NPR’s top ten jazz songs (and mine)
NPR asked its jazz listeners to rate their favorite songs, and gleaned from those responses a list of the top ten Jazz songs of all time[1]. What is interesting about the lists is not that they can establish what is “best,” whatever that might mean, or what is most popular (sales records, etcetera, show that). Looking at […]
Spotify Radio redo is part of new app
Spotify‘s radio feature has so far seemed like an afterthought. Ostensibly it was based on the same idea as Pandora–you pick an artist and then Spotify picks songs by other artists that are similar. In my tests of the feature I found that the picks were pretty narrow and repetitive, with the same artist cropping […]
2011: the year that Internet radio went social
2011 was supposed to be the Pandora Takeoff Moment—the year that Pandora went public and solidified its absolute, total dominance over Internet radio and music streaming. And coming out of the starting gate in February, it sure looked like that was going to happen. Pandora’s S-1 form noted that it had registered 80 million users […]
Live Radio Drama on Stage for the Holidays
During the winter holidays there’s an increased amount of nostalgia for radio drama. A number of theater groups and music groups are doing special radio-themed performances in the coming weeks all over the United States, many of which are adaptions of the holiday favorite “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Our friends at Seattle Radio Theater have […]
Monterey Bay area talk radio station harvesting bitter KGO listeners
More fallout from Bay Area talk radio signal KGO 810 AM’s move to cancel some of the station’s most popular on air talent. A demonstration against the purge is planned for Thursday. And Santa Cruz based talk station KSCO has extended an open invitation to all dumped KGO hosts to come over to the locally […]
NY Times attempts to view broadcasters’ public inspection files, encounters confusion and resistance
Spurred on by the FCC’s proposal to create an online public inspection file for television broadcasters, reporter Meredith Hoffman at the New York Times decided to check out the paper public files at a variety of New York City broadcasters, both TV and radio. Not surprisingly, but still disappointingly, the reporter encountered puzzled receptionists and […]
College Radio News Round-up: Moves, Upgrades, and Launches amid College Radio “Crisis”
In the past few weeks a number of college radio participants have written pieces for their local papers reflecting not only on the current challenges facing college radio, but also on the ongoing relevance of their stations. I’d agree that 2011 has been a rough year for college radio, with a number of stations disappearing […]
Holiday gifts for the Radio Survivor: Paul’s recommended gear
Following up on Jennifer’s well-rounded radio gift guide and Matthew’s essential recommendations for radio books, I’ve assembled a list of gear I recommend to enhance the radio listening experience, from broadcast to internet. I have tried everything on this list, and many of these items are in my personal stash of audio equipment. Amazon.com Widgets […]
Talk radio lovers Facebook and Tweet pain over KGO host bloodbath
I was expecting a Facebook page to pop up following the dismissal of a small battalion of popular hosts over at San Francisco’s KGO Newstalk 810. But two Facebook pages? Now that’s impressive. The first (or at least the first to come to our attention) is Former Listeners of KGO Radio Newstalk 810. Its info […]
Family Radio to Sell WKDN to Merlin Media for $22.5 Million
Christian radio conglomerate Family Radio is in the process of selling off radio stations in 2 major markets. On the heels of its November sale of WFSI 107.9 FM in Annapolis, Maryland to CBS for $8.5 million (Family Radio programming left the station’s airwaves last Thursday, December 1), paperwork was accepted for filing by the […]