Radio Survivor

Already some of us have been listening to live streaming internet radio on our mobile devices, like iPhones and Blackberries. But, as I argued last month, the experience still doesn’t quite add up to true mobile internet radio, especially because when you’re using cell data like 3G it saps the heck out of your battery. My experience streaming live radio on my iPhone gives me a little more than an hour before I’m nearly out of juice. The new Apple iPad looks to be a great mashup of an iPhone and netbook, which are both decent devices for listening to internet radio on the go, but also have their drawbacks.

The fact that some iPad models offer 3G wireless data connectivity out-of-the box, for a very reasonable $30 a month without any contracts make it a great candidate for mobile internet radio listening. It won’t necessarily be any better for the car than an iPhone, Blackberry or Android phone. But in other mobile circumstances it shows distinct promise.

So the question is, will the iPad bring us one step closer to truly mobile internet radio? Based on early specs, and having never touched it myself, the answer is a distinct maybe.

The first important factor is battery life. If the battery poops out after only an hour, then it’s only good for short trips. But if you have a longer train or bus commute, or are outside away from a wi-fi connection you probably want at least two good hours. While Apple specifies that you get 10 hours of active wi-fi use on a charge, no 3G batterly life specs are published. With a much bigger battery than an iPhone one would expect that constant 3G use would go longer, but we’ll have to wait until the first longer-term reviews come out.

The next big issue is sound quality. I currently use my iPhone, netbook or MacBook Pro to stream audio in a variety of circumstances, including home and when away in hotels. They’re all fine for using with headphones or external speakers, though the iPhone is the clear winner for fidelity. But I don’t always want to use headphones or lug around speakers. In a pinch the iPhone’s speaker is better than nothing at all (sounding like a pocket radio), and the netbook is barely any better. My MacBook’s speakers are the best in this category, but at the same time it seems wasteful overkill to use this powerful laptop computer just to listen to radio. My hope is that it will sound at least as good as a MacBook Pro, which itself is on par with a portable radio the size of a paperback book. We’ll have to see how the iPad’s speakers measure up against these competitors.

The final big factor is multitasking, and on this measure we already know the answer: there is no multi-tasking on the iPad. This is important because all of the streaming radio apps are not made by Apple, and you can only run one non-Apple app at a time. So you want to listen to a live feed of a Cubs game while Tweeting? No can do. Catch a live feed of the State of the Union while reading the New York Times online? Also a big no. So, unless Apple decides to add the ability to listen to live streams to the iPad’s iPod app–which is allowed to multitask with other apps–this is probably the biggest count against the radio capabilities of the iPad.

At least as far as mobile internet radio is concerned, the iPad looks like a tiny step forward. If the 3G battery life and sound quality are up to snuff, then it’s a bigger step. But without multitasking where you can listen to a live stream while using other apps, the iPad is not the next big thing in mobile internet radio.

The biggest news at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show might be Google’s new Nexus smartphone, but that doesn’t mean there’s no space for radio in all the gadget frenzy. Your resident RadioSurvivors don’t yet have the travel budget to jet off to Vegas to roam the show floor in person. Instead, I’m picking through the press releases and news stories (which often are just rewritten press releases) from cold and snowy Chicago.

Although I am not a car owner myself (I traded my old Subaru for a new bike this year–no lie!) the automobile is still the site of much radio listening, and the realm of some interesting tech developments. Internet and iTunes tagging appear to be the radio stars this year, with satellite playing a supporting role. As one of our readers pointed out, Ford recently announced that it would offer a factory-installed HD Radio receiver that includes iTunes tagging. In addition the company said it’s working on integrating tagging with Sirius satellite radio, which will also feature the ability to record and playback up to 45 minutes of satellite audio. Shades of Apple’s “live-pause” in the new iPod Nano?

