Sony Enters Digital Music Industry; Radio Delay Technology Helps Prevent FCC Fines
SIEBERG: Hot and dry conditions made much of southern California a tinderbox this week. Wildfires destroyed dozens of structures and forced hundreds of people to evacuate. The fire season started Monday. That's three weeks earlier than usual because of dry weather and an infestation of bark beetles. The bugs have killed millions of trees across the west, turning them into kindling. Authorities say this could become one of the worst fire seasons on record. Out pacing last years record breaking blazes that killed 22 people in southern California. Another fire at the Grand Canyon in Arizona forced officials to close park entrances and some of the most popular lookout spots Wednesday. The fire had been a prescribed burn to clear out underbrush and reduce the danger of wildfire, but it jumped a containment line. No structures were threatened and everything was reopened after several hours. In the jungle of Guatemala, at a little know mian (ph) ruin archaeologists have made a big discovery. They found evidence that the ruin named Sival was once one of the most sophisticated cities in the early mian period, along with caches of jade artifacts, researchers found large stucco masks dating back to 500 B.C. They think they masks flanked the stairway of a pyramid. The site is being excavated by Vanderbuilt University with the support of the National Geographic Society. Tuning in some music news now Sony, a pioneer in the portable music industry with its walkmans is now getting into online music. This week is launched Sony Connect, which offers half a million tracks at 99 cents each and albums, starting at 10 bucks? You'll be able to transfer songs to compatible devices like walkmans, but not to Apple's iPod which has captured 30 percent of the sales of portable digital music players. Some analysts say Sony has enter the game too late to make it in digital music. Sony says it can expand the market and attract people that I pod hasn't. Well it's been a banner year for FCC indecency fines. Figures show that the Federal Communication Commission has proposed more fines for broadcast indecency in the first four months of 2004 than it did during the previous 10 years combined. As JJ Ramberg reports, radio stations are turning to technology to keep the FCC off their backs.</s>JJ RAMBERG, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): For radio stations under the watchful eye of the Federal Communication Communication, just 20 seconds and this yellow button could save them thousands in fines.</s>RICHARD FACTOR, CEO, EVENTIDE: The purpose of the devise is specifically to allow broadcasters to decide this guy just said something I don't want it on my radio station, I'm going to push that button.</s>RAMBERG: That button erases what ever the DJ or caller just said before it hits the airwave.</s>FACTOR: It works by creating a delay between the input and the output. Right now you hear me speaking in real-time. But when I release the button, the delay starts building up without altering my voice too much. Right now we've got about a second of delay and about a second and a half, which is plenty of time for me to say a dirty word and press the button and have that dirty word disappear.</s>RAMBERG: With the FCC cracking down on indecency on radio and television, New Jersey based Eventide and Washington based Symmetric have been receiving orders for their audio delay devices at a record pace.</s>FACTOR: During March and April we've basically gotten orders for the full year's forecast.</s>RAMBERG: The stacks for ignoring the FCC are high. Recently the commission fined Clear Channel $495 thousand dollars for an incident on the "Howard Stern Show." Infinity Broadcasting $357,000 for indecent behavior on the defunct "Opy and Anthony" show and Clear Channel another $715,000 for a segment hosted by radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge. And the government is stepping up its effort.</s>MICHAEL POWELL, FCC CHAIRMAN: We will begin license revocation procedures for egregious and continuing disregard of decency laws.</s>RAMBERG: Chilling words to executives at radio stations across the country, including those at WTHK in Princeton, New Jersey. While they only silence a few phrases each week, they say they installed the device as much for its symbolism as its practicality.</s>JEFF SMITH, NASSAU BROADCASTING COMPANY: Without it we would be liable for a lot more. Without it, we wouldn't be proving to the government that the company is taking a stands on indecency and what we're put on our airwaves. Without it, I don't think we would be as comfortable doing a lot of things on the air.</s>RAMBERG: The biggest windfall for the audio delay device makers came from Clear Channel Communications in an effort to ensure the decency of its programs. That company recently purchased half a million dollars worth of the equipment.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ahead in our next half hour, can you really save a species when its natural habitat has disappeared? We'll hear some arguments on both sides. And we'll find out how wi-fi equipped motorbikes are bringing the Internet to a remote village in Cambodia. Those stories and a lot more are coming up right after a break.