While on vacation this past weekend, I spotted a 1966 Stan Freberg comedy LP in a used bookstore. The album, Freberg Underground Show #1, audaciously announces on its cover that it is “Introducing a ZOWIE! new medium: Pay Radio!” Modeled after Freberg’s radio shows, the album replicates the same format, but was free from network […]
They Might be Giants just brought back its Dial-a-Song series (which debuted in the 1980s) in which the band is releasing a new song every week for a year. As part of the promotion, it will be debuting each week’s song over a Monday night podcast (“The Gist”) on Slate as well as sharing the […]
I was lucky to be able to visit quite a few college radio stations in 2014 and have shared some of those field trips on Radio Survivor and Spinning Indie. Next week I’ll write up a comprehensive “2014 year in review” post about the state of college radio, but as I reflect back on the […]
As we reflect back on 2014, it was an exceptional year for low power FM (LPFM) radio in the United States. Beginning on January 15, 2014, the FCC began granting construction permits to some of the 2,799 groups who submitted applications in the late 2013 filing window and by the end of January, 2014, more […]
I love televised yule logs. I’m drawn to them not only out of nostalgia (the original aired on WPIX in New York beginning in 1966), but also for the minimalist delight. As I stare at the image of a burning log for hours on end, the smallest details and changes in the scene are emphasized. […]
Working in college radio can influence one’s life in profound ways, even helping to shape one’s future career. Earlier this week I posted my Q&A with author Eric Weisbard. Although his new book, Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music, focuses on mainstream radio formats, Weisbard also has a college radio past (at […]
It’s getting down to the wire for holiday gift purchases and to ease your shopping stress, here’s the full list of this year’s Radio Survivor gift guides. As an added bonus, when you shop through Radio Survivor’s Amazon links, we get a little bit of cash, which helps us to keep the site up and […]
St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California has filed paperwork with the FCC in the hopes of assigning its class D 87.9 FM high school radio license for KSFH-FM to Mountain View Public Broadcasting. According to the asset purchase agreement, the sale price is $20,000. The long-time high school radio station has been for […]
There are a number of radio and music scholars who write for both academic and non-academic audiences. Eric Weisbard is one example of that. In the 1990s, he made his living as a rock critic for publications such as Spin and the Village Voice and today he is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at […]
In late October I had an amazing time at the College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI) conference in Seattle. In addition to attending lots of informative sessions about student broadcasting, I was also on a few panels devoted to college radio history and to the diversity of college radio. (more…)
