Memo to Microsoft: think of Xbox Music as a game
For reasons that remain unclear to me, I bought an Xbox One with Kinect over the holidays. I’m trying to remember how I talked myself into the purchase—something about being able to communicate with my TV via voice. “Xbox! Go to Skype!” I commanded. It worked, except I didn’t have anyone to Skype with at […]
Jim Bennett’s campaign for live radio jazz
Bay Area jazz aficionado Jim Bennett has an Indiegogo campaign going to boost his live jazz promotion work. Bennett has been producing acclaimed jazz programs for decades. He was a long time jazz deejay at KPFA-FM in Berkeley and its general manager during some of the station’s turbulent years in the late 1990s. Then he […]
College Radio Survivor: Documentaries about the Culture of College Radio
As my winter break draws to a close, I’m ready to get back to work next week with some more in-depth reports about college radio. But first, it’s time to sit back and relax with a glimpse of a selection of college radio documentaries from the past few years. Here are some inspiring reports from […]
Beethoven slams NYC radio classical countdown
Remember “Roll Over Beethoven”? It appears that Chuck Berry misunderestimated the Romantic German composer. Classical radio station WQXR-FM in New York City has published the results of its annual listener survey, which consists of one question: “What is your favorite piece of classical music?” The responses were ranked down to the 105th favorite. Looking at […]
Podcast Survivor: 2013 – The year in podcasting
This was the year podcasting crested puberty and had its teenage growth spurt. Two statistics make this point clear. Apple reported the milestone of one billion podcast subscriptions through iTunes in July. A recent Pew Research Center poll says that 27% of internet users download or listen to podcasts. That percentage was just 6% in […]
Classical segregator or savior? The case for Q2, WQXR’s online “living composers” channel
Hallowed New York City classical radio station WQXR’s “Q2” channel is now well over three years old. I am a big fan of the service. It is one of the few places in the classical music radiosphere in the United States where you can consistently listen to a high quality stream of contemporary classical music […]
College Radio Survivor: Touring College Radio Stations in 2013
It’s no secret that I’m passionate about college radio. It’s more interesting to me than commercial radio and I love that it’s for the most part programmed by individual DJs. Because of that, I was tickled to spot some kind words for college radio in an article in Radio Ink about the tired state of […]
Will Aimee Semple McPherson win the Low Power FM sweepstakes?
I cannot predict which of the thousands of applicants for Low Power FM radio stations will win frequencies from the Federal Communications Commission next year, but of one thing I am sure. Many of the winners will be churches, especially in the south and southwest. You do not have to be a spiritual psychic to […]
Better Spotify chat rooms with updated Soundrop
Shortly after we posted my review of Soundrop, Spotify’s chat room application, Soundrop marketing Vice President Thomas Ford wrote to us. “I think you published just a few weeks too soon,” he observed. “We’re planning to launch the new Spotify app tomorrow [December 17]. I hope it helps solve some of the interaction issues by […]
College Radio Survivor: This Week’s College Radio News
Even though some college campuses are already closed for the winter break, there’s still a bunch of news on the student radio front this week. This week’s College Radio Survivor includes some year-end charts from CMJ, details about another holiday special, the latest on college LPFM applications, and word on some changes at a few […]
