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 […]
Darryl Parks is the former corporate brand manager for Clear Channel talk stations and was program director for Cincinnati news/talk WLW-AM. Now independent, Parks keeps a blog where he recently has trained his sights on his old business. A couple of weeks ago he dissected the plummeting ratings across the mostly-conservative AM talk radio format. […]
The FCC released its quarterly list of the total number of broadcast stations this week and once again the number of radio stations increased from the prior quarter. As of June 30, there were 15,425 licensed full power radio stations in the United States. The only categories that were on the decline were AM stations […]
This weekend I’ll be immersing myself in college radio history during some special events honoring the 90th anniversary of student radio at Haverford College (see the full alumni weekend schedule here). I’m hopeful that many alumni will attend, as I’m looking forward to learning even more about the storied past of the many stations at […]
I was in a local independent book and magazine shop this weekend when a nicely designed magazine on a display table immediately drew my attention. I had never seen Uppercase Magazine before. But the sleek cover art mixing up a radio with knitting needles as the antenna and a stylized ball of yarn as the […]
NPR has added its voice to the Federal Communication Commission’s proceeding on revitalizing AM radio. Although the filing supports the FCC’s general recommendations for improving the service, it also functions as a vehicle for promoting one of NPR’s favorite causes: getting the Commission to license more translators for Non-commercial Educational (NCE) FM radio stations. Still, […]
Clear Channel Communications has posted its response to the Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding on AM radio revitalization. The radio giant has many recommendations, among them the suggestion that the FCC should permit all digital AM operations “on a voluntary basis.” “As more HD receivers are installed in vehicles and more consumer digital receivers are purchased, […]
This week the FCC released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations in the United States. Based on FCC statistics through December 31, 2013, the number of licensed broadcast radio stations is still on the rise (in keeping with a 20-year trend), with 162 more radio stations at the end of 2013 […]
Comments continue to slowly flow into the Federal Communications Commissions’ proceeding on revitalizing AM radio. The latest emphasize the importance of improving the quality of AM radio receivers. “It has come to my attention that the vast majority of AM receivers on the market are designed with ‘Good Enough’ mentality and quite frankly make anything […]
To say that public comments on the FCC’s AM revitalization proposals are barely trickling in could be charitably called an understatement. As of yesterday there were a total of three comments filed. Two of these are from amateur radio operator Nickolaus Leggett, which Matthew reviewed last week. In the absence of more commentary on the […]
