Radio Survivor » wbez

Chicago’s Latino community radio station Radio Arte up for sale

Paul Riismandel — Fri, 20 May 2011 13:06:23 +0000

In a scenario that’s becoming too familiar to Radio Survivor readers, the Chicago-based Latino community radio station Radio Arte is now up for sale by its parent organization, the National Museum of Mexican Art. In fiscal year 2009 the museum reported a deficit of $677,121, and according to President Carlos Tortolero the museum has been unable to obtain loans to finance its entire operation. The museum is also selling the building that houses the station.

Radio Arte, WRTE, has been on the air for fourteen years, providing an opportunity for youth in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood to learn broadcasting, in addition to airing social justice programming. At a meeting with station volunteers, Tortolero said that the museum’s objective is still to maintain its programming. A group of stations volunteers are looking to form a cooperative to buy the license and maintain the station’s operations.

According to Chicago public station WBEZ, its parent organization, Chicago Public Media, has been meeting in discussions to buy Radio Arte’s license. The report says nothing more about the possibility. At question is if CPM bought the license would it maintain Radio Arte’s current programming schedule or look to merge operations with its experimental Vocalo service which broadcasts from a transmitter outside of Chicago just over the state line in Indiana. Originally conceived of as a station airing all listener-contributed programming, Vocalo recently underwent a makeover adding daily drive-time hosts. Vocalo has been a thorny issue for CPM in part due to low listenership, which stems from having a signal that does not cover much of the north side of Chicago. Radio Arte’s transmitter located in Chicago’s near South Side would provide a little better coverage, even though it is only licensed for 73 watts.

For all intents and purposes Radio Arte is the city of Chicago’s only true community radio station that isn’t affiliated with a college or university, and therefore more of a hybrid college/community station. It is all the more unique because of its focus on Chicago’s large Latino population. Any significant change in programming brought on by a station sale would represent a real loss for the city.

First day with HD Radio – not impressed

Paul Riismandel — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:12:17 +0000

I spent the better part of this afternoon listening to my new HD Radio receiver, the Sony XDRF1 HD, tuning through the Chicago FM dial. There are 33 FM stations broadcasting HD in Chicago according to iBiquity, which owns the technology. I was able to tune in the HD signal for 19 of them. After several hours of listening I remain rather unimpressed by HD Radio.

My Sony XDRF1-HD tuner in its habitat.

Primary HD Channels

First off I will address the question of sound quality and fidelity. iBiquity claims “drastically improved sound quality” for HD Radio over its analog counterpart. I do not agree with this claim. Tuning between the analog and primary HD channel for each station I could perceive slight differences in sound quality between them. The biggest difference is the loss of background noise and hiss in the HD channel. Now, this is a very subtle difference, primarily perceptible during quiet music passages (which are rare on commercial FM) and voice breaks. This leads to the perception that there’s a bit more dynamic range on the HD channel, but it requires fairly high listening volume to clearly detect.

While I welcome the lower noise floor of HD, I otherwise don’t perceive any other significant increase in fidelity. On nearly every station I listened to the primary HD channel sounded nearly identical to the analog FM. Much of commercial FM is overcompressed, and I found that if a station’s analog signal was so overprocessed, so was the primary HD channel.

Sometimes I would lose the HD signal–since it’s broadcast at a much lower power level than the analog signal–and I never noticed just by listening. I had to look at the tuner’s display to know for sure. The shift between the HD and analog signals is pretty smooth sounding on the Sony tuner. I can tell when it happens, but it’s quite unobtrusive. If I’m not paying close attention to the radio it can happen without me noticing.

All of the 19 HD FM stations I received are stations that come in reasonably well in analog in my apartment in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the far north side of Chicago. The Sony XDRF1 turns out to have very good analog FM performance, bringing in the analog FM signals of these stations better than any other radio in my house except my Tivoli Model One, which is another room. Of the 10 stations where I couldn’t tune in an HD signal, 8 of them don’t come in clearly in my house in analog, either. For two stations my tuner did not indicate there was an HD signal present. More details listening notes by station are at the end of this post.

