical challenge to the FCC's licensing policies which deny the existence of stations like FRO. The station may consider separating its studio from transmitter via webcasting, which seems to at least complicate the FCC's enforcement process, if not stymie it.

Camera phones have only become widespread over the past few years, however in that brief time they have become indispensable. Their portable nature and attachment to a never-leave- home-without device has promoted the easy and quick capture of everyday life the moment it occurs. Amateur photographers armed with their cell phones have
already become an important resource for the media, providing first-look on-the-scene instant documentation.

Upstate Artist Guild celebrates the ability for instant unexpected art, capturing the candid moment, through the use of cell phone cameras. We invite artists to present in our unique online gallery, as part of our first international show, titled "Send." Submissions will be accepted throughout the month of June, 2007, and posted to the online gallery, where they will remain as a permanent exhibition.

Submissions:
1. Send your photo, using your phone or email, to send@upstateartists guild.org.
2. In the text portion of your message be sure to include your full name, the title of your photo, and your city and country. If necessary, you may submit this information separately via email, including your phone number for reference to the photo portion of the submission. Submissions without this information will be deleted.
3. Submissions will be accepted through the end of June 2007.
4. Only photos taken using a cell phone camera will be accepted.
5. The UAG is not responsible for any fees incurred through your cell provider.
6. The UAG reserves the right to withhold images it deems inappropriate for general viewing.
7. No copyrighted content shall be submitted as part of the exhibit.
8. The photo must be the work of the artist submitting the piece.
9. The UAG shall not in any way be responsible for violations of the guidelines mentioned above.
10. The UAG reserves the right to use submitted works for marketing purposes.

From Liz Berg via WFMU Beware of the Blog:

The battle between webcasters and SoundExchange (webcasting royalty collectors) is still raging over royalties. Earlier this year, the Copyright Royalty Board approved a hike in webcasting royalty fees so large that the increase would put many online stations out of business. An enormous backlash erupted from webcasters large and small, commercial and non-commercial, backed by the Save Net Radio campaign. NPR asked the CRB to provide an exception to the rates for non-commercial stations with large online audiences, but this was denied. Congress eventually caught wind of the storm, and wrote up a few bills to nix the CRB's rates, but no further progress has been made. In a surprise move, the CRB pushed the inception of their new rate scheme forward a few months, but as July 15 creeps up, few negotiations have taken place between webcasters and SoundExchange.

The few settlement offers that SoundExchange did offer up to webcasters are, unfortunately, useless to the vast majority of stations that will be affected by the rate hike. I imagine that Congress pressured SoundExchange to work something out, and in return SE wrote up a few PR-driven "deals" to get the Reps and Senators off their asses. Here are the details of SE's bum deals:

1. Small webcasters running on less than $250k/yr will pay 10% of their revenue to SoundExchange, and those with revenue up to $1.25 million will have to pay 12%. Any station with a budget over $1.25 million will be charged as per the CRB's new rate scheme. This sounds like a good deal, until you consider the fact that satellite radio companies XM and Sirius pay the highest royalties out of anybody, and their rate is only 7.5% of annual revenue. And 12% is supposed to be a "deal" for fledgling businesses? Here's the story.

2. SoundExchange offered a "private agreement" to a few NPR-affiliated non-commercial webcasters. They'll be charged a low royalty rate, provided that they don't have a large listenership. If they have more than 200 simultaneous listeners on their stream, the fees increase significantly. Trouble is, if your station wasn't part of the "private agreement", this "deal" doesn't apply.

In the meantime, NPR has filed a court request for an emergency stay on the CRB's new rates. Let's hope that SE comes up with a reasonable compromise for small webcasters and non-commercial stations soon...

From Martha Graybow via Reuters:

A U.S. appeals court on Monday overruled federal regulators who decided that expletives uttered on broadcast television violated decency standards, a major victory for TV networks.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission had ruled in March 2006 that News Corp.'s Fox television network had violated decency regulations when singer Cher and actress Nicole Richie blurted out profanities during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards' shows. However, no fines were issued.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, in a 2-1 ruling, said that the FCC's "new policy sanctioning 'fleeting expletives' is arbitrary and capricious." The court sent the matter back to the commission for further proceedings.

