Hey Mister Radio Man: National Jukebox posts early song about broadcasting
“Little broken-hearted Sammy,” the tune begins: Sitting on his daddy’s knee Listening to the radio But his heart was aching so Alas, Sammy’s mother has died, the song explains, and so when his father falls asleep, the boy turns to the device for solace: Mister Radio Man Tell my mammy to come back home Won’t […]
Did NPR go off the deep end over Yellowstone Park’s bears?
NPR is wondering out loud about an interview suggesting that climate change may be depleting the natural food supply for bears at Yellowstone National Park, causing them to attack and kill people. Global warming is reducing the production of fish and pine nuts, thus prompting hungry bears to assault several campers last year. That was […]
Prometheus Radio Spreads the Word about LPFM with Radio Summer
This summer there will be plenty of opportunities to not only learn about how to build your own radio station (see Paul’s post about Free Radio Berkeley’s “Build Your Own Radio Station” summer camp), but there will also be events focused on spreading the word about low power FM (LPFM) and upcoming opportunities for those […]
KUSF in Exile Hits Terrestrial Airwaves over WFMU
While those opposing the sale of University of San Francisco’s college radio station KUSF continue to apply pressure to the FCC and the University of San Francisco in hopes of preventing the transfer of the college radio station to Classical Public Radio Network; former KUSF DJs are maintaining their broadcasting chops out of temporary digs […]
Build your own FM transmitter at Free Radio Berkeley’s Summer Radio Camp
Although Free Radio Berkeley has not been an operational radio station for over a decade, founder Stephen Dunifer continues to champion the cause of unlicensed micropower radio. In this spirit FRB just announced its 2011 schedule of summer radio camps. Each camp is a four-day workshop where participants learn to build a 10- or 40-watt […]
Radio Heroes in Tuscaloosa Aid Tornado Survivors
On April 27, a massive tornado hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, devastating entire neighborhoods. Parts of the city’s basic infrastructure were damaged and power outages were rampant. As was the case following natural disasters in other parts of the world (such as the earthquake in Haiti), radio has been a lifeline for residents of Tuscaloosa. WVUA-FM at […]
NPR crunches its Israel/Palestine conflict story numbers
NPR has released an exhaustive audit of its Israel/Palestine dispute coverage for the first quarter of this year. Since NPR doesn’t do public audits of its environmental, mobile phone, or country music coverage, I’m guessing that the review reflects the fact that anything you write about the Israel/Palestine subject is grist for the protest mill […]
College Radio DJs from California Convene at KCSB for UCRN Conference
Over the weekend I road-tripped to Santa Barbara for the University of California Radio Network’s (UCRN) spring conference. Held at University of California, Santa Barbara’s college radio station KCSB, the event brought together radio station advisors, staff members, and DJs from (for the most part) University of California-affiliated college radio stations. Held twice a year, […]
FCC probe of Arbitron Portable People Meter is over
The Federal Communications Commission has called off its investigation of Arbitron’s controversial Portable People Meter. The PPM gadget replaced Arbitron’s old diary system, in which users jotted down their radio preferences. Instead they wear PPM’s like pagers, which listen to the signals in the consumer’s immediate vicinity. A group of minority media advocates, the PPM […]
Mellon Foundation kicking in a grant to buy Duquense University’s WDUQ
Luckily this is not another story about a student-run station being sold by its college. Instead, it’s about a public station being sold to another public radio group. WDUQ is Duquesne University’s public station in Pittsburgh, PA, airing much of the typical NPR news programming along with about 100 hours of jazz a week. Duquesne […]