Back door “radio” stations on TV channel 6 to go silent in 2015
It was too good to be true, the loophole that allows a number of low-power TV stations broadcasting on channel 6 to operate as radio stations. According to an order [PDF] released by the FCC July 15, all remaining analog television signals will have to convert to digital by September 1, 2015. This includes low-power […]
Did a NPR story hurt your ears?
I’ve heard a lot of complaints about NPR, but never that it exacerbated hearing problems. Now we can add that to the list. NPR’s ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos notes that a story on tinnitus (ringing in your ears) which included sounds associated with the malady got a lot of unhappy comments: “I have tinnitus and I […]
Host of KUSF’s “Folk Law” Pursues Legal and FCC Actions to Halt KUSF Sale
It can be challenging to stay on top of every detail, protest, or FCC action related to the pending sale of University of San Francisco’s college radio station KUSF to Classical Public Radio Network, as there’s been a busy and active fight led primarily by Save KUSF ever since the FM station was shut down […]
Do pirate radio stations create jobs? Two responses
Here are several responses to my post guesstimating that pirate radio stations produce about 19,220 jobs per year worth $576,600,000 in income. Obviously my finding, calculated in about an hour, was a bit of a stretch. But it has stimulated an interesting discussion, as I hoped that it would. The first response comes from John […]
Sony to end manufacture of minidisc, a stalwart of radio studios
Minidisc is an audio technology that never quite took off in the US the same way it did in Asia, and especially Japan. After enjoying a brief period of mainstream popularity just prior to the introduction of the iPod, many people are probably surprised to learn that minidisc is actually still around now. However, Sony […]
NPR listeners irked by “illegitimate child” remark
“There is no such thing as an ‘illegitimate child’,” early public radio producer Elsa Knight Thompson once said. “There may be illegitimate parents.”* Thompson made this remark during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Raised in Seattle, she had married an Englishman and come with him to Europe. She was evacuating children from London when […]
Family Radio Airs Replacement Programs in Open Forum Slot
Much of my obsession with Harold Camping’s Family Radio empire has been a direct result of his live call-in radio show “Open Forum.” On the air for 50 years, the show was an amazing glimpse into the beliefs of the founder of the large Christian religious broadcasting network. Through that show, Camping spread the word […]
FCC proposes action for more LPFM community radio stations
As expected, at today’s open FCC meeting the Commission released a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making which lays out a plan of action to both clear out the queue of pending translator station applications and to begin taking new applications for low-power FM community radio stations. An application window for new LPFM stations […]
Motion to Dismiss Filed with FCC Regarding Pending KUSF Sale
The contentious pending sale of college radio station KUSF to Classical Public Radio Network continues to keep the lawyers busy, as a Motion to Dismiss the entire application was filed with the FCC just before the July 4th holiday. At the same time that the FCC was sending out its Letter of Inquiry to University […]
Appeals Court rejects weakened radio ownership rules
Thursday the Third Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a 2007 FCC decision that loosened rules restricting the co-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations, known as the cross-ownership ban. At the end of that year the Kevin Martin-led FCC rushed through that last minute decision to erode the rule which generally prevented one company from […]