Fox had challenged the FCC's decision, arguing that the government's decency standard was unclear, violated free speech protections and that the rulings had contradicted findings in past cases. Both sides presented oral arguments before the U.S. appeals court panel in December 2006.

In their written ruling on Monday, Judges Rosemary Pooler and Peter Hall said that the FCC policy on indecency standards "represents a significant departure from positions previously taken by the agency and relied on by the broadcast industry" and that the commission "has failed to articulate a reasoned basis for this change in policy." Judge Pierre Leval issued a dissenting opinion, writing that he believed the FCC "gave a reasoned explanation for its change of standard."

free103point9 Online Radio
May 2007 Top 40

1. David S. Ware Quartet, Renunciation (Aum Fidelity)
2. Joseph Nechvatal, Viral Symph0ny (iea)
With Matthew Underwood, Andrew Deutsch, and Stephane Sikora.
3. Ting Ting Jahe, 18(16) (Winds Measure Recordings)
4. Uncle Woody Sullender + Greg Davis, The Tempest is Over (Dead CEO)
5. William Parker + Hamid Drake, First Communion/Piercing the Veil 2xCD (Aum Fidelity)
6. The Dust Dive Flash, Tens of Thousands (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 029)
7. Jeff Arnal + Dietcich Eichmann, LP (Broken Research)
8. USA Is A Monster + Mudboy/USA Is A Monster + Kites, split CD (self)
9. Chris Forsyth + Nate Wooley, The Duchess of Oysterville (Creative Sources Recordings)
10. (), "Autecicadas/ocean_db_crash_nue" 7" (Parentheismusic.com)
11. Andy Graydon, At Bay (Winds Measure Recordings)
12. Albrecht Maurer + Norbert Rodenkirchen, Hidden Fresco (Nemu)
13. Mike Tamburo, Language of the Birds and Other Fantasies box set (New American Folk Hero)
14. The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro, Alabama, Singing Songs of Praise (CaseQuarter)
15. Various artists, Selections from Peter Stuyvesant's Ghost (free103point9)
With Michelle Nagai, Edmund Mooney, Andrea Polli, Mike Hallenbeck, Ryan Holsopple, Renee Ridgway, Jonathan Zalben, Hanneke de Feijter, Saskia Janssen, Kaisu Koski, and others.
16. Ignaz Schick + Jorg Maria Zeger + Burkhard Beins with Keith Rowe and with Charlwmagne Palestine, Perlonex Tensions (Nexsound)
17. MPLD, Lapse Phaser (self)
18. Tripwire, Looking in My Ear (Creative Sources)
19. Seejayno, Sedainty (Shinkoyo/Here See/Skulls of Heaven/BOC Sound Laboratories)
20. Mouthus, For the Great Slave Lakes (Threelobed)
21. Jonas Braasch, Global Reflections (Deep Listening)
22. Droopy Septum, Howling Lands, Whispering Leaves (NAFH)
23. Parts & Labor, Escapers One (Broklyn Beats)
24. Mudboy, LP Bootleg(breadandanimals.com)
25. Eliane Radigue, Jetsun Mila (Lovely Music)
26. Mike Tamburo + Ken Camden, Menken and Maas (NAFH)
27. Kotra & Zavoloka, Wag the Swing (Kvitnu.com)
28. Robert Horton, Sleep, Wake, Hope and Then (NAFH)
29. John Morton, Solo Traveler (innova)
30. Eric Carbonara, Seven Pieces for Solo Guitar (Nada Sound Studio)
31. Edmund Mooney, Happy Trails (self)
32. Matt McDowell, Headlong Into the Fire (NAFH)
33. Steve Stoll, Earthling (self)
34. Gratkowski + Fox + Menestres + Davis, ORM (Umbrella Recordings)
35. Phantom Limb & Tetuzi Akiyama, Hot Ginger (Archive)
Recorded June, 2006 at free103point9 Project Space in Brooklyn.
36. Sixes, Cursed Beast (enterruption)
37. Matt Weston, Resistance Cruisers 3" CD (7272 Music)
38. Gay Bomb/Ironing split LP (Hymn)
39. ZMF Trio, Circle the Path (Drip Audio)
40. Wether, Skin Atonement (Hymn)

Send submissions for airplay to free103point9, 5662 Route 23, Acra, NY 12405. (Do not e-mail mp3s, or links to mp3s, it will be a waste of your time. Mailed submissions will be considered.)