Secondary HD Channels

The other big advantage touted for HD Radio are the additional subchannels a station can have. Each HD station I listened to broadcast one or two additional channels. By and large the second HD channel had decent sound quality, but that nevertheless never matched the quality of the primary analog or HD channel. This should be expected because there is only so much digital bandwidth for each station to exploit, and the FCC requires that the primary HD channel–which must have the same programming as the analog signal–have the biggest share of the bandwidth.

The second HD channels typically sound like a good webcast station. That is, they sound like medium-quality MP3s with bitrates of 128 kbps or lower. I hear more compression and less dynamic range than the analog side, and some rolling off at the high end. Right now I’m listening to WXRT’s commercial-free HD channel 2 called “Channel X” and it’s pleasant to listen to, no more fatiguing than most web stations.

The stations broadcasting only on additional HD channel had slightly better fidelity on their HD-2 channels than those broadcasting three digital channels. Chicago Public Radio WBEZ broadcasts its Vocalo service on HD-2 and has no HD-3 channel. It sounds a little fuller than WXRT’s HD-2, with better stereo separation, a little more high end, and a little more dynamic range.

WXRT also broadcasts an HD-3 music channel which is branded as last.fm, owned by the station’s parent company CBS. The fidelity on HD-3 is greatly compromised, sounding like a webcast from the late 90s. The highs are heavily rolled off, with lots of shimmery distortion on high pitched instruments like cymbals. I find it pretty unlistenable and think it’s a waste to try and cram music on the HD-3 channel.

The stations that air talk programming on their HD-3 channels are much more listenable, mostly because voice-only programming just doesn’t require as much bandwidth and fidelity as music. WUSN airs a motorsports talk station on its HD-3 channel, and while the programming isn’t my cup of tea, I could imagine listening to it if it aired something of interest to me.

The HD Experience

Listening to HD Radio is not necessarily the most user-friendly experience. The digital HD signal is broadcast at much lower power than the analog signal–in order to lessen interference with adjoining stations. Therefore I had to adjust my antenna carefully to pull in HD signals. The Sony tuner provides a nice signal strength indicator which aids in this task, flashing an HD indicator when a digital signal is detected. You know you’ve got a HD signal tuned in when the HD indicator stops flashing, and more data–like song titles and station name–is displayed.

I have a fifteen-year-old Radio Shack amplified FM antenna that is tunable to frequency. I found with careful tuning I could successfully receive the HD channel for every available station. However, keeping that HD signal was sometimes difficult. Just walking across the room could cause the HD signal to drop out. The HD signal also seemed more susceptible to electrical interference than analog FM. For instance, my wife was shredding documents in the next room, and every time she shredded something the HD channel would drop out, then take 10 – 30 seconds to come back in after she stopped.

Now, it’s true that I live about 10 miles from downtown Chicago, where most major stations are located, on the second floor of an all-brick building. It’s not the ideal location to listen to radio, but not the worst, either. I’ll argue that at least 60% of the metro radio audience lives at least as far away as I do, so I think others’ experience would be similar to mine.

On some stations it was difficult to listen to the HD channels for any length of time. They just wouldn’t stay tuned in, no matter how carefully I adjusted the antenna and tried not to move around. It’s not a big deal if I’m listening to the primary HD channel, since the tuner smoothly falls back to analog, which sounds just as good. But it is frustrating if you’re listening to an HD2 or HD3 channel, since it goes away altogether. No slow degradation, no static–it’s either on or off.

Given the somewhat delicate nature of tuning in HD stations, I have real doubts how many average radio listeners are willing to devote the patience necessary to tune in HD channels. Sure, any radio listener is used to having to move an antenna or radio to get better reception. However, with analog a listener can hear the changes when reception degrades or improves. With HD it’s all or nothing, and therefore much more difficult to finely tune. Furthermore, hearing a crystal-clear analog signal does not necessarily mean you’ll get a clear digital signal. I can only imagine how frustrating it is to try and listen to a portable HD Radio, since just maintaining a clear FM signal with a portable can be a real challenge.

