x A full "Day of Silence" resource page for webcasters and media alike is available here. -- DM x

BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
A massive response by listeners to today's ongoing "Day of Silence" event has overwhelmed the web and database servers being used by SaveNetRadio.org and is tying up switchboards in Congressional offices all over Capitol Hill as a deluge of online radio listeners have rushed to contact their representatives to ask them to co-sponsor the "Internet Radio Equality Act."

Beginning just before 10AM CT, the SaveNetRadio.org site saw huge numbers of visitors begin to arrive, coming from links set up by webcasters participating in today's event.

Shortly thereafter, the section of the site that lets users look up contact information for their Congressmen and Senators, (powered by Capitol Advantage's CapWiz) was crippled by large numbers of users trying to simultaneously access their reps' information.

According to a representative from SaveNetRadio, "This is by far the biggest one-day load [CapWiz] has ever been hit with, and they are adding servers and moving all
available resources ASAP." The website is in the process of revising its home page to ask listeners to try again later this afternoon or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, listeners who do get the contact information for their representatives are having trouble getting through to the offices, as most House  and Senate staff office phone numbers seem to be nonstop busy signals at the moment. Nearly a dozen phone calls from the RAIN office to various Congressional offices' switchboards have been unable to get through, as the lines appear to be flooded with callers.

More information on this issue -- plus a review of the additional press coverage of this event -- will be coming soon in RAIN.

10:30 am CT edition


BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
Webcasters are speaking with a powerful voice today, as nearly all U.S.-based Internet radio streams have "gone silent" in a reaction to new royalty rates that threaten to decimate the majority of the webcast  industry within weeks.

Webcasters of all stripes, from public broadcasters like KCRW to major webcast-only services like Yahoo! LAUNCHcast and Pandora, in addition to some of the country's major terrestrial simulcasters (including Greater Media, Saga Communications, and B-101/Philadelphia), are participating in today's "Day of Silence" to underscore the urgent need for Congressional intervention to keep webcasters alive.

Running up to today's event, national media outlets have been following webcasters' struggle against the excessive rates with growing attention and coverage. Today, that coverage, most of it highly sympathetic to webcasters' efforts, continues to pour out, including in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, the Associated Press, the BBC, and more.

Many webcasters have blocked access to their streams, while others are broadcasting loops of ambient sound interspersed with PSAs urging their audiences to take action today by contacting their representatives in Washington D.C.

Looped continuously throughout the day, KCRW will broadcast a one-hour program titled "D-Day for Webcasters" that provides background on today's event and informs listeners how they can take action to help. Webcasters can send their listeners to KCRW to hear the program, or provide the following link to play the looped show (which starts at the top of every hour) in a new window:

http://www.kcrw.com/media_player_channel?channel=0

The table below shows examples of how webcasters are presenting today's silence to their audiences.

KCRW	Pandora
MTV Radio	Radio Paradise
Yahoo! LAUNCHcast	3wk
B101	AccuRadio
Live365	WXPN

Throughout today, RAIN will continuously update this page with the latest in "Day of Silence" news, including excerpts from the various media coverage that the event continues to receive.