In the fall of 2007, Exit Art will present Electric Lab. This exhibition is dedicated to the scientist Nicola Tesla, who wanted to provide the entire world with free access to electricity. As Tesla discovered, electricity is one of life’s most fundamental forces; it courses through the heart and powers our computers. Today, the shortage and high cost of electricity is a pressing contemporary issue. For Electric Lab, we are asking artists to envision solutions to the impending electricity crisis by creating works that imagine alternative sources of electricity, suggest new ways to access electricity, and establish scenarios in which to experience the power of electricity. Proposals due June 15, 2007.

How to Apply:
Proposals may be for work in any medium. Please submit a one page description of your project idea: a sketch of the proposed project; a resume; and documentation of your previous work (10 slides or images on CD, please send images at lowest resolution so they open quickly, or a 3-5 minute NTSC VHS video or DVD). Please include a self addressed stamped envelope for the return of your work. You will be notified by email of your involvement in the exhibition so please include an email address with your materials. Exit Art is not responsible for returning works submitted without a SASE.
Send Submissions to:
Exit Art
Electric Lab
475 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
Or email electriclab@exitart.org

From New Scientist:

It could become an indispensable safety device for outdoor enthusiasts - a cellphone that warns you to take cover if lightning is heading your way. Lightning can pose a major risk to people taking part in outdoor pursuits, such as golfing. So Nokia proposes a warning system that uses the fact that a lightning bolt is an electric current that emits radio waves. Each bolt produces frequencies between 10 hertz and 5 gigahertz, and the distribution of these signals depends on how far away the lightning is. The multiple receivers in a phone, such as Bluetooth, FM, tri-band GSM, Wi-Fi and RFID, can be tuned to pick up these signals, says Nokia (US patent application 2007/0085525). Software will then interpret them, work out the distance to the lightning, and tell you if strikes are getting closer.

From Reporters Without Borders:

Reporters Without Borders voiced deep concern today about two armed attacks on privately-owned Radio Dijla in Baghdad on 3 May that left one person dead and two wounded.

“The two attacks on Radio Dijla, one after the other, were like military raids,” Reporters Without Borders said. “This independent station was assaulted by an organised military force equipped with heavy artillery. The attack took place in central Baghdad without any intervention from police units patrolling nearby. The Iraqi authorities must shoulder some of the blame for this latest episode in the cycle of violence against journalists and the media.”

About 10 gunmen launched the first of the two attacks on Radio Dijla in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Al Jami’a at around 9 a.m. The employees were able to hold them off using firearms previously provided by the management as security precaution. At the same time, four employees eluded a kidnap attempt by fleeing into the stations’s premises.

The station appealed to the police and military authorities for help, but no help was sent during the attack, which lasted half an hour. The gunmen shot security guard Adel Al-Badri dead and wounded two other employees.

The second attack took place several hours later, after all the employees had abandoned the building, and was presumably carried out by the same group. They set explosive charges in the building’s first floor and started a fire, destroying the station’s transmitter and causing a lot of other damage. Radio Dijla nonetheless hoped to resume broadcasting within 72 hours.

Bending Sound
Queer Experiments with Audio
Call for Work and Proposals

Deadline: June 29, 2007

Curator working with MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Festival, expanding festival programs to include experimental music and audio component. This is a new project and therefore applicants should feel free to contact curator. MIX NYC’s 20th Anniversary Festival takes place in Lower Manhattan, November 2007.

Application:
Looking for new innovative approaches to experiences of sound. Individuals are invited to submit:

- Proposals for performances working with sound and/or multi-media (up to 10 minutes) for inclusion in live audio event as part of the festival in November 2007.
- Less than 10 minute audio recording to be included in a free sound compilation with MIXnyc program book 2007.
- Or would like to collaborate and create with other artists/musicians for inclusion in the above. Applicants will be matched up to work creatively based on either a live event or audio recording.

