Radio Survivor

Radio Journal

Radio gets a bum rap in pretty much every arena that you could imagine: from pop culture, to literature, to news coverage. Academia is no exception, so radio scholars have had to organize and remind their colleagues that radio is worth studying.

With that in mind, I wanted to share with you a few resources for radio scholars, including some journals, conferences, and organizations:

Radio Studies Network UK:  Founded in 1998 by radio scholars, this group is now part of the Media, Communication, and Cultural Studies Organization. They run an online discussion list and have organized international radio conferences (The Radio Conference) every other year since 2001. To read about last year’s conference in Toronto, take a look at Nick Rubin’s guest post on my blog Spinning Indie.

North American Radio Studies Network: Formed in 2004, this is a group of mostly North American radio scholars. Their website is full of links to academic resources (such as institutions with radio archives and a listing of radio courses and accompanying syllabi) and they also operate a discussion list.

International Radio Research Network: This group started in 2004 and is devoted to bringing together European radio researchers.

The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media: Peruse the archives to read articles focused on every aspect of radio all over the world. The current issue is devoted to analyzing BBC Radio Listeners online. [Full disclosure: I had a piece about college radio published in a prior issue]

Journal of Radio and Audio Media: Formerly known as The Journal of Radio Studies, this publication of the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) features articles from radio scholars on a variety of topics. The most recent issue has articles about the use of radio during times of crisis (including a paper on Hurricane Katrina) as well as a piece about the role of offensive language on morning shows.

Can you hear me?

As we wrote last week, radio has played a vital communications role in Haiti in the weeks following its devastating earthquake last month. But what we didn’t cover in that story is the sad state of some Haitian community radio stations which have suffered major damage to buildings and equipment.

According to a series of articles on the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) blog, community radio plays an important educational role for Haitian citizens. By broadcasting native language programming it is serving a rural population in which 80% of homes are said to contain radios.

A post from last week reports that,

“In the western and southeastern parts of the country, at least 16 stations are facing serious problems that have suspended their broadcasts, Sony Esteus, executive director of SAKS, a local organization of community radio stations, told CPJ. The earthquake obliterated SAKS’ office in the Bourdon neighborhood, east of Port-au-Prince.”

In a post this week, CPJ shares some video of the destruction at the office of community radio organization SAKS, as well as footage from a destroyed community radio station in Fondwa.

Take a look at CPJ’s entire blog series on Haiti to find additional stories about the role that radio is playing during this crisis and to learn about the state of several other radio stations.

I am totally addicted to listening to BBC World Have Your Say. To a degree this is a guilty pleasure, since some of the episodes definitely ask reality show questions. Right now I’m auditing a discussion titled “Should Fat People Pay More?” when they buy airline tickets and other items—with a weight sensitivity activist saying no and a hard nosed New York kind of guy saying yes.

But what I totally love about the show is that it really is the English speaking world having its say. The debate between the New Yorker and the weight activist is over. And WHYS Ros Atkins is announcing who is on the lines. “I can see Barbara’s phone from South Africa, Cathy in Sweden, and also John in the [United] States,” Atkins says. Plus e-mails are coming in from Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere. Most are in favor of the extra charges, as is Cathy.

“Discrimination usually applies in cases where the person has no control . . . ” she says, “therefore gender, ethnicity, your age, for example. In my opinion obesity is for the most part a choice.” Next comes an economist who says higher prices for unhealthy foods might encourage people to lose weight. After he’s finished Ros puts on Barbara from Johannesburg, but surprises her with a question about whether a “fat tax” would get people to slim down.

Barbara stumbles. She wants to talk about people in airplanes feeling “squashed” by bigger folks. “But Barbara, you’re describing what other people think. I want to know what you think . . . ” Ros insists, and the global conversation goes on.

Do me a favor

Not all the shows ask Oprah style questions. “Should Google pull out of China?” “Would you adopt a child from Haiti?” or “Have the French done Muslim women a favour?” by proposing a ban on Islamic face veils? Is the Burka a symbol of oppression and empowerment? (more…)

The power of the tower

In the aftermath of the devastating January 12th earthquake in Haiti, radio has played an important role in terms of keeping lines of communication open. A fascinating radio story on All Things Considered yesterday profiles one Haitian radio station, Signal FM 90.5, that has continued to broadcast after the quake hit.

As way of background, a Reuters story points out that:

“Radio, a main channel of communication in Haiti, is even more crucial since the January 12 earthquake that killed up to 200,000 people, collapsed many parts of Port-au-Prince and left half a million people homeless or living in refugee camps scattered across the coastal capital…

Five radio stations were destroyed and at least two now operate in the open air, taking messages from victims and broadcasting aid relief details alongside news bulletins, debate programs and music slots.”

The radio story on All Things Considered tells a compelling tale about just how important Signal FM has been in helping find quake victims. According to the accompanying story: (more…)

Ofcom's latest poll on how Britons get their weather news

The latest poll taken by the United Kingdom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) indicates that almost as many Britons get their updates about weather and travel conditions from websites as from TV and radio. 43 percent identify the web as their favorite source in response to the question: “How have you been getting your weather/travel information during the  recent snow.”

Meanwhile 26% percent clicked “National TV/radio” while 19% clicked “Local radio.” So it’s 43% web versus 45% radio and TV.

Makes sense, of course. You get a lot more detail and data from one of those local traffic/weather sites than you do from the occasional radio update. Still I like listening to the latter more than I do looking at the former.

The Ofcom poll is obviously directed towards the moment, with heavy weather warnings in London, Wales, the West Midlands, and southern England. 50 schools in Gloucestershire closed on Wednesday.

The rest of the  respondents say they get their weather intel from smart phone apps (7%), Twitter (4%), and phone information lines (1%).