Finally, one of the great experiences of analog radio listening is scanning the dial looking for a good (or tolerable) song, or simply just trying to see what you’ll find. This is not a pleasure one will enjoy with HD radio. In my experience so far it really just isn’t practical to scan HD stations. It simply takes too long to get the HD signal locked in. Perhaps someone living downtown near the major stations might be able to do this, but I just don’t see it happening elsewhere.

Conclusion

I will continue to listen to HD Radio in order to see if the experience improves or I figure out some tricks to improving reception. But so far I find that the technology of cramming a digital signal in next to analog one has too many compromises to be successful. The bandwidth for the HD channels is not enough to offer significantly better fidelity for the primary HD channel, and the leftover bandwidth available for HD2 and HD3 provides sound quality that does not surpass what is available online or on satellite radio. Importantly, tuning in a clear HD signal can be a very finicky process that can try one’s patience. How many signal drop-outs will the average listener endure before giving up on an HD2 or HD3 channel?

Details

As I mentioned I did my listening with a Sony XDRF1-HD tuner which is generally highly regarded for its fidelity and performance on both analog and digital FM. I amplified the audio with a harman/kardon AVR25II receiver, which is a very high quality unit from the mid-90s. The receiver is well maintained and provides quite nice sound quality in plain 2-channel stereo that well exceeds most receivers you’ll find for under $1000 in the electronics store. The speakers are RTR28 bookshelf speakers and an Audiosource 100 watt subwoofer. Laying this out is my way of saying that I believe the electronics were up to task of fairly evaluating the sound quality of HD Radio.

These are the HD stations I listened to, with some listening notes as relevant:

91.5 WBEZ HD1 HD2 – HD2 had some of the best sound quality I heard on an HD2 channel.
93.1 WXRT HD1 HD2 HD3 – HD3′s music quality was too compressed and nearly unlistenable.
93.9 WLIT HD1 HD2 – HD2 is music, sounds OK.
95.5 WNUA HD1 HD2 – HD2 is music, sounded above average.
96.3 WBBM HD1 HD2 – HD2 is music, sounded average.
97.1 WDRV HD1 HD2- HD2 is music, heard high end “shimmery” distortion on cymbals.
97.9 WLUP HD1 HD2 – HD2 sounded average.
98.7 WFMT HD1 – No HD2 or HD3. HD1 sound quality was the best I heard.
99.5 WUSN HD1 HD2 HD3 – HD3 had talk which sounded adequate.
100.3 WILV HD1 HD2 – HD2 was talk and sounded very good for that format.
101.1 WKQX HD1 HD2 – HD2 was music and sounded decent, but somewhat compressed.
101.9 WTMX HD1 HD2 – HD2 was 80s music, pretty highly compressed.
102.7 WVAZ HD1 HD2 – HD2 is religious talk, sounds OK.
103.5 WKSC HD1 HD2 – HD2 is music, sounds average for HD2.
104.3 WJMK HD1 HD2 – HD2 is sports talk, sounds OK.
105.1 WOJO HD1 HD2 – HD2 is music, sounded slightly above average. HD3 is music, sounds poor.
105.9 WCFS HD1 HD2 – HD2 is simulcast of WBBM-AM. There was a lot of artifacting on HD2, not as clear as the station’s webcast.
107.5 WGCI HD1 HD2 – HD2 is music, sounds average.

RadioSurvivor’s Top Radio Shows – Paul’s #4: Sound Opinions

Paul Riismandel — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:57:04 +0000

As a proud thirty-eight year-old member of Generation X, I have become just a little disturbed by a trend I’ve noticed in the last few years. One might call this trend the “indie-rockification” of public radio. As my fellow grunge-survivors and I, raised on the so-called “first wave” of alternative rock and derided by boomers as slackers, creep closer to middle age we have become a more valuable target demographic for public stations. And, with commercial radio hemorrhaging jobs as we graduated college, those Gen Xers who went into careers in radio pretty much only had public radio as a viable option. So not only are more Gen Xers listening to public radio, increasingly they’re in charge.

