There's no such thing as a free NERW!

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Perhaps you've gotten into the habit of clicking on fybush.com every Monday for your dose of news, information and informed speculation about the state of radio and TV in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada - or maybe you check in every Thursday for the latest Tower Site of the Week. And you've probably appreciated the lack of a registration screen, a username, or a password, haven't you?

But perhaps you've mistakenly assumed that means that NERW comes to you each week for free.

It doesn't.

You see, NERW is produced by a staff of exactly one. As editor, publisher, Webmaster, chief photographer, lead designer and official walker of Freckles, the NERW Wonder Dog (new pictures coming soon!), it's up to me to compile all the information that goes into each week's issue. That means scouring the FCC and CRTC releases so you don't have to, reading (and fact-checking) all those other industry trades, and traveling the region to bring you first-hand news of format changes, hirings, firings, sales and more -- often weeks before the big trades have them.

And much as I'd love to give all that away for free, I still have to put a roof over my head, gas in the tank of the NERW-mobile, and blank tape in the aircheck decks, not to mention buying service from the friendly Web-hosting folks at pair.com, new computers from Dell, and all the other things that go into the production of your weekly NERW report.

So that's where you come in. Since November 2000, when fybush.com launched, we've asked - very nicely - for voluntary contributions to keep the site and the column running. Many of you came through...but many more did not, which leaves me with two dilemmas.

First, I don't want the "casual" user of NERW to lose access to the column. Maybe you've just found this site for the first time. Maybe you just need to see one article about the station your cousin works at, and you don't really care about everything else that's happening all year. Maybe you're an impoverished college student who needs that $30 to put gas in the tank to get to that overnight job at the little FM station 40 miles away. Many of you who fall into that category are also some of the best out there at supplying me with the "inside" information that makes NERW a distinctive publication, and I don't want to lose you with a password requirement. But I also know, from reading the server logs and from your e-mail, that many of you are coming here from big corporate sites - and not enough of you are making those voluntary contributions.

Second, I don't want to spend all my time administering passwords and handling billing. In fact, I don't want to spend any time administering passwords and handling billing if I can help it. That would defeat the purpose of devoting full time (more or less) to NERW, and it wouldn't be much fun, either.

So here's the trial plan: I'm making it easier to contribute to NERW. In addition to accepting your contributions in the form of checks or money orders (payable to Scott Fybush) at 92 Bonnie Brae Avenue, Rochester NY 14618, I'm also accepting credit cards, with some help from the fine folks at PayPal.

But in exchange, I'm appealing to whatever sense of fairness and honor still exists on the Web. If you believe NERW provides you with any value at all, here's your chance to make the system work. If you're at all able to contribute, drop a check in the mail or click on the handy buttons below to make your contribution by credit card. If you're not able to contribute money for whatever reason, or if you make your contributions by other means (providing newspaper clippings, technical support, etc.), just drop me a line and let me know.

And if for some reason you truly believe you should be able to read NERW for free every week and that I'm not entitled to any compensation for the work that goes into this column, won't you tell me why you think that? (No, really...I'm curious!)

Enough with the speechifying...here's your chance to whip out that credit card and do your part to keep news about radio and television in NERW-land flowing freely for another year:

Other amounts are welcome as well, larger and smaller; contact me for information on how to pay for those with a credit card. I'm happy to invoice businesses as well. And, again, checks and money orders payable to Scott Fybush are always welcome at 92 Bonnie Brae Ave., Rochester NY 14618.

Thanks for your support! Every contribution, large or small, is gratefully accepted as we attempt to forge a new business model for small-scale industry trade publications.

And now that you've done that...click here for this week's column. Thanks!

Advertising and underwriting

Each week, NERW reaches thousands of GMs, PDs, CEs, jocks, salespeople, and students across New England, New York, Eastern Canada, and beyond. Now you can reach this audience, too!

Since our launch in November 2000, fybush.com now logs more than 300,000 hits a week -- a targeted audience of high-level radio professionals. Our low charter advertiser rates make it easy for you to get your message to the people who matter -- in a low-clutter environment where it will stand out.

E-mail ads@fybush.com to learn more about using banner ads on fybush.com and underwriting announcements on the weekly NERW mailing list.

Thank you for your continued support of NorthEast Radio Watch and fybush.com!