Radio Survivor

Portland DJ Cate of K-100

Last night I checked out the premiere of a new television series on the CW called Life Unexpected, largely because one of the main characters is a radio DJ. Additionally, it’s a teen-centric drama, so right off the bat the show is hitting at my pop cultural sweet spots.

[If you're planning to watch the show and haven't caught the first episode yet, then you may want to read this post later, as I reveal plot details below.]

The show opens with a shot of VU meters ticking away as we hear the sounds of a morning talk radio show in Portland, Oregon.

We eventually see the innards of the studio and get to spy on DJs Cate (played by Shiri Appleby of the long-departed teen show Roswell) and Ryan (Dawson Creek’s Kerr Smith), as they entertain listeners with their banter about relationships and marriage. Interspersed with scenes of the studio are shots of teenage Lux listening to the show on her radio (see…teenagers really do still listen to terrestrial radio!) as she gets ready for her day.

We soon learn that nearly 16-year-old Lux is in foster care, and we watch her as she tracks down her birth father. In hopes of becoming an emancipated minor, she asks her newly-found dad Nate for details on her mother. She’s surprised to find out that it’s Cate, the host of her favorite radio show.

In an effort to get in touch with Cate, Nate calls in to the morning show and his call works to reveal the sordid details of his Zima-fueled hookup with DJ Cate back in high school. Embarrassed by the on-air revelations, Cate leaves the studio to meet Nate in the station parking lot where she ends up becoming reunited with her daughter Lux.

The family reunion is not without its drama and after some not-so-unexpected twists, we witness a touching scene that actually reveals the power of radio. Lux tells Cate,

“You don’t realize you were there. On the radio. When everything else in my life kept changing. I could count on you every day. People are just…so scared…to tell the truth…You…you just put it all out there. You say the truth.”

In the opening episode, Cate’s radio shtick is that she’s a commitment-phobic, cynical thirtysomething. She and her co-host relentlessly tease each other on-air while never revealing to listeners that they’ve been in a romantic relationship for 2 years. Yet by the end of the hour we see Cate taking Lux in to her home and accepting a marriage proposal from her radio show co-host Ryan. As clips from the upcoming episodes hint at; the morning talk show may end up being the place where Cate begins to reveal more and more personal truths.

It’s not surprising that often TV depictions of DJs are in the form of talk show hosts (vs. music DJs) since this can become an easy way for writers to reveal the feelings and motivations of their characters. We’ll have to wait and see if this particular glimpse of the radio world on Life Unexpected catches on with viewers. I’ll also be curious to see if radio retains its starring role as the series progresses.

The craziness of the holiday shopping season is now upon us and hopefully there’s someone on your list (maybe you) who deserves a little radio love. Whether you are shopping for a retro radio dude, a kid with a penchant for pop, someone with an eye for high design, or your favorite radio scholar, there are tons of cool toys, gadgets, and tomes out there that embrace the beauty of radio.

Here are some options. To see images of these gifts, just click the triangular up and down buttons at the bottom of the carousels:

For the Techy Teen: Build Your Own AM/FM Radio Kit

Kids just aren’t making their own radios like they used to. Buck that trend by getting your kid, niece, nephew or favorite teen one of these.

For the Kids: Hello Kitty Clock Radio

I say, get the kids listening to radio at the youngest age possible.

For Lovers of Retro Design, but with All the Modern Features: Crosley Turntable with CD Player and AM/FM Tuner

I’m always drooling over the beautifully designed Crosley turntables with all of the modern acoutrements. This particular model reminds me of an antique radio that we had in my house when I was a kid.

For Those of Us in Earthquake Country: Solar Powered Portable Radio

Everyone needs to have one of these in their emergency kit. You can recharge the radio by using the hand-crank as well.

For Mom and Dad: Shower Radio

Oh my god…I had no idea they still made shower radios. For that reason alone, this made the list. Just think, you can catch the news, weather and traffic in the comfort of your own shower.

For Time-Shifting Radio Lovers: Digital Recorder with mp3 player and AM/FM tuner

With this cool device, you can record radio much like you would use TiVo to record television.

For Radio Nostalgia Buffs: Antique Radio

I grew up in a house full of usable antiques, including old radios and phonographs. They don’t make things like they used to, so it’s always fun to seek out vintage pieces. Your local antique store and eBay are full of gems, including this crazy vintage space age-style Sputnik radio from the 1960s.

