What should college and community radio tell the FCC about its indecency rules?
The Federal Communications Commission is asking the public for input on its indecency rules. Last summer the Supreme Court declared the FCC’s sanctions against “fleeting expletives” to be unacceptably vague, largely because the government didn’t give Fox and ABC TV “fair notice” about the relatively new regulations before fining them for various shows. “Regulated parties […]
Top 40 for white people? What Country radio could learn from indigenous broadcasters
Music lovers everywhere will want to see The Sapphires, a wonderful film about four Australian aboriginal girls who start as a Country music group, transition to Soul, and find fame and fortune entertaining US troops in Vietnam in the late 1960s. Great singing, charming performances, and based on a true story. Which brings me to […]
Mount Diablo Unified to Explore Potential Lease of High School Radio Station KVHS-FM
At a meeting of the Mount Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) on Monday night, the school board approved a recommendation to “explore the potential multi-year lease of” high school radio station KVHS-FM. At the meeting, it was stated that preliminary estimates indicate that a lease of the FM signal could bring between $10,000 and $25,000 […]
2nd Annual High School Radio Day Returns on April 24
In 2012, the first annual High School Radio Day took place on May 16. The day was established in order to celebrate high school radio and raise awareness about the small number of remaining high school radio stations. This year, High School Radio Day is scheduled for Wednesday, April 24. According to a press release, […]
The reddit school of college radio: reader tips for an aspiring deejay
I was reading the posts and comments over at the reddit radio page and came across this interesting request for advice: “Just applied to be a DJ at my university’s radio station. What is something I absolutely need to know about being a DJ? (self.radio)” A lot of interesting and thoughtful responses ensued. Not sure […]
Soundtap Madness College Radio Tournament Begins April 1st
Last year, the independent radio website Soundtap launched a listening competition pitting independent radio stations against one another in a series of head-to-head battles that coincided with March Madness. Dubbed Soundtap Madness, this year’s edition will include a series of two-day competitions taking place between April 1st to April 12th. Sixty-four college radio stations will […]
Navajo Technical College gearing up to acquire radio station
Associated Press reports that several prominent Southwestern tribes are well on the way to securing radio signals for their areas. These include Navajo Technical College of Crownpoint, New Mexico, which has convinced the Federal Communications Commission that its area deserves Tribal Priority consideration: Specifically, Petitioner provides evidence that: at least 50 percent of the proposed […]
KSUA Wins mtvU 2013 College Radio Woodie Award
At a ceremony which aired on Sunday, March 17th, KSUA 91.5 FM from University of Alaska, Fairbanks was awarded the 2013 mtvU College Radio Woodie award. After an initial nomination round, the most popular college radio stations (by online vote) were culled to 25 finalists. Additional online voting reduced the field to the final list […]
How television saved Janis Ian and The Beatles from radio
The other evening I was listening to KZSC, college radio for UC Santa Cruz. The deejays were pondering Michelle Shocked’s bizarre homophobic outburst at Yoshis in San Francisco (and for which she has apologized). As if to cleanse their palettes of this incident, they played a relatively early Janis Ian tune: “At Seventeen.” Suddenly I […]
Three smart ideas from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters’ “5×5” plan
For reasons that remain a mystery to me (and I’m sure others), the Board of Directors of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters has dismissed NFCB President, Maxie Jackson. An article in Current quotes a very unhappy Vice President Ginny Berson confiding that she’d been told “style issues” and differences in vision prompted the ouster. […]