Sony also offers up a car HD receiver with iTunes tagging (CDX-GT700HD) and Pioneer offers up several new models with the same features. But their new top-end receiver (AVIC-X920BT) goes one better by adding support for Pandora. The catch is that you need an iPhone that connects via a USB cable. Once linked, then you can browse stations on the receiver’s 6.1″ display.

Alpine also takes the iPhone route to offer Pandora in your auto with its iDA-X305S receiver. No to be left out Ford promises Pandora integration along with Stitcher, which is apparently the news/talk yin to Pandora’s yang, and something I’d never heard of before. Yet again, Ford’s approach requires an intermediary, with SYNC project manager Julius Marchwicki promising,

in the future, if you bring Pandora or Stitcher into the car on your phone, it will work seamlessly.

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One of the most satisfying aspects of putting together our review of the decade’s most important radio trends was the number of comments we received. It appears we touched a nerve or two. And while not everyone agreed with our arguments or conclusions, we did get some thought provoking responses.

Seeing as how we like to encourage some rousing debate about radio, with this post I’d like to highlight a few of them.

Responding to #11, cash-strapped schools turn their backs on college radio, Seth Thornberry points out:

In another example of the spirit of independent radio, the DJs from KTXT got together and created The Llano Idea which has kept up the volunteer run radio (online, at least).

In response to #6, HD Radio launches, but who listens? Who cares? BrianK finds some hope for the service:

Ford announced today that HD Radio is factory installed in their autos and the at least 4X digital power increase for HD radio is on the cusp of being approved which will give listeners stereo reception upto twice as far as traditional auto FM receivers in noise-free and to my ears much better high frequency response

But Greg begs to differ, noting that,

Ford has been announcing that it would add HD Radio since 2007, but it never materialized. Also, Ford is an investor in iBiquity. … BMW even has an HD Radio trouble-shooting guide, and there are nothing but complaints about HD Radio in BMW Forums, so I’m guessing that it will be the same situation with Ford.

And Robert D Young Jr quips:

PS. just one little correction: CD quality is really “seedy” quality.

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As I said in my introduction to our subjective and opinionated review of radio in the 2000s, I still think it was darn near impossible to predict how the medium of radio would end up at the beginning of 2010. Sure, the seeds for satellite radio, HD radio, low-power FM, internet radio and MP3s were already planted by the turn of the century. But home broadband–nevermind wireless or mobile–was a relatively exclusive luxury. MP3 players were lucky to sport enough memory to hold about a hundred minutes of music and weren’t integrated into cell phones. Satellites for Sirius and XM were launched, and HD Radio was being experimented with, but no stations were on the air. Clear Channel was flying high for more than $90 a share.

Anyone taking a broad view of the radio industry in 2000 could certainly see a lot of balls being thrust up into to the air, but it would have taken a psychic to predict where they would land. Nevertheless, for all of the churn we can say very safely that audio-focused content is alive and well.

It’s become clear to me that we Radio Survivors do consider radio to be greater than just the traditional electromagnetic broadcast medium. While we included the RF-based college radio, pubic radio, LPFM, HD Radio and satellite radio in our review, we also touched upon internet radio, Pandora and digital downloads. I believe we are first and foremost fans of terrestrial broadcast radio, but that does not cause us to ignore or discount new audio media. Nor does it cause it us to claim that they are not, in essence, radio services.

The homogenization and delocalization of the broadcast dial caused listeners to seek alternative places to hear more interesting and diverse content. At the same time the popularity of MP3 players and Pandora shows that people were also looking for customization.
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Although today’s New York Times claims that “Internet Radio Stations are the New Wave,” a look back at the past decade makes it very clear that Internet Radio’s growing influence is hardly revolutionary news. In fact, it’s hard to overstate the importance of the Internet and Internet Radio during the last 10 years.

The radio landscape has changed tremendously and much of that had to do with the adoption of both the Internet and streaming media by the mainstream.

According to the decade-spanning report, The Infinite Dial 2009: Radio’s Digital Platforms, by Arbitron and Edison Research, in 1999 only 50% of Americans had online access compared with 85% in 2009.