For Radio Historians: Empire of the Air DVD

This lauded Ken Burns documentary recounts the early days of radio.

For Bookish Alterna-Radio Types: Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America

This is a great book for those who are interested in reading about some of the creative characters behind various non-commercial radio stations.

For High Design Lovers: Antique Style Radio

This would just look so cool on the shelf.

For Non-Commercial Radio Supporters: CDs, LPs, Tshirts, etc. from their Favorite Radio Station

College, community, and public radio stations are always in need of your cash….and they often have really cool promotional items that you can pick up as gifts. Might I shamelessly plug KFJC’s 50th Anniversary LP to you? Or perhaps a cute girlie T-shirt?

For Terrestrial Radio Fans with Bad Reception: Internet Radio Receiver

I Love this idea. Instead of listening to your favorite radio stations through your computer, you can use this dedicated Internet radio. It’s perfect for places like San Francisco where FM radio reception is often dodgy, especially for the college radio stations that I listen to. It’s also got Pandora built in to in if you end up bypassing the bounty of streaming terrestrial stations.

Far outside the view of the general public, the virtual cratediggers of the FCC’s electronic recesses like Matthew and myself are sometimes privy to the little slap-fights that go on between broadcasters. In this case things are getting a little heated over the far left end of the FM dial, with a prominent public radio station calling out LPTV broadcasters exploiting the channel 6 backdoor to the FM dial.

As I’ve been already reported, the FCC recently ended restrictions on the use of FM frequencies adjacent to TV channel 6– 87.9 to 88.5 FM–in markets where former analog channel 6 stations went digital and changed channels.  Now, National Public Radio has petitioned the FCC to open up these frequencies everywhere, even in markets where digital TV stations decided to stay on channel 6 or where there are grandfathered analog low-power TV stations.

NPR’s argument rests on a technical analysis concluding that digital TV signals are far more interference-resistant than analog, and that modern TV tuners are selective enough to make interference from FM negligible for even analog LPTV signals.

Predictably, fellow noncommercial FM broadcasters are lining up in support of NPR’s proposal, while the ABC network and the National Association of Broadcasters have filed comments in opposition, calling into question NPR’s engineering data. There’s a few sparks coming from these opposing comments, but the real fun is buried in comments from Chicago Public Radio.

Without naming names, CPR  pointedly complains,

LPTV stations have begun to invade FM radio, broadcasting audio signals that were licensed for TV broadcast as if they were commercial radio stations on 87. 7 MHz. Not only are these signals inappropriately being broadcast as radio, they are also bleeding 24·hour dance music, with commercial advertising, over into the noncommercial stations that are on the lower NCE FM channels. Like squatters moving into recently-vacated homes, these LPTV stations are, in effect, intentionally broadcasting commercial radio which spills over onto the reserved portion of the FM band, trespassing on the limited territory of their noncommercial neighbors. Before this phenomenon becomes entrenched, the Commission owes the public, as well as public radio stations, a reasoned consideration of this problem.

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Radio Free Roscoe

Being both a television and a radio fanatic; I present to you my personal “top 5″ list for TV shows with some sort of radio theme. Some series focus more on radio than others; but in my mind they all showcase the medium and represent a range of radio stations. I was hoping to do a “top 10″ list, but poor radio is often quite absent from the world of television.

Here are my five favorites (in no particular order).

1. Beverly Hills, 90210 (Fox, 1990-2000)

Who can forget DJ David Silver and his lengthy radio career throughout the series? He began as a dorky high school freshman DJ at the West Beverly High radio station. The station’s window overlooked the hallway, so David was often a commentator on the campus scene and gossip. When he graduated and went off to California University he began his career as a college radio DJ, which was famously side-tracked by his descent into drug abuse in order to stay awake following graveyard shifts at the station. After graduation David was often seen doing live remotes from the Peach Pit After Dark; as he hosted a late night show on commercial station KBIB.

