Millions of Americans could be affected by the health care overhaul that’s being hashed out in Congress. Will that include the few hundred of them who serve in the House and the Senate?

Curiosity about the reform effort and lawmakers’ own health benefits inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

=====
A recent AP article about Hawaii’s 50th anniversary as a state said the Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in 1893 by a group of white businessmen. What kind of business were these men in?

Rebecca Moeller
Socorro, N.M.

—
The overthrow was organized by a group called the Committee of Safety, whose 13 members were businessmen seeking annexation of Hawaii by the United States. The members included sugar planters, Pacific shippers, a newspaper editor, lumber salesmen and a grocer.

The businessmen wanted Hawaii to become a U.S. territory so they could make more money selling their goods – mainly sugar – to the United States.

An 1890 law called the McKinley Act had imposed steep tariffs on imports to the United States to protect American manufacturers. If Hawaii joined the U.S., businesses there could regain some of the profits they had previously enjoyed under an 1875 treaty allowing goods such as sugar and rice to be imported into the U.S. tax-free.

Some of those businesses evolved into the “Big Five,” a group of former sugar corporations that gained political power and profits after annexation. The Big Five were Castle & Cooke, Alexander & Baldwin, C. Brewer & Co., Amfac and Theo H. Davies & Co.

Castle & Cooke is now a Hawaii land owner and developer. Alexander & Baldwin is also a land owner and is the parent company of Matson Navigation Co.

C. Brewer & Co. was liquidated in recent years. Amfac became Kaanapali Land LLC, which owns land in West Maui. Theo H. Davies later owned Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar franchises in the islands.

Mark Niesse
Associated Press Writer
Honolulu

=====

Why would Congress exclude themselves from a proposed health care program for everyone if it is so good?

Robert Thiebeau
Morehead City, N.C.

—
Congress has not proposed a health care program for everyone. Most Democrats do support a new government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers and provide an option mostly for people who aren’t already covered through their employers.

It’s true that most lawmakers would not likely join this new Medicare-like public plan, though they are not specifically excluding themselves.

Legislation passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee includes an amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that would require members of Congress and their aides to enroll in a new public plan created by the bill. However, the provision is unlikely to appear in any final bill.

In the House, the Education and Labor Committee agreed to a weaker amendment by Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., that would urge lawmakers who vote for the public plan to also join it.

When asked why they don’t make the proposed public plan mandatory for themselves, lawmakers sometimes make the point that joining the public plan is envisioned as being voluntary for everyone.

Currently, members of Congress can participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program under the same rules as other federal employees. The program offers a wide choice of private plans that members can enroll in, with the government paying between 72 percent and 75 percent of the premium cost – similar to the employer-employee split in the private sector.

Erica Werner
AP Health Care Writer
Washington

=====

If I have money in a certificate of deposit with an FDIC-insured bank, and the bank defaults on an interest payment to me, how is the FDIC intervention initiated? How long does it take for me to get my money? Does the FDIC guarantee the interest payments or only the principal?

Fred Clark
Albuquerque, N.M.

—
It depends on whether the bank where you have the CD fails or – a more rare occurrence – the bank simply fails to make an interest payment that it owes you.

In the case of a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that fails, and that’s taken over by the FDIC, your CD is covered just like any deposit account – up to $250,000 per depositor per bank, applied to both principal and interest. There is no waiting time for access to your money.

In the event of a default on payments by a bank that is still operating, regulators advise you to first try to rectify the situation with the institution. If that doesn’t bring results, contact the bank’s primary regulator – it could be the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or a state agency. Or contact the banking department or consumer affairs office in your state. The FDIC isn’t involved in that type of situation.

Marcy Gordon
AP Business Writer
Washington

=====

Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

Social media, that is. I can’t keep up! I just got “yelled” at for not blogging. Truth is.. I haven’t blogged since I got hooked on Twitter. And.. Just yesterday I created a Facebook page. So with all the blogging, the tweeting, the updating and the posting something has got to give. Not to mention I anchor the news for four hours. And I’m working on a big piece for the MDA telethon that is due next week. (I can’t wait to tell you more about the woman I met who has ALS)

So that’s what happened to my blog.

Have a great weekend!

A lack of rainfall in the months of June and July have led to drought conditions. A moderate drought continues in Green Bay with a severe drought to the north.

