Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks” wins #1 notch on Spotify US top 100 list
Spotify has released its top 100 lists for 2011. They include staff favorites, too. Here are the first ten user picks from the Spotify United States top 100 roster, which leads with Foster the People‘s rather disturbing (but very listenable) song, “Pumped Up Kicks.” 1. Pumped Up Kicks, Foster the People 2. Stereo Hearts – […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage Recap – Match the Station with Its Sign
Happy Impending New Year! Now that I’ve wrapped up my 12 Days of Radio Station Signage series, here’s an opportunity for you to match each sign with its corresponding station. Some of them are obvious if you look closely at the pictures, others may be a bit more challenging. Ready, set, go! Day 1: Do […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 12 – Don’t Go Back Here or Touch Anything
Leave it to DJs to fiddle with things that they are not supposed to. Signs at KFJC warn against adjusting turntable weights (since people always seem to mess them up) and other stations have posted notices about leaving computers and equipment alone. My favorite in this genre is this catch-all sign that commands DJs to […]
Bereft KGO talk radio fans gear up for second demo
It is once more into the breach for Former Listeners of KGO, still furious over the Cumulus owned AM station dumping a slew of popular talk show hosts on December 1. The group has announced its second demonstration in front of the station’s studios: 900 Front Street in San Francisco. The first was held two […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 11 – When this Light is on…Shut Up!
Most radio stations have an “on-air” sign that lights up automatically when the microphone is turned on so that people wandering about the studio have a visual cue that it’s not the best time to carry on loud conversations. In addition to “on-air” lights, some stations go a step further by posting instructions reminding radio […]
2011: The year radio entered the cloud
It only makes sense, really, that a medium often referred to as the aether should now be associated with the cloud. For those who haven’t been paying attention to the interwebs for the last couple of years, the cloud refers to idea of data being available on nearly ubiquitous servers, anywhere on the internet. Gmail […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 10 – CD and LP Library Alphabetization
Many of the signs posted in radio stations are similar to signs that you might see in any other workplace. Often they issue directives to staff/employees about undesirable behaviors. However, some of the more interesting signs that I’ve seen at radio stations are radio-specific, often to the point of being somewhat arcane to everyday folks. […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 9 – Seven Deadly Words
I’ve been to a few radio stations that have posted handy lists of all of the forbidden naughty words which can never be uttered over the air. I’m sure that program directors get a vicarious thrill out of putting these nasty words up on the wall. On this sign, posted in a station’s music review […]
Lynn Samuels: liberal tweaker of liberals, 1942-2011
Like lots of New York radio listeners circa the late 1970s, I first heard Lynn Samuels when she was a regular host on Pacifica station WBAI. A classic talker from the free form era, Samuels mastered a kind of earthy stream of consciousness discourse, which drifted from Vietnam to who was buying the toilet paper […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 8 – Mic Technique
It’s so clever when radio station management has to resort to drawings and diagrams in order to explain proper radio and engineering techniques to DJs. In one of my favorites, this sign portrays proper mic technique, saying: “do not speak into the top of the mic! Tilt it up!” The same station also had a […]