2. Radio Free Roscoe (2003-2005 in Canada on The Family Channel)

This series follows in the long-standing tradition of excellent teen TV coming out of Canada. With a diverse cast of characters and more realistic-looking kids, Radio Free Roscoe tells the story of students who run a pirate radio station. Their high school actually has an above-board station (Cougar Radio) that the Radio Free Roscoe kids created their station in response to (like people used to do with underground newspapers). Making things even more interesting is the fact that the DJs all have secret identities and are not known to their classmates. You can still catch re-runs of this classic teen show on Teen Nick. (more…)

The Pulse Flatlines

Perhaps it was too good to be true. The overcrowded FM dial of the New York City metroplex offered no easy opportunity to bring a new cutting edge dance music station to the radio. But an opportunity was found at the far left end of the dial in the space occupied by TV channel 6 audio. So in February, 2008 87.7 FM the Pulse went on the air using the analog audio of low-power TV channel 6. Then, just 20 months later, the station pulled the plug yesterday at 5 PM, only four hours and forty-five minutes after announcing its imminent demise on air.

The death of the Pulse was not unexpected, given that the station’s owner Mega Media Group filed for bankruptcy in August. No doubt, commercial radio is a tough business in the 21st century, especially following nearly thirteen years of rampant industry consolidation which triggered ruthless cutting of ad rates in order to drive independent operators out of business and into the arms of megabroadcasters like Clear Channel and Cumulus. It’s fair to say that the Pulse had an uphill battle to begin with. Even with a unique format and a potentially very loyal audience, there’s fewer and fewer ad dollars to go around.
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To some it may seem like I’ve been beating a dead horse over the TV channel 6 on FM issue, but I can’t help but be fascinated with TV broadcasters taking such pains to be on what so many observers say is the dying medium of radio.

In my second missive on the channel 6 radio phenomenon back in June I took note of Schenectady New York’s WRGB-TV. That station’s director of engineering made clear his intention to keep WRGB’s analog audio signal going even after the digital transition.

Now some ten weeks after the June 12 analog shutoff WRGB’s little experiment has come to an end. According to a brief statement posted to the station’s website dated August 24, general manager Robert Furlong acknowledges that this digital TV station has no authorization from the FCC to continue an analog broadcast on the FM dial, and announces the FM broadcast has been turned off, “effective immediately.”

I’ve not turned up any additional explanation for killing it so suddenly. My guess is that the station got a pretty firm message from the FCC reminding them that the license to broadcast an analog signal of any kind expired on June 12. I can’t see how WRGB continuing its 87.7 FM broadcast can be seen as anything but unlicensed operation, which would earn any other unlicensed broadcaster an FCC nastygram, at the very least.

Furlong also says that the station management “reviewing our options,” though I can’t really imagine what those options might be. They could petition the FCC to let them resume the analog broadcast, but that’s a very long longshot. Or perhaps they could reach an arrangement for simulcast with a desperate local radio station. Yet that option quickly gets complex, since I’m certain all of WRGB’s network affiliation and syndication agreements are for TV broadcast only. Adding a real radio simulcast would likely require renegotiating all of those contracts.

The appearance of analog TV’s channel 6 on the far left end of the FM dial was not designed in. Rather it was a happy accident which provided some listeners with an extra channel of programming and some other broadcasters an opportunity to sneak onto the FM dial. Like many such accidents, it might have been good while it lasted, but the sun seems to be setting for channel 6 on FM.

It takes a lot of listener donations to take on $3.5 million of debt and liabilities. That’s how far in the hole the owner of New York City’s 87.7 FM The Pulse found itself when the company, Mega Media Group, filed for bankruptcy last week. Loyal RadioSurvivor readers might recall that The Pulse is actually a low-power TV station operating on channel 6, which butts up against the left end of the FM dial, making its audio channel heard on most radios at 87.7 FM.

Last month I wrote about the quasi pledge drive that The Pulse held to try and stave off financial disaster. I found irony in the station begging for donations given that it’s commercial station run by a for-profit corporation. As it turns out, it’s for-profit in name only, since Mega Media Group only lists assets worth $180,000, less than half of the $414,000 it owes the IRS.

There’s been no report of how much The Pulse listeners donated. The station held a “87.7 is Alive Celebration” on July 24, with all proceeds from the event going to “keeping the radio station alive.” But the New York Daily News reports that the station announced that it didn’t need the donations after all. Maybe the company’s management figured out that taking listener’s money might mess up their bankruptcy plans?

It’s difficult to draw any generalizations from The Pulse’s bankruptcy. While finding a backdoor into the country’s largest radio market via a low-power TV station might be cheaper than buying an existing station, that doesn’t mean it comes without cost or risk. And, as I noted before, we don’t know to what extent management fumbled the ball, either. There were apparently plans to launch a record label in concert with the station. At this point it’s hard to know which is the worse business to get into right now, commercial radio or records.