Basic A/V equipment will be available (TV’s, DVD player, Microphones, LCD projector, ect) will be provided but because this is a new project, any special technical equipment needed for the proposal (turntables, special effects, light activated sonar devices, ect) applicant will need to provide.

Proposals should include:
1 – Contact Information
2 – Proposal Summary if proposing a performance (up to 500 words)
3 – Work Samples: VHS – NTSC Format, DVD, CD-Rom, Audio CD, Cassette Tapes, website, images (jpg, tiff, pdf) or audio files (mp3, wav, aiff)
4 – Work Sample Summary: A short description of each work submitted including artist(s) name, title, date, medium, venue, duration, and applicant’s role (if collaborative work).
5 – Optional Information (short bio, reviews, photos, ect.)
6 – SASE for return of materials if sending via snail-mail

For questions please contact Ethan Shoshan at disiterate@yahoo.com


Send Materials
Via Email to Ethan Shoshan at disiterate@yahoo.com (up to 8mb emails)
Or
Snail Mail to:
Ethan Shoshan
MIXnyc Audio 2007
486 Greenwich St
New York, NY 10013


All applicants will be notified in July
You are encouraged to submit before the deadline!

MIX NYC promotes, produces, and preserves experimental media-from film and video to performance and music-that is rooted in the lives, politics, and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and otherwise queer-identified people. Founded in 1987, MIX has earned a reputation as a crucible for artist-driven innovation with an established international influence on the world of experimental media. MIX is unique among arts and community-building organizations for its work on behalf of queer experimental media artists, supporting their production of new work, and making that work accessible to the public. For almost two decades, we have worked to create a home for queer experimental media. MIX is also unique among New York City's cultural institutions. The annual New York Queer Experimental Film Festival, our most visible and longest-running program, showcases films and videos that literally go unseen in other venues. We define "experimental" broadly to mean not only films made using unorthodox techniques, but also those that deal with subject matter outside of the mainstream. In this respect, the MIX festival stands literally at the avant garde-the forefront of artistic innovation-and serves as a proving ground for new, socially conscious film. MIX NYC actively engages communities around the city and the nation through on-site local and touring screenings. We also preserve aging queer experimental films, such as the early 16mm work of Marguerite Paris, to guarantee its endurance for the future; and we operate a summer-long youth media training program to provide a new generation of queer filmmakers with the tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information on MIX NYC and programs go to – www.mixnyc.org

About Curator:
Ethan Shoshan is a scientist, activist, writer, teacher, and artist working with various media (performance, video, sculpture, textiles, clothes, dance, technology, internet, & collaboratives) born in Brooklyn, NY. He is a collaborator/co-founder of the it/EQ community arts collective, working to promote arts/artists in a community exchange through showcasing vital unknown artists, providing multicultural exchanges, and visibility to minority or underrepresented people. He has shown and performed at Collective Unconscious, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Dixon Place, Andrea Rosen Gallery, Galeria De La Raza, 92nd St Y, the Kitchen and other alternative spaces in New York, Washington DC, Chicago, and California. Media attention include articles in The Washington Post, NY Times, Manhattan Network Neighborhood TV, Bronx Cable TV, Brooklyn Cable Access, and various small press magazines and web-articles. He has also received a grant from the Puffin Foundation for his community based projects. For MIXnyc 2006, he helped organize/curate TragicBride/FashionVictim – www.mixnyc.org/April10Screening/April10.htm

From Paul Kapustka at GigaOM:

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday that the commission told large telcos to stop blocking calls into numbers for the Iowa-based free calling operations, threatening punitive actions if the carriers didn’t comply.

While the immediate FCC pressure was a victory for the Iowa telcos and Internet calling concerns whose services had been blocked by AT&T and Qwest, left unsolved is the separate question of whether or not the large carriers have to pay up the millions in disputed connection fees into the Iowa-based operations. But Martin, after a scheduled public appearance in Silicon Valley, made it clear that the commission took immediate action against the moves to block or restrict calls, saying they were in violation of FCC rules.