Beginning in 2006, the majority of Americans with at-home Internet access had a broadband connection; making it easier to download and stream audio content. By 2009, approximately 42 million Americans listened to online radio weekly (twice the number who did in 2005).

Although this massive growth of Internet radio happened in this decade, the first attempts at streaming radio started in the early 1990s. The very first terrestrial radio stations to begin broadcasting online were college radio stations WXYC (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and WREK (Georgia Tech University) in 1994.

Always ahead of the curve, many college radio stations embraced webcasting, online playlists, blogging, podcasts and broadcast archives well before these technologies were adopted by their commercial counterparts. Tech-savvy students were often the instigators and developers of the technology (as was the case at WREK). Commercial station KPIG claims to be the first commercial radio station to broadcast online with its first webcasts in 1995. (more…)

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.

A British audience research firm says that one out of every three adults in the United Kingdom “now claims to have listened to the radio via the internet.”

“Claims”? Reading UK audience research takes a little getting used to. There’s a skepticism for the subject cohort that you don’t find in the United States. In any event, here’s the main finding of the Rajar research service:

“One third (33.9%) of the UK’s adult population (15+) or 17.4 million people claim to have ever listened to the radio via the internet, compared with 16.9 million people in May ‘09. This includes 16.2 million listening live and 13.9 million listening at a later time using Listen Again services.”

Listen Again = BBC Radio 4 online, we presume. In addition, over 8 million adults “have heard of WiFi radio” (a dedicated Internet radio device) “but just under a million adults claim to own one.”

“Personalised Online Radio” listening is up too (Pandora; Last.fm). From 3.9 million to 4.5 million since May 2009, Rajar says. And there’s research on podcasts:

“8.1 million people have downloaded a podcast (up from 7.8 million in May ’09), while 4.4 million say they listen to podcasts at least once a week (up from 4.2 million in May ‘09). However, only 24% find time to listen to all the podcasts they download.”

Apparently Rajar takes this last assertion at face value, rather than suggesting that the survey group merely claimed it. RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research Limited and was set up in 1992 to do audience tracking for the BCC and commercial stations.

It was probably only a matter of time before the FCC would catch up with San Francisco’s Pirate Cat Radio.

The unlicensed broadcaster was increasingly putting itself in the public eye by operating a cafe adjacent to its studio, granting interviews with mainstream press, and even appearing on the national television show No Reservations this August.

Since at least April, the FCC has been monitoring Pirate Cat’s operations and eventually levied the station and owner Daniel K. Roberts (aka Monkey) a $10,000 fine on August 31st when it became clear that the station was continuing to broadcast without a license

Pirate Cat issued a press release on Halloween stating that the station would cease their terrestrial broadcast in light of the FCC’s action against the station. According to the statement from Pirate Cat:

“…the FCC asserted that Monkey, the founder of Pirate Cat Radio, ‘willfully and repeatedly violated Section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934′ and proposed to fine him $10,000 for the infraction… the FCC’s order effectively ends Pirate Cat Radio’s thirteen-year run as one of the Bay Area’s most consistent voices of protest against corporate-run media monopolies and monocultural programming.”

According to the “Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture” document prepared by the FCC, not only was Pirate Cat Radio found to be broadcasting over FM without a license, but the frequency being used, 87.9, is also “not allocated to the FM broadcast band.” (more…)

Last week I was in New York City for the 29th annual CMJ Music Marathon.

From the beginning, this industry conference was a way to connect college radio DJs, label representatives, and musicians. With panels during the day and music performances at night, it’s an action-packed week designed for music discovery on a grand scale.

The college radio focus of the CMJ Music Marathon has been toned down over the years, with a much broader range of panels focused not only on radio, but also on the business of music. There’s even an entire track for lawyers, and another for the Swedish music industry.

