Tune in the Wisconsin recall tonight with WORT and Free Speech Radio News
If you’re in the US you haven’t been able to avoid news about the recall election happening in Wisconsin today, where an enormous grassroots movement mobilized to kick Gov. Walker out of office, following last year’s protest and capitol occupation. Grassroots and community media, especially radio, were vitally important in providing fair coverage of the […]
Did God make the radio? Beach Boys say yes
Good grief, I did not even know that the Beach Boys still existed, and here they are with a new album titled That’s Why God Made the Radio. Lyrics excerpt follows: Tuning in the latest star From the dashboard of my car Crusin’ at 7, push button heaven Capturing memories from afar In my car […]
KFOG: a “challenging week” since morning show changes
Another San Francisco Bay Area listener upheaval over morning show changes. This one at Cumulus owned KFOG 104.5 FM, where Bill Webster and “Irish Greg” McQuaid have been replaced by a new “KFOG in the Morning” program with Greg Gory, Tony Longo, and Melanie Walker. Webster and Greg were dumped in the middle of May. […]
Rough notes: where the radio spectrum is located (for radio)
In the face of a supposedly looming “spectrum crunch,” Congress and the President are endlessly threatening/promising to produce a conclusive compendium of where all the usable radio bands are presently located. I’m starting mine now for radio spectrum that is used in one way or another by radio stations—as opposed to TV, public safety responders, […]
mtvU Solicits College Radio Stations to Host Weekly Video Countdown
When MTV was born, a whole new category of DJ was launched. Although most of us DJs are accustomed to being invisible to listeners, VJs became stars as they chatted about music and music videos on-screen. As part of a new feature on MTV’s college-themed media property mtvU, college radio stations will have a chance […]
DAR.fm ranks the podcasts with the broadcast shows
I love it when I get mail! After reading my post about Stitcher’s podcast charts, Michael Robertson, online audio pioneer, founder of MP3.com and current CEO of DAR.fm emailed me today to let me know that his site also features charts for all the programs that users record, right on the home page. I knew […]
Charting the Maturation of Podcasting
On Tuesday Stitcher Radio announced the Stitcher List which is something like the Billboard Hot 100 for podcasts. Stitcher is a smartphone app that lets you listen to podcasts and other online radio on demand, with the “stitch” part of the name coming from the ability to create custom stations by stitching together different shows […]
Vietnam upholds prison terms for dissidents interviewed by “foreign radio stations”
The government of Vietnam has rejected the appeals of two activists convicted of “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” The alleged crimes involved being interviewed by “foreign radio stations” and membership in human rights groups that include “reactionary people,” according to Radio Free Asia. The most prominent of the dissidents is blogger Ho […]
Following KCNL Sale to USC, Classical Music Begins on 104.9 FM and Spanish Programming Moves to KSJO
On Friday, May 25, the sale of KCNL to University of Southern California (USC) was officially consummated and classical music programming began airing on 104.9 FM in the San Jose area. These preliminary broadcasts are just a hint of what’s to air on the future home of KDFC programming in the south bay. According to […]
The 7 dirty words’ mid-life crisis
It was forty years ago this Sunday that comedian George Carlin recorded the Class Clown album which five years later would inadvertently provoke the Supreme Court to canonize seven simple words as the apotheosis of American verbal vulgarity. That case, FCC v Pacifica, would come to be known as the “seven dirty words” ruling, named […]