The Slacker mobile radio team sent us a press release this morning saying the service is now available in Canada. “Turning Canada on to personal radio has been some time in the making, and we are proud to unveil our Canadian Slacker Radio experience,” declared Slacker marketing Veep Jonathan Sasse in the  statement. “Whether it’s from the web or a smartphone, Slacker takes the work out of listening to your favorite music wherever you want.”

And the release continues:

“Canadian music fans will have access to the free Slacker Basic Radio for up to 30 days. After 30 days, they can upgrade to Slacker Radio Plus, featuring all the same great benefits of Slacker Basic Radio along with station caching for supported mobile devices, ad-free listening, complete song lyrics*, unlimited song skipping, song requests and more. Station caching enables mobile listeners to store their personal stations on selected smartphones for listening anywhere, anytime, uninterrupted.

Listeners can store a station by simply selecting “Cache Station” from within the supported app. The station can then be downloaded via Wi-Fi, over USB or through the cellular network. Cached stations are stored on the smartphone and can be accessed on planes, subways and everywhere in between requiring minimal battery usage and eliminating the need to access the mobile carrier network to play music.”

One question we had about the statement. It calls Slacker “the first personal radio experience to service Canada.” Hey Canadians, is that the case? We know that you can’t get Pandora up there (except maybe by proxy). What about last.fm? Here’s a comment from a disgruntled Canadian. What are the  availabilities?   Send us your comments.

The Federal Communications Commission normally bars Noncommercial Educational Radio (NCE) stations from using the airwaves to raise money for any cause besides their own operation. But the FCC granted waivers from this rule following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, and now it’s doing the same for stations that want to raise relief cash following yesterday’s horrific earthquake in Haiti.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti during this terrible tragedy,” declared FCC Chair Julius Genachowski in a statement released minutes ago. “A number of noncommercial broadcasters have asked for permission to raise funds for relief efforts, which we are happy to give. The Media Bureau has posted procedures for any noncommercial TV or radio station to obtain expedited approval for such fundraising. These temporary waivers will help tap the American spirit of generosity in this time of great need to aid Haitian relief efforts.”

If you are a community, public, or college station, here the instructions (below) for contacting the FCC and getting that waiver. But as you search for agencies to send the money you raised, keep in mind an Federal Bureau of Investigation warning we also just received. There are a lot of Internet fraudsters out there looking to take advantage of good hearted people. So watch who you work with.

Please see the below released by the Media Bureau today.

PROCEDURES FOR OBTAINING COMMISSION APPROVAL FOR NCE
STATION FUNDRAISING EFFORTS TO AID HAITI RELIEF EFFORTS

The Commission generally prohibits noncommercial educational stations from engaging in on-air fundraising activities on behalf of any entity other than the station itself. See 47 C.F.R. § 73.503(d). See also Commission Policy Concerning the Noncommercial Nature of Educational Broadcast Stations, 90 FCC 2d 895, 907 (1982). The Commission, however, has granted rule waivers for fundraising appeals to support relief efforts following disasters of particular uniqueness or magnitude, such as Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, and the January 2005 tsunami in Southeast Asia. These waivers have been issued for a specific fundraising program or programs, or for sustained station appeals for periods which generally do not exceed several days.

Should a licensee wish to solicit contributions from viewers or listeners for the Haiti relief efforts, it may file an informal request for a Section 73.503(d) waiver as follows:

1) The licensee may submit an electronic mail request to Barbara Kreisman(barbara.kresiman@fcc.gov), if the request involves a television station, or to Michael Wagner (michael.wagner@fcc.gov), if the request involves a radio station.
2) The request should provide basic details of the fundraising activity:
a. the nature of the fundraising effort;
b. the proposed duration of the fundraising effort;
c. the organization(s) to which funds will be donated; and
d. whether the fundraiser will be part of the licensee’s regularly scheduledpledge drive or fundraising effort.

For additional information, please contact the television or radio contact provided above.

The British government released its decision today to sanction an Asian community oriented AM radio station for not keeping its advertising and content  sufficiently separate. West Midlands area Radio XL (“the best in Asian music 1296 AM”) presented a 40 second office space availability spot “seamlessly as programming,” ruled the  United Kindgom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom). Therefore it was in breach of Rule 10.2 of British communications code: “Broadcasters must ensure that the advertising and programme elements of a service are kept separate.”

For you Radio Survivor readers here in the  United States, nota bene: they do things very differently over there in the  U.K., broadcast regulation-wise, so hold onto your hats.

Pick up the phone

In October of 2009, a West Midlands area radio listener heard the following on Radio XL. (more…)

WorldSpace, Inc., officially renamed  “1WorldSpace,” discontinued its satellite radio services for subscribers in India yesterday, after a last-minute email notice to subscribers and employees in India.  According to the Economic Times, the estimated 4.5 hundred thousand subscribers (though many other reports indicate much lower numbers, at around 170,000) who will lose their service will not be reimbursed for prepaid services by the company. They have been instructed to claim themselves as creditors of WorldSpace, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in the United States last October, and wait until “sometime early next year” for a response.

According to its website, this service termination occurred because “the potential buyer of much of WorldSpace’s global assets has decided not to buy the WorldSpace assets relating to and supporting WorldSpace’s subscription business in India.” Although the company’s website claims to provide service to around the world including Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, India still constitutes its biggest market at around 95% of its subscriber base. Immediately after its notice to subscribers, a Facebook advocacy group for WorldSpace popped up with over 500  members so far.

Foreign investment

The question to be asked now is why this “potential buyer,” which is likely Liberty Media, the same U.S. media giant that recently saved Sirius XM from bankruptcy with a $530 million investment and ownership deal, decided to forgo the purchase?

(more…)