I wandered about the “Sunday Streets” Valencia Street Fair in San Francisco yesterday, and quickly ran into the Radio Valencia booth, where those denizens of the FM deep were holding forth: Malderor and Dr. Junk (that’s Malderor on the left in the photo below; Dr. Junk on the right; Dr. Sleepless in the middle). Malderor and […]
As the troubles facing Pacifica radio persist without apparent end, I sometimes wonder whether the five station listener supported radio network should voluntarily dismantle itself—that is, transfer its licenses to five local non-profit entities. I am not the first person to suggest this. Community radio pioneer Lorenzo Milam more or less laid the idea out […]
Several months ago CBC Ottawa ran what turned into a no holds barred debate about gun control. Someone complained about the discussion, charging that CBC host Hallie Cotnam had shown a “lack of respect” for the guest who opposed collecting personal information about gun owners. A CBC Ombudsman review has found no bias in the […]
I spent some time in Hong Kong and Japan in July, and when I came back, a minor revolution had taken place at my favorite turntable.fm room: Classical of Any Kind (or COAK as the regulars call it). I guess you could call it a BOT revolution. The name of the BOT is called “boothoven[bot].” The […]
[liveblog] I am here in the studios of Radio Valencia, anxiously awaiting the airing of the Gramophoney Baloney show. Here is a photo of Mr. Gramophoney Baloney himself as he prepares to go live: Now we go to live blogging.
We briefly return to the Great Car Talk Debate in this post. I lean towards the argument that public radio stations shouldn’t recycle old editions of the popular show, now that it has ceased new broadcasts. Radio Survivor’s Paul Riismandel put it very well in his commentary supporting Ira Glass’s objection to the idea. “I […]
Opinions are coming in on the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to let public broadcasters spend a little more on air time running fundraising campaigns for charities and related nonprofits. One divide is obvious. Religious broadcasters love this idea. NPR hates it. “Removing the prohibition on third-party fundraising would create the potential for stations to be […]
Despite the east coast heat, I wish I’d been at the Suffolk Street Community Garden on the Lower East Side of New York on Sunday. There free103point9 revved up a couple of FM transmitters and treated the locals to a performance titled “Habits of Imagination,” an “outdoor public installation/performance using live broadcast radio and audience interaction […]
One of the more interesting permits that Britain’s radio/telecom regulator offers radio broadcasters is short term restricted service licenses (SRSLs for you acronym lovers). They’re reserved for community events, festivals, non-profit offerings, those kind of things. Some noted restricted license holders of the past have included Radio Caroline, Radio Avalon (the Glastonbury Festival), and Takeover […]
Alexander Cockburn, long associated with a variety of leftist publications, is dead at the age of 71. He died after a “fierce two year battle with cancer,” his friend and associate at Counterpunch, Jeffrey St. Clair, reports: Alex kept his illness a tightly guarded secret. Only a handful of us knew how terribly sick he […]
