Barry Willis

Is community radio at death's door? More than 1000 churches, schools and community organizations nationwide have applied for licenses to operate 10W-100W FM stations. Despite a strong grass-roots movement, and the support of <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> chairman William Kennard, the low-power radio (LPFM) movement is about to be buried by the combined weight of the <A HREF="http://www.nab.org/">National Association of Broadcasters</A>, <A HREF="http://www.npr.org/">National Public Radio</A>, and their many friends in the US Congress.

Attention, high-end audio manufacturers ready to crack the exporting nut: The <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA) has just released its "General Guide for the Export of Consumer Electronics," providing a step-by-step process which the CEA says manufacturers can use to navigate the often uncharted and challenging regulatory waters of the export market. According to the CEA, the guide focuses on assisting manufacturers in exporting their products to the South American and Pacific Rim countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The organization reports that, in a survey of its membership, these countries were identified as primary growth markets of interest.

<B>ROBERT WALTER'S 20TH CONGRESS: <I>Money Shot</I></B><BR> Fog City FCCD 004 (CD). 2000. Dan Prothero, prod., eng.; Kevin Ink, asst. eng. AAD? TT: 59:24<BR> Performance <B>****?</B><BR> Sonics <B>****?</B>

The battle rages on in the audio shops, the pages of <I>Stereophile</I>, and in the online news groups: Subjectivist (relies on direct experience to judge audio quality) versus Objectivist (relies on experimental evidence to judge differences and quality). What are your tendencies?

According to the latest figures from the <A HREF="http://www.ce.org">Consumer Electronics Association</A> (CEA), the month of August showed positive gains in the overall factory sales of audio products to dealers. The CEA reports that sales for the month rose six percent compared to the same period last year, resulting in year-to-date sales of $5.3 billion, an 11.2% rise over last year.

Five years after opening a research office in Moscow, <A HREF="http://www.bmg.de/">BMG Entertainment</A> has launched an affiliate called BMG Russia OOO, which will work from the capital. The intent is to develop the Russian market for BMG products, discover and sign new musical talent&mdash;and combat piracy.

A group of researchers has claimed success at cracking four digital audio watermarking technologies presented in a challenge by the <A HREF="http://www.sdmi.org/">Secure Digital Music Initiative</A> in September. The claim has been denied by David Leibowitz, chairman of <A HREF="http://www.verance.com/">Verance Corporation</A>, creator of one of the challenged watermarks. SDMI has made no public statement on the claim, and has resolved to remain silent until all 447 submitted hacks are evaluated.