Commentary: Bobby Valentine and Allen Pinkett Can’t Hear Themselves Talk
In 2012, we use more social outlets than ever to embarrass ourselves. Luckily for 20th century traditionalists, we still find outspoken individuals on the radio. This month we heard two sports moguls stir up the air, to listeners’ dumbfoundedness. On September 5, Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine appeared on The Big Show sports radio. […]
Digging into the Spotify classical radio “gold mine”
My colleague Paul Riismandel has been warming up to the Spotify music service, of late, and gave it a pretty decent review in a recent post. Paul also mentioned to me that Spotify has been advertising itself as a “goldmine” for a wide variety of formats, including classical music. This aroused my attention, since I […]
Spinning Indie Radio Station Field Trip to WLUW in Chicago
Over the summer I was in the Chicago and Urbana-Champaign area for a combined vacation/trip to the Grassroots Radio Conference. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to visit more radio stations and managed to tour six stations total in both Illinois and Indiana. My stops included three college radio stations, two community radio stations, and one […]
Fall 2012 College Radio Conference Line-up
As college radio volunteers and DJs are getting settled into the new school year, it’s about time to start making hard choices about which college radio conferences to attend. October is a busy month, with both CMJ and College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI) hosting their annual conferences. Additionally, the 72-year-old Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) will be […]
Chicago’s WXRT celebrates 40 years serving up an increasingly rare format
It’s an increasingly rare thing to find a station that has maintained its format (and call letters) for more than a decade, nevermind 40 years. This week Chicago commercial rock station WXRT begins celebrating its fortieth year on air with something called “40 years in 40 days.” Starting Monday, each day the station is highlighting […]
KOZT’s Community-Oriented Approach to Commercial Radio
Over the weekend I was driving around Mendocino County sampling the radio options. A three hour drive north of San Francisco, the region is comprised of coastal towns, mountains, forests, and inland valleys. Mendocino itself is a big tourist destination, with its quaint New England-style inns, restaurants, and charming shops. Further south, Anderson Valley is […]
NPR: mostly white audience produces mostly white teen novels list
There’s controversy at NPR over the service’s latest 100 best-ever teen novels list. 75,220 NPR listeners voted for their favorite young adult novels. The list quickly drew fire for its lack of diversity. “Only two—yes, two—books on the list are written about main characters of color,” noted reading and English teacher Shaker Laurie in a […]
How the Eton Microlink Solar Powered American Red Cross stickered radio changed my life
A birthday present from my best friend, a ‘portable’ radio – the Eton Microlink FR160 Solar-powered radio, with emergency crank power and an American Red Cross sticker of approval – arrived in my life, six weeks ago and has become dear to me. Astonishingly I have found myself listening, more and more, even though I […]
Would you listen to an Apple version of Pandora?
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is “in talks” to obtain licenses for what amounts to a Pandora-like streaming music service. All Things Digital says it’s true, or as ATD’s Peter Kafka puts it, “Industry sources I’ve talked to say that’s correct.” I’m sympathetic to this reader comment on the WSJ piece: “Oh great. […]
Glenn Beck: not even Jesus could save me from American Airlines
As talk radio listeners know, Glenn Beck has been on a tirade against American Airlines for two days now (here and here). Beck says an AA staffer was rude to him on first class: “My flight attendant nearly — merely barked the word ‘breakfast’ when he came to me. When others were politely asked if […]