College/community radio music shows: the art of taking risks
If you host a music show at a college or community radio station, how far off the beaten path should you go when choosing songs? That was one of the topics addressed at the Great Music Programs workshop sponsored by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters conference, held in San Francisco earlier this month. I […]
Happy Birthday, Radio Survivor (we’re two!)
This weekend, Radio Survivor embarked on the Terrible Twos. On June 11, 2009 we posted our first story on Low Power FM radio. Jennifer Waits, Paul Riismandel, and I have been blogging away ever since. 24 months later, our mission is the same. We see ourselves as critical advocates for participatory radio—community, public, college, Low […]
Maritime Radio Historian to Offer Rare Tour of Coastal Station on June 11
Back in January I took an amazing tour through the radio collection of the San Francisco Maritime Museum. Led by Bill Ruck, a maritime radio historian and chief engineer of college radio station KUSF, the tour took the 20 or so visitors through the normally off-limits radio artifacts housed at Aquatic Park. Tomorrow, Ruck will […]
FCC: local Internet radio journalism faces steep climb
Internet radio has transformed radio, the Federal Communications Commission’s new report on media observes. But it isn’t clear whether the medium’s economics will facilitate the growth of local online radio journalism. There are two economic/technological impediments, the FCC’s newly released Information Needs of Communities notes. First, bandwidth costs—a problem we’ve discussed here as well: “We […]
KUSF Studio Dismantled Prematurely While Sale of College Radio Station Awaits FCC Approval
Just four months after University of San Francisco (USF) pulled the plug on KUSF’s terrestrial broadcast, the former KUSF studio in Phelan Hall has been dismantled. When I stopped by the station on May 17, DJs were still broadcasting from the now online-only KUSF.org. I was told that May 18th would be the final day […]
Nashville Public Radio to Buy Vanderbilt College Radio Station WRVU for Use as Classical 91.1
Today is the day that supporters of college radio at Vanderbilt University have been dreading. After yesterday’s news leak that the call letters to beloved college radio station WRVU had been changed to WFCL, official word came today that the station is in the process of being sold to Nashville Public Radio for $3.35 million […]
86-year-old WDOD Shuts Down and Turns AM License Back to FCC
I know a lot of people who would love to have a terrestrial broadcasting license, so it seemed odd to me when I read about a Chattanooga radio station turning its license back to the FCC. Why on earth would a station opt to dispense with their license when there are so many entities out […]
New Jersey getting out of the “Soviet” public radio business
Sandwiched between the large media markets of Philadelphia and New York City, New Jersey has always had a tough time staking out a unique media identity. Of particular concern has been the ability to have good news state news coverage not dominated by the two adjacent metroplexes. The state of New Jersey has had a […]
Bad Few Weeks for College Radio at WXLV, WJMF and WRVU
It’s shaping up to be a really weird and sad couple of weeks for college radio news. Two weeks ago I wrote about the possibility that college radio station WXLV at Lehigh Carbon Community College is up for sale. On Friday I reported that Bryant University’s college radio station WJMF was moving off the FM […]
WRVU’s Call Letters Changed to WFCL Sparking College Radio Station Sale Rumors
It can’t be a good sign when a college radio station that’s rumored to be for sale secretly changes its call letters during summer break. Well, that’s what happened on June 1 to Vanderbilt University’s student radio station WRVU, according to a report on CMJ today. FCC records indicate that on June 1, 2011 the […]