‘Zines are like the college or community radio of the print media world. Or maybe LPFM or pirate radio are a more appropriate comparisons, since ‘zines tend to be more personal, limited in distribution, and sometimes reproduced surreptitiously on office copiers. In any event, I’ve been a fan and reader of ‘zines for, I guess, nearly some twenty years now. In fact, my first exposure to ‘zines happened in college radio, when several programs at my station pooled copy money to publish a few runs of a music ‘zine.

Over on his Arcane Radio Trivia blog, intrepid radio researcher Jose Fritz recently posted about the ‘zine Paper Radio:

Paper Radio is about the art and history of radio. Issue # 8 reads in plain language “The goal of Paper Radio is to help readers connect and reconnect with radio. Unlike other mediums, radio sparks the imagination, it paints scenes with sound…” Topics include pirate radio, shortwave (WCBQ, CHU, WWCR, WRMI), pirate shortwave, DX’ing and in the few issues I have, they cover a slew of small local radio stations WNEC, KPFA, KMUD, KENC, WRKU, and WFEA-AM.

Paper Radio is published by DJ Frederick in quantities of a hundred or so, and is on its eighth issue as of this past November. Prior to issue six it was known as Signals. Back in June DJ Frederick threatened to go on a possibly permanent hiatus, but apparently decided to hit the photocopier again after all.

At just three bucks post-paid, I’m ready to order my own copy.

Damon Penn, a senior official with FEMA and Jamie Barnett, a senior official with the FCC released a joint statement about the test this afternoon, indicating that it was successful some places, not so successful other places. No stats have been released yet, so here’s what the FCC and FEMA say:

“The Nationwide EAS Test served the purpose for which it was intended – to identify gaps and generate a comprehensive set of data to help strengthen our ability to communicate during real emergencies. Based on preliminary data, media outlets in large portions of the country successfully received the test message, but wasn’t received by some viewers or listeners. We are currently in the process of collecting and analyzing data, and will reach a conclusion when that process is complete.”

The Commission does say that over 30,000 broadcasters and communication service providers participated in the test, so there is quite a bit of data to crunch. These participants will be sending their feedback to the FCC over the next few weeks.

Although it represented a bit of an inconvenience to broadcasters, I think the test was a good idea, since nothing of the sort has been performed since the modern EAS system went online fifteen years ago.

Providing vital information during national disasters and other emergencies in a crucial role for our broadcast media, especially radio. It is important that stations be able to quickly transmit emergency communications, and I hope that this national test provides guidance for clearing up any gaps in service.

Seeking Radio Survivors (KZSC Photo: J. Waits)

We’re excited to announce that Radio Survivor is looking to expand its team.

Founded by Matthew Lasar, Paul Riismandel and Jennifer Waits in 2009, Radio Survivor covers all things radio and we need your help.

Contributing Editors

We are seeking 4 contributing editors to help expand our coverage on Radio Survivor. Contributing editors will be expected to write at least one short post a week on Radio Survivor.

If you are interested in a position with us, please send an email to editors AT radiosurvivor DOT COM with your qualifications and a link to some samples of your writing. In your email to us, please include some ideas about potential types of stories that you’d like to cover or if there’s a specific “beat” that you’d be interested in (such as: pirate radio, community radio, commercial radio, college radio, online radio, satellite radio, FCC news, etc.). This is a part-time, unpaid position, but your stories will be featured on Radio Survivor, an established and growing website visited by radio professionals and radio enthusiasts.

Marketing/Social Media Intern

In addition to editorial help, we are also seeking a marketing intern to help us spread the word about Radio Survivor. Responsibilities include: maintaining and increasing our presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Linked In and other social media outlets and assisting Radio Survivor’s webmaster in tasks related to search engine optimization and social media.

If you are interested in a position with us, please send an email to editors AT radiosurvivor DOT COM with your qualifications and links to relevant social media projects. This is a part-time, unpaid position, but you will be helping to grow the well-respected Radio Survivor, one of the few websites devoted to radio news.

24 months later, our mission is the same. We see ourselves as critical advocates for participatory radio—community, public, college, Low Power FM, Internet, satellite, public, mobile, and pirate. We ponder the medium from the vantage of participants and consumers. We love radio in all its forms, but Radio Survivor is not “the voice of the industry.” We write from the perspective of listeners, joiners, and fans.

As such, we’re often ahead of the curve. The New York Times ran an op-ed piece on Sunday about the unfortunate sale of Vanderbilt’s college radio station and the crisis of college radio in general. It’s great of The Times to discover the problem. But if you regularly visit these pages, you know that Jennifer is a national go-to writer on this issue, recognized as such by her peers.

