Radio dissenters: the global struggle for free speech

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Matthew Lasar

World Radio DayAs the United Nation’s UNESCO agency celebrates World Radio Day, it is important to remember that independent radio broadcasters around the globe face constant hostility from their governments. They must contend with regimes that politicize the licensing process, explicitly forbid free speech, or even prosecute radio hosts in the courts. Radio Survivor has covered many of these cases, which often go badly for the broadcasters. Here are some updates from the front in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Central Europe.

Indonesia and Vietnam

As of this writing, we are unable to determine the fate of Radio Era Baru. As Paul Riismandel reported in September, the Indonesian government cracked down on the Falun Gong based station following pressure from the Chinese government. The operation was forcibly closed by the police on September 13.

Era Baru broadcast from the city island of Batam in both Mandarin Chinese and the local language, and could be heard in part of China. The station reported on human rights issues in China, especially those involving the Falun Gong spiritualist movement.

According to Reporters Without Borders, 30 officials

“arrived at Radio Era Baru at around 11 a.m., forced the padlock on the door of the transmitting room and, despite the protests of the journalists present, removed transmitting equipment, thereby preventing the station from continuing to broadcast.”

Continue reading →

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in international | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Celebrating World Radio Day on February 13

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Jennifer Waits
World Radio Day is February 13, 2012

World Radio Day is February 13, 2012

Monday, February 13, 2012 is World Radio Day as proposed by UNESCO back in September. According to the UNESCO website, “13 February is a date proclaimed by UNESCO to celebrate radio broadcast, improve international cooperation among radio broadcasters and encourage decision-makers to create and provide access to information through radio, including community radios. It’s an occasion to draw attention to the unique value of radio, which remains the medium to reach the widest audience and is currently taking up new technological forms and devices.”

In celebration of the day, UNESCO has prepared a page with tons of information about the history of radio, statistics on radio, a list of World Radio Day events as well as suggestions on how radio stations and citizens can honor the day. They point out that, “Radio reaches over 95% of virtually every segment of the population.”

Are you planning something special for World Radio Day? At Radio Survivor we will be featuring international radio stories on February 13th to celebrate the day.

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in international | Tagged , | Leave a comment

SiriusXM turns a profit, plans to offer on-demand programs and personalized radio

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Paul Riismandel

SiriusXM logo

SiriusXM announced its 4th quarter 2011 results today, revealing that the company turned a profit and reached 8.7 million subscribers, with 1.7 net subscribers added last year. While those numbers apparently look good both to the company and investors, SiriusXM is only holding on to 44% of subscribers who get a free trial when they buy a vehicle with a satellite radio.

CEO Mel Karmazin also announced that SiriusXM would begin offering on-demand access to some programs over the internet as an add-on service. The company will also offer a personalized radio service that is likely intended to compete with Pandora and iHeartRadio.

It looks like Karmazin and the SiriusXM management are learning the same lesson that terrestrial radio had to contend with: audio media is now a multi-platform ecosystem. The largest commercial radio broadcasters were late to embrace the internet, and suffered for it. That’s why Clear Channel is putting so much into its iHeartRadio platform. By comparison, non-commercial broadcasters, especially public radio, used live streaming, podcasting and on-demand access to grow their audience.

The other big lesson that SiriusXM faces was even harder for commercial radio: good programming is more important than the delivery medium. Companies like Clear Channel quickly diluted their value by treating radio stations like commodity properties while dumbing down their chief product. SiriusXM has fared better in that regard, retaining more original programming that differs from what’s available on broadcast, even if the effects of cost-cutting have been obvious to listeners.

If SiriusXM wants to hold on to subscribers in the face of internet radio services that are invading vehicles and other mobile spaces, then the company must offer competitive options that give listeners an incentive to hold on to their subscriptions. Every minute a SiriusXM subscriber spends with Pandora or a podcast is a moment when she might question if she’s getting enough value out of her $14 – $20 a month.

