How the FCC helped win World War II
I am reading Tim Weiner’s diverting book Enemies: A History of the FBI and have learned something about the Federal Communications Commission as well. Its Radio Intelligence Division played a critical role in anti-Fascist counterespionage in the southern hemisphere. Weiner writes: “The civilians of the Radio Intelligence Division intercepted clandestine Germany communications with spies in […]
Report says Winamp sale is imminent, shutdown will be averted
Friday is going to be a long day for Winamp fans. TechCrunch reported earlier this afternoon that “AOL is finalizing negotiations to sell off Winamp and Shoutcast in a deal that would allow both products to live on.” The buyer is not identified, though according to writer Anthony Ha, his source says that s/he is […]
Saving Winamp and Shoutcast may be prohibitively complex
Fans of Winamp are sitting on the edge of their seats as AOL’s December 20 shut-down for application downloads and “associated web services” is less than a day away. As I pointed out previously, also on death row are the Shoutcast streaming audio platform and the Shoutcast directory of thousands of independent online stations. More […]
Low Power FM in Texas: the next wave
I was happy to see that our friend Jim Ellinger’s Low Power FM event last Saturday in Austin, Texas went well. “Half a dozen applicants, commissioners and academics, radio talent and sponsors showed up,” the Austin Airwaves Facebook page reports. “A phone in call from Ian Smith of the Prometheus Radio Project answered a lot of […]
FCC withdraws media ownership proposal, for now
It appears that the Federal Communications Commission has tabled proposed rules changes that would make it easier for companies to own more media in big market areas. The nixed-for-now measures flow from the FCC’s December 2011 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which would have allowed some acquisition of additional television or AM/FM radio outlets, especially by […]
Podcast Survivor: The top podcasts of 2013
We don’t get too personal here at Radio Survivor, but what I’m about to share is pertinent to the task at hand. This summer I left my day job, moved to Portland, Oregon, and started focusing much more time on Radio Survivor. One result of this is our weekly podcast coverage with the Podcast Survivor […]
Family Radio Founder Harold Camping Dead at 92
I was saddened to hear the news that Family Radio founder Harold Camping died on Sunday in his home in Alameda, California after complications from a fall that he suffered on November 30. The Christian radio mogul and long-time talk show host achieved worldwide attention in 2011 when he embarked on a massive media blitz […]
FCC Low Power FM MX groups: the big ones
The Federal Communications Commission has identified clusters of Mutually Exclusive (MX) application groups for Low Power FM signals in United States markets. What is an MX group? Well, it all depends on who you ask. Here’s the FCC’s definition: “When the distance between two window applications does not meet the minimum distance separation requirements specified […]
NPR receives grants to create seamless listening across platforms
National Public Radio has received millions in grants that it will use to build a “seamless local-national listening platform,” the network announced today. The new mobile app will provide on-demand access to local station content combined with national programming, allowing listeners to create playlists. The point is to let listeners move from the car to […]
Commercial music radio, DJs, and Twitter: why the disconnect?
A new survey by Brandwatch reconfirms earlier findings about United States radio stations and Twitter—the relationship could be a lot more dynamic, particularly for commercial music radio stations. Here is some of the Brandwatch data: Only around 0.06 percent of radio listeners tweet about a US radio station. “This is 10 times less frequently than […]