An FCC action adopted yesterday serves as a good reminder to LPFM licensees to make sure to buy only FCC-approved transmission equipment. The Commission issued a citation and order (PDF) to a company called FCCFrequency for “marketing unauthorized radio frequency devices,” otherwise known as FM radio transmitters that are not approved by the FCC. A […]
The independent, daily half-hour international news program Free Speech Radio News will air its last edition this Friday, September 27. According to a memo from the FSRN board of directors the organization is carrying just over $200,000 in accounts receivable, $198k of which is owed by the Pacifica Foundation. As of September 13 FSRN had […]
University of Tennessee’s college radio station WUTK 90.3 FM is living on borrowed time as far as its aging transmitter goes. In the midst of a fundraising campaign in order to replace the transmitter and console (to a tune of $25,000 for both), the station is hoping to reach more listeners in the Knoxville area […]
I love college radio history and couldn’t be more thrilled about the exhaustive effort undertaken by the University of Maryland in its new exhibit, Saving College Radio: WMUC Past, Present and Future. Curated by sound archivist, ethnomusicologist and WMUC DJ Laura Schnitker, the exhibit can be viewed in the university library in College Park, Maryland […]
With the start of a new semester, college radio stations are often getting nice write-ups in their campus publications. In a profile in The Phoenix, the back-story of Swarthmore College’s long-time radio station WSRN is revealed. According to the piece, “…WSRN was founded by engineers prior to the ’70s. At one point they ‘rigged up […]
Attention potential low-power FM applicants: the FCC’s second, and probably final, webinar for you is happening October 3 from 1 PM to 2:30 PM Eastern time at http://www.fcc.gov/live. Keep in mind that the window for submitting your LPFM application starts just 12 days later, October 15 – 29. This webinar will focus primarily on questions […]
With 24 days left to go in its Indiegogo campaign, College Radio Day is hoping to raise a total of $5000 in order to produce volume 2 of College Radio Day: The Album. When the album is completed, it will be distributed to college radio stations all over the United States. The CD compilation will […]
Happy birthday to ARTxFM in Louisville, Kentucky. The Internet radio station has just finished celebrating its first year of streaming. Now its General Manager Sharon Scott writes to tell us that the non-profit will apply for a Low Power FM license this October. Scott was responding to my essay on “Hybrid Highbrow” radio. “While the […]
I’ve been following the CMJ and Spinitron charts of late, noting the popularity of Washed Out’s “Paracosm” with college radio deejays. The album topped Spinitron for much of August and these first two weeks of September. It only dropped to number two on Spinitron last week, and was still just three spins behind Neko Case’s […]
Last week I had a conversation about radio and musicians with Casey Rae, Executive Director of the Future of Music Coalition. He told me “Commercial radio has made it difficult for artists to have access to the airwaves, no matter how talented. Radio is still a big resource. This is why the musician community rallied […]
