Should KGO 810’s coat-of-arms be a turnstile?
The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Andrew Ross is scratching his head at the latest changes at endlessly changing KGO AM 810 in that city. “If you’ve enjoyed listening to my Chronicle colleague C.W. Nevius on KGO Radio for the past 15 months, be sure to tune in Friday,” Ross bemusedly noted earlier this week. “It’s his […]
Cambodian radio activist to be released
Cambodian dissident Mam Sonando should be released from prison soon (the news reports say Saturday and it is approaching midnight there as I write this post from San Francisco). Sonando’s Bee Hive radio outlet regularly protests the huge timber land grabs being orchestrated by relatives of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and other government top […]
Voice of Russia broadcasting to the US on HD Radio
Looking for an alternative perspective on world news on your FM dial? If you live in Chicago or Washington, DC you can now tune in the Russian government’s Voice of Russia service, which began broadcasting English language programming at the beginning of March on the HD2 channel of WTOP-FM in DC, a news-talk station, and […]
Radio Guide to SXSW 2013 – Part 2: Radio Station Showcases
With the music portion of the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival launching today, there are numerous panels, films, and events for radio fans to choose from. In addition to that, many radio stations have traveled to Austin in order to curate music showcases, interview bands, and broadcast live performances. Starting tomorrow (Wednesday, March 13, […]
Radio Guide to SXSW 2013 – Part 1: Panels, Parties and Films
Every year South by Southwest (SXSW) seems to get bigger and bigger, with a growing interactive conference, film festival, and long-time music event. The music festival begins today and runs through Sunday, March 17th. For radio fans, some of the offerings include panel discussions, radio station-sponsored events (showcases, live remote performances, etc.), and radio-related meet-ups. […]
FCC Low Power FM time sharing rules: will they work?
I am continuing to peruse the Federal Communication Commission’s latest regulations for Low Power FM stations. The FCC promises an application window around October. Some of the rules make obvious sense. Others strike me as pretty gnarly, the gnarliest among them the provisions for voluntary and involuntary time sharing of LPFM stations. I wonder how […]
The art of college radio: KZSC in Santa Cruz
By now just about every radio station has put together a website. This poses a challenge: how to be visually appealing as well as listenable. Luckily for college station KZSC at the University of California at Santa Cruz, it can tap into the skills of Lois Rosson. Lois has a double major: history and art. […]
Velvet Light Trap Seeks Papers from Sound Scholars
Radio scholarship can be found in many pockets of academia. Media studies, communications departments, cultural studies, popular culture, history, and radio-television-film programs are some of the fields where radio research takes place. In recent years, sound studies can be added to this list. The Velvet Light Trap, “a journal devoted to investigating historical questions that […]
Zimbabwe government crackdown on independent radio continues
There are reports from Zimbabwe indicating that the crackdown on independent radio is stepping up. Shortwave station SW Radio Africa reports that police in the town of Rusape went on raids of opposition party supporters looking for shortwave radios (via SWLing post). However a member of parliament said that the police found no radios. According […]

