When I don’t hop out of bed right away I’ll kind of lay there and listen to music or the news. Some days I have the misfotune of having to listen to the clowns that are part of the “Morning Zoo.”
Hearing what these idiots pass off as entertainment, I often wonder if I’m not really just having a nightmare. Today though, I had some other suspicions of mine confirmed. When the guys aren’t reading off lists of jokes that have been making the rounds on the internet for the past five years, or making stupid sound effects, they come up with the day’s “Top Five List.” After hearing a couple of these I knew that these guys weren’t clever enough to come up with something that was half-way decent and the lists sounded familiar.
Today after hearing their top five list, I went to David Letterman’s Top Ten List archive, and sure enough, the list was there along with the five used on today’s list. I guess they think it’s OK to pass it off as their own since the list they used today was from 1997.
Is this legal for them to be doing? They don’t give Letterman, the Late Show, CBS, or anyone else credit. They just cut the list in half and purge the five least funny parts of the list. If this is illegal and I can turn them in to anyone, or at the very least get them to stop trying to pass off other people’s material as their own, I’d like to know. I’m planning to call the station and complain anyway, but if I tell them what they’re doing is illegal, I think I would be taken more seriously.
Thanks for the help, and sorry if this ended up being a bit long for GQ.
Find your local NPR station and don’t worry about moronic morning show antics. I would guess that if they aren’t crediting Letterman than they are guilty of something, but it may fall under fair use. It goes without saying IANAL.
adam yax, I listen to NPR in my car, but my room is in the basement, and unfortunately, the only station that I can get reliable reception from is the local station. While the local station is bad, it’s not quite as bad as waking up to static.
I think there are some local country music stations, but I don’t like them either, so I go with the lesser of the evils.
Well, they don’t have to credit David Letterman if they pay him, or if they have some kind of agreement worked out.
If they don’t have an agreement, and even if they do credit him, I doubt what they’re doing qualifies as fair use, so yes, it would be a copyright violation. It’s not illegal, but the injured party (David Letterman) can sue for damages. Maybe a letter to the home office in Wahoo, Nebraska is in order.
Dignan, attach a copper wire to your radio’s antenna. Run it through an open window. Then close the window on the wire. Attach the wire to the side of your house, either by tying it to someting, or by a nail, etc.