The Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Voice of America and other such services, has issued a report on short wave radio. Bottom line: it isn’t looking great for the BBG’s commitment to the service. From the report: “The BBG must use shortwave where it is most effective. In the past, shortwave audiences were […]
The Music Machinery blog alerts us to a new Spotify related application, Acrostify, which creates Spotify playlists based on “acrostics,” aka secret word messages embedded in other things. Since yesterday (Sunday, August 10) was the Russian composer Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov’s birthday, I input “Happy Birthday Glazunov” and selected the “classical” format. Out came this playlist: […]
The New York Times has a graceful obituary for Steve Post, talk radio host at WNYC-FM and before that for Pacifica station WBAI in New York City. I listened to Post endlessly on ‘BAI in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and like many others I read his book Playing in the FM Band: A […]
My otherwise chaotic Sunday was rescued by the discovery of Gaana, India’s online music and radio emporium. It works beautifully on my Google Chrome tablet and comes with endless streams of Bollywood hits. I strongly recommend the Filmy Mirchi radio channel, which will surely cheer you up under most circumstances. I also love the Perla […]
Aric Allen has a compelling YouTube documentary about the impact of radio on Woody Guthrie’s life and career (although I’m not sure Guthrie would approve of the c-word). “California turned Woody into a radical but in 1937 Los Angeles turned him into a radio star,” Allen contends. “He was just a 24 year old sign […]
NPR reports that one of its most beloved and distinguished correspondents, Margot Adler, has died at age 68 after a struggle with cancer. The NPR remembrance observes that Adler shaped “what we would call the NPR sound today: human, curious, conversational.” It should be noted that prior to her joining NPR, she was a mainstay at […]
If you are a classical music lover, 8tracks.com offers many great playlists. They are perfect for inspiration and/or background for study. Here are some recommendations: evening: an excellent piano oriented mix. Lots of Chopin and French impressionist music. It is 47 minutes long and has eleven tracks, including a nice improvisation on Satie’s Gynopedie. The […]
The formal portion of the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet proceeding has concluded. Tens of thousands of individuals have filed comments, as have all of the major Internet Service Providers. We sparked some controversy last month by calling T-Mobile’s music “Freedom” plan an Internet fast lane. Paul Riismandel characterized it as such because the plan […]
Filmmaker Spike Lee has revived his iconic cinematic radio figure “Radio Raheem” in protest of the death of Eric Garner. The Staten Island, New York resident perished last Thursday after three police surrounded and locked him in a choke hold. Garner, 43, had five children. Lee took the section of his movie “Do the Right […]
I continue to scan the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality proceeding for radio related comments, and came across this interesting filing (reposted below), submitted on July 11. The author identifies himself as a radio host who, unable to obtain reliable ISP service for live streaming, resorts to an ISDN connection: “I host a radio show […]
