[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 81 (Monday, June 14, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S6730]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        FRANCES WILLIAMS PRESTON

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to an outstanding 
native Tennessean, Frances Williams Preston.
  Frances Preston was born in Nashville, TN and attended elementary, 
high school and Peabody College at Vanderbilt University there. She 
holds honorary degrees from the Berklee School of Music, Boston, MA, 
Lincoln College, Lincoln, IL, and Oklahoma University, Tulsa, OK. Ms. 
Preston is married to Nashville businessman E.J. Preston, and she is 
the mother of three children and the grandmother of six children.
  This year, Frances Preston will retire from her position of President 
and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcast Music Inc., BMI. Under Ms. 
Preston's leadership for the past 18 years, BMI gained international 
respect as a leader in the entertainment industry and is viewed as one 
of the music industry's most consistently successful and progressive 
entities. BMI was founded in 1939 and it operates as a non-profit 
making business. After operating expenses are paid, BMI returns all 
royalties to approximately 300,000 creators and copyright owners that 
it represents.
  Ms. Preston began her career in the music industry when she joined 
the nationally known Nashville radio station, WSM, in mid-1950 as a 
mail room employee and where she answered fan mail sent to Hank 
Williams. Later, she became the popular hostess of a daily fashion and 
style television show on the WSM station. In 1958, Ms. Preston became a 
part of BMI when she opened a BMI operation in Nashville as a result of 
some slight prodding by the first President of BMI, Bob Burton. Ms. 
Preston began her career with BMI with one assistant working in her 
parents' garage and oversaw the company's growth to more than 400 
employees in Nashville. In 1986, Ms. Preston was appointed to serve as 
President & CEO of BMI. Ms. Preston played a lead role in building 
BMI's 2004 repertoire of nearly 4.5 million musical works.
  Ms. Preston has been vigilant and supported legislation with respect 
to rights and incomes of songwriters, composers and publishers.
  Frances Preston has received numerous awards and recognition, 
including but not limited to the T.J. Martell Foundation Humanitarian 
Award in 1992, the Friar's Applause Award in 1993, the International 
Achievement in Arts Humanitarian Awards in 1995 and 1997, the American 
Women in Radio and Television's Outstanding Achievement Award in 1998, 
the American Women in Radio and Television President's Award in 1998, 
the National Trustees Award at the 1998 Grammy Awards, the Society for 
the Advancement of Women's Health Research Woman of Achievement Award 
in 1999, the National Music Publishers' Association's President's Award 
in 2001, the Nashville Songwriters Association International 
President's Award in 2002, the Women in Music Touchstone Advocate Award 
in 2003, the Michael Bolton Charities' Lifetime Achievement Award in 
2003, the Irving Waugh Award of Excellence, and the Broadcasters' 
Foundation's Golden Mike Award in 2004.
  Ms. Preston sits on numerous boards and generously volunteers her 
time to many charitable organizations.
  This brief statement cannot capture all the strengths of Frances 
Williams Preston and her manifold good works for songwriters, composers 
and publishers, and America as a whole. I did want to bring to my 
colleagues' attention the accomplishments and legacy of Frances 
Preston, and I am honored to recognize the contributions of this great 
Tennessean.

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