What do Paris Hilton, Rob Lowe and Ira Glass have in common?
The answer: a leaked sex tape. It’s been making the rounds of the blogosphere this week. And if you keep your NPR affiliate on all day long, or load your iPhone up with This American Life and Planet Money podcasts, then this is the sex tape you’ve been waiting for. Or not. OK, it’s not […]
WFMU to salute “radio superheroes”
WFMU has announced the details of its Radiovision festival, scheduled for October 28, 29, and 30. The event includes a Saturday “origin stories” panel featuring Ira Glass, Marc Maron, and Tom Scharpling. “The best comic book superheroes all have great origin stories,” WFMU’s blog explains. “We are kicking things off with a discussion about Origin […]
Peculiar Russian shortwave numbers station is an unlikely internet star
Anyone who has spent some quality time scanning the shortwave radio bands has likely come upon what are known as numbers stations. To the uninitiated the stations air what the name describes, someone reading of a sequence of numbers. They can be in any language, but most commonly are in English, Spanish or Russian. They […]
eMusic’s semi-curated approach to internet radio – a review of eMusic Radio
eMmusic is an online music store that pretty much pioneered the sale of unprotected MP3 music tracks in the early 2000s. The site has gone through ownership and business model changes over the years, shifting from its original monthly all-you-can-download plan to a number-of-tracks a month, and finally to the current X dollars a month […]
The college radio “guerillas” who made NPR possible
College Radio Day has come and gone, but I’d like to add a historic footnote to the festivities. College radio broadcasters in the 1960s convinced Congress to fund radio as well as television in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. Without that campaign, it is unlikely that NPR would exist. The story is beautifully told […]
6 Things You Should do to Support College Radio on College Radio Day
Today marks the first annual College Radio Day. More than 350 stations all over the United States and Canada have signed up to participate. The concept’s fairly simple, it’s a day when people are encouraged to tune in to college radio and the goal is increasing awareness of the amazing range of stations based at […]
Podcast Prowler: ‘casts for the radio nerd
Podcasts don’t have to be an alternative to radio, they can make a great complement to radio, too. Not to get all meta on you, but as a certifiable radio nerd I’ve enjoyed many podcasts about radio for many years. I recently discovered a new one which prompted me to share my list of radio-centric […]
Rdio challenges Pandora, Spotfiy and last.fm with ad-free music stream
Rdio is a year-old entrant into the online music streaming marketplace, offering a Spotify-like experience that allows listeners to choose the exact artist, albums and songs they want to hear. Founded by the creators of Skype, Rdio previously had been a subscription-only service with only a seven-day free trial period. On Thursday the company announced […]
Occupy Wall Street occupies the airwaves, too
This post by John Anderson originally appeared at DIYmedia.net and is republished here by permission. Two decades ago, thousands of people took to the air without permission from the FCC to protest the agency’s draconian policies regarding access to the airwaves. The microradio movement conducted a campaign of electronic civil disobedience, demonstrating that there was […]
L.A. Theater Works recreates Hill/Thomas hearings on 20th anniversary
If you’re looking for politically charged radio drama, LA Theater Works has what you need this week. The dramatic group has released audio versions of two hot button issue plays: Unquestioned Integrity: the Hill/Thomas Hearings, and Atwater: Fixin’ to Die. It’s hard to believe that it has been twenty years since law professor Anita Hill […]