It is National Poetry Month. I love songs and poems that mention radio. Here are excerpts of some from The American Academy of Poets’ poetry.org site. from Cognitive Deficit Market, by Joshua Corey . . . . Meanwhile above it all she’s setting out the tea things: ceramic cup and saucer, little pewter spoon, pebbled […]
Author Archive | Matthew Lasar
CBC Radio to run ads on Radio 2 and Espace; commercial radio opposed
Canada’s government has cut CBC radio to the tune of $115 million over three years. CBC has responded by proposing staff cuts and adding advertising to its two national music networks: Radio 2 and Espace musique. “This measure will allow us to ensure that we can continue . . . to be a point of […]
Internet radio usage way up, driven by smartphone rush
Edison Media reports a big surge in Internet radio listening. And mind you, it’s not just the boring old predictable annual uptick in Internet radio listening that we’ve all become accustomed to hearing about. This uptick is serious, Edison insists. The weekly usage of online terrestrial radio streams and Pandora “pure play” has jumped from […]
Did Ralph the Talking Computer do a Mike Daisey on Harry Shearer?
Following a monologue on the latest developments in Afghanistan and Iran, Harry Shearer had his semi-regular guest, Ralph the Talking Computer, on the March 25 edition of his podcast: Le Show. Looks like Harry thought that he and Ralph needed to talk about journalistic integrity (the chat starts around 10 minutes into the program). One […]
Falling, falling cats, and Radiolab Season 8, Episode 3
A remarkable moment in the annals of cats brought me to an excellent episode of Radiolab this week. First the cat story. US News and World Report says that Sugar the Cat, a resident of a high rise apartment in Boston, decided to trip the light fantastic on Wednesday. The fluffy white feline stumbled from […]
Progressives scratch heads over Pacifica radio hire of Jackson Lewis
The KPFA Worker website says that the Pacifica Foundation has retained the law firm of Jackson Lewis to manage some of its legal affairs. The foundation owns listener supported station KPFA in Berkeley, and four similar non-commercial stations in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C. and Houston. “We see the entry of Jackson Lewis as […]
Jazz radio history: L.A. Theater Works does Dinah Washington
Interesting jazz radio stuff all around the ‘Net this weekend: First, L.A. Theater Works has a great radio portrait of Dinah Washington. Starts out with Washington famously refusing to leave the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas in 1959 (she didn’t have a white escort), and moves on from there: “Miss Washington, if you choose to […]
This American Life: excerpts from the Mike Daisey program retraction
As everybody on the blogosphere now knows, This American Life has retracted its radio version of Mike Daisey’s dramatic recreation of his visit to an Apple iPhone factory in China. “Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast,” […]
The FBI’s radio files: a quick guide
If you are a radio history buff like me, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s records vault website is a treasure trove of fun stuff. Over the years, the FBI has kept track of various radio celebrities (often for dubious reasons), and also monitored radio broadcasts on a regular basis. Obviously everything in these files should […]
Clear Channel’s mystery comment to the FCC
On Tuesday a quartet of Clear Channel executives piled into the Federal Communications Commission building and buttonholed most of the agency’s top brass, including FCC Chair Julius Genachowski. Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman did most of the talking, it seems. Pittman “emphasized the ways in which the Internet and broadband technology offer Clear Channel the […]