Fortunately in the month of August, conditions generally haven’t worsened. In fact, in some locations the drought has improved.  Heavy rains have replenished the top soil moisture which has helped crops and lawns.

Below is a list of precipitation totals running from August 1st to August 18th.

However, this data, provided by the National Weather Service, doesn’t account for the heavy rains experienced on Thursday of this week.

In Green Bay, there was a precipitation departure of more than 3 inches in June and July. So far in the month of August, Green Bay is right on pace with average.

But despite the recent rainfall, many rivers throughout the area remain well below normal for late August. A few locations have even experienced all time record low stages, and  several inches of rain will be necessary to replenish them.

Below is a closer look at a few of the rivers in the area that have reached record low stages throughout the month of August.

Other rivers that are extremely low include the Embarrass and the Kewaunee River.

Until Next Time,
Meteorologist Andrew Thut

At one point Hurricane Bill reached Category Four strength, but as of Friday afternoon it had weakened into a strong category 2 with wind speeds of 109 mph. That means Bill is no longer a major Hurricane. Major hurricanes are category three or stronger.

Nevertheless, Bill is still a very strong and dangerous hurricane. Waves are already causing flooding and damage to roads and homes along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic. The latest data reveals that hurricane force winds extend 115 miles from the eye of the storm. The storm itself spans nearly 900 miles in diameter. Just to give you an idea of how great distance that is, it is roughly 900 miles from Green Bay to eastern Wyoming as the crow flies.
A tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch are in effect for Bermuda, which has already been receiving rain from the storm. Fortunately Bermuda won’t take a direct hit. The storm is expected to pass over the open waters between Bermuda and the East Coast on Saturday.
Despite this, Bermuda could still receive an additional 1 to 3 inches of rainfall with large waves. Wave heights could reach 20 to 30 feet on Saturday.
For more on the actual conditions in Bermuda, check out the Bermuda Weather Service Webcam at this link:

http://www.weather.bm/webcam.html

Hurricane Bill Forecast Track
Bill is expected to make landfall on Nova Scotia on Sunday, before eventually turning Northeast and reaching Newfoundland on Monday. There is high confidence in this forecast because the computer models have been very consistent on the track and intensity of the storm.

One thing you may notice is that the intensity of Bill is forecasted to return to category 3 strength. This is possible over the next 24 hours as the hurricane encounters warm waters and low to moderate wind shear. Both of these ingredients are key when it comes to hurricanes. They thrive off warm waters. Meanwhile, strong wind shear can either keep them from developing or cause them to fall apart.
Eventually, as the tropical system moves north it will encounter cooler waters, and it will be difficult to maintain its strength. This is a big part of the reason why Bill will make landfall along Nova Scotia as a weaker category 1 hurricane or a tropical storm.
United States Impact
The same trough that has recently produced rainfall for Northeast Wisconsin, will prevent Bill from making a direct landfall in the United States. However, that doesn’t mean that the hurricane will go unnoticed.
On Saturday, 10 to 20 foot waves are expected along the shores of North Carolina and Virginia. Similar waves will be experienced along Cape Cod and Long Island on Sunday. Bill’s wave heights could cause millions of dollars in coastal erosion damage and create very dangerous rip currents.
A split through Bill
Below is a cross section of Hurricane Bill on Wednesday. The top image shows a satellite view and where the cross-section was taken. The bottom part of the image displays the cross-section.

In the cross section, the area with no reflectivity represents the eye. Just to the right you can see the area of high reflectivity which represents the northern eyewall of the storm. Then on the far left, an area of weaker reflectivity, represents thin cirrus clouds.

Until Next Time,

Meteorologist Andrew Thut

It rolls off an assembly line and gets delivered to a dealer, who hopes its next stop will be your driveway. But what happens to a new car if it simply doesn’t sell?

That’s one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

=====
I have lost count of how many “czars” we have now. Where does their authority to make decisions come from? Is the use of “czars” legal under our Constitution? And who is paying their salary?

Diane Haggard
Augusta, Maine
—

Czar is a term that’s frequently used by the press to describe an executive branch official who has been given authority over a particular area, either by the president or by law.

Nancy Ann DeParle, for example, is director of the White House Office of Health Reform. President Barack Obama created the position to oversee his health care overhaul push and appointed DeParle to the job. She is commonly referred to in the press as Obama’s health care czar.

