The five things I do when I hear weird music on the radio
Not long ago I was driving down the San Francisco Bay Area’s Highway 280 and listening to Foothills Junior College’s KFJC-FM, and some really weird music came on. I tried to get what it was from the deejay’s back-announce commentary, but got distracted by traffic. Anyway, it sounded like Karlheinz Stockhausen’s piece for String Quartet […]
Pandora: 10 billion happy thumbs served
It ain’t 245 billion hamburgers, but Pandora’s Tim Westergren says that the ten billionth person to click the “happy thumb” on a Pandora tune has done so. “Just over a week ago, on Sunday, April 24th at 4:46pm, ‘Ridin’ Solo’ by Jason DeRulo received Pandora’s 10 billionth thumb. 10 BILLION…wow!,” Westergren notes in his latest […]
The mediageek’s advice for college stations, part 2: No more elitism — Recruit, recruit, recruit
The theme of part 1 of this series, posted last week, was ensuring that your college station works to be valuable to your school, and is also recognized by the campus for this value. Part 2 follows in this theme by focusing on the most important aspect of this: keeping students involved in college radio. […]
NPR statistical snapshot: a moderate/liberal news service
Over the last three weeks NPR has released some interesting statistical data about itself through its Ombudsman’s office. The data bolsters common knowledge, that NPR’s politics are moderate-to-liberal. Here is a summary of the revelations. Listeners First, the plurality of NPR listeners identify themselves as liberal, but a considerable percentage see themselves as either “conservative” […]
Public FCC Files on the Chopping Block
Just in time for the start of the latest radio station license-renewal cycle, the FCC opens up for question the notion of abolishing the public file requirement for broadcasters. This is not a self-imposed initiative: it is a consideration the agency is mandated to make, courtesy of the Paperwork Reduction Act. It requires regulatory agencies […]
Common Frequency Event Brings Together Community and College Stations for Education and Discussions on Future of Radio
On Saturday I headed out to Davis, California for a full day of radio immersion thanks to Common Frequency. I’ve been a fan of Common Frequency for awhile, so it was great to be able to not only learn more about their organization, but also meet some of the radio groups who they are helping. […]
Public station rewards donors with pledge-free web stream
I am a monthly donor to my local public radio station so that I don’t even have call in during its pledge drives — they’ve already got my donation. So despite their attempts to make the morning drive pledge pitches compelling, by the second or third day I turn the station off in the morning […]
College Radio News Roundup: Budget Woes, Anniversaries, Festivals, Awards, Radio Reunion and Rebranding
In addition to the lengthier stories that we’ve been running about saving college radio lately, I also wanted to share a few other recent college radio-related articles, many of which provide a more optimistic perspective on the state of student radio. Here are a few reports from the scene: Budget Woes at WMUC The past […]
Pacifica radio donations up, but board/governance costs soar
There’s good news in the Pacifica radio network’s latest financial audit. Listener donations to the five listener supported radio station non-profit rose in 2010 from their catastrophic drop of almost $4 million between 2008 and 2009. The donation total was $10,585,979 in 2010, up from $9,808,729 in 2009. That doesn’t compensate, of course, for the […]
The mediageek’s advice for college stations, part 1: Be true to your school
Having followed Jennifer’s first-rate coverage of the unfortunate sales of college stations KTRU, WRVU[apologies for the error, WRVU has not been sold, but it is under threat] and KUSF I’ve been giving a lot of thought as to how college stations solidify themselves. As some readers may be aware, in addition to fourteen years of […]