Another step forward for applicants who want to lease out those Sirius XM “qualified entity” channels that the satellite radio service promised to offer after it merged two years ago. Sirius XM has now thrown up a website where applicants can make their case for a show (or an entire channel). What is Sirius XM […]
Good news for unmarried women who like being called “whores” because they live with their boyfriends. Dr. Laura Schlessinger has signed a contract to appear exclusively on Sirius XM satellite radio. Her now defunct over-the-air radio show had been syndicated on the service since 2005. “Coming to SIRIUS XM is an amazingly freeing transition from […]
In real life, Vladimir Putin is the poker faced Prime Minster of Russia—liked in his own country despite a pretty creepy human rights record and his past with the Soviet Union’s KGB. But on free form WFMU-FM he is the semi-regular subject of Thunk Tank’s Salutin’ Putin fan fiction feature, hosted by Bronwyn and Jay. […]
National Public Radio published an interesting blog post this week on how it handles books. This is a subject of interest to many people. NPR receives over 100 books a day for consideration. So how can you get your magnum opus on All Things Considered? As you might guess, NPR’s Lori Grisham insists that there […]
Blessed be National Public Radio’s Ombudsman Alicia C. Shepard. The Republicans in the House made their first attempt at defunding NPR on Thursday. They lost the vote, but surely it’s not the last time they’ll try—capitalizing on outrage over NPR’s firing of Juan Williams. Meanwhile Fox News chief Roger Ailes has apologized to the Anti-Defamation […]
I am enjoying the heck out of RadioTime’s TuneIn radio, which is just about the best online radio station aggregator I’ve ever used. It lets you search for local radio stations, national radio stations, international radio stations. You can even use to it pick up police and fire signals across the country. I’m currently listening […]
The Federal Communications Commission has released an overview of its decision-making history that concedes that the government could have done a better job regulating radio in the 1920s and 1930s. “Although commercial radio produced a Golden Age of programming in the late 1930s, the question remains whether the [government’s] decision to favor corporate-sponsored networks—rather than […]
It was a classic Pacifica radio moment over at the network’s flagship station, KPFA in Berkeley, on Tuesday. Having laid off the Morning Show staff, new Pacifica Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt thought she had it all figured out. She was going to pipe in programming from KPFK, KPFA’s sister station in Los Angeles. The dumped […]
Last month’s attempted rapprochement with the music labels and performers seems to be behind the National Association of Broadcasters. The trade association warns that any attempt to revive the Performance Rights Act in the impending lame duck Congressional session (Nov. 15 through mid-December) will not be tolerated. “NAB is unalterably opposed to this legislation, and […]
Bay Area Radio Hall of Famer Bonnie Simmons and other KPFA staff took some time on Thursday to protest the big layoffs KPFA’s owner, the Pacifica Foundation, has planned for the station. The Berkleyside news service has a summary of the event and the issues, but basically Pacifica’s plan appears to be to pretty much […]
