This just in...
Pittsburgh:Renda Broadcasting's WSHH-FM (99.7) and WJAS-AM (1320) ceased their online broadcasting feature on January 1, 2009 "due to escalating royalty fees for online streaming broadcasts." WMNY-AM (1360) remains online. You might recall that Renda Broadcasting was among the first to pull music from the internet a number of years ago when the RIAA challenged whether there should be further royalties incurred for broadcasting over the net.
Readers’ Forum
I’ll never understand that RIAA. Do they want the maximum amount of people to hear their artists or not? I would think yes, but I may be wrong.
Dave - January 29, 2009 at 10:04 am
Since moving out of state,one of the joys I had was listening to Bill Cardille on the internet before heading off to work. I’m a longtime fan of Chilly Billy dating back to 1963. I enjoyed his radio show on WJAS. Now my little taste of “home” is no more.
Conrad - January 29, 2009 at 2:13 pm
It certainly is a shame, and I fear that more channels will follow. If you go to
http://www.pgholdies.com
you can listen to the Tikki Lounge, which features the same kind of music as WJAS, only better and with great sound quality. Enjoy it before they take that off too.
don - January 30, 2009 at 2:27 pm
What the RIAA wants is for themselves to be the sole distributor and promoter of music. When you budget $25 million to promote an album and it flops, and some indie band comes from out of nowhere to sell 5 million copies, heads ought to roll.
Mary - February 01, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I guess for Renda Broadcasting it’s still 1970. I have to admit it was a great time to be alive. What else can anyone say about Renda Broadcasting. Most would agree with the continued growth of Ipod and internet usage that perhaps living off towers alone isn’t a wise decision. I believe Renda has stopped all webcasting.
In general broadcasters deserve an (F) for internet programming and a complete lack of vision. The same can be said for HD…
Sellers haven’t done a good job selling web programming, perhaps because their focus is spread very thin… and because clients see little to no value. They don’t want it..
Clients buy stations in the top ten, because they want the most bang for the buck….. But a radio station website or streaming isn’t even considered…unless it’s added-value..
It’s dead space!
Meanwhile, in 07 before our recent depression, new media, web revenues beat radio. In the meantime, more and more traditional media dollars are being shifted to web campaigns. What do advertisers want, that radio and Renda can’t seem to figure out?
Maybe somebody in radio should ask them!
Transistor Radio - February 02, 2009 at 09:50 am
Meanwhile, Pandora.com, Last.fm & Groveshark.com continue to operate and see a future in online radio.
Tim Smith - February 02, 2009 at 10:07 am