It looks like Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has a new, bipartisan fight on behalf of local broadcast radio companies on her hands, as a non-binding resolution that opposes “any new performance fee, tax, royalty or other charge” on domestic AM and FM stations has been introduced in the U.S. Senate for the current Congressional session.
Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) on Tuesday reintroduced the Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA). While it is not a bill but, rather, a legislative pledge, it has regularly received widespread support — far greater than the pro-music industry American Music Fairness Act, backed by the Goliath international recording industry’s biggest label owners, musicFIRST and the senator from Tennessee, among a handful of others on Capitol Hill.
Already, 20 Senators from both parties have signed on as co-sponsors of the latest LRFA.
Twenty bipartisan senators have already co-sponsored the resolution, signaling strong support for local radio stations in the new Congress. Among those signed on with the LRFA are Angus King Jr. (an independent from Maine), and Republicans Deb Fischer, Pete Ricketts, Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, Lisa Murkowski, Roger Wicker and Todd Young, among others. The AMFA has three co-sponsors since it was introduced by Blackburn as S.326 on January 30 — Democrats Cory Booker and Alex Padilla, and Republican Thomas Tillis.
News of the LRFA resurfacing in the Senate was cheered by NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt. “For over a century, local radio stations have provided communities with trusted news, critical emergency information and the music and entertainment audiences rely on every day, free of charge,” he said, thanking Barrasso and Hassan for their support, which he says “will help ensure that local radio stations can continue serving our communities for years to come.”
Barrasso explained his support of the resolution by noting, “People across Wyoming depend on local radio stations for timely information, news, and programming that impact their daily lives. For decades, radio stations and the recording industry have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship: free airplay for free promotion. If forced to pay a performance royalty, broadcasters will have to make cuts to important programming to make ends meet. I’m proud to join Senator Hassan in introducing our bipartisan resolution to block any new performance tax on broadcasters in Wyoming and across the country.”