One of the best products of this trend is the program Sound Opinions, produced by Chicago Public Radio and syndicated by American Public Media. Billing itself as the world’s only Rock N Roll talk show, Sound Opinions is hosted by Gen X popular music critic Jim DeRogatis, who writes for the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune’s rock and roll writer Greg Kot (born in 1957, so just scant older than the typical 1961 cut-off to be considered Gen X… but who’s counting?).

The hour-long program is custom made for the true music geek of the sort who a decade ago used to haunt record stores and college radio stations, but who is now forced to spend more time at the corner coffee shop consuming music blogs on a laptop. Instead of dwelling in rock-star gossip, each program features music news that actually gets into the real issues affecting popular music, such as the RIAA’s anti-piracy lawsuits and the proposed merger of concert giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster (they tend to oppose both).

Some weeks they will have in an artist for an in-studio performance or interview. Their guests tend to have a lot of what one might call “indie cred,” whether they’re up-and-coming indie artists like The Dodos, or alt rock stalwarts The Flaming Lips. I have to admit that listening to Sound Opinions has turned me on to some great and unusual musicians like Saul Williams Tim Fite after getting to hear them play live in such an intimate and immediate setting.

What makes the program compelling and keeps me tuning in every week are the personalities of the hosts, where the Jersey-born and more excitable DeRogatis plays Ebert to Kot’s more unflappable Siskel. In fact, the two tend to agree more than they disagree, but it’s always fun when they needle each other for something like giving a “buy it” rating to Jonas Brothers CD. Whether they’re reviewing albums or discussing the state of the music industry, it always sounds like they’re telling the truth as they see it, not made pretty for public radio. Where AAA public radio stalwarts like World Cafe can come off as precious and self-satisfied, DeRogatis and Kot are never afraid to express real excitement or disappointment with an artist or album, regardless of what the indie rock consensus is.

Interestingly enough, Sound Opinions didn’t start on public radio, but rather begin with a successful seven year run on Chicago’s WXRT, one of the last surviving commercial rock stations that still has a vestigial claim to the “progressive rock radio” title. In 2005 Kot and DeRogatis were lured over to public staiton WBEZ with the promise of better facilities, a bigger budget, podcasting and a shot at syndication.

If you had told me when I was eighteen (in 1989) that when I reached my thirties I would be hearing new indie bands–or even grizzled underground rock veterans–every week on public radio, I’d have thought you were tripping hard. But now that it’s reality, I’m glad to get my weekly dose of Sound Opinions.

Reply Comment Smackdown Over the Channel 6 Backdoor to FM

Paul Riismandel — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:25:12 +0000

CPR vs. WLFM-LP - Round 2

A couple of weeks ago I reported on Chicago Public Radio taking a glancing swipe against LPTV channel 6 stations that are effectively functioning like radio stations, taking advantage of their audio channel’s proximity to 87.7 FM. Now the owner of the Chicago smooth-jazz LPTV “radio” station WLFM-LP is striking back at CPR in both reply comments to the FCC and a press release, which I received via email [.doc file].

In its FCC comments WFLM’s owner, Venture Technologies Group, takes the gloves off, charging that Chicago Public Radio’s “attempt to characterize these LPTV stations as ‘invaders’ of NCE spectrum is ridiculous,” although CPR never specifically names WLFM-LP. VTG goes on to accuse that,

WBEZ appears to be arguing that non-commercial stations should have the right to approve the programming of their commercial neighbors merely because they are adjacent to each other and a listener may hear commercial matter while scrolling through the radio dial looking for a non·commercial station. This is an absurd argument!

WBEZ is Chicago Public Radio’s flagship station.

In the press release Paul Koplin, VTG’s chief executive officer, questions WBEZ’s motivation, claiming, “We believe that WBEZ’s position is not due to any technical issues but rather due to WLFM-LP’s ratings success.” VTG reports a 1.2 share in the December ratings book. By comparison WBEZ had 1.9 in the October book, which is the most recent publicly available ranking.

