Radio Survivor

The Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan is up, and, as expected, it recommends that a wireless band close by the Sirius XM band get 20MHz of spectrum for use to deploy wireless broadband services, probably WiMAX style.

“Recommendation 5.8.1: The FCC should make 20 megahertz available for mobile broadband use in the 2.3 GHz Wireless Communications Service (WCS ) band, while protecting neighboring federal, non-federal Aeronautical Mobile Telemetry (AMT ) and satellite radio operations.”

The FCC established the  WCS band in 1997. Back then it set up rules to protect broadcasts in the nearby Satellite Digital Audio Radio  (SDARS) zone. But now:

“Certain WCS technical rules, particularly the out-of-band emission (OOBE) limits, largely preclude the provision of mobile broadband services in the spectrum. Based on an extensive record, the FCC should revise certain technical rules, including the WCS OOBE limits, to enable robust mobile broadband use of the 2.3 GHz WCS spectrum, while protecting federal, non-federal AMT and satellite radio operations in the neighboring SDARS band.”

The document doesn’t explain how the FCC will propose to do this. As we’ve reported, earlier this month, the agency suggested a non-interference plan to a meeting of Sirius and WCS engineers. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin told the agency he was “extremely disturbed” about the proposal upon learning of its details. And since Sirius XM fans got wind of this news, they’ve been deluging the FCC’s database with protests.

But the Commission is clearly determined to get WCS the spectrum it needs, somehow. It’s part of the agency’s plan to get 500 megahertz of license space available for broadband within the next decade, “of which 300 megahertz between 225 MHz and 3.7 GHz should be made newly available for mobile use within five years.”

Paul and Matthew each wrote a piece (click here and here) on songs about radio. Here are a few more suggestions:

1) Alkaline Trio “Radio“: Not really a song about radio, but it does discuss “radio” as an object in an interesting break-up song.

2) American Hi-Fi “Hi-Fi Killer”

I gotta disappear

Don’t wanna hear that sound on the radio

Yeah, we could all hum along

‘Cause it’s the same old song

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Slacker mobile/Internet radio has just launched a new venue for unsigned music bands to create their own stations on the service. And the fans of these bands can integrate them into their own custom Slacker Personal Radio stations list.

“We are giving new artists an experience they can’t get anywhere else,” Slacker veep Jonathan Sasse is quoted in the press release the mobile/Internet radio company sent us, “including the opportunity to share and distribute their custom Slacker stations with anyone, and to be included in a service used by millions of listeners through the web and on all leading smartphones.”

The service for bands to upload their music, photos, and bios to create their station is free. Slacker listeners can also integrate these artists and songs into their own custom Personal Radio stations.

Slacker is partnering with the Hello Music company to roll this service out. Here’s the signup page if you’re interested.

“If you’re among the estimated 120,000 Apple enthusiasts who signed up to get an iPad on April 3, rest assured that you’ll be able to experience the NPR Web site in all its glory.”

So promises Kinsey Wilson, Senior Vice President and General Manager, NPR Digital Media, in his latest blog post. NPR’s designers and developers have been busy little beavers contouring the site to Apple’s hottest new machine, Wilson says.

“From day one, iPad users who visit the NPR Web site will get an experience that is optimized for the device,” he adds.  “Features like the NPR audio player have been given greater visibility and adapted for the unique technical requirements of this new platform; we’ve modified the navigation and made the site more ‘touch’ friendly; and we’ve improved the sponsorship experience all without changing the main site.”

Well, all we can say in response to this is that we told you so. In January our Paul Riismandel predicted that “the fact that some iPad models offer 3G wireless data connectivity out-of-the box, for a very reasonable $30 a month without any contracts make it a great candidate for mobile internet radio listening.”

“It won’t necessarily be any better for the car than an iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone,” he added. “But in other mobile circumstances it shows distinct promise.” On the other hand, Paul warned, the iPad won’t be great for multitasking, that is, listening to NPR while  doing other iPaddy type stuff.  So that may be a drawback for NPR types, big multitaskers for sure.

Glenn Beck is great at riling people up, but not so good at demographics. In his March 11  radio broadcast, Beck began a discussion of government land ownership by claiming that the government owns 98% of Nevada’s land  (actually the most recent records state that the ownership percentage is 84.5%).

Since statistics are obviously not his strong suit,  Beck moved on to  interpret the lyrics of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Our Land.” Beck finds the song to be unpatriotic. He worries about what we are teaching our children when they learn this song in grade school.

