College and community radio to FCC: no more payola!
Just one more noteworthy filing to mention in the Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding on whether to loosen up the agency’s “payola” rules. It comes from a group of college and community radio advocates, responding to a broadcaster petition asking to be relieved of the requirement that they immediately tell listeners when someone has paid a radio station […]
Top San Diego jazz deejays fight “temp” status
KSDS-FM deejay Ron Dhanifu has been working at San Diego City College’s jazz radio station since 1977 and served as its operations manager from that year through 1985. Dhanifu hosts music 25 hours a week. His co-worker Gary Beck has been involved with “Jazz 88” since 1974 and presents on weekday mornings from 9 AM until […]
College Radio Watch: College Radio Covers Protests, Seeking College Radio History, and More News
Last week I wrote about the fun collection of vintage college radio playlists that I came across from the 1970s and 1980s. That post prompted some interesting responses from former college radio DJs and current college radio programmers, sharing some of their tales and also word that other playlist collections are out there. This week […]
LPFM News: FL Church Beats Pirate Radio Accusation to Win LPFM
The FCC’s Media Bureau continues to work on the remaining MX groups of applicants competing for a single frequency. Most of the nine construction permits for new low-power FM stations issued in the last week were from such groups. The total number of LPFM construction permits issued from the 2013 application window now stands at […]
Art Bell Returns (Again)
I have a soft spot in my heart for Art Bell. As a former overnight DJ and grad student who kept relatively nocturnal hours for a good portion of the 90s, I admired Bell’s unique ability to engage guests and callers in topics that ranged from scientifically plausible (the theory that there have been multiple […]
Digital Watch: ISPs & Telcos Ask Court to Block FCC’s Open Internet Order Immediately
There is already a pile of lawsuits challenging the FCC’s Open Internet Order waiting for attention from appeals courts. On Wednesday all of the major telecom and cable industry groups made a volley to jumpstart this process. The U.S. Telecom Association, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the CTIA, AT&T, the American Cable Association, CenturyLink […]
Weaken the FCC’s payola rules? Future of Music Coalition says no
The Federal Communications Commission is wrapping is up its proceeding on whether to weaken its payola rules, and the Future of Music Coalition has several fine responses to the proposal. Before we get to them, you may be asking who came up with this grand idea, which boils down to eliminating the requirement that “pay for play” […]
College Radio Flashback: Covering Campus Disturbances in the 1960s and 70s
I’ve been thumbing through a couple of bound editions of IBS’ The Journal of College Radio from 1970 to 1972 and it’s an incredible look at college radio in that era. Concerns of the day included potential policy changes for carrier-current broadcasters, questions about the FCC’s rules on obscenity (not much has changed!), and excitement […]
Retiring MP3 Streaming – A Follow-Up
I received some constructive feedback on my post arguing that internet radio should retire MP3 streaming. Twitter user Mark Mollineaux pointed out that browser-compatibility is a consideration: @RadioSurvivor MP3 has by far the best cross-browser compatibility. I'd prefer an open standard like ogg, but many browser's won't play it– — Mark Mollineaux (@bufordsharkley) May 11, […]
It’s Time for Internet Radio to Retire MP3 Streaming
I have been listening to computer-based digital music for nearly two decades now. This includes streaming internet radio as well as music files like MP3s. It’s amazing to recall my first efforts to play then-new MP2 and MP3 format files I downloaded, very slowly, over my 56kbps dial-up connection, around 1996 or ’97. In fact, […]