FCC to hold next LPFM webinar on October 3
Attention potential low-power FM applicants: the FCC’s second, and probably final, webinar for you is happening October 3 from 1 PM to 2:30 PM Eastern time at http://www.fcc.gov/live. Keep in mind that the window for submitting your LPFM application starts just 12 days later, October 15 – 29. This webinar will focus primarily on questions […]
College Radio Day Launches Campaign to Fund Album
With 24 days left to go in its Indiegogo campaign, College Radio Day is hoping to raise a total of $5000 in order to produce volume 2 of College Radio Day: The Album. When the album is completed, it will be distributed to college radio stations all over the United States. The CD compilation will […]
Checkin’ My Vibe – First impressions review of Slacker for iOS 7
Typically I’m a little more cautious when upgrading my mobile device OS. I usually wait a couple of weeks for the early adopters to upgrade and find the bugs and hassles, and maybe even wait for the first patches to fix those bugs before taking the plunge. But today I had two reasons to upgrade […]
Slacker launches “My Vibe” to deliver curated playlists for your mood
Ever want some music go with what you’re doing, but can’t quite figure out where to start? Maybe you’re studying, doing housework or having a nice dinner, and you don’t want to pick just one artist or album, but you don’t have a whole playlist ready to go. Today Slacker Radio releases “My Vibe” which […]
Louisville arts Internet station will apply for Low Power FM license
Happy birthday to ARTxFM in Louisville, Kentucky. The Internet radio station has just finished celebrating its first year of streaming. Now its General Manager Sharon Scott writes to tell us that the non-profit will apply for a Low Power FM license this October. Scott was responding to my essay on “Hybrid Highbrow” radio. “While the […]
Pandora ponders competing with AM/FM for local advertising
I’m eyeballing Pandora’s latest Security and Exchange Commission risk filing, which notes that the Internet streamer has yet to significantly penetrate local markets like conventional radio stations do. Seems like the company is thinking about the challenge, though. “Radio advertising has traditionally attracted primarily local advertisers, and we are still at an early stage of building […]
KCRW makes YouTube radio with live video of Morning Becomes Eclectic
Last week Matthew asked the question “When does YouTube become radio?” He answered his own question with, “when it’s on plug.dj” a social media music service where you use YouTube music to create your own live mix. YouTube became radio in another way today when Santa Monica public station KCRW began live streaming performances from […]
Hybrid Highbrow: the history of a forgotten radio format
Many years ago I invented a phrase for a peculiar kind of radio format: “Hybrid Highbrow.” I cooked up the term to describe listener supported KPFA in Berkeley, California, which in the 1950s broadcast classical music, opera, jazz, and folk music in the spirit with which Matthew Arnold understood “culture” in his book Culture and […]
College radio’s summer of chillwave
I’ve been following the CMJ and Spinitron charts of late, noting the popularity of Washed Out’s “Paracosm” with college radio deejays. The album topped Spinitron for much of August and these first two weeks of September. It only dropped to number two on Spinitron last week, and was still just three spins behind Neko Case’s […]
The future of music and radio to be discussed at the Future of Music Summit
Last week I had a conversation about radio and musicians with Casey Rae, Executive Director of the Future of Music Coalition. He told me “Commercial radio has made it difficult for artists to have access to the airwaves, no matter how talented. Radio is still a big resource. This is why the musician community rallied […]