Today is the internet radio Day of Silence. BAGeL Radio will be running a series of Public Service announcements about our plight, interspersed with BAGeL Radio band station IDs and jingles. Please tune in and listen to find out what this is all about, and also tune in to leading NPR affiliate KCRW.com for a Ruth Seymour-hosted one hour round table discussion (in which I participated) of the issues. The show will air hourly all day on the KRCW streams and twice on the air: from 2pm-3pm Pacific Time, then again from 6:30pm-7:30pm Pacific Time.

Also check out the stories in today today's LA Times, SF Chronicle, and this Washington Post blog.

The future of internet radio is in immediate danger. Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on July 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!).

To protest these rates and encourage you to take action by contacting your Congressional representatives, BAGeL Radio is taking part in the Day of Silence by silencing our (music) programming for today. Please take action to ensure that this national event is a success.

If you are having trouble getting through to your representatives Washington offices, try calling their local offices. You can find the numbers at VoteSmart.org, where you can enter your zip+4 and get their names and contact info.

We ask that you excuse the interruption of our normal programming, apologize to all of the bands who are not getting exposed to new ears today, and ask that you (listeners, readers, and musicians alike) take action to help ensure this silence is not made permanent in mid-July when the crushing new rates are scheduled to come due. Please call your Congressional Representatives today. Click the link for instructions how. Thank you.

Regular BAGeL Radio programming will return on Wednesday, June 27th, at 12:00a.m. PT...at least until July 15th, when the permanent Silence of the Streams may begin.

Ted