Gil Kerlikowske is director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which was created by Congress in 1988. The director is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and is known as the nation’s drug czar.

Kenneth Feinberg, who has been dubbed Obama’s pay czar, was selected by the president to implement the executive pay rules Congress established earlier this year for companies that received exceptional government assistance during the financial crisis.

In all such cases, the czars are federal employees whose salaries are paid by the federal government.

David Pace
AP White House News Editor
Washington

=====

What happens to all the brand new cars that are produced by car manufacturers but don’t sell?

Dan Bittick
Bradley, Calif.

—
Even with the steep drop in U.S. consumer demand, every car that arrives on a dealer’s lot is eventually sold.

Traditionally, cars and trucks that linger for more than 100 or 120 days are considered to be “over age,” and at that point dealers and manufacturers take steps to keep them from piling up, said John McEleney, a GM, Toyota and Hyundai dealer in Iowa and chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association.

This can particularly be a problem in September and October, when dealers need to make room for vehicles from the new model year, he said.

For manufacturers, this generally means increasing incentives on the older vehicles, while dealers will also offer their own hefty discounts to attract buyers. Eventually, the deal is just too good for customers to pass up.

“Most customers would like to save a little money and model year isn’t so critical when people plan on keeping their vehicle past two or three years,” McEleney said.

Dealers also have the option of selling their excess cars and trucks to other dealers that may be short on inventory, he said.

While the past year has been a tough one for dealers, it hasn’t resulted in a whole lot more extra inventory for them compared with past years. McEleney said dealers have gotten very conservative about the number of cars and trucks they have ordered so they wouldn’t have to worry about selling them at fire sale prices.

Bree Fowler
AP Auto Writer
New York

=====

How are flight numbers generated? Are they recycled and reused?

Rick Worlton
Reno, Nev.

—
Airlines create their own flight numbers, but they try to avoid confusion among passengers and air traffic controllers by coordinating the process among themselves.

In some cases, flights are numbered by the direction they fly. North-south flights may be even, east-west odd. Or domestic flights may be differentiated from international flights by the number of digits – say, two for overseas, three for U.S. flights. And commuter and regional flights often have four digits.

Scheduling also figures in. Two different carriers can’t have flights with the same number taking off or landing at the same airport, at the same time.

Flight numbers are reused all the time, although they may be retired or changed if they are connected to an air disaster. For example, United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11, both of which hit the World Trade Center on 9/11, were changed to United Airlines Flight 1525 and American Airlines Flight 25.

Greg Stec
AP Airlines and Transportation Editor
New York

=====
Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

Here’s a followup to the previous blog about the NFL on FOX – and should answer questions such as the one the Steelers’ fan posted about what other teams’ games FOX 11 will show.

Below I posted our entire tentative schedule of games, as assigned by FOX.

Note that in the last seven weeks, the NFL’s flexible scheduling rules are in effect. Those rules allow the currently-assigned game for Sunday night to be swapped out with another game to put more important or better matchups on NBC. As a result, many of the slots are to be determined.

That means, even though a particular Packers game might be listed (i.e. Green Bay vs. Seattle on Dec. 27) as a noon game on FOX, that could change if it’s selected for Sunday night. Or, those games could shift time slots, too.

Furthermore, for some of those late-season games, I’ve listed the Minnesota Vikings games here because FOX 11 has requested that assignment. There’s no guarantee we will get those games, and, as with the Packers, those games could be shifted to Sunday night as well.

So, as always, it’s a tentative schedule and subject to change. But I thought fans might want to see the full lineup as it stands now.

WEEK 1 Sunday 09/13/09
Noon – Minnesota @ Cleveland
3pm -  Washington @ NY Giants

WEEK 2 Sunday 09/20/09
3 PM – Tampa Bay @ Buffalo

WEEK 3 Sunday 09/27/09
Noon – Green Bay @ St. Louis

WEEK 4 Sunday 10/04/09
Noon – Detroit @ Chicago
3PM – Dallas @ Denver

WEEK 5 Sunday 10/11/09
Noon – Minnesota @ St. Louis

WEEK 6 Sunday 10/18/09
Noon – Detroit @ Green Bay

WEEK 7 Sunday 10/25/09
Noon – Green Bay @ Cleveland
3PM – Atlanta @ Dallas

WEEK 8 Sunday 11/01/09
Noon – Minnesota @ Green Bay
3PM – NY Giants @ Philadelphia

