Radio Survivor

John Bergmayer of Public Knowledge has a great interview with Ken Freedman, station manager of WFMU-FM in Jersey City, New Jersey. WFMU is a trailblazing radio station which was in the forefront of both the free form and dot.com eras. The dialogue is a terrific read, because it encapsulates all the dilemmas facing Internet radio right now.

“The way the Internet is built right now, there’s a catch 22, which is that the more people who use it [online streaming radio], the less well it works,” Freedman says. “And that’s just not the case with FM, or broadcast television, or cable. But, the Internet doesn’t have to be like that, but I don’t see much realistic hope for changing that.”

The economics on broadband streaming are “just terrible,” Freedman adds, “which is very frustrating to me because that’s where all the market is going. And at this point now, my radio station WFMU has twice as many people listening online as we do over FM, whereas it was only two years ago that we had finally crossed that barrier, where we had more people listening on the Internet than we had listening over FM. Now, two years later it’s twice as many.” (more…)

The National Association of Broadcasters is sending around an interesting think piece about Internet/mobile radio. The report was published by the Station Resource Group, a consortium of public media services. It’s titled “The Mobile Internet: A Replacement for Radio?” and is pretty circumspect about the question—pondering the various differences between broadcast and Internet audio streams.

This paragraph caught my eye.

A potentially critical new market variable has entered the picture, with the recent AT&T Wireless announcement that new customers will no longer be offered unlimited flat-rate data service. Although early analysis of the specifics of the new AT&T rate structure shows that most Internet radio users would still fall within the flat-rate zone, the move by AT&T crosses a virtual Rubicon. It is now conceivable that the current rate structure is simply the first step in a gradual throttling down of flat-rate service thresholds, and that if one provider has done so, others may follow. This movement could affect the uptake of wireless Internet radio by future consumers.

AT&T announced its two new data capped plans for the iPhone and other smartphones in June. DataPlus offers 200 megabytes of data for $15 a month. DataPro provides two  gigabytes for $25 a month.

Why might other carriers follow suit?

“Witness the still increasing ‘foreign’ ATM charges that nearly all banks now levy after years of offering such service for free,” the survey notes. ”During those years, strong consumer usage patterns were established, and once such behavior was created, the institution of small but incrementally growing fees for continued usage was grudgingly but broadly accepted by consumers.”

It’s an interesting question. AT&T’s DataPro says the plan offers consumers the capacity to watch 200 minutes of streaming video a month, the carrier claims. Streaming audio isn’t mentioned, but obviously that would take up less bandwidth.

Any comments on this out there in Radio Survivor-land? Do data caps make you nervous about tuning into Pandora on your iPhone?

I’ve known about this station for well over a decade now. As a metalhead living in Central Illinois I’d occasionally travel north to the Chicago area or Milwaukee to see concerts and encounter banners and fliers for an all heavy metal station on the AM band called Rebel Radio. However, I can only recall hearing the station once when on the highway between Milwaukee and Chicago.

Music radio on the AM dial is nearly an anachronism now, and most of the practitioners now are either ethnic stations or easy listening. Nevertheless there are a few hold outs–mostly mom and pop operations or stations owned by relatively small groups–that program niche formats on AM stations. Being on the air for about sixteen years certainly qualifies WPJX 1500 AM in Zion, IL as a true AM music veteran.

Unfortunately, WPJZ isn’t exactly a powerhouse when it comes to transmission strength. In fact, the station broadcasts with just 250 watts from the far northeastern Illinois town of Zion, a good 38 miles from the Chicago city limits. What that means for a city dweller for me is that I simply cannot tune it in, no matter how hard I’ve tried. The stations serves southeast Wisconsin about as well as Illinois, still missing most of the major north suburbs of Chicago. Adding to the frustration is the fact that Rebel Radio does not yet have a web stream, although its website currently promises one soon.

Then, today while perusing their website again I noticed a note saying Rebel Radio is simulcast on a co-owned station, WKTA 1330 AM in Evanston, the first suburb north of Chicago, on Sundays from 4 to 8 PM. So this afternoon I tuned in Rebel Radio for the first time, thanks to WKTA.