When Air America radio hit the dust, I don’t think anyone had a better analysis of the network’s history than Paul (ditto for his work on Howard Stern). Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission has just issued a new report on media, which notes that bandwidth costs often restrict how local an Internet radio station can get. We posted a piece on that problem almost a year ago.

But we’re not a cheering squad for the masses, either. We’re perfectly happy to point out dubious college, community, and pirate radio strategies when necessary, because we want these venues to thrive. Radio Survivor is what its logo says it is: “news, views and tough love for radio.”

Regular readers should look for a significant design change for the site, and soon. But the purpose will always remain the same. So if you’re starting a new show, starting a new station, having a problem (eg, your campus administration wants to shut you down!), or have just won a victory, send us an e-mail or join our Facebook page. If you search for and buy something via our Amazon store, we’ll get a cut of the proceeds, and that always helps.

Thanks, by the way, to all the people who have helped us get to this place, among them Gavin Dahl, Chris Stroffolino, Kevin Vance, Allison Rolls, Bob Mason, John Anderson, and Helen Yamamoto. Adelante!

What Do You Have to Sell, Donate or Swap?

An under-utilized feature on Radio Survivor is the free Classified Ads section on the upper-right side of the website. Our dream is that people will post radio-related events, job opportunities, requests for equipment, and more. I often run across people who are looking to find radio equipment for new stations and frequently hear about radio events that others are hoping to promote (conferences, radio station benefits, etc.), so the classifieds could be a useful clearinghouse for these announcements.

This week I heard from someone at a college radio station in Florida who is looking to save some money during the upcoming CMJ Music Marathon in New York City by having their college radio DJs share hotel rooms with students from other stations. We just added a classified ad for this and if you are interested, definitely contact the folks at Osprey Radio. If they don’t find some people to share rooms, they may not be able to go to CMJ due to the expense.

And, if this isn’t of interest, think about placing your own ad. Here are some of the things that I’d love to see posted:

-Radio equipment for sale, for free, or wanted

-Radio job postings (from job seekers and employers)

-Upcoming radio conferences and events

-Radio-related calls for papers for journals, books, conferences

Live streaming local TV from Terremoto, Chile

According to Communications Quarterly news posted today, there are several frequencies being used in the amateur shortwave bands:

SSB frequencies: 10 meters – 28.300, 28.500 MHz 15 meters – 21.200, 21.350 MHz 20 meters – 14.200, 14.350 MHz 40 meters – 7.050, 7.095 MHz 80 meters – 3.738, 3.750 MHz (via CQ Public Service Editor Richard Fisher, KI6SN)

Chilean hams and emergency service agencies are asking that other amateurs keep these frequencies clear so that emergency communications are not impeded.

The communications on these frequencies may be difficult to hear on many radios because they’ll be using SSB, or single-sideband, a power-saving mode often used by hams to transmit longer distances using less power. These broadcasts will sound distorted on a regular shortwave radio, and require the use of a receiver that features SSB reception. I have such a radio, but in the RF interference zone of my Chicago apartment I’m having difficulty getting any clear reception.

I’ve been trying to hunt down some frequencies for Chile-based broadcast stations that use AM/normal mode on shortwave, but I am coming up empty. The only station I’m coming up with is Voice of Chile at 11,890 KHz listed at Radio Shack’s shortwave radio guide.

The National Hurricane Center is broadcasting tsunami updates at 14.300 MHz. I’m able to tune this in, but I’m getting too much interference to hear clearly. With luck people in Hawaii and elsewhere in the Pacific who need this information are receiving it better.

On the internet Ustream is offering a live stream of several local TV channels from Chile and Hawaii.

Thanks to NW7US and RadioGeek who have been providing emergency shortwave information on Twitter.

Moi in the basement, via camcorder.

It’s way too early to start writing self-congratulatory histories of this web site, but since Jennifer asked for the back story on how we got started, who am I to refuse . . .

I first approached Paul Riismandel last Spring about creating what eventually became radiosurvivor.com because I was, and still am, concerned that discussion on the ‘Net about the state of radio has become marginal and fragmented. The conversation has become marginal because so much blogging on the future of media focuses on other technologies and venues, among them IP video, social networking, P2P, e-Books and other mobile applications. It has become fragmented because most of the big sites that report news about radio do so from the vantage point of a particular corner of the radio industry—streaming, terrestrial, podcasting—and almost always from the perspective of management.

The rest of the talk is propelled by solo bloggers whose wonderful sites ponder all kinds of interesting questions, but who rarely interact with each other. I wanted something more than that. Radiosurvivor.com’s mission, as I see it, is to stimulate dialogue about radio from a listener perspective. It is the listener, who does not have a monetary or employment investment in some corner of the status quo, who is in the best position to discuss the future of radio.