However, I don’t think just offering a Pandora competitor is enough to hold onto subscribers. Again, the quality and uniqueness of programming is the key. Offering on-demand access certainly helps listeners take better advantage of their subscriptions, but that’s only attractive if the programs keep them tuned in.

I’ve been listening to a trial subscription of SiriusXM for the last few weeks. Soon I will be reporting on my impressions of the service, and whether or not it’s worth the subscription price in a multi-platform audio universe.

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in commercial radio, Internet radio, mobile radio, satellite radio | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

McDonald’s Pit Bull radio snafu takes on life of its own

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Matthew Lasar

Rally for Positive Change
Hell hath no fury like 12,277 Pit Bull owners on Facebook scorned. Despite McDonald’s apologies for running a radio advertisement calling petting a stray Pit Bull “risky,” pro-Pit Bull activists are still pushing for further amends. They’ve even got a demonstration in the works.

Here’s the petition being circulated by the Pit Bulls Against McDonald’s Facebook group:

The undersigned are requesting that McDonald’s use it’s worldwide reach to make a difference for all the Pit Bulls that have been victims of a bad reputation that they neither earned, nor deserve. We want McDonald’s, a family company that many of us have loved and grown up with, to take a stand for family values – because those of us that love our Pit Bulls consider them family. We’d like McDonald’s to right this wrong by airing a commercial that shows the American Pit Bull Terrier in a positive light. If you need any actors, the shelters and rescues are chock of full of lovable characters that would love to ham it up for the camera.

The radio spot crime against Pit Bulls in question aired on February 3. “Trying a brand new menu item at McDonald’s isn’t risky,” it began. “You know what’s risky? Petting a stray Pit Bull. Or shaving your head just to see how it would look. That’s risky.”

The puppy poop hit the fan shortly after this ad made the rounds. McDonald’s, as already noted, has said it is sorry. “We apologize for running a local ad insensitive in its mention of pit bulls,” the company Tweeted on February 3. “We didn’t mean to offend anyone and the ad is being pulled.” Continue reading →

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in commercial radio, fun and games | Tagged , | 32 Comments

SiriusXM to report 2011 earnings on Thursday, one month ahead of 10th birthday celebration

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Paul Riismandel

SiriusXM logo

It’s almost hard to believe that satellite radio is a decade old this year. Actually the XM service launched in September, 2001 while Sirius launched service in four states in February 2002. I remember clearly the hoopla around the debut of this new radio service, and devouring a feature article about XM in Sound and Vision magazine. I actually first heard Sirius on satellite television when I subscribed to Dish Network around 2003, and then after that primarily heard the service in rental cars.

As I’ve noted before, it always seemed to me that the service didn’t quite live up to its billing as a richer, more diverse and commercial-free alternative to the declining quality of commercial terrestrial radio. For example, the XM Unsigned channel, which focused on up and coming artists who didn’t have big record contracts and was featured prominently in that 2002 Sound and Vision article, effectively disappeared in 2005 when it was merged with the more conventional indie rock XMU channel. As well, many listeners were disappointed when satellite talk stations first introduced advertising (although music stations remain free of commercials).

That said, I do understand how satellite is an attractive option for people who spend a lot of time on the road, especially outside major radio markets, and for listeners interested in exclusive specialty programming, like Howard Stern. And while it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, and it required a previously verboten merger of Sirius and XM, satellite radio appears to be on relatively solid ground as it hits its tenth birthday.

We’ll know more about just how solid that ground is on Thursday when the company will report its fourth quarter 2011 earnings and year-end results. Analysts expect revenue to be up around 6%, while its stock (SIRI) price sits at $2.12 as of close on Tuesday. While a little more than two bucks doesn’t sound like the best stock performance, it’s a significant gain from two years ago when SiriusXM was under threat of delisting from the NASDAQ as its stock dipped below a dollar.