First off, this is truly a heavy metal station, playing many examples of the genre from the more mainstream–like Metallica–to the lesser known–like Armored Saint. At least during this four-hour window there’s a live DJ spinning the tunes and talking quite knowledgeably about the bands and songs, pointing out local concert dates as appropriate. That element alone is quite refreshing and rarely heard on commercial radio, even if it also includes a too-long inane phone call from a friend of the DJ calling in from a Renaissance Fair.

In terms of fidelity, I’m not terrifically impressed. Contemporary heavy metal has a pretty broad frequency range and often is not mastered to be optimized for radio like a lot of pop and mainstream rock music. That means there’s a fair amount of sound in the high and low frequency extremes that AM radio doesn’t cover well. I think it takes some pretty good EQing and signal processing to make metal work well on AM. On the whole the station doesn’t sound bad, but the midrange and high end sounds pretty crowded and compressed. A little strategic equalization might let the high end come through a little better and make the station a little more listenable. I acknowledge that the main station WPJX might sound better than the simulcast that I can tune in. And, to be fair, on a portable radio or boombox the sonic compromises are far less perceptible.

Listening to Rebel Radio I was reminded of the Z-Rock syndicated heavy metal format. I first listened to it when I lived in New Jersey in the late 80s and early 90s when it was broadcast on an AM station out of New York on 1480. It didn’t always come in well in Passaic County where my parents lived, but I did tune in occasionally when looking for something different on the radio dial. Even at the time I didn’t think the sonic quality of metal on AM was that great.

Nonetheless, Rebel Radio proves that there must be a very loyal audience for heavy metal on the radio willing to deal with the compromises inherent in music on AM.

Where is the beef? Not on AM HD Radio.

One of the supposed advantages of HD Radio is improved fidelity over analog. As I observed in my listening test of HD on FM, there’s almost no real improvement for HD over the analog signal. The advantage for HD on FM, then, is the addition of one or two more channels of audio. However, due to the more limited sonics of analog AM radio, we are led to expect HD AM stations to offer significantly better fidelity; they don’t offer any additional channels.

But compared to FM, there are much fewer HD stations on AM. This is largely due to the fact that the AM band is seriously congested, with quite a bit of interference. Adding an HD Radio IBOC side-channel to a station greatly increases the potential for interference to adjoining analog stations. A secondary reason is that the AM band is dominated by talk radio formats where fidelity improvement is less important.

In Chicago iBiquity (owner of HD Radio technology) says there are seven HD stations on AM. Over the course of several days throughout the last few weeks I was only able to tune in the HD signal for three of these stations, WSCR, WBBM and WGRB. My Sony receiver detected an HD signal on two–WRDZ and WVON–but could not tune it in. The receiver detected no HD signal for two stations, WMVP and WRTO.

Two of the three stations with an HD signal I could receive are primarily talk stations, WSCR and WBBM. The HD signals of both had a modestly extended frequency range than the analog signal, but with clearly audible digital artifacting on the high end, similar to a medium bitrate MP3 (say about 96 kbps stereo or 48 kbps mono). However, wider frequency range is of negligible use for talk programming. For these stations the primary benefit of HD is the loss of background noise and interference, which can be distracting even on a strong AM signal.

One HD signal, WGRB, features both talk and gospel music programming. Depending on the source–some programs are recorded live in churches–there is a perceptible improvement in fidelity with music due to the extended frequency response. However, the high end artifacting and distortion due to the low bitrate is sometimes too distracting to my ear, leading me to prefer the analog signal, even if the compromise is less high end.

On the whole the only real benefit I can see for HD Radio on AM is the significant reduction in background noise. On FM this is a limited benefit, since background analog background noise is already very low by comparison. But on AM it’s quite noticeable and losing it is mostly welcome. At the same time, I can’t say it’s worth the trouble.

Of the three HD stations I could receive, the only one I’m likely to listen to regularly is news/talk WBBM, where I also heard the least sonic improvement. I chalk this up to the likelihood that the station’s airchain has been optimized for AM. Because the HD signal is broadcast as a lower power level than the analog, I have to work, moving the antenna around, to tune in the HD signal. When I’m not specifically trying to test HD reception, it’s unlikely I’d bother with the effort to get the HD signal.

