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, […]
How the FBI worked with radio to investigate the song “Louie Louie”
Our regular Welcome to Night Vale correspondent Aidan Herrick has written an excellent research paper (pdf) on the 1960s era Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation of the song “Louie Louie.” Why the probe? Because parents across the United States were complaining to the government that The Kingsmen’s 1963 remake of the Richard Berry song contained […]
Can we do better than sell KUSP to the Classical Public Radio Network?
Editor’s note: Shortly after I posted my first story about the proposed sale of KUSP in Santa Cruz to the Classical Public Radio Network, Rachel Anne Goodman and I began corresponding about the prospect. Goodman teaches journalism at Cabrillo College in Aptos. By her own description she has “been a radio host on one station or another since […]
A Glimpse of College Radio’s Past in Playlists from the 1970s and 1980s
An exciting envelope recently arrived in the mail, containing a stack of vintage college radio station playlists from the 1970s and 1980s. Mostly handwritten or typed on typewriters, the “music surveys” capture lists of the most recently added music to these station’s libraries. Sometimes broken down by genre or divided by different types of rotation […]