As I noted before, I tend to think that the channel 6 “radio” stations are standing on shaky ground, taking advantage of a loophole. Thus, the best they can hope for from the FCC is a blind-eye in the interim before the Commission requires all LPTV stations to go digital, ending their backdoor into the FM dial. I don’t think an official blessing from the FCC is in the cards.

Since VTG supports the NPR plan to remove channel 6 protection and CPR is so far the only commenter to complain about the channel 6 LPTVs, I also don’t think the FCC is likely to take up CPR’s concern, either. It’s ancillary to the proposal in question. Nevertheless, VTG couldn’t afford to ignore CPR’s complaints, and they’re probably hoping to get a little publicity out of the deal, too.

Meanwhile, I’ll be waiting to read CPR’s reply comments and to watch the sparks fly. Stay tuned for round 3.

Chicago Public Radio Calls Out LPTV Stations Exploiting Backdoor to FM Dial

Paul Riismandel — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:03:10 +0000

Far outside the view of the general public, the virtual cratediggers of the FCC’s electronic recesses like Matthew and myself are sometimes privy to the little slap-fights that go on between broadcasters. In this case things are getting a little heated over the far left end of the FM dial, with a prominent public radio station calling out LPTV broadcasters exploiting the channel 6 backdoor to the FM dial.

As I’ve been already reported, the FCC recently ended restrictions on the use of FM frequencies adjacent to TV channel 6– 87.9 to 88.5 FM–in markets where former analog channel 6 stations went digital and changed channels. Now, National Public Radio has petitioned the FCC to open up these frequencies everywhere, even in markets where digital TV stations decided to stay on channel 6 or where there are grandfathered analog low-power TV stations.

NPR’s argument rests on a technical analysis concluding that digital TV signals are far more interference-resistant than analog, and that modern TV tuners are selective enough to make interference from FM negligible for even analog LPTV signals.

Predictably, fellow noncommercial FM broadcasters are lining up in support of NPR’s proposal, while the ABC network and the National Association of Broadcasters have filed comments in opposition, calling into question NPR’s engineering data. There’s a few sparks coming from these opposing comments, but the real fun is buried in comments from Chicago Public Radio.

Without naming names, CPR pointedly complains,

LPTV stations have begun to invade FM radio, broadcasting audio signals that were licensed for TV broadcast as if they were commercial radio stations on 87. 7 MHz. Not only are these signals inappropriately being broadcast as radio, they are also bleeding 24·hour dance music, with commercial advertising, over into the noncommercial stations that are on the lower NCE FM channels. Like squatters moving into recently-vacated homes, these LPTV stations are, in effect, intentionally broadcasting commercial radio which spills over onto the reserved portion of the FM band, trespassing on the limited territory of their noncommercial neighbors. Before this phenomenon becomes entrenched, the Commission owes the public, as well as public radio stations, a reasoned consideration of this problem.

Not surprisingly Chicago Public Radio has one of these channel 6 LPTV’s broadcasting in its own backyard, though it plays a commercial smooth jazz format. I’m not sure why CPR doesn’t refer directly to Chicago’s WLFM-LP. Instead CPR apparently calls out recently departed “24-hour music format” Pulse FM in New York City.

Nevertheless, it looks like WLFM’s owners already feel the heat. In comments filed the same day as CPR’s, WLFM owner Venture Technologies Group actually writes in support of NPR’s proposal:

VTG believes that these regulations are no longer needed. As NPR rightly points out modern digital television receivers are far less susceptible to adjacent FM-band interference than the analog television receivers that were in use when Section 73.515 was enacted in 1985.

Likewise, without directly naming its local opposition, VTG acknowledges the low-level animosity going on:

For too long NCE FM broadcasters have been at odds with Channel 6 television stations. VTG sees no reason why everybody can’t get along.

But supporting NPR’s proposal doesn’t mean VTG intends to cut its own throat, asking for “flexibility” from the FCC, and strongly urging “the Commission to adopt a formal policy allowing LPTV and Class A television stations broadcasting on Channel 6 the option to… continue broadcasting in analog if they choose to serve their audiences with a portion of their spectrum as an FM audio service at 87.7 FM.”

