Google buys Songza for Play Music and YouTube
Google has acquired Songza, the curate-according-to-your mood song search and jukebox service. “We aren’t planning any immediate changes to Songza, so it will continue to work like usual for existing users,” Google’s press release says, but “over the coming months, we’ll explore ways to bring what you love about Songza to Google Play Music.” And: “We’ll […]
8tracks blossoms with user forums
The tech investment world is discovering 8tracks.com (we’ve known about it here for quite a while). Forbes has a huge story about the music playlist application titled “What if You Became a Big Company, But No One Noticed?” (translation: “no one” equals “people with money”). The piece cites a Comscore survey identifying 8tracks as the […]
College Radio Watch: WRAS Alumni Present Alternate Proposal as GPB Deal is Set to Begin this Sunday
As the impending programming changes at Georgia State University’s student-run radio station WRAS are set to take place this Sunday, supporters are continuing their efforts to convince administrators to halt the deal with Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB). As we’ve been reporting, Georgia State penned a deal with GPB allowing the public radio group to use […]
Lebanon 1982: the year that Casey Kasem got real
Late as usual, I thought I’d still write up my own recollection of the legendary radio hit-meister Casey Kasem. Paul Riismandel has a great reminiscence of him posted last week. As for me, I always experienced Kasem’s Top 40 Countdown as a dreary auto-pilot affair, served up with a canned voice and a canned smile. Then, […]
LPFM Watch: Awaiting Word on Public Notice for Competing LPFM Groups in the West
Earlier this week, REC Networks reported that the FCC will soon release a Public Notice regarding LPFM applicants in the western United States. This notice will apply to those applicants who are still in competition with others for the same frequency in mutually exclusive (MX) groups. According to REC Networks, …the upcoming Public Notice… will […]
Wayback: the top ten Shoutcast streams circa 1999 and 2004
Just for kicks the other day I decided to go to the Internet Archive’s Wayback browser and check out Shoutcast as it was getting hot. This screenshot is from April 27, 1999 and displays the “top ten Shoutcasts,” which seem to have been overwhelmingly Techno music oriented channels (with pop and rock thrown in). The […]
Podcast Survivor: A Diversity of Podcasts Demands a Diversity of Models
Remember three weeks ago, when I reported on the Mule Radio podcast network downsizing? In that post I also argued that podcast networks are still relevant, largely responding to a short blog post by podcaster and app developer Marco Arment, who concluded, “The glory days of podcast networks are behind us.” Afterwards, online discussion on […]
Netizens bring radio history to the FCC’s net neutrality debate
I am reading through the Federal Communications Commission’s comment proceeding on net neutrality, and am struck by how many posts make references to radio and other older technologies. Here is one: “I am sick of corporations being in charge of how I get information. You have already ruined radio and television. Do your job and […]
Not All Public Radio is NPR
As This American Life’s Seth Linn explains, “NPR is the Kleenex of public radio brands.” Just like how you might ask for Kleenex, no matter what brand logo is on the tissue box, or ask for a Coke when you just want a soft drink, many listeners simply think all public radio is NPR. The […]
More Churn at Pacifica Radio
Unfortunately, just because the occupation of Pacifica Radio’s national office in Berkeley is over doesn’t mean that there aren’t troubles elsewhere in the network. Pacifica’s WBAI-FM in New York City is facing “imminent eviction” of its transmitter from the Empire State Building. That’s according to a recently surfaced report to the Pacifica National Board from […]