LPFM Watch: 19 New Low-Power FM Stations Licensed
No new low-power FM construction permits have been issues yet so far in 2016. No applications have been dismissed, either. As I mentioned last week, there are only about 100 applications left to be processed by the FCC, so it’s likely we will see most, if not all, of these dealt with by year’s end. […]
College and community stations catch flak for Polka cuts and homeless tweets
Amherst, University of Massachusetts campus radio station WMUA-FM is having a Polka crisis. The Daily Hampshire has the deets. Apparently the signal is sunsetting some Polka shows, among them “Polka Bandstand” and “Early Bird Polka.” Plus there will be a general scaling back of Saturday Polka programming from twelve to four hours. This has not gone well […]
Podcast #29 – Will 2016 Be the End of Indie Internet Radio?
Small and medium sized internet-only radio broadcasters are facing a very immediate danger in 2016, due to changes in the performance rates that they are obligated to pay. Some estimates indicate that these fees may increase by as much as ten-fold, threatening to put hundreds, or even thousands of stations out of business. Paul digs […]
Remembering David Bowie
While watching the news last night I was hit hard by the anchor’s announcement of breaking news that David Bowie had died. What?! It was just a few days ago that we were collectively celebrating Bowie’s birthday on social media and over the airwaves. I had just gotten a press release on Thursday from Seattle […]
Minnesota and New York radio get creative with classical music polls
I am loving these holiday contemporary music and choral music polls run by WQXR in New York City and Minnesota Public Radio.
Technics SL-1200G: The Wheels of Steel Are Back, But There’s a Catch
DJs, vinyl-heads and radio nerds rejoiced at the unveiling this week of the new Technics SL-1200G turntable. It’s an all-new version of the venerated DJ deck that ruled clubs, radio studios and many living rooms for nearly 40 years until being discontinued in 2010. However, for many there’s a grey cloud looming over this sunny […]
Reasonably Priced Turntables for Your Radio Station
I fear I didn’t write last month’s post on good inexpensive turntables soon enough. To the surprise of many, Amazon announced that its top selling item in electronics during the 2015 holiday season was a turntable. Unfortunately, it was a too-cheap, plastic, vinyl-chewing record player that barely costs more than two new LPs. My only […]
College Radio Watch: Catawba College Radio Expands, KTUH Power Boost, WMUC Documentary and More News
Happy New Year! It’s been awhile since I’ve written a “regular” College Radio Watch column, although there’s been quite a bit of college radio news in the past few weeks. I’m slowing making my way towards my 100th radio station tour report and am really looking forward to visiting more college radio stations in 2016. […]
2015 in Review: LPFM Made it Community Radio’s Biggest Leap Forward
With regard to new stations going on the air, 2015 represented the biggest single-year leap forward for non-commercial and community radio in U.S. history. At the end of the year 524 new low-power FM stations had been fully licensed during the year. This represents a 68% increase in the overall number of LPFM stations compared […]
The Mysterious Black College Radio Convention
Over the years I’ve seen references to the Black College Radio Conference and its annual award ceremony. Although scant information is available online, William Barlow writes about the convention’s origins in Voice Over: The Making of Black Radio. He says that the Atlanta-based event was launched by Lo Jelks and that the student-focused convention was […]