The big question is . . . what is radio? As it is being transformed by the Internet and wireless, what do we want from it as individuals? And how do we think radio can serve us as neighborhoods, cities, regions, and nations?

I am happy to report that Paul was very receptive to this idea. He contacted Jennifer, and 250 terrific posts later, here we are, drawing in many more page views a day than I ever imagined we would. Our contributor Helen Yamamoto should also be mentioned for her great work.

The domain name “radiosurvivor.com” is intended to evoke the crisis in which terrestrial radio finds itself today—with revenues and listening rates in near free fall, and the other, more recent platforms treading water at best. What do all of us who still believe in radio—we the “radio survivors”—do now? I’m hoping that our writing will draw in many more listener-oriented voices to offer answers to that question.

You can see Ron’s posting front and center, and you can post yours too, for free! If you’ve got a radio related job, are looking for work, have launched a new show, web site, or mobile app feature, or have a radio related event coming up, please do post. The notice will appear first on the list, and to the right on our ads and events box.

We only ask that you register with the site (oh, and the listing form will require a very easy adding test to make sure you’re not a bot). Enjoy!

As Jennifer noted in her report, the FCC observed in a footnote to its NAL that, “the frequency used without authority by Roberts and PCR is 87.9 MHz, which is not allocated to the FM broadcast band.” Over email Jennifer asked me if using that frequency might be any sort of contributing factor for the FCC’s attention, especially in light of an unlicensed operator in Florida recently receiving a $2500 fine for broadcasting on the same frequency.

I was actually a little confused by the FCC’s footnote about 87.9 FM because I’d always understood that the frequency is considered part of the FM dial, though typically not assigned except under special circumstances. In fact, at present there are three stations licensed to 87.9 FM: KSFH in Mountain View, CA; K200AA in Sun Valley, NV, a translator in the Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls, ID CSN Network; and WA2XNX in Brazos, TX, an experimental station licensed to Federal Signal Corporation.

According to the Code of Federal Regulations title 47 section 73.501, “87.9 MHz, Channel 200, is available only for use of existing Class D stations required to change frequency.” These Class D stations are low-power 10 watt stations licensed prior to 1978, when the service ceased to exist. That’s the rule under which low-power high school station KSFH is licensed to 87.9 FM.

So, while it’s true that the Commission generally doesn’t license new stations to 87.9 FM, it’s simply not true that the frequency is not part of the FM broadcast spectrum as asserted in the NAL issued to Pirate Cat Radio. As to the question of whether using that frequency contributed to the FCC targeting Pirate Cat or the aforementioned Florida pirate, I think it’s quite unlikely. The NAL against the Florida pirate makes no mention of the frequency not being a legitimate part of the FM dial.

As far as the Commission is concerned any given unlicensed operator is no different than another. Each field office tends to have its own set of priorities about chasing down pirates, and looking at the list of enforcement actions you can definitely see that each office seems to have periodic bursts of action against unlicensed operators. By and large enforcement actions are complaint-based, and operating out in the open is more likely to result in a complaint than being clandestine.

I suspect that action against Pirate Cat, in particular, came about rather slowly, perhaps influenced by the positive publicity it received and the position of relative respect it has in the community. Of course, these factors will not stop the FCC from taking action against an unlicensed broadcaster; failing to take any action would only serve as an encouragement to others. But I do think that these factors complicate the Commission’s job, causing it to tread a little more carefully.

I think operating an unlicensed station on 87.9 FM is no more risky than operating on any other frequency. The fact that there are very few stations licensed to this frequency makes it attractive for pirates looking for a clear channel and to avoid interfering with other stations. The FCC’s recent decision that FM stations no longer need to protect channel 6 audio on the far left end of the dial may lead to erosion of this opportunity in some areas as more licensed stations encroach on 87.9 FM. Until then, the risk of being a pirate on 87.9 FM is due to being a pirate broadcaster, and nothing more.

Photo credit: Yukon White Light / flickr

In effect, the FCC is just saying that now that in places where there’s now no analog or digital channel occupying the space next to 87.7 FM, there’s no point in expecting FM stations to avoid encroaching on it. What it doesn’t mean is any sudden increase in available noncommercial licenses at the far left end of the dial. This is because no application window for this class of licenses is scheduled in the near future.

It might allow a few existing noncommercial stations occupying frequencies from 87.9 to 88.5 or so to either raise their power, relocate their transmitter or otherwise improve their signal because they won’t have to protect the vacant channel 6 space any longer. Yet, this might be complicated by the upcoming January 25, 2010 filing window for new digital-only LPTV stations. VHF channel 6 spectrum space should still be in the offing for new LPTV stations, which could block any significant expansion of noncommercial FM into the area of 87.7 FM. However, none of these new LPTV stations will be analog. So they won’t be broadcasting an audio signal that will be heard on the FM dial.