BYU joins opposition to radio legislation

PROVO — Brigham Young University radio on Monday joined colleges and high schools from across the country to oppose federal legislation that would impose a fee on student-operated and noncommercial radio stations that play music.

In a letter to members of Congress delivered under the banner of the Free Radio Alliance and the College Broadcasters Inc., faculty, staff, and students from more than 80 stations, including ones at Duke University, Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin, argued that "other serious threats" would result from the passage of the performance fee.

"Though, in the context of record-industry profits, company executives might believe their proposal to be reasonably low, in the real world, those proposed fees represent large portions of annual budgets for student-operated radio stations," the letter says.

— Marc Haddock