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 […]
LPFM Watch: UCentral Student Radio to Go LPFM, WQAZ-LP’s Underwriting Violations, and More LPFM News
We are now up to 1,737 granted construction permits for new low power FM (LPFM) stations, as a result of the fall 2013 application window. In addition to some new construction permits this week, there was also some FCC enforcement action at an existing LPFM and an existing FM is facing an uncertain future after […]
Report: AM/FM radio still rules your car
The radio/music world is now a veritable aviary of possibilities: podcasts, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, satellite radio, and webcasts, just to name a few. But a new survey says that when you get into your automobile, the chances are very good that you’ll do what someone in 1975 would do: tune into an AM or FM […]
My Trip to University of Kentucky’s College Radio Station WRFL
I had a wonderful trip to Kentucky a few weeks ago and a highlight for me was getting to visit four radio stations. I traveled to Louisville in order to attend the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) conference and to see some friends. Lucky for me, two of those friends have […]
Are college and community radio deejays going bearish?
Every now and again I check in with the Spinitron blog to see what kind of music is getting play on college and community radio stations. To my surprise, two of the top five album or tune titles for last week referenced bears; a third mentioned caves and claws. The top Spinitron disk for February […]
Digital Watch: In Search of High Fidelity Internet Radio
After writing last week about how some listeners were upset about changes to the BBC 3 high quality/bitrate stream my curiosity was piqued about higher fidelity internet radio stations. So I set about finding stations that highlight sound quality by offering higher bitrate streams. First, it’s important to define terms. For the purpose of this […]