Much more so than with FM, I consider HD Radio on AM to be mostly useless and not worth the effort. It’s especially not worth the loud digital hash noise I receive on my analog-only radios on the frequencies adjacent to the HD stations. It’s like a line of digital litter strewn across the AM radio highway.

After the jump are my technical details and listening notes for each station.
(more…)

Jose Fritz of the great Arcane Radio Trivia has been traveling around and writing about what he hears on different regional radio dials. He just posted from the Seattle-Tacoma area and it’s interesting that he picks up a very diverse set of noncommercial stations featuring indie rock, NPR news, jazz and even dance music. He also picks up a couple of pirate stations in Seattle, including “The Whore” 101.9 broadcasting from the Capitol Hill neighborhood since 2008.

I have to admit that I didn’t get much of a chance to scan the radio dial the last two times I was in Seattle in 2006 and 2009. However when I first visited in 2002 there was certainly a vibrant pirate scene. During my time there for the first Reclaim the Media conference there was also a parallel convergence of unlicensed broadcasters who comprised a “mosquito fleet” of stations taking over empty spots on the Seattle dial, providing some airwaves resistance to the NAB Radio Show happening at the same time. Though pirate stations have come and gone in Seattle, there always seems to be at least one or two on the air at any given time. The hilly landscape provides many easy opportunities to get an antenna up high without having to construct much of a tower.

In any event, radio enthusiast’s visiting Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia should bring along a receiver and do a band scan for stations that will be more interesting than most cities.

We’ve been reporting for a week or so about the controversy over Rice University’s plan to sell their FM signal, KTRU. Well, looks like even Die Fuhrer is opposed to this deal. We expect the situation to change fast now that old Schicklgruber is on the case. Great that he’s taking time for this issue, given that the Soviet army is about to blow his Berlin compound to pieces.

More here:

College Radio Matters

Last week I reported the news that Rice University was planning to sell the FM signal and broadcast tower for its college radio station KTRU to University of Houston. Since then I’ve spoken with KTRU’s Student Manager, who shared with me the fact that this news was released during Rice University’s summer break, making it difficult for students to initially organize and rally.

Despite the timing of this announcement, supporters of KTRU have made an impressive effort to save the station. Their Save KTRU Facebook page has more than 1500 fans, a rally at Rice University drew approximately 200 KTRU supporters, and Houston’s local Pacifica radio affiliate KPFT has even offered up an HD channel for KTRU in the hopes of ensuring that the station can somehow retain an over-the-air signal.

Those fighting for KTRU are still asking for help and have set up a new online petition which they are asking supporters (especially Rice University students, faculty and alumni) to sign. They are also seeking donations in order to help publicize their cause and obtain legal representation. KTRU alumni have chimed in with their thoughts on why college radio is so vital. Ray Shea’s piece on the Save KTRU website expresses the magic of college radio beautifully. Here’s an excerpt:

“KTRU was the driving force that would eventually propel me through six years and two college degrees. My best lifelong friends are all people I met at KTRU. And together we learned about music, about business, about media and promotions and organization and scheduling and budgeting. We learned how to deal with people, how to compromise and reach consensus. Sometimes we didn’t learn as well as we should have, but goddammit, we learned.

And somewhere in all that craziness, all those late nights drinking beer and listening to records and arguing about music, we accidentally participated in a movement. A movement that would permanently change the face of the music industry forever…

Somewhere out there, in the heads of a bunch of passionate music-minded middle schooler and high schooler and undergrad kids’ heads, is the next musical revolution. And KTRU can still be on the leading edge of this innovation and progress, but only if they are still around to do so.

My great fear is that if KTRU’s 91.7FM frequency and broadcasting tower are stolen out from under them, it will result in the eventual slow death of the station. For many reasons…an Internet-only radio station simply does not have the influence and resources necessary to survive as a self-perpetuating ecosystem. The loss of the frequency will essentially gut the station’s programming. And it breaks my heart that my two brilliant, talented, music-loving teenagers, both of whom up until last week were considering Rice as a possible college destination, may not get to experience what I experienced.”

I was also pleased to see that a number of people affiliated with University of Houston are also opposing the sale by showing up at rallies, organizing Facebook groups and speaking in favor of student radio at Rice University. A columnist at the University of Houston paper even pointed out that the arrival of a second radio station on campus won’t benefit students at either institution.

