“Best College Radio Stations” According to 2024 Princeton Review
Princeton Review just released its latest college guide, The Best 389 Colleges (paid affiliates link) 2024 edition, so it’s time once again to take a look at its rankings for “Best College Radio Station.” Post-COVID, we are now back to regular annual editions of this list, which is based on student surveys about the popularity […]
They Live! FCC Permanently Authorizes 14 FrankenFMs
MeTV FM and 13 other FrankenFM stations now have an official and permanent home on the far left end of the FM dial. Like I expected, on July 20 the FCC approved a report and order allowing these now-digital low-power TV channel 6 stations to keep their experimental analog radio transmitters on the air. It’s a very narrow ruling, premitting only […]
Podcast #332 – More College Radio Tours & Podcasting Turns 20
Jennifer, our intrepid radio station tour guide, leads us through some of her recent visits to college radio stations in New York and Rhode Island. This most recent academic year (2022-23) was an active one, with college campuses and radio stations coming back to life as pandemic restrictions have eased. We also discuss a long-running […]
Celebrating Podcasting’s 20th Birthday
Thanks to James Cridland at Podnews, I was reminded that today, July 9, 2023, marks the 20th birthday of the first-ever podcast recording. As James notes, this was the day that Dave Winer – author of the enclosure tag added to RSS to make it possible to automatically download an audio file – recorded the first episode of […]
Podcast #331 – New Low-Power FM Opportunity Coming this November
It’s been nearly three years since the FCC first announced that a new low-power FM (LPFM) application window would be forthcoming. Now we know that November 1 – 8, 2023 will be the third-ever opportunity for qualified non-profits to apply for a license. Jennifer, Eric and Paul review all the pertinent details, explaining why there […]
Why There Will Be Fewer Opportunities for New LPFMs in the November Application Window
Going into the 2023 application window for new low-power FM stations we are unlikely to see the kind of massive expansion of the sort we had after the 2013 window. That’s because there are many fewer open frequencies, stemming from the fact that there are simply more FM radio stations on the dial in 2023 […]
FrankenFMs Up for Final Vote at FCC
Today there are 13 FrankenFM radio stations broadcasting in the US. These are vestiges of the analog TV past, given a short term lease by the Federal Communications Commission, now with a chance at a longer life. Until July 2022 FrankenFMs were the analog audio signals of low-power TV (LPTV) stations on channel 6, which […]
New Opportunity for Low-Power FM Community Radio Stations Opens November 1, 2023
Though we’ve been waiting some three years, the Federal Communications Commission has finally announced the third-ever application window for low-power FM (LPFM) stations, running November 1 – 8, 2023. An application window is a set period of time during which qualified organizations and entities may submit their applications to get a broadcast license. The FCC […]
Princeton Review’s “Best College Radio Stations” List for 2023
It’s time for another (extremely belated) best college radio station list! Back in August, 2022, Princeton Review published its latest college guide (The Best 388 Colleges, 2023 edition), which includes a ranking of schools with the “Best College Radio Stations.” This marks the return of this annual list, which is based on student surveys about […]
Radio Station Visit #171: College Radio Station WSLC at Sarah Lawrence College
I felt nostalgia for so many different eras of college radio during a visit to Sarah Lawrence College’s student-run radio station WSLC in Bronxville, New York. Located in beautiful Bates Hall, built in 1928 as one of the college’s first buildings, the station’s large windows afford DJs fresh air and a view of the lush […]