I’m certain VTG’s qualified support for NPR’s proposal is offered as an olive branch to noncommercial stations, like CPR, with the hope of a little quid pro quo to get them to back off on their decidedly “off-label” use of TV spectrum to become radio broadcasters. I think there’s little chance of the Commission taking seriously VTG’s request to stay analog in order to remain as unofficial radio broadcasters, nor of noncommercial broadcasters extending a little more tolerance. The best VTG can hope for is that the FCC will continue to put off dealing with their use of the channel 6 backdoor until the transition to digital is mandated for LPTV.

Chicago Public Radio’s Fundraising Antics

Jennifer Waits — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:55:41 +0000

WBEZ's Pledge Drive BINGO

Fundraiser season continues at non-profit radio stations all over the country. Princeton’s station WPRB (apparently the oldest FM college radio station in the country, founded in 1940) ends their week-long fundraiser tomorrow. My own station KFJC (turning 50 next week) is pitching for cash until the station reaches its goal. And, Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ is also pimping for dollars.

One of my favorite things to do during fundraiser time is to listen to public radio and make fun of the horrificly long and boring breaks, in which hosts rattle off lists of thank you gifts and sponsors. So, I’m actually pretty impressed that WBEZ realizes the degree to which these breaks have become predictably mundane and has decided to make fun of itself.

The WBEZ blog has a bunch of fundraiser-specific content, including DJ trading cards and a pledge drive bingo. You can follow along at home and yell “BINGO” when an announcer utters words and phrases like “tote,” and “join the WBEZ family.” Those who score BINGO are invited to comment on the blog. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like their listeners actually have a sense of humor about the fundraiser, as the only comments thus far are complaints about the “incessant prattle” and the programming decision to drop “Talk of the Nation.”

Have you heard anything on the radio that makes you want to listen to an on-air fundraiser? What makes you turn the dial?

Radio Obsessive Profile #3: “Radio Sticker of the Day” Curator Greg Blouch

Jennifer Waits — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:00:23 +0000

KOME Sticker

Recently I was tracking some college radio news when I ran across Greg Blouch’s website, “Radio Sticker of the Day.” Immediately I was taken back to my junior high school years when radio station stickers were a hot commodity. My classmate Ricky Kanazawa would spend most of our English class time focused on a stack of bright yellow and black KOME stickers and an exacto knife, carving up new, inspired, psychedelic creations. I’m not sure if Greg has tapped into this aspect of sticker art; but his website is a testament to the most visible radio station branding that there is.

KISR Sticker Courtesty Greg Blouch

I dropped Greg a note to find out what fuels his obsession for radio station stickers and learn more about his website, “Radio Sticker of the Day.”

It turns out that his fascination with stickers began in the 1980s, around the same time that my friends and I were plastering KOME, KSJO, and KMEL stickers (with a picture of a camel on them) all over our notebooks, windows, and Pee-Chee folders.

Over the years he’s accumulated around 12,000 stickers and largely credits the Internet for making it easier for him to contact stations. His site only features pictures of stickers that are in his collection. I love that attention to detail! On to the interview:

WYSO Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer Waits: How did you get started collecting radio stickers and what was your first sticker?

Greg Blouch: When I was 13 years old our family moved from Middleport, New York (in the western part of the state near Niagara Falls/Buffalo) to Celina, Ohio. I was homesick and wanted to get my hands on something that reminded me of New York.

My favorite radio station had been 107.7 WUWU which was an offbeat, almost freeform, rock station heavy on the new wave music of the time (this was around 1982/1983.) I wrote to the station and asked for a sticker which I promptly wasted by slapping it on a book cover for school.

WUWU Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

My obsession really began after I found a book in the library with station mailing addresses and started sending out self-addressed stamped envelopes with a note asking for decals.

My success rate was only about 50% but it was fun to get an occasional surprise in the mailbox…and it still is. The Internet and the ability to write to stations instantly has helped the collection grow tremendously. About 90% of my stickers have been acquired since I got online in 1997.

