Published
Wed, May 14, 2014, 15:09
- "We are being penalised for our growth," says general manager Peter Ferraro, with the station blaming the closure on rising licensing and internet fees.
New York's East Village Radio will close on May 23rd.
As FACT report, the news was revealed by US blog EV Grieve. Station CEO Frank Prisinzano is quoted as saying: "Every time we get a new listener, it costs us more money with licensing fees and internet costs. After doing some projections, we see that it is going to be very, very difficult for us to continue to break even."
Prisinzano said he plans to "come up with something else" for East Village Radio. "This particular model failed," he says. "We closed it down. I'll build up a little more capital and come up with a different idea."
The station's general manager, Peter Ferraro, added: "It's almost like we are being penalised for our growth," referring to the the Congressional Digital Music Copyright Act of 1998, which requires online broadcasters to pay royalties for every listener.
The station has been running for 11 years, and currently hosts a number of shows including Veronica Vasicka's weekly Minimal Wave program (Vasicka was instrumental in launching the station).
East Village Radio has long been regarded as a flagship example of community-focused online radio, paving the way for stations like NTS in London and Red Light Radio in Amsterdam.