In an interesting twist, the folks at Save KTRU are reporting that fans of public radio and classical music (who have been happy to hear of University of Houston’s plans to expand the public radio network with this purchase) in Houston will actually be disappointed by the proposals on the table for the new all-classical station on KTRU’s current spot on the dial. Apparently the broadcast range for the new classical station will be much smaller than the existing classical station on KUHF. So who wins?

Richard Wolinsky

Pacifica radio is running its semi-regular Local Station Board elections. If you subscribe to a Pacifica station, you should be getting a ballot soon for listener or staff candidates for your signal’s respective board.

Here at Pacifica outlet KPFA-FM in Berkeley, to which I donate money, there are two big slates running: SaveKPFA and Independents for Community Radio. I’m not endorsing anyone this year. In fact, I’m not a fan of these elections, which I think are a waste of Pacifica’s resources.

But I am a fan of Richard Wolinsky, whose “Cover-to-Cover” book author interview  programs on KPFA are just terrific. Richard has an interesting essay that responds to the endless call for KPFA to go all or mostly volunteer. It’s definitely worth a read, since it narrates the station’s history since 1975:

KPFA today starts with its paid producers, engineers, and board operators, people whom you barely hear on the air but are doing their jobs quietly and professionally. Competent board ops: What a novelty in 1975. You were lucky if, when you dropped off your tape, the announcer didn’t completely mangle what was heard on the air. The simple transition…show to PSA to station ID to theme cart to tape…sounds simple, right? Guess again. The good board-ops stayed a few months, then got jobs and left. The bad ones usually just stopped showing up, often without notice. Remove the paid board ops and the sound quality drops precipitously. Remove the behind the scenes people and force the on-air hosts to do the production work, and you’ll lose half the hosts. Stop paying them, and they’re all gone because they have to earn a living. Their replacements? Again, once a week or once a month, the best of the rest gone the moment a real job in radio opens up.

Read the rest here.

Live365 radio is celebrating its 11th year of operation by offering a “prize-a-day” sweepstakes to listeners through September.  The top prizes will include an iPad, Canon PowerShot digital camera, Flip Camcorder, C. Crane WiFi Internet Radio, Michael Jackson’s CD Box Set, Apple/iTunes/Amazon gift cards, and other stuff.

I’m trying to decide whether this prize business is a sign of Internet radio’s maturation or decline. All depends on your expectations for the genre, I suppose.

Anyway, the service’s latest newsletter has a neat array of Live365 logos going back to the beginning.  Here they are:

On Monday the trade publication Automotive News reported that the number of car makers offering HD Radio is up, mostly relying on stats provided by iBiquity, which owns the technology. According to the article pricey brands Volvo, BMW and Rolls-Royce now offer HD Radio as standard, while twelve other brands offer it as an option. Curiously, only one Japanese brand, the Toyota division of Scion, offers HD.

However, there are a lot of things one can buy as an option on a car, so the more important question is, Is anyone buying? On the surface, thing don’t look too bad for HD. Apparently 438,000 automotive receivers were sold in the nine months ending June 30, contributing to a total of three million HD Radio receivers sold in the US, both car-based and not. By comparison about eight million cars were sold in the same period, meaning only about five percent of new cars sold were equipped with HD Radio.

After reading a recent Radio World article, I wonder if at least part of the blame is due to the difficulty of actually buying the option. Writer Thomas R. Ray III, who is normally a cheerleader for HD Radio, recounts the difficulty he faced in getting an HD receiver in his brand new Ford Escape. It turns out the Ford dealership had never heard of HD Radio, and so he ended up with a factory-installed analog radio. He encountered further trouble integrating an aftermarket receiver because of the Ford’s much ballyhooed Sync system.

As long as HD Radio remains an option on most cars, I don’t think it’s going to see the kind of growth it needs to become a mainstream technology. As it is, there isn’t enough to recommend HD Radio to make it work the extra hundred bucks or so to the average car buyer, who is probably more concerned with a CD player or iPod connectivity. I remember back when I was a kid in the 70s that AM radios were standard and FM was an option. It wasn’t really until AM/FM radios became standard that you saw FM radio start to take off. I’m not convinced HD offers nearly as much extra as FM did thirty years ago.