• by April 23, 2001

Hundreds of commercial radio stations have stopped streaming their broadcasts over the Internet, saying the reason for the shutdowns is a dispute with advertisement actors who want to be paid extra to have their voices played online.

Streaming audio Webcasts drew 35 million home Internet surfers last December, compared with 21 million a year earlier, said Jennifer Fan of Nielsen-NetRatings, an Internet traffic measurement company. Millions of listeners also log on at work.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the major union representing the advertisement actors, said the industry is unfairly blaming their dispute with broadcasters for the shutdown.

The union has said the recording industry, which wants to be paid royalties for songs played on the Internet, is a bigger threat to the broadcasters. The union says broadcasters have known for months that they were responsible for paying actors in commercials, and are shutting down to avoid paying record labels and artists.

"The requirements under the AFTRA contract are not new; they have been in place and communicated to the industry since November 2000,'' the union said in a statement posted on its website.

Four of the nation's biggest commercial radio companies - Clear Channel Communications Inc., Citadel Broadcasting, Emmis Communications and Jefferson Pilot Communications - ended their real-time audio feeds last week. Clear Channel is the world's largest private radio station operator with 1,300 stations.

"We are working hard to resolve outstanding issues with all concerned parties. It is our intention to put the streams back up when it makes legal and financial sense," said Kevin Mayer, CEO of Clear Channel's Internet Group.

Mayer said his company is working on technology that would remove commercials from Internet streams.

The Record Industry Association of America, which represents record labels, has proposed that Webcasters pay four-tenths of a cent for every song that appears on the Internet and that the fees be retroactive to 1998.

The U.S. Copyright office agreed last year that payments are required, and broadcasters are appealing the decision.

Dennis Wharton, senior vice president for the National Association of Broadcasters, said stations believe the license fees they already pay allow them to cover the simulcasts.