“We actually contacted the companies that were listed in the press [reports] and said our rules prohibit you from blocking consumers’ access to any of the service providers,” Martin said. Martin said the informal communication to the big telcos who were blocking calls was that if they didn’t stop immediately, the commission would start a formal process for legal recourse within days, and “would end up taking action as we saw necessary.”

According to Martin, all the offending telcos responded and said they would stop blocking — sort of. “One had stopped blocking, but we heard complaints the next week that they were restricting access, sort of narrowing the pipe,” said Martin. “We called them back and said, no, no, you can’t artificially degrade [service] either.”

On whether or not the FCC would force AT&T and Qwest to pay disputed access-charge bills, Martin said that was a separate issue, and covered by petitioning processes that might take further time to resolve. “If you have a dispute about the intercarrier compensation rules, you can file petitions, and come to the commission to get redress,” Martin said. “But you can’t just stop letting consumers make those calls.”

From Broadcast Law Blog:

On the same day that many webcasters were on Capitol Hill lobbying for the Internet Radio Equality Act, the Copyright Royalty Board issued its Final Determination of Rates and Terms today, and it was published in the Federal Register. That action starts the clock ticking on appeals which must now be filed in 30 days. In the Final Determination, the Board included a few revisions in its initial decision, reflecting the issues that it addressed in response to the Rehearing motions - including provisions adding a transitional period of two years during which webcasters can pay using an Aggregate Tuning Hour formula instead of paying based on each performance. Surprisingly, the Board also amended the rules that it adopted governing the timing of the first payment under the new royalty rate, making the first payment due 45 days from the end of the month during which the Final Determination was issued. As the decision was issued today, May 1, that would delay the due date for the first payments under the new royalties until July 15.

The statute governing the Copyright Royalty Board allowed the Library of Congress to review the CRB decision to determine if the Librarian (through the Copyright Office) saw any obvious errors of law. Apparently, the Librarian found none (though that does not mean that there are not issues that can be raised on appeal), leading to the publication of the decision in the Federal Register. Appeals are due 30 days after that publication. On that date, parties file a Notice of Appeal, which provides notice to the Court of Appeals that parties believe that the decision was in error. After those notices are filed, the Court will set briefing schedules and oral arguments. The appeal process that can take a year or more before a decision is rendered.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is going on all weekend in Indio, California. If you are there and want to tune in 103.3-FM, according to Xeni Jardin in Boing Boing: "Wayne Correia is transmitting a low-power FM pirate radio station for the event: Coachella Radio, at 103.3 FM.... Chris Paynie put the tracks together."

From Anne Broache on c\net news.com:

A bill introduced in Congress Thursday aims to overturn a controversial royalty fee increase that Internet radio advocates say threatens to cripple their services.

The "Internet Radio Equality Act," introduced by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), would invalidate a March 2 decision by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board that calls for raising royalty rates paid by Net radio operators.

"You can't put an economic chokehold on this emerging force of democracy," Inslee said in a statement e-mailed by a spokeswoman. "There has to be a business model that allows creative Webcasters to thrive and the existing rule removes all the oxygen from this space."

The bill's introduction comes less than two weeks after the CRB declined to reconsider most of its decision. Small Webcasters, National Public Radio, Clear Channel Communications and others had filed petitions for a rehearing. Some have indicated they are considering filing an appeal of the rules in court.

If it were to stand, the CRB's existing ruling (PDF) would result in fee increases on Internet radio operators ranging from 300 to 1,200 percent between 2006 and 2012, according to a group called SaveNetRadio, which has been lobbying Congress for relief.

Specifically, the rules call for rate increases of .08 cents per song per listener retroactive to 2006. They would also climb to .19 cents per song by 2010, which amounts to a 30 percent increase per year. Each station would also have to hand over a minimum $500 royalty payment under the ruling.

The congressmen said they had already received more than 1,000 e-mails and letters opposing the decision.

In addition to repealing that regime, the new House bill offers a compromise: It would set the rate at 7.5 percent of the Webcaster's revenue "directly related to" its transmission of sound recordings, or 33 cents per hour of sound recordings transmitted to a single listener. It would be up to the Webcaster to decide which model to use. That rate would also apply to satellite and cable radio operators, Inslee's office said in a statement.