WEEK 9 Sunday 11/08/09
Noon – Green Bay @ Tampa Bay

WEEK 10 Sunday 11/15/09
Noon – Detroit @ Minnesota
3PM – Dallas @ Green Bay

WEEK 11 Sunday 11/22/09
Noon – San Francisco @ Green Bay

WEEK 12- Thursday 11/26/09
11:30AM – Green Bay @ Detroit

WEEK 12 Sunday 11/29/09
Noon – Chicago @ Minnesota
3PM – Game assignment is TBD due to Flexible Scheduling

WEEK 13 Sunday 12/06/09
Noon – St. Louis @ Chicago
3PM – Minnesota at Arizona

WEEK 14 Sunday 12/13/09
Noon – Green Bay @ Chicago

WEEK 15 Sunday 12/20/09
Noon – Green Bay @ Pittsburgh
3PM – Game assignment is TBD due to Flexible Scheduling

WEEK 16 Sunday 12/27/09
Noon – Seattle @ Green Bay

WEEK 17 Sunday 01/03/10
Noon – Game assignment is TBD due to Flexible Scheduling
3:15PM- Green Bay @ Arizona

Football season is upon us, and that means lots of games on FOX 11.

We’ve got several preseason games, including two this week:

* Tonight, the Eagles play the Colts at 7pm.

* Friday, the Cowboys debut their new stadium in a game against the Titans at 7pm.

Ah, Friday night. The Vikings also play Friday night. It appears that the game will not be shown in these parts. We can’t air the game because of the FOX committment. And, another local station told the Press-Gazette they inquired with the Vikings about the rights, but were denied because the Vikings didn’t want to upset the Packers.

Every year, we get lots of calls asking us to air a particular game. In general, it works like this during the regular season:

* We air every game we can. If we have a Packers post-game show, it’s not replacing a game that’s available to us.

* Just because FOX has games in both the noon and 3:15 pm slot doesn’t mean we can air two games every week. The networks (usually) alternate doubleheader weeks. Sometimes we can air two, sometimes we can’t. FOX usually has late games because of the west coast NFC games, but that doesn’t mean we can always air them. It’s not our choice – it’s network rules. The upshot here, the on-air promos don’t necessarily translate to games on air here.

* FOX assigns us the other games, based on regional interest. This means we usually get NFC North games. We can request a change, but the network doesn’t have to grant it.

And, of course, that brings us back to the Vikings.

The initial schedule from FOX has us airing six Vikings games this year:

- Sept. 13, at Cleveland Browns
- Oct. 11, at St. Louis Rams
- Nov. 1, at Green Bay Packers
- Nov. 15, Detroit Lions
- Nov. 29, Chicago Bears
- Dec. 6 at Arizona Cardinals

There’s another day when the Vikings are playing on FOX at the same time the Packers are playing on CBS. However, because the Packers are home, we cannot air another game at the same time.

There’s also a Week 17 Vikings game we might be able to air, but we’ll wait to see what the playoff implications are before requesting a particular game.

I hope that helps you understand some of the ins and outs of the NFL on FOX. If you have any questions, let me know.

When a plane goes down at sea, why is it sometimes so difficult to find the black boxes? Shouldn’t it be as simple as equipping them with GPS devices?

Curiosity about hunting down a plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

=====
It seems that every Saturday, when I open up the newspaper, I see an article saying that some banks had failed on Friday night. Why is it almost always Fridays when banks go bust? And when the FDIC takes over a failed bank, what does it do during the weekend to make sure the bank will open on Monday?

Daniel Lippman
Washington

—
Most banks are closed or have limited hours on the weekend, so banks are typically shut down on a Friday to limit disruption for customers. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is in charge of the failed bank’s assets, and usually has a buyer in place prior to the bank being shut down.

Over the weekend, a team from the FDIC works with the employees of the failed bank to secure its assets and merge the failed bank with the acquiring institution.

One of the FDIC’s initial tasks is shutting down the bank’s Web site and putting up a temporary site to inform customers about the failure. The FDIC and the acquiring bank also need to get up to speed with any major loans that are scheduled to close, or with any impending foreclosures or ongoing legal proceedings.

