Is Howard Stern Part of SiriusXM’s Future, or Only Its Past?
It’s 2015, and that means Howard Stern’s SiriusXM five-year contract is up for renewal again. Last time around, in 2010, Stern milked the protracted “will he or won’t he” drama nearly right up to the end, finally signing on at the beginning of December. Back then the biggest rumor swirling around was that Apple had […]
Poll: Can your radio receiver access 87.7 FM?
[polldaddy poll=8719402] We received lots of responses to our call for feedback on the general accessibility of 87.7 FM. The frequency is mostly deployed by Low Power TV stations with access to channel six. Please do give our poll a quick response. Thanks!
SXSW cometh . . . Radio Survivor will be there
SXSW gets started on Friday, and Radio Survivor will attend. I’ll fly in to Austin from San Francisco early next week and catch many of the event’s music days. Here are some of the key radio focused presentations. Thursday, March 19: Redefining Radio for the Digital Age: “How will radio listeners experience music in 5 years?” […]
Digital Watch: Broadcasters Are Losing Young Listeners Online
As if it wasn’t already obvious, online audio of all types is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, 44% of all Americans over age 12 listen every week. It’s most popular with young people, though also quickly gaining traction with everyone under age 55. This is according to the the 2015 edition of their […]
Visiting College Radio Station KCSB at UC Santa Barbara
On Friday, March 6th I popped by University of California, Santa Barbara’s college radio station KCSB 91.9 FM. I was in town for the weekend and it was the perfect chance to finally write about the station. Even though I’d visited before for a UCRN conference in 2011, I’d never gotten around to writing a […]
Reflections on waiting for Bob and Ray to be funny
I saw Bob and Ray on YouTube on the David Letterman show the other day and I found myself waiting for the funny parts, thinking “when is the joke going to finally happen”? I was chuckling and twittering as if this was already funny, that delicious moment of becoming ready to laugh out loud. I […]
Will we regret the “modernization” of radio contests?
The Federal Communications Commission is proposing updated guidelines for broadcaster contests, allowing radio and television stations to post the rules for these events on websites as a substitute for completely explaining them over the air waves. At present “licensees are permitted to employ nonbroadcast methods for disclosing material contest terms,” but “they may not substitute […]
College Radio Watch: Touring WRFL, LPFM for UCentral Student Radio, Wofford College Launches Station and More News
As I mentioned last week, I began my college radio station tours of 2015 a few weeks ago in Kentucky. My first stop was to University of Kentucky’s station WRFL-FM and you can see my report here. Also, in yesterday’s LPFM Watch I talked about a new college radio LPFM, UCENTRAL Student Radio at University […]
Why Rush Limbaugh Is Dragging Down AM Talk Radio
Talk radio veteran Darryl Parks is a harsh critic of how the format continues to lose touch with most of the radio audience who aren’t white male baby boomers. In a new post this week he takes aim at Rush Limbaugh, describing the leading conservative talk host’s “fall into oblivion.” Parks notes that Limbaugh’s program […]
Thinking through Radio History: An Interview with John Durham Peters – Pt. 1
Once again, we are very excited to present an interview with a leading media historian for Radio Survivor’s Academic Series. John Durham Peters is a media and cultural historian and social theorist who is currently the A. Craig Baird Professor in Communication Studies at the University of Iowa. He is also a consultant and participant […]