Both Matthew and I have recounted the recent ownership and format change of San Francisco station Energy 92.7. The formerly gay-friendly dance music station has proven to be a fan favorite, with many people expressing their displeasure over its change to top 40. Even a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, Bevan Dufty, has […]
Author Archive | Jennifer Waits
The Dreaded On-Air Fundraiser
Fundraiser season is in full force on the San Francisco airwaves with no fewer than 3 non-commercial radio stations pitching for dollars this week. Although on-air fundraisers seem to be a necessity, I find the majority of them to be unlistenable. In a few weeks I’ll have to start doing my own on-air cash pleas […]
San Francisco Loses Gay-Friendly Radio Station
I rarely listen to commercial radio, spending the majority of my time devoted to college and community radio stations. So, I was caught completely unaware when I read yesterday that San Francisco was losing its gay-friendly dance music station Energy 92.7. I didn’t even know that it existed. The 5-year-old station, KNGY, “often touted itself […]
mtvU's College Radio "Woodie" Award Voting Has Begun
Whenever a list is produced of the BEST of anything there will be nay-sayers; whether the list comes from “experts” or is the result of popular vote. For that reason, I’m suspicious of every list that I’ve seen of the most popular/best college radio stations. Now with the latest contest underway, mtvU’s (MTV’s college-oriented network) […]
A Scholarly Look at Radio from a Transnational Perspective
Those of us who call ourselves radio fans are increasingly a small and devoted lot and the same can be said of radio scholars. It’s for that reason that I was super excited to find out about the international radio conference known simply as The Radio Conference. This year’s event, The Radio Conference 2009: A […]
Radio History Imprisoned at Cork's Radio Museum Experience
Along with my obsession for radio I also have a special place in my heart for wax museums; so imagine my glee when I discovered the bounty to be found in Ireland at Cork’s Radio Museum. One of my first stops during my vacation to Ireland last month, the Radio Museum Experience is located in […]
Radio Obsessive Profile #3: "Radio Sticker of the Day" Curator Greg Blouch
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 […]
Radio Obsessive Profile #2: Jose Fritz's Arcane Radio Trivia
I’m awed by all the radio enthusiasts, collectors, historians, and scholars out there; so I’m going to try to feature some of my favorites on Radio Survivor in a new feature called Radio Obsessives. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my interview with Garrett Wollman about his fascination with radio towers is what […]
College Radio Being Exported to Promote Study Abroad
I just learned about a soon-to-be-launched online radio station in Taiwan called Oh! Zone that will be programmed entirely with foreign content from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. What’s cool to me is that the station is picking and choosing specific programs from college radio stations in an attempt to […]
Hearing Radio from Thousands of Miles Away
When I was a kid we had a large old-fashioned radio that had stations listed on it from all over the country and globe. I can’t remember if we ever had any luck tuning in to far-away stations, but it seemed like such a magical concept. Certainly in the early days of radio that was […]