Customers still have access to their money through ATMs, checks and credit cards, but the bank’s branches are usually closed until Monday.

“We’re trying to maintain confidence in the banking system, and the way we handle bank failures is a key reflection of how to instill that confidence,” said David Barr, a spokesman for the FDIC.

Occasionally, a bank might be too unstable for regulators to wait until the weekend to shut it down, but those instances have been rare, Barr said.

Washington Mutual Inc. – the largest bank ever to fail – was seized by regulators on a Thursday last September as the Seattle-based savings bank crumbled under the weight of its enormous bad bets on the mortgage market. JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought WaMu’s banking assets for $1.9 billion.

Seventy-two federally insured banks have failed so far this year.

Sara Lepro
AP Business Writer
New York

=====
I have often read of tracking grizzlies and wolves through their range of habitat, and even following the migration of the albatross over vast stretches, using GPS devices. Why is it so difficult to recover the black box when a commercial airliner is lost at sea?

Mel Logan
Sheridan, Wyo.

—
While modern airliners routinely use GPS for navigation, these devices are not attached to the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder (the “black boxes”) that monitor aircraft performance and the pilots’ voice communications. GPS systems function well in exposed, outdoor areas, but are useless in enclosed spaces or under water.

Instead, the black boxes are equipped with a beacon that transmits at an ultrahigh frequency for at least 30 days once it is immersed in water. The strength of the signal will normally allow search vessels to fix the exact location of the black box on the sea floor and to recover it whenever adequate salvage equipment is available.

For instance, days after an airliner crashed into the sea in Indonesia four years ago, search parties located the beacon’s ping at a depth of about 6,500 feet (2,000 meters). But they had to wait another eight months for the arrival of a specialized vessel that was able to get to the site.

This system usually functions very well, but in the case of the Air France Airbus crash into the Atlantic Ocean, several factors worked against it. The depth of the ocean at that point (13,000 feet, or about 4,000 meters) and the specific characteristics of the water itself, comprising a number of layers of different salinity and temperature, diffused the signal and made it difficult to fix the exact position of the pinging.

Interestingly, submarines routinely use these water layers to hide because they also scatter sonar signals emitted by anti-submarine warships.

Slobodan Lekic
Associated Press Writer
Brussels

=====
How exactly is the national savings rate calculated, and what does it include and exclude?

We keep hearing about the decline in the national savings rate from around 10 percent in the 1980s to almost zero until the recent recession. But I read that the savings rate does not include the amounts people save in their 401(k) and similar retirement plans.

If true, why are those amounts excluded? And doesn’t that distort comparisons with the 1980s, when such plans were a much smaller part of people’s retirement planning?

Michele Hymel
Albuquerque, N.M.

—
The personal savings rate that the Commerce Department calculates each month is derived from data it collects on people’s incomes and spending.

The calculation is done on what’s called a cash flow basis. The government totals up all that people spend in a given month and then subtracts that figure from people’s disposable income – what they earned minus what they spent on taxes.

The result of this calculation, expressed as a percentage of disposable income, is known as the personal savings rate. It does include the amount people put away in any given month as contributions for such things as 401(k) plans and other savings accounts – any money that an individual doesn’t spend in a given month is counted as saved by the government.

The Commerce Department recently released revised data on the savings rate that shows it has been climbing since the spring of 2008 as the recession deepened and people became worried that they didn’t have enough put away for a rainy day. From a low of 0.8 percent in April 2008, the savings rate rose to 6.2 percent of disposable income in May – the highest it has been in 14 years.

Martin Crutsinger
AP Economics Writer
Washington

=====
Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

On Wednesday Governor Doyle declared a drought emergency for portions of Northeast Wisconsin, in response to drought conditions. The declarations will allow the DNR to issue farmers temporary irrigation permits quicker. With permits farmers can divert stream or lake water to irrigate their crops.

But just how dry are conditions? The latest drought update was released today and is displayed below.

As you can see northern Wisconsin is under a severe drought with an extreme drought in northwest Wisconsin. Fortunately, parts of Wisconsin have received help lately. So far in the month of August, central and southern Wisconsin have a rainfall surplus. Green Bay is running nearly a half an inch above average, while La Crosse and the Twin Cities have a surplus near 2 inches.