Yet, this year I was really struck by the number of radio stations sponsoring CMJ, broadcasting from CMJ, and doing live remotes of CMJ artists. Host station WNYU at New York University even opened up its studio for a number of visiting college and community radio stations from the U.S., Canada and New Zealand. Each station curated live sets from artists performing at CMJ. Some broadcast live and others recorded the broadcasts in order to air them later.

Backbone’s Student Radio Network also facilitated live remote broadcasts from the floor of the CMJ Exhibitors’ Loft, with various college radio stations streaming live and hosting artists using their simple set-up of a laptop and microphones.

KEXP (Seattle) did remote broadcasts from the studios of the Cutting Room, hosting a number of bands over the course of last week. NYC’s own East Village Radio also did some live remotes from clubs during CMJ and set up shop in CMJ’s Artist Lounge.

Even commercial radio showed the love to CMJ, with 4 folks (including DJs, the Music Director and Program Director) from New York City rock radio station WRXP participating in a “listening session” panel on Tuesday, October 20th. Matt Pinfield, Leslie Fram, Matt Ianni, and Brian Phillips gave advice to aspiring musicians and even listened to a number of CDs in front of the live crowd of CMJ attendees. In the session I learned that WRXP feels a responsibility to play and support local music and that their Music Director Brian Phillips is still motivated by the “joy of presenting new music.”

The WRXP folks really dug some of the CDs that musicians handed them at CMJ and a few of those artists ended up getting played on the station later in the week. Can you imagine how excited those bands must have been?

To read more about the radio presence at CMJ, take a look at my recap on Spinning Indie. I’ll also be posting more articles about the CMJ Music Marathon, as well as reporting on my visit to WRXP.

There’s been some chatter this week about whether or not the youth of today are listening to radio.

The standard cliche is that youth have abandoned radio and Monday’s Boston Globe article “Young Listeners Tune Out Radio in Search of New Music” repeats that refrain, quoting teens and folks in their 20s who report that they listen to music mainly online and on iPods using services like Last.fm and Pandora to discover new music.

The article states:

“While its viability hasn’t yet reached endangered species status, music radio does face many of the same challenges other mass media – including newspapers, magazines, and network television – are up against. New technologies and delivery options, more choices tailored to individual consumers, fragmented audiences that can find music they enjoy while bypassing glib-talking DJs and annoying commercials – all are factors driving programmers and station owners to retool themselves for the digital media age.”

In response to this article, Radio Ink shares Southern California Broadcasters Association President Mary Beth Garber’s reaction. Here’s a tidbit of that:

“Granted, younger people have iPods/MP3s (about 7 out of 10, although the number goes down as the age goes up over 17, according to Edison Research), most use the Internet, and many have cell phones with texting capabilities. But radio still outreaches all of that.

‘Real music,’ to tens of millions of young people, is on the radio. As long as its content remains relevant, radio is likely to remain the leading choice of audio entertainment for young people. It’s free and it’s remarkably easy to use. It airs tens of thousands of new songs and new artists every year. With the right app, it’s even available on your iPod or MP3 player and it doesn’t require hours to download and program songs in order to listen to it.”

Other radio defenders chimed in by commenting about non-commercial radio’s ongoing relevance (which I discuss on Spinning Indie), particularly in Boston which is blessed with numerous college radio stations.

Meanwhile, there’s another trend going on that I’d like to point out. In the same week that the Globe was writing about young people turning away from radio, I ran across several articles talking about teen radio camps and new radio stations cropping up that are staffed by teen DJs.

A Chicago magazine published by high school students called True Star is planning to branch out by creating accompanying web programming and a radio show this fall, college radio station WGMU is running a radio summer camp for teens this week, a summer camp in Canada has teens creating podcasts with plans to launch a community Internet radio station, and teens at a school in the U.K. will have their own online station in September.  One of the 14-year-olds involved with the new U.K. station is quoted as saying, “We’ll provide up-to-date music which will appeal to many young listeners.”

Although radio’s delivery method is evolving, it’s nice to see that there is still youthful energy surrounding the idea of radio, even as a way to broadcast new music.