I was supposed to be a guest speaker at a meeting on the East Coast last Friday. I was invited by PodCamp founder John Havens, who set up a BlogTalk Radio connection.

A Day of Silence has swept across the bandwidth of a number of music webcasting services as they protest new royalty rates that could put them out of business for good.

Not a moment of silence, but a full day of silence is planned by US-based webcasters, lots of them, in protest of the Copyright Royalty Board’s increase in royalty rates. Internet radio stations argue the rate hikes are disproportionate and will shut down the entire Web radio industry.

The eBay Media Marketplace debuted to welcome at least one network willing to defy a cable industry boycott of the auction-based ad service.

There are a few details about Google’s foray into radio advertising that make it sound like an idea worth trying.

Genuine cooperation between America’s two main political parties is rare, but when it occurs, something important is usually at stake.  Such is the case with the Internet Radio Equality Act, sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, and Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican.

While Google’s out trying to conquer terrestrial advertising, a small start-up, TargetSpot, is building a platform that will allow businesses to easily and quickly create advertising to reach the 76 million listeners who prefer their radio of the online variety,according to the NYT.

I’ve noticed that Google’s emphasis on the radio ads marketplace has been particularly strong – even amidst all of the other things they seem to be pumping all at once. Some client accounts have this tab visible (Account Snapshot); others, that tab (try this beta); and others, still, the other (Radio Ads). Or so it seems.

Google’s testing a lot of stuff right now, but you keep hearing about the radio part.

I wonder why?

In March, the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board approved a proposal by SoundExchange, working on behalf of the RIAA, which would implement a significant increase in royalty rates for streaming audio providers. Realizing that these rates would put them under, online radio stations banded together in one last desperate appeal to the CRB to reconsider the decision.

Unfortunately for Internet radio providers, and for music lovers around the world, the judges at the CRB denied the appeal headed up by NPR and joined by several online radio stations.

Last week Google CEO Eric Schmidt said to think of the company fist as an advertising system. True to his word, Google and Clear Channel Radio have entered into a multi-year deal that will allow Google to sell 30-second advertising inventory on 675 of Clear Channel’s AM/FM stations.

Chief US Copyright Royalty Judge James Scott Sledge announced Tuesday that his board would hold a rehearing on the controversial decision (pdf of ruling) to raise royalty rates for internet streaming to unprecedented levels and gave broadcasters and organizations who requested the rehearing until April 2nd to submit documents detailing their positions.

Ever since Google picked up dMarc Broadcasting, industry observers have wondered if Google could make its AdWords service work for radio or podcasting.

A lot of Google’s products and services die quiet deaths in dark corners, but on the other hand, there are times when the company seems to have a Midas touch.  New reports indicate an appropriately golden future for Google’s newspaper and radio ads.

In a decision that could drive the nail in the coffin to Internet radio providers, the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board has endorsed a proposal by SoundExchange to enact royalty rates for webcasts and streaming music sites that will stay in effect from 2006 until 2010.

Google has gone to great lengths to defend free speech, and has protected a lot of questionable material (posted by users) on both Orkut and Blogger. It appears that Google draws the line at death threats, however, as a blog containing threats against a New Zealand politician was shut down this morning.

Usually when we talk about Google and personnel, it’s to report that the company has hired yet another big name, and it’s more than likely a major defection from a rival company.

In the last few days, I have been using HitTail to make capture my search referrals.

A big test for Google’s dMarc purchase could be announced very soon, with Google providing up to ten percent of CBS Radio’s ad inventory.

For any of our blog readers who also listen to our weekly segment on Webmaster Radio to keep informed on the latest goings-on in the search engine world you’ll know that Jim Hedger has been promising a big story for the past couple weeks. Well it’s finally out there and as promised, he doesn’t disappoint.

Google’s new radio ad product is just under beta testing and David Ciccarelli, CEO at Voices.com is crying foul at the new product.

About twenty advertisers are taking part in a new beta test of Google Audio Ads, ClickZ writes.