Readers of the Washington Post's commentary section yesterday were treated to a stirring editorial written by MusicFIRST Coalition's executive director Jennifer Bendall.  Unfortunately for those readers, most of what they read was fantasy.

NAB president and CEO Gordon Smith today wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post about the ongoing legislative battle between free, over-the-air local radio stations and the record labels looking to tax them.  The Smith editorial is here.

Television Bureau of Advertising is out today with weekly ratings for the week ending April 18th.  In the 18-49 age demographic, broadcast programming locked up 90 of the top 100 shows and the top 49 out of 50.  The top-rated subscription service (Cable, satellite, telco, etc.) program, WWE Entertainment on USA came in at #50.  Fox's American Idol grabbed the top two slots in the overall ranking.

Broadcasting & Cable is reporting that the Daytime Emmy awards are returning to CBS and for the first time being filmed live in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Some of the biggest buzz at NABShow 2010 was not about 3-D television, but about mobile DTV.  Rollout of mobile DTV is very much an area where technology and policy intersect.  While TV broadcasters and other stakeholders are being threatened with having their spectrum taken away, they're also better using that spectrum and spending millions to give mobile DTV for free to viewers.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Thursday lent her support to the levying of a performance tax on local radio stations while speaking at the Recording Academy's Grammy on the Hill event.

If you didn't get the chance to see or hear the Address, here it is for you to read. 

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg breaks with his colleagues in the wireless industry and admits that a spectrum availability crisis is not likely to occur.  

Radio Business Report in an article about the New Jersey Broadcasters Association and Missouri Broadcasters Association becoming Alert FM's newest supporters runs a quote from NJBA chief Paul Rotella touting the lifesaving benefits of Alert FM.

The folks from Fletcher, Heald, & Hildreth, P.L.C. have a tremendous write-up of the Form 323 changes on their CommLawBlog. In addition to bookmarking this blog (which, of course, you've already done, right?), I would strongly urge you to bookmark FHH's CommLawBlog for the latest in communications law.

In advance of the upcoming NABShow in Las Vegas, TVNewsCheck sat down with NAB CEO Senator Gordon Smith to discuss the issues facing TV and radio broadcasters.  My guess is most of what Sen. Smith touches on in this Q&A will find its way into his State of the Industry address on April 12th.

 Tom Wolzien, a strategic communications consultant, penned an editorial in TVNewsCheck explaining the reasons why broadcasting is the backbone of public warning in America and should continue to play that important role.

Broadcasting & Cable today posted an article about stations increasing their news and local content even during an economic recession.  The article points to uncertain network relationships, sunsetting syndication agreements and the coming political season all as reasons why stations have decided to expand their news offerings.