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I am not a lawyer and do not presume to give out legal advice.

But, I did spend a year and-a-half in Law School and that provided me with a slightly more informed legal background than the average person. In all legal matters, I would advise you to seek the professional advice of an attorney. Given that disclaimer, I present the following information which I believe to be correct to the best of my understanding.

Copyrighted Material

I have had the unfortunate experience to work at a Radio station that refused to pay the appropriate fees for any kind of wire service. This cheap mentality puts the Radio personality in a very difficult position because it is ludicrous to think he can properly prepare his show without taking material from the newspaper, online sources, magazines or whatever. How else could one do a show?

Put a typical DJ in that position and what will stop him from going to "USA Today" on the web, a newspaper site that carries AP news or Reuters news? You might have heard that even reading on-the-air copyrighted material from another source is technically illegal. That's the gist of an article an article entitled, "NEWS FROM THE NET: RISKY BUSINESS" which appeared in Radio World on Wednesday, August 18, 1999 by Peter M Zollman. He writes:

"The facts themselves are not protectable there's no copyright on 223 Elm Street is currently on fire but the way the event is described probably is. Reading Web site news articles as if they were wire service copy is a bad idea if the site owners are not properly compensated. Radio stations have been ripping off news copy for years, of course from reading the local daily newspaper for story ideas (and actual stories), to watching TV for news and weather updates, to the latest form, Internet piracy. And radio stations, too, have been ripped off. But that certainly doesn't make it the right thing to do."

It is short, to the point and important reading.

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