What’s wrong with this song, to Beck? Its alleged praise of communism of course! Beck finds the communist message in the lines “In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people, By the Relief Office I seen my people; As they stood hungry, I stood there asking, Is this land made for you and me?” Beck acknowledges Guthrie wrote the song in 1940, but fails to acknowledge the song’s connection to the Great Depression. He claims the song suggests that  the relief office helped, while the church did nothing.

In fact, Glenn,  the relief office helped when the church could not. When the Great Depression first hit, the government relied on private help. This meant help from the private citizens and companies, and from, yes, religious institutions. However, this help quickly ran out, unable to provide enough food and resources to starving Americans. In 1932, the people elected FDR and by doing so, asked for the assistance of the Federal government.

The support for Federal government aid endorsed by “This Land is Our Land” threatens Beck’s vision of America. He worries that American people who sing this song don’t understand that the Federal government is slowing taking over their nation, their land. Beck wants to demonstrate that if the Guthries win, the good, honest, hardworking Americans will lose. Beck points to Guthrie’s verse, claiming it  showed a neglectful church. He does not acknowledge that relying on private charity alone failed the American people. The Federal government had to step in to carry America  through the 1930s. But that’s not Glenn Beck’s version of America, so to talk about that is to be un-American.

While digital HD Radio in the US generated some light interest during January’s Consumer Electronics Show, the BBC was sharpening its hatchet in anticipation of taking a few whacks at its digital radio service. The UK has had the Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) service since the mid-1990s, predating HD radio in the US by a good half-decade. Unlike HD Radio, which broadcasts alongside analog signals, DAB uses a different set of spectrum dedicated exclusively to digital radio.

Although arguably superior to HD Radio’s IBOC system, both due to greater available bandwidth and not causing interference to analog stations, DAB isn’t necessarily doing any better in its home countries. As UK radio blogger Grant Goddard reports, many European countries are scaling back or ending their investment in rolling out DAB.

At the beginning of March the BBC confirmed rumored plans to shut down two of its DAB stations, the Asian Network, which serves South Asian communities, and 6 Music, which is a popular modern rock station. The 6 Music shutdown, in particular, has generated a significant outcry from listeners, with nearly 8,000 complaints filed with the BBC as of last Friday.

The 6 Music closure appears to hit a nerve because it was the BBC’s attempt at creating a cutting edge rock music station featuring more variety and up-and-coming bands than other BBC or commercial stations. Music celebrity hosts like Jarvis Cocker, Bruce Dickinson and Bob Dylan have had their own shows. When it debuted in 2002 it was the first new national service from the BBC since 1970. 6 Music was also intended to be a showcase for the new DAB service, supposedly taking advantage of the service’s enhanced digital fidelity.
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Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski did his best to sell the agency’s upcoming National Broadband Plan to country music and country radio fans this week—both on and off the ‘Net. The Plan is due to be released this Tuesday—a blueprint for how to speed up high speed Internet adoption across the country.

“What will the National Broadband Plan mean for this marketplace of artists, radio station owners, Internet entrepreneurs, and music lovers?” he asked at a meeting of the Country Music Association’s Board of Directors on Wednesday. The answer is that it will get more rural country music lovers on line.

One thing is for sure, Genachowski had a good time delivering this pitch . “You thought I was going to say something about my wife leaving me, my dog and my truck, didn’t you?” the FCC’s boss asked the Board.

Relevance needed

But seriously folks, the meat and potatoes of the talk was that the venues for selling country music are going to the Internet. The challenge is to get the country music market to the ‘Net too, Genachowski explained: (more…)

Each week I’m posting a few bands, songs, music videos, and websites that have caught my eye at some point. I should mention that many of the links to songs will probably be on youtube (aka they may include videos that I don’t consider to be particularly good) and that I’ve chosen the music videos based more on the music video than the audio track, although I will try to pick catchy and/or good music. Enjoy!

Bands

1) Scissors For Lefty: If I remember correctly, I saw these guys open for The Bravery a few years ago. Their vocalist reminds me a bit of Hot Hot Heat, but SFL’s music (in my opinion) is much better. I definitely suggest looking into these guys, particularly if you find The Bravery or Hot Hot Heat appealing or if you like indie music with a solid dancing beat.