Jennifer: How many stickers do you think you have?

Greg: I’ve tried to count them more than once but got bored and gave up. My guesstimate would be somewhere around 12,000 different stickers.

KMLE Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer: How do you find your stickers?

Greg: I subscribe to 100000watts.com, a subscription-only website with updated information on every radio station in the United States and Canada.

I find station websites through the 100000watts database and email every one of them going state-by-state (I’m currently canvassing my own state of Ohio, next is Oklahoma.)

I always offer to send a SASE but usually they just mail them to me. Every once in a while I’ll venture overseas and email foreign stations but the return rate is much lower.
I also trade stickers with a small group of like-minded hobbyists and am a member and column editor of Decalcomania, which is a newsletter for radio enthusiasts and radio promotional item collectors.

Jennifer: What’s the strangest promotional item that you have from a radio station?

Greg: I received a whoopee cushion from a rock station in California, a fishing lure from KARP in Minnesota and a condom packet from Germany, but the strangest might be a bar of soap from Earlham College’s WECI in Richmond, Indiana. The station logo is engraved into the bar itself.

I have a few boxes of non-sticker stuff…lots of keychains, magnets, mugs, t-shirts, pens, buttons, mousepads and on and on.

WECI Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer: Do you ever visit radio stations?

Greg: Rarely. I annoy the receptionist at the Dayton Clear Channel cluster every few months and ask for stickers but that’s about it.

Jennifer: Have you ever worked at a radio station?

WWSU Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Greg: I did college radio for three years at WWSU which is Wright State University’s station. While still in college I answered an ad that my future wife saw in the paper looking for air talent for a brand new radio station. I threw together a tape, got an interview with the PD and somehow got hired. I was the night jock on WZJX “94-5 XRock” which was Dayton’s first commercial alternative station. This was 1993/94.

I was on the air about 35 hours a week plus a little bit of production and promotion work as well as being in school full time. It was a tough schedule to pull off but a great experience where I learned that I like radio but didn’t necessarily like working in radio.

Speaking on the air never came naturally to me but I think I faked my way through it fairly well. When the ownership group sold the station and flipped it to Oldies it was both a disappointment and a relief that I was no longer in the biz. I got a steady civil service job and never attempted to get back into radio.

WZJX Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer: What do you love about radio?

Greg: So much of my love for radio is music-based and now that I’m on the curmudgeonly cusp of 40 I find it hard to listen to a lot of it. It’s either songs I’m burned out on or styles that I can’t get into.

I fully admit that my musical tastes are permanently stuck in the 1980s and early 90s. I do love good sounding production and a DJ who sounds like he’s into what he’s playing and is doing more than reading liners.

Jennifer: What kind of radio do you listen to? (college? commercial? music? talk?)

Greg: As far as terrestrial radio goes, it’s almost all college/non-commercial and sports talk radio these days. I love college radio because it’s usually music you don’t hear everywhere else, presented by kids who are just being themselves in all their unprofessional glory. It’s refreshing.
My job allows me to listen to a few hours of podcasts a day. Most of it comes from WNYC, KCRW, WBEZ and a whole lot of individual NPR shows.

Jennifer: What are you favorite radio stations?

WOXY Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Greg: I could pick up WOXY from Oxford, Ohio when they were on 97.7 FM so I regularly listen to the Internet version. I like listening to my old stomping grounds of WWSU although, at only 20 watts, it can be a tough catch.

WYSO from Antioch University in Yellow Springs is a solidly quirky NPR affiliate. My favorite might be 6 Music which is the BBC’s “alternative” digital radio station. I especially like Roundtable, where four music geeks meet to hear, discuss and judge new music releases.

Besides the aforementioned WUWU, my favorite station from the past would be Toronto’s CFNY in the 1980s. A friend would send me tapes of the station which had tons of cool music, about 30% of it (by law!) consisted of mostly-unheard-of-in-the-States Canadian artists.

WFMU Sticker Courtesy Greg Blouch

Jennifer: What can a sticker tell you about a radio station?

