Radio and Podcasting Events at 2014 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference
There’s been a lot of great energy in recent years surrounding the field of sound studies, in which scholars are increasingly looking at the importance of the auditory aspects of media culture. Within the world of sound studies, a growing group of radio scholars is working hard to ensure that an academic lens is focused […]
LPFM Watch: Why 420 Apps Were Dismissed, and More News
The flow of new low-power FM construction permits is slowing to a trickle as the FCC gets towards the end of the singleton applications. Many of the 19 stations authorized in the last week require a 2nd adjacent waiver in order to be spaced a little closer to existing stations. Commensurately, a fair number of […]
XRAY.FM Brings Ultra-Low-Power Community Radio to Portland
A new very low-power FM station hit the Portland, Oregon airwaves this week. XRAY.FM is a new community station that took over the license for Reed College’s legacy class D station at 91.1 FM in 2012 with the help of Common Frequency. The station mounted a very successful Kickstarter in January. Starting with a goal […]
Can the same call letters be used by different stations?
John Bruce (jonthebru) at our discussion forum site asks: “Can call letters be used by other stations?” “We are contemplating a change in call letters associated with a change in direction for a non commercial station. (Sorry, I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag so I can’t share details at this […]
Copyright Office asks cold hard cash questions in music inquiry
The Copyright Office’s Library of Congress has launched a new Notice of Inquiry on the “effectiveness of existing methods of licensing music,” an issue dear to the heart of pretty much everybody invested in any kind of music distribution system, from AM/FM radio to Sirius XM to iTunes. “The Office will use the information it […]
Podcast Survivor: The Week in Podcasting News
In this week’s podcasting news: a look at Transom’s new “This Is Radio” video series, a comparison between digital magazines and podcasts, and a Kickstarter update. The online and IRL public radio workshop Transom.org just premiered the This Is Radio video interview series. The first installment profiles Roman Mars, producer of the podcast and radio […]
Mobile sports radio apps: the heavyweights
Mobile sports radio applications don’t always get the attention they deserve. We screened four heavyweights to see which are worth your time when on the run: ESPN Sports Radio 1080 The Fan Features: archives, sports ticker, call-in, text-in, alarm clock Notable hosts: Colin Cowherd, Scott Van Pelt, Mike & Mike (more…)
FCC Approves Assignment of Former WRVU License to Nashville Public Radio
In a letter dated today (PDF), the FCC approved the renewal application and assigned the license for WFCL to Nashville Public Radio. The non-commercial FM station was formerly Vanderbilt University’s college radio station WRVU-FM (see my profile of the station from 2010). Back in 2011, students were taken off the air at WRVU and the […]
Pacifica Board Fires Exec Dir Summer Reese; Is This a War with no Winner?
Last Thursday the national board of the Pacifica Foundation fired Executive Director Summer Reese, who was hired for the position in November after serving on an interim basis for more than a year. The how and why of Reese’s ouster are unclear. According to the New York Times article that broke the story, board members […]
Copyright, stocks, and the Pandora mystique
Pandora fans (and presumably Pandora) breathed a sigh of relief on Friday when a federal judge left the music streamer’s copyright tithe percentage unchanged. From back in 2011 through next year (2015) Pandora must fork over 1.85 percent of its revenue to ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), which represent copyright holders. […]