Perhaps the company will have good reason to celebrate a month later, on March 9, when it throws a birthday concert with Bruce Springsteen at the Apollo Theater in New York City. The concert will air live on Sirius’ E Street Radio channel, three days after Springsteen drops his new album, “Wrecking Ball.”

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in satellite radio | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Retro-Fi iPhone app makes Wall of Voodoo actually sound like Mexican Radio

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Paul Riismandel

I’m not sure exactly why, but the recently released Retro-Fi app by Romanian company Onyx Apps makes music on your iPhone sound like it’s on an old AM radio. Don’t get me wrong, I have a soft spot in my heart for music on AM radio, at least partly fueled by memories of listening to the classic New York City AM top 40 stations as a young kid in the late 1970s. But I’m not quite so crazy about it that I have a hankering to simulate it on my iPad.

According to Onyx,

For those who loved listening to rock’n roll on tiny transistor radios, those who find modern digital audio too clean, and those who want to create a retro mood with music, Retro-Fi is the solution!

Looking at screenshots at the App Store, it appears Retro-Fi gives you the ability to adjust parameters labeled “ambiance” and “static noise,” just in case you decide you don’t really want to understand those song lyrics any longer.

Now, I do understand why an artist or record producer may want to add a AM radio effect to elements of a song, as an aspect of a larger sonic palette. But it must be obvious that I’m having a hard time seeing why anyone would want to use this app for more than a few minutes, making it barely worth its 99 cent asking price.

Maybe Retro-Fi fits into the Instagram/Hipstamatic trend in iPhone photography, where these apps add effects to make your photos look like they came from forty year-old Kodak Instamatic camera. Honestly, though, I see more value in these photo apps, because the iPhone cameras are not necessarily high fidelity to begin with, and photographers have actually been embracing these effects for years before iPhones were invented.

Perhaps I’m just being a curmudgeon. If the idea of making your indie rock playlist sound like it might have been played by Wolfman Jack on a border blaster station, it will only cost you a buck.

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in fun and games | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Reed College Donates KRRC License to Community Radio Group

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Jennifer Waits
KRRC Image from Reed Magazine

KRRC Image from Reed Magazine

Reed College’s tiny radio station KRRC struggled to be heard over the Portland, Oregon airwaves and now its terrestrial days may be over. Last week paperwork was filed to transfer the class D license for KRRC to Common Frequency, a non-profit devoted to community and grassroots radio. There’s a silver lining to this story, as the donation of this license to Common Frequency may actually save a tiny slice of the terrestrial dial in Portland since Reed had initially planned to simply dispose of the license.

Late last year KRRC’s license holder (The Reed Institute) turned the KRRC 97.9FM class D license back to the FCC. According to FCC records, the license was cancelled and the call sign was deleted on November 29, 2011 “per Licensee’s request.” Terrestrial broadcasts ceased on November 30, 2011 and the station moved to an online-only format. A story back in October in Reed’s student publication, The Quest, delves further into KRRC’s move off FM and stated that finances were a big factor. In response to that news, a number of concerned alumni began talking about fundraising options for KRRC back in December. Reed’s Director of Student Activities and KRRC advisor Kristin Holmberg explained that the move off FM was precipitated by KRRC losing its frequency to a commercial radio group. She said, Continue reading →

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in college radio, FCC | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

BBC6 celebrates three decades of Kraftwerk

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Matthew Lasar

East Village Radio is none too happy about a cover story about New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft offered under the titled “Kraftwork.”

“A terribly annoying play on the name of German electro-gods, Kraftwerk,” the post notes. But as EVR also points outs, there’s happier news: a BBC6 celebration of the 30th anniversary of Kraftwerk’s hugely popular hit The Model. On Sunday, three BBC shows explored the Kraftwerk phenomenon.