The proposal drew applause from SaveNetRadio, whose members include Internet radio listeners, Webcasters and artists.

"This bill is a critical step to preserve this vibrant and growing medium, and to develop a truly level playing field where Webcasters can compete with satellite radio," said organization spokesman Jake Ward.

The bill also calls for public radio broadcasters to submit a report to Congress on how to determine rates for their class of services. Andi Sporkin, NPR's vice president of communications, called that idea a fair solution that is consistent with more than 30 years of copyright law, which "has recognized that public radio has a very different mission from commercial media and cannot pay commercial-level royalty rates."

Representatives for SoundExchange, the nonprofit entity that collects the fees and lobbied for the royalty rate changes, said they were still reviewing the bill and had no comment on Thursday.

The organization in the past has defended the CRB's decision as an appropriate way of ensuring artists are adequately compensated when their work is broadcast over the Internet.

From DIY Media:

Fresh off the heels of the FCC's veritable rubber-stamping of the "HD" digital radio protocol, the broadcasters behind iBiquity's technology are wasting no time in preparing to lock down its content. Think about this the next time an NAB executive testifies on Capitol Hill and proclaims the virtue of so-called "free" over-the-air radio.

NDS, a maker of digital media encryption technology, recently signed a deal with iBiquity to provide HD Radio with an encrypted content-delivery system that effectively institutes subscriptions capability on digital radio.

"RadioGuard" is derived from NDS' "VideoGuard" technology, which it claims will allow radio stations to provide "more choices to their listeners, a broader selection of content and more segmentation opportunities for advertisers, all of which provide additional revenue-generating possibilities."

"Consumers," says NDS, "will be able to take advantage of services not currently offered in today’s terrestrial or satellite radio environments. These services include pay-per-listen options for live concerts and events, improved radio reading services for the blind, private channels for emergency operators, and opt-in events sponsored by advertisers." It should be noted that some of these, such as radio reading services for the blind, are already offered for free, provided the listener purchases a special receiver designed to separate unencrypted subcarrier signals from analog FM broadcasts.

Given that there's such extremely limited bandwidth available in the HD Radio environment - about 140 kilohertz in the FM "extended hybrid" analog/digital configuration - it's difficult to see how stations would continue to multicast multiple free streams of program content while also offering up something for those willing to pay for it. Something will have to give; data compression solutions only go so far.

Of course, terrestrial radio needs to come up with program content that's worth paying for. But that's beside the point. Up until now, all AM and FM radio was free - you just paid for the cost of the receiver, though digital ones still cost in the three-figure range, and those currently being sold will not be compatible with NDS' "conditional access" technology.

Now, perhaps, we will witness the beginning of the fencing-off what used to be fully public spectrum, for purposes that only serve a public willing to pay. Terrestrial radio's never been set up like that. The same thing has already happened with DTV, though, so I guess its coming should be no real surprise.

Although the FCC has not formally ruled on exactly how digital broadcasters may split their spectrum up into free and pay-for-play services, this deal is obviously a move by iBiquity to implement the capability in order to set the ground work for official endorsement. After all, that is essentially how HD Radio itself was developed and deployed.

However, unlike DTV, the proprietary nature of the fundamental HD broadcast standard has knock-on effects with regard to the features the standard will allow. iBiquity is thus in a position to define the range of add-on features available in the digital environment, like "conditional access" services. In this case, if you want to offer subscription-only content on terrestrial radio, you'll have to go through RadioGuard - no alternate protocols allowed.

In this light, this latest development shouldn't be heralded as a great leap forward for digital broadcast technology, but as another step in the direction of conditioning the public to pay for a medium that has historically been free.

The Media Art Friesland Festival 2007 is the 11th edition of the festival. The festival is an international platform for audiovisual arts, as video, film, new media, sound, installations and Internet in the province of Friesland and Groningen. The main locations are Leeuwarden, Drachten, Beetsterzwaag and Groningen. We invite you to send your works in the areas of film, video, DVD, CD-ROM & Internet project, installation, performance and workshops. Sept. 20-30, 2007. Deadline: June 1, 2007.