2) Copeland: These guys are, unfortunately, on their farewell tour. I’ve admittedly been a fan of Copeland since my sophomore year of high school and have been happy to see their music evolve over the years. They have a very mellow sound, and their lyrics can occasionally be relatively “emo,” although I definitely wouldn’t classify them as an “emo” band.

Music Videos

1) The Morning Benders “Excuses“: This video is really cool in that the band managed to recruit a bunch of their musically-inclined friends from the San Francisco Bay Area to contribute. The song is also quite good.
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George Carlin only ever identified seven words you couldn’t say on the radio. Tribune CEO Randy Michaels–formerly of Clear Channel–has identified a full 119 of ‘em that he recently banned from being used on the company’s flagship news/talk station in Chicago WGN-AM. None of these words or phrases would get a station in trouble with the FCC. It’s just that Michaels and WGN news director Charlie Myerson think that using “flee” to mean “run away” or saying “bare naked” makes the announcer “sound like you’re reading, instead of talking.”

Chicago media blogger Robert Feder leaked the internal memo announcing the verboten verbiage, taking Myerson and Michaels to task for this “petty and insulting micromanaging of subordinates.” See the full list at Feder’s blog.

My guess is that Radio Randy just started the list as a way to get his mental juices flowing, and once he hit 50 figured it was too great not to share. You know, it’s difficult to be the CEO of a bankrupt media empire, and sometimes you just have to show the troops that you’re thinking about their world, too. Maybe next he’ll sign up to do an episode of Undercover Boss.

Last week’s Intercollegiate Broadcasting System conference (IBS for short) kicked off the music and radio convention season and there appears to be no end in sight for broadcasters and music lovers over the course of the next few weeks.

If you’re hoping to immerse yourself in music, bond with broadcasters, or geek out about the intricacies of specific music genres; then there’s at least one conference or festival for you in the next 4 weeks.

Here are some options:

SXSW in Austin, Texas (3/12-3/21/10):

This massive music festival in Austin has expanded in recent years to include a film festival and interactive conference. If you want to see tons of bands, sessions about music, and hear about the latest in technology, then you’ve got to get to Austin. Radio stations from all over the country also flock to Austin to do live broadcasts and to host showcases, including college station Radio K (Minneapolis) and community radio station WFMU (New Jersey).

From March 17-20th, 7 different college/public radio stations (KCRW, The Current, KEXP, KPFT, KUT, KXT, and WXPN) will be participating in live daytime music showcases at The Day Stage Cafe. You can even catch a short film, Peter in Radioland, in which old-school radios have a starring role.

College Broadcasters, Inc. (CBI) Convention in NYC (3/14-3/16/10):

If you are working in any form of college media, from radio to television to journalism, then this is the convention for you. It’s held in conjunction with College Media Advisers (CMA). To get the full scoop about what’s in store, take a look at my interview with the folks behind CBI and the conference.

International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) Conference in New Orleans (4/9-4/11/10):

This is THE conference to hit if you are a music academic or simply enjoy dissecting the intricacies of music, musicians, or genres. Over the years I’ve seen fascinating presentations about Japanese noise, the history of turntablism, and the connections between metal and classical music. Usually there is a paper or two related to radio.

The NAB Show in Las Vegas (4/10-4/15/10):

The big National Association of Broadcasters event in Las Vegas includes a number of mini-conferences as well as an exhibition floor. There’s a Broadcast Management Conference, radio luncheon, as well as sessions geared towards digital media professionals. If you want to be a fly on the wall for free, take a look at Spinning Indie for a complimentary pass to the exhibition floor.

Experience Music Project (EMP) Pop Conference in Seattle (4/15-4/18/10):

This annual conference (which is FREE) is a chance for academics and music journalists to bond over their love of popular music. This year’s theme, “The Pop Machine: Music and Technology” lends itself to discussions of radio; with far more papers about radio (including a few topics related to radio history, a paper on Mexican radio, one on radio as an instrument, another about radio commercials) being presented this year than I’ve ever seen at this conference. There will also be presentations about Lady Gaga, girls’ rock camps, cassettes, vinyl, Pandora, auto-tune, and the Vocoder (to name a few).

Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Convention in Las Vegas (4/15-4/17/10):

A conference for broadcast media educators and practitioners, this definitely has an academic slant to it. This year’s research symposium focuses on papers about the intersections between sports and media. They also have a Festival of Media Arts, which includes a student media competition. Here are some of the winners in the “audio” category. There are also panels related to student radio, sessions geared towards careers in radio, and some that look at specific stations both in the U.S. and abroad.