FCC acts to preserve space for new low power community radio stations
A couple days ahead of its March open meeting, on Monday the Federal Communications Commission released a two orders addressing the implementation of the Local Community Radio Act to bring more low-power FM community radio stations to the nation’s airwaves [press release PDF]. Most significantly, the FCC has decided to prioritize the establishment of LPFM […]
WASU Wins 2012 mtvU College Radio Woodie Award
At SXSW last week mtvU held its Woodie Awards, recognizing artists popular with the college audience. The College Radio Woodie Award was given to FM radio station WASU at Appalachian State University (Boone, North Carolina) based on results of online voting. According to the WASU website, “MTV called to say out of all the college […]
Jazz radio history: L.A. Theater Works does Dinah Washington
Interesting jazz radio stuff all around the ‘Net this weekend: First, L.A. Theater Works has a great radio portrait of Dinah Washington. Starts out with Washington famously refusing to leave the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas in 1959 (she didn’t have a white escort), and moves on from there: “Miss Washington, if you choose to […]
This American Life: excerpts from the Mike Daisey program retraction
As everybody on the blogosphere now knows, This American Life has retracted its radio version of Mike Daisey’s dramatic recreation of his visit to an Apple iPhone factory in China. “Daisey lied to me and to This American Life producer Brian Reed during the fact checking we did on the story, before it was broadcast,” […]
The FBI’s radio files: a quick guide
If you are a radio history buff like me, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s records vault website is a treasure trove of fun stuff. Over the years, the FBI has kept track of various radio celebrities (often for dubious reasons), and also monitored radio broadcasts on a regular basis. Obviously everything in these files should […]
Sandra Fluke continues to speak out while syndicator suspends national ads on Limbaugh show
More than a week after Rush Limbaugh proffered a weak apology for his repeated misogynistic comments on-air about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, his show is left with virtually no national advertisers, but he remains mostly unrepentant. On Monday word broke that Limbaugh’s syndicator, Clear Channel-owned Premiere Radio Networks, is suspending all national advertising on […]
SiriusXM’s Karmazin pretty much admits it’s good to be a monopoly
Last Thursday, on the eve of the company’s tenth anniversary celebration with Bruce Springsteen, SiriusXM CEO Mel Karmazin appeared for a thirteen minute interview on Jim Cramer’s CNBC investment show Mad Money. There are two big questions on the mind of satellite radio watchers: will John Malone’s Liberty Media buy up more of SiriusXM, and […]
Unlicensed low-power transmitters fuel SXSW Decentralized Dance Party
The great thing about radio technology is that it’s one of the most efficient ways to broadcast a message. Less than a watt of power can send a signal to hundreds of people over an area the size of a city block or two with ease. By comparison, if you tried to text a few […]
Radio Guide to SXSW 2012
Once again it’s that time of year when my social media world is flooded with reports about BBQs, Austin weather reports, band showcases, and panels happening at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. The interactive portion is wrapping up to make way for the start of the music conference today. Some radio-related events have […]
San Francisco Bay Area’s Bounty of Independent Radio Offerings
Yesterday I was excited to see that the cover story for the San Francisco Chronicle’s “pink section” was all about independent radio in the San Francisco Bay Area. Based on the cover’s headline, “Up in the Airwaves: The state of independent radio in the Bay Area,” I expected to see a comprehensive list of local […]