Green Bay alone received 1.6” of rain from last Friday through Sunday. That is more rain than the city saw during the entire month of July.

But even with a surplus of precipitation this month, areas like Green Bay need more rain, as drought conditions still exist. Meanwhile, those in desperate need of a drink are in northern Wisconsin.

Conditions their are bone dry. In August, Rhinelander is running more than an inch below average. That is after a month of July in which they were more than 2 inches below average

So when is the next chance of rain? A few thundershowers are possible tonight and tomorrow, but any precipitation won’t even put a dent in the drought. The next round of thunderstorms will hold off until Sunday evening, with rain chances continuing into Monday.

Until Next Time,
Meteorologist Andrew Thut

Every week, the president gets behind a microphone – and, these days, in front of a camera – and offers a few quick comments about an issue that he feels is of great national importance.

When did the weekly presidential radio (and now video) address begin, and why was the practice started?

Curiosity about the origin of the weekly speech inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

=====
In reading about the life of Lincoln I was reminded that, in that period, the position of senator was appointed and not elected. Is that addressed in the Constitution, and when did it change?

Stephan Vertal
Forest Grove, Ore.
—

Originally, the U.S. Constitution – in Article I, Section 3 – stated that a U.S. senator would be chosen by his state legislature. In 1912, Congress proposed switching to direct election of senators by the people of each state. This change was ratified in 1913 as the 17th Amendment to the Constitution.

History professor Richard R. Beeman of the University of Pennsylvania said the Senate was originally envisioned as a traditional upper house of Congress, “composed of only the most knowledgeable, well-educated, virtuous” people.

“Thus, they were reluctant to have the people elect senators directly,” he explained.

Beeman said that, in time, direct election came to be seen as a more appropriate approach for a democratic nation.

“It was not coincidence that this change occurred during the progressive era, an era of democratic reforms across the states and the nation,” he said.

Rhonda Shafner
AP News Researcher
New York

======

When President Obama was elected, he started posting his weekly radio address online and releasing it as a video. This led me to wonder: How long has the Saturday radio address been around, and why was it started? Has every president since it got started recorded a weekly address?

Daniel Lippman
Washington

—

President Ronald Reagan created the weekly radio address. He went on the air from the Oval Office on April 3, 1982, to reassure Americans about the nation’s sickly economy – much as Franklin D. Roosevelt had done during the Great Depression with his series of evening radio addresses that became known as fireside chats.

Reagan was an experienced broadcaster, with skills honed as a radio sportscaster, movie actor, public speaker and radio commentator. In his first White House radio address, Reagan said he wanted to talk about the problems facing the nation and what to do about them.

“I can’t cover all that territory in five minutes, so I’ll be back every Saturday at this same time, same station, live,” he said. “I hope you’ll tune in.”

The radio addresses endured throughout Reagan’s presidency, giving him the opportunity to create news for weekend broadcasts and Sunday newspapers. Every president since then has continued Reagan’s tradition.

Terence Hunt
AP Economics Global Coordinator
An AP White House reporter during Reagan’s presidency
Washington

=====

I’ve heard composers are paid a royalty each time their song is played on the radio or TV. If their song is part of a musical play or movie, are they paid based on the number of times the movie is shown or the number of performances of the play?

Bill Hart
Canton, Ohio

—
Basically, yes.

A composer may be hired to write the score for a movie or play, write a song for a movie or play, or have an existing song used in a movie or play. A fee is negotiated, generally based on the production’s budget, how the music is used and in what situations, and the duration of its use. It can range from nothing to tens of thousands of dollars, or more.

For a play, that can be the end of the road in terms of payment, although the number of performances is usually part of the upfront negotiations.

But some plays and certainly many movies generate soundtracks and DVDs, and may be shown on television. Songs made for movies also might be played on the radio. Each of those situations will generate royalties for the songwriter, based on a negotiated rate that is related to the amount of revenue collected or the number of units sold.

The work of tracking how one’s music is used is not the job of the songwriter or composer. Music publishers, such as Warner Music Group Corp.’s Warner/Chappell Music Inc., purchase and manage copyrights, farming out song use and collecting money that’s earned. Performance rights societies such as Broadcast Music Inc. and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers help track use on TV and radio so they can collect royalties, and pay them out to their artist clients accordingly.

Ryan Nakashima
Associated Press Writer
Los Angeles

=====

Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.