Greg: Hmmmm…not much. I guess the only answer I have is that you can tell it’s a Clear Channel station because they often use the same logos for their stations across the country. The blandness is kinda sad. A single generic logo for all their “Kiss” and “Mix” stations…only the frequencies on the stickers are different.

Jennifer: Anything else?

Greg: If anyone out there has any stickers to swap, I’m always looking for a trade. Email: radiodecals@gmail.com

Thanks to Greg for sharing his radio obsession with me and for turning me on to some more stations. Your sticker is in the mail…

Previous Radio Obsessives:

Garrett Wollman’s Radio Tower Quest

Jose Fritz’s Arcane Radio Trivia

Noncommercial Leaps Past Commercial with Public Radio Player 2.0

Paul Riismandel — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:20:18 +0000

I’m actually amazed at how noncommercial radio has become the site of so much innovation in the medium in the last decade, and how commercial radio is getting left in the dust. On the music side we have Seattle’s indie rock KEXP and New Jersey’s freeform WFMU which both have significant internet listenership along with substantial on demand archives and net-only programming. With traditional public radio you can find archives of nearly every nationally syndicated program, as well as live streams and internet-only shows.

Favorites list on the Public Radio Player 2.0

Now public radio has taken a big leap in mobile with the 2.0 release of the Public Radio Player for the iPhone. The previous release of the player provided an easy way to listen to the live stream of public radio stations across the country. While a convenient app, there was little to differentiate it from any number of other apps that let you listen to live radio streams.

The new 2.0 player breaks new ground by integrating on demand listening to hundreds of public radio programs, both national and local. The Public Radio Player is a collaboration between all the major public radio organizations led by the Public Radio Exchange, which is itself an innovative (but not the first) online archive of public radio content from member stations, networks and independent producers.

I’ve tried out live radio streaming to my iPhone a few times, and while it’s cool to listen to a distant station while riding the CTA home, I found that it sapped the hell out of my battery. If you want to listen for much more than an hour you need a steady source of power–a car adapter would probably suffice. More frequently, however, I’ve enjoyed the convenience of listening to podcasts, which is how I enjoy most of my favorite weekly programs.

But listening to podcasts requires some degree of forethought, making sure you subscribe and/or download programs in advance to your computer, then synchronizing them with your iPhone. You can also download podcasts directly to your iPhone from the iTunes store, but it’s not the most convenient process. You have to pick through quite a bit of chaff, you can’t search only podcasts and there’s no bookmarking function to return to your favorites.

I spent part of the afternoon trying out the new Public Radio Player 2.0 and I am quite impressed with the on demand playback. First and foremost, on demand programs are downloaded to your iPhone as they play, not streamed. This means that you don’t need to keep a constant edge or 3G connection for the duration of the program, only until it finishes downloading to your phone. That means it’s less of a drain on your battery life. It also means that you won’t lose your program in the middle when your commuter train goes into the subway.

Second, there’s an impressive inventory of programs available for on demand listening. Though I had to work a little hard to find a couple of my favorite programs, WNYC’s On the Media and WBEZ’s Sound Opinions. I could find neither program by browsing, though On the Media showed up in a search. I couldn’t find Sound Opinions at all.

And, crucially, the Public Radio Player 2.0 has a favorites list of both live and on demand programs.

To me the real innovation comes from the ability to easily listen to your favorite public radio programs on demand without having a computer at all. The favorites function makes it much more convenient to pick up daily programs as they become available. Though most daily public radio programs don’t post their podcasts until most affiliates have aired, if you’re that anxious you can still probably find a live stream.

I’m also glad to see that community radio stations are included, like Madison’s WORT. In my brief survey today I wasn’t able to identify any local community radio programs available for on demand, although the national daily news program Democracy Now–which primarily airs on community stations–is there. That may change as more stations embrace podcasts and learn to make them more accessible.

The survival of radio will depend on seeing the medium is broad terms and embracing both the traditional live, linear form and the newer nonlinear on demand world. These worlds don’t have to compete, and noncommercial radio is showing the right side of the dial how it’s done.