SF's Pirate Cat Radio Goes Legit in Deal with KPDO in Pescadero
In an interesting turn of events, San Francisco’s Pirate Cat Radio (PCR) will be providing programming for a new full power FM community radio station down the coast in Pescadero that is launching tomorrow. Fined by the FCC for broadcasting over FM without a license, Pirate Cat Radio has been operating as a web-only station […]
In search of better scrobbling: Some recent improvements to Last.fm
After announcing some changes to their “scrobbler API” last week, the developers at Last.fm have decided to pay closer attention to user feedback on their blog, various discussion forums, and “elsewhere.” As a result, Last.fm recently announced a series of improvements to their website in an article titled “The artist feedback loop” on the blog […]
College Radio Again Takes a Backseat in FCC's Latest Batch of FM Licenses
As Paul reported earlier today, the FCC just announced the names of 26 groups to be awarded new full power non-commercial educational FM radio licenses. As was the case back in February, when 57 licenses were awarded, college radio is poorly represented amongst all of the applicants and winners (PDF). Not having the funding of […]
Decision time coming for Sirius XM vs. WCS bands
The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will issue a Report and Order with coexistence rules for Sirius XM (SIRI) and the Wireless Communications Services band at its next Open Commission meeting, scheduled for May 20: “WCS-SDARS Report and Order: A Report and Order that enables robust mobile broadband use of 25 MHz of spectrum […]
FCC Awards Another 26 Full-Power NonComm FM Licenses
The FCC has released the winners of another twenty-six full-power noncommercial FM broadcast licenses from the 2007 application window [PDFs: 1, 2]. Like the fifty-seven licenses announced in February, the winners in this set were chosen from amongst two or more mutually-exclusive applications. The Commission uses a point system to judge which group should receive […]
Spain Planning a Pirate Radio Crackdown
For Americans it may be hard to believe that Spain only this year passed a law that gives a new Spanish central radio authority the ability to pursue and shut down unlicensed radio broadcasters. Back in January the Spanish radio industry group AERC complained that 3000 pirate stations are operating in the country and need […]
More than Half of Rolling Stone Readers Still Listen to Music Radio
The new issue of Rolling Stone now on newsstands features “40 Reasons To Be Excited About Music.” Though I might argue with a lot of the reasons (Black Eyed Peas are reason #1?!), I’m pretty convinced by #40: “Because You Really Like Music.” One of the factoids backing up that claim is the breakdown of […]
FCC Warning to Worcester Unlicensed Station Is Indicator of Big New England Pirate Scene
Worcester, Massachusset’s unlicensed Flava 105.5 has received some mostly positive press coverage recently for its focus on underserved Caribbean populations in the area. Probably not coincidentally, about two weeks after it appeared in the local newspaper the FCC issued the station a Notice of Unlicensed Operation (NOUO) ordering it to cease broadcasting immediately. In a […]
Website Campaigns to Keep the Public in Public Radio
My pal John Anderson at DIYmedia.net alerts us to a new group blog written by some fellow radio survivors who intend to hold public radio’s feet to the fire, called Keeping the Public in Public Radio (KTPIPR). Featuring the contributions of public radio supporters, authors and broadcasters, the site is covering the changing landscape of […]
Sirius XM accuses wireless companies of "warehousing" spectrum next door to satellite radio
The great accusation fest which is the struggle between Sirius XM (SIRI) satellite radio and a host of wireless companies went to its next round on Friday, with Sirius accusing the companies of “warehousing” their licenses nearby the service’s bandwidth: “There can be little question that WCS [Wireless Communications Service] licensees have warehoused spectrum in hopes of […]