Radio still “dominant” music discoverer? Contested readings of Nielsen data
The latest Nielsen survey on music listening reads as so: “Music Discovery Still Dominated by Radio, Says Nielsen Music 360 Report.” Here are the marquee statistics from the Nielsen press release: Radio is still the dominant way people discover music 48% discover music most often through the radio 10% discover music most often through friends/relatives […]
Paperwork Filed with FCC to Assign Former WRVU License to Nashville Public Radio
On August 9, Vanderbilt Student Communications (VSC) filed paperwork with the FCC indicating their desire to assign the license for former college radio station WRVU 91.1 FM (now known as WFCL) to Nashville Public Radio. Ever since June, 2011, Nashville Public Radio has been operating the station after VSC entered into an agreement with the […]
We don’t need no stinking podcast stars
Are podcasts to radio like blogs are to newspapers? That’s the question Richard MacManus of ReadWriteWeb asks in his piece “Radio Killed the Podcasting Star.” But his answer comes down clearly on the side of, “no.” He argues that, “Sadly, there are no podcasting stars – and it’s all radio’s fault.” The crux of his […]
Radio Valencia: we are two years old (and moving!)
Radio Valencia in San Francisco hit the terrible twos late last week. I wrote to John Hell, the community outlet’s co-founder, to get an update on the station’s plans. He sent me this commentary, which is published below in full. —Matthew Lasar On Saturday, August 11th Radio Valencia celebrated its 2nd anniversary. That went by […]
Read some of the best writing about talk radio
Every weekend Slate shares a Longform-curated selection of non-fiction pieces about a common topic. This weekend the topic was talk radio, and all of these articles should be of interest to Radio Survivor readers. I’m still working through the list myself, including the history of the fundamentalist Christian settlement of Zion, Illinois and its pioneering […]
Study: radio lags TV in use of social media
A new survey produced by the Radio Television Digital News Association and Hofstra University suggests that radio stations aren’t using Twitter and Facebook as aggressively as television outlets. “The use of social media is now almost universal in TV, with all categories going near or into the 90-percentile range,” the report concludes. “A lot of […]
WFMU doc kickstarts into gear; Radiovision Festival announced
Sometimes I feel like WFMU news should be its own category here at Radio Survivor, due to the station’s constant innovation and newsworthiness. First up, I can report that the Kickstarter for the WFMU documentary Freeform or Death–which I reported on in June–ended successfully last month. 736 backers pledged 61% more than producer Tim K. […]
New Community Radio Station KHOI Launches in Ames, Iowa
Over the weekend, brand new community radio station KHOI launched in Ames, Iowa. Five years in the making, the license application for the full power non-commercial educational (NCE) FM station was submitted to the FCC in 2007 and was granted in 2009. KHOI went on the air and began their testing phase on 89.1 FM […]
Supporters help Free Speech Radio News reach funding goal
Radio Survivor readers might recall that the independent daily news half-hour Free Speech Radio News began an emergency fund-raising campaign in May in order to close a $75,000 budget gap. Last week FSRN announced that the goal had been matched and surpassed in July. Development director Alan Searle says that, “it is important to note […]
Our business is non-fiction: L.A. Theater Works radio does Huey P. Newton
“Testing one two . . . testing one two,” the disembodied voice of Huey P. Newton nervously declares. “Comrade, is this thing on, is working?” “It’s working good,” his assistant says. “All right, all right,” Newton responds, “because I’m terrified of cameras and large crowds . . . I’m actually rather shy in the visual. […]