First, BBC6′s Cerys was joined by Kraftwerk expert Chris Bohn, editor of Avant Garde Electronic Magazine Wire. Cerys played various German Krautrock tunes and “some gems from the likes of Can, Neu and Amon Düül II.” Meanwhile The Huey Show spoke to Afrika Bambaata on Kraftwerk’s influence on Hip Hop. “Bambaata’s Planet Rock was inspired by Kraftwerk and in turn helped pave the way for the electro and trance genres,” the show’s post observes.

And there’s also a retrospective with Wall of Sound guy Mark Jones recalling the German band’s influence on electronic music. “Mark talks in depth to Mute Records boss and Kraftwerk expert, Daniel Miller, about the band’s huge impact.”

Speaking personally, I always thought that The Model was a rather strange song with very simplistic lyrics, eg:

Continue reading →

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in music | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Third Rock Radio channels space, NASA and alt rock

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Paul Riismandel

Anyone can fill up a playlist with the Raconteurs, Arcade Fire and Cold War Kids. So, how do you differentiate your online station packed full of new alternative and modern rock? You add space.

Of course it was Sun Ra who declared that “Space is the Place,” though I don’t think his music is heard on the online Third Rock Radio. Instead this self-declared “space station” says that it

features updates on NASA’s newest missions and discoveries, as well as a healthy dose of great New Rock music of all kinds, along with some that you already know and love.

It certainly seems that NASA is happy with the only month-old station. The agency recently added a player for Third Rock Radio to its own iPhone and iPad apps. Though shouldn’t space radio be on satellite? At only 22,000 miles above the Earth geostationary orbit might not be outer space, but it’s closer than the internet, I reckon.

Anyway, I listened for about an hour Tuesday night and didn’t hear anything in the way of NASA or space-themed content. I just heard a steady stream of alternative and modern rock that was fine, but not terrifically different from any other modern rock station, on satellite, on broadcast or online. All indications are that Third Rock is automated with no live DJs, which makes it all the more mysterious to me why there wouldn’t be some NASA content mixed in all the time. Maybe I just need to listen earlier than 8:30 PM Central time.

It’s an interesting concept. But a new listener like me isn’t going to be enticed to tune in again if we don’t get the space stuff during our first time tuning in.

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in Internet radio | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook IPO: we do radio and compete with radio stations for advertisers

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Matthew Lasar

As everyone paying attention to the news knows, Facebook’s first Initial Public Offering S-1 statement is out, and it’s a fascinating read. No need to get into an extensive analysis of the whole $5 billion shebang here, but it’s worth noting that Facebook clearly sees itself as a player in the radio business and a competitor with broadcast radio. Here are the relevant excerpts:

On page three of the IPO, Facebook mentions its radio interface with Pandora as a key way that the application creates value for developers:

Personalized and Social Experiences. We enable Platform developers to create better products that are personalized and social and that offer new ways for our users to engage with friends and share experiences across the web and on mobile devices. For example, a Facebook user can visit the Pandora website and immediately begin listening to a personalized radio station that is customized based on the bands the user Likes on Facebook.

On page 78 Facebook predicts that companies that traditionally advertise with radio will gravitate to the social networking app:

Television, print, and radio accounted for $363 billion, or 62% of the total advertising market in 2010 according to an industry source. Historically, advertisers interested in generating awareness of and demand for their brands have heavily relied on these offline media to reach their audiences at scale. We believe that these brand advertisers will increasingly dedicate a portion of their advertising dollars to Facebook because the broad audiences they are trying to reach are active on Facebook on a daily basis, because we can reach their desired audiences with precision, and because they can spark word of mouth marketing through Facebook. In December 2011, an advertiser could reach an estimated audience of more than 65 million U.S. users in a typical day on Facebook. By comparison, the 2011 season finale of American Idol was viewed by an estimated U.S. audience of 29 million people.

It’s evident that Facebook sees itself as a provider of every possible kind of media, and an attractor of every possible kind of media advertiser. Radio is part of the equation. With 845 million active users, how could it be otherwise?

DiggFriendFeedInstapaperPrintRedditShare
Posted in Internet radio, social networking | Tagged , | Leave a comment