Mega Media Group filed for chapter 11 protection, which means it’s hoping to reorganize. Presumably, the station will remain on air in the meantime.

Last month I wrote about a few legacy analog channel 6 low-power TV stations operating as radio stations, taking advantage of their audio program butting up against the low end of the FM dial. One of the pioneers is New York City’s Pulse 87. However it seems as though the backdoor to the FM dial may not be so easy to keep open.

Arcane Radio Trivia alerted me to Pulse 87’s call to listeners to donate to the station in order to keep it in good stead with creditors. Nevermind that Pulse 87 is a commercial station (ostensibly operating in the noncommercial part of the dial at that).

As of July 21 it looks like loyal listeners came through with the much needed cash, gaining the station “a reprieve from some of our creditors” and the opportunity “to attempt to raise money through more conventional means.” The station also promises to return the donations, presumably once replacement capital is raised.

I’m not really sure what to make of this situation. Commercial media is having a hard time, whether broadcast, internet or print, so I’m hesitant to place blame on the weakness of radio or the channel 6 LPTV method. We have no idea what the books at Pulse 87 look like, so it’s hard to say whether the culprit is insufficient revenue, poor management, or some mixture of both.

However, I do think it’s safe to say that the particular dance music format of Pulse 87 has tapped into some kind of loyal niche audience otherwise insufficiently served by other stations. The real test will be whether or not Pulse 87 can keep up the quality of the programming that keeps a loyal listenership in the face of cashflow problems. The temptation to cost-cut by automating and embracing other Clear Channel tactics may be too strong, even if that’s the surest route to undercut the qualities that make the station unique.

Perhaps the station would be better off going non-profit and relying on its listeners who’ve apparently already demonstrated a willingness to cough up bucks to keep Pulse 87 on air.

Following up on last week’s post about LPTV stations on channel 6 effectively turning into radio broadcasters I’ve been researching the topic a bit more. Turns out that full-power TV stations had the option to stay on channel 6 in their transition to digital, as I learned from this April article in TV Technology. Although their channel space still bumps up against the low end of the FM dial, the don’t retain their analog audio, and so are no longer heard on the radio.

Interestingly, Fred Lass, the director of engineering for Schenectady, NY’s WRGB-TV, tells TV Technology that he’s considering methods for continuing to have an analog FM audio broadcast alongside the station’s digital signal:

“We have a plan to continue operating on 87.7 after we go digital,” he said. “We think that it’s possible to operate with a vertically polarized analog FM audio carrier when we go back to ch. 6 for DTV. That signal will be horizontally polarized, of course, and there should be enough cross pol isolation to make it work.”

Lass admits that he really hasn’t tried this yet, but thinks it should work.

It never occurred to me that DTV stations would be permitted to continue broadcasting an analog FM audio signal, and I wonder if this is something that would require permission from the FCC.
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Wow. A childhood musical hero has died. My Twitter, Facebook, and email accounts have been buzzing with the news of Michael Jackson’s death today and my Generation X agemates are understandably freaked out. As MTV said this afternoon, he was the “soundtrack for a generation.” Many of us remember spending hours of our childhood watching music videos in the 1980s and Michael Jackson’s were particularly iconic. Hearing songs of his from a particular era will always fill me with nostalgia for junior high roller skating parties.

So, I suppose, many of us will now remember when we heard of Michael Jackson’s death, where we were, and how we heard about it. I found out on email (how retro!) from a fellow college radio DJ. Our radio station’s staff email list is actually the place where I’ve gotten the first word about many music-related deaths.

From the posts I’ve seen on Facebook, it would seem that many people heard about the news via that social networking site. And, I wouldn’t be surprised if Twitter has functioned the same way today (after all, it’s the new college radio!).

But what about radio? Did any of you find out about Michael Jackson’s death today on your local radio station? On your college radio station?

In the days to come, radio will be the place where fans might congregate to celebrate Michael Jackson’s life in song. If you have special programming planned, post it here. Also, I’d love to collect stories about how people heard about his death and if radio played a role in spreading the word.

I’ve got to go now and settle in for MTV’s Michael Jackson tribute tonight at 9pm EST to memorialize the King of Pop.