This Concise History of LPFM in the U.S. Is a Must-Read
Most press coverage of low-power FM focuses on particular stations, or the flourishing of the medium in the last half-decade. Not unexpectedly, rarely do articles delve into the deep history, which goes all the way back to 1948, with mileposts in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s, leading up the FCC’s eventual creation of the […]
140 Stations Celebrate Vinylthon this Saturday
It started in college radio and now is sweeping stations around the world. No, I’m not talking about R.E.M. It’s Vinylthon! This Saturday, April 13 – which, not coincidentally, happens to be Record Store Day – 140 stations will feature programming with only vinyl records, some going all day long. The ones that clock in […]
Podcast #188 – Hip-Hop Radio Archive (rebroadcast)
The Hip-Hop Radio Archive aims to digitize, preserve, share, and contextualize recordings of hip-hop radio from the 1980s and 1990s from commercial, college, community, and pirate stations of all sizes, telling the stories of the shows and the people that made them. Our guest is founder of the archive, Ryan MacMichael. This is a rebroadcast […]
College Radio Watch: Moonies, Nirvana, and Trent Reznor’s College Radio Ties
This week, so many fascinating college radio stories caught my eye. We learn about college radio’s profound influence on music culture in the 1980s and 1990s in a piece about the marketing of Nirvana as well as in Trent Reznor’s recent speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Reznor explains that college radio […]
Podcast #187 – Archiving LGBTQ Radio History
This week our guest is Brian DeShazor, an independent radio researcher and founder of the Queer Radio Research Project. Formerly the Director of the Pacifica Radio Archives, DeShazor has taken a special interest in uncovering and highlighting the LGBTQ voices that have graced the community radio airwaves. On the episode, we discuss the history of […]
How to turn your FBI surveillance into a radio show
As some of you know, I study and teach two subjects in depth: the history of broadcasting and the history of the USA National Security State. These two topics merge when the objects of government wiretaps realize that they are being listened to, then make strategic comments or even entertain their eavesdroppers. At this point […]
Podcast #186 – African-American Preachers on Wax
On this week’s episode, scholar Lerone Martin shares with us the fascinating history of African-American preachers who distributed their sermons on 78rpm records during a time when they had limited access to the radio in the 1920s-1940s. Martin, Associate Professor in Religion and Politics at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at […]
College Radio Watch: WCWM Comes Back from Water Damage and More News
I was sad to read about college radio station WCWM’s troubles after a burst pipe in its building led to major damage last summer. When I visited the College of William and Mary radio station in 2017, I was amazed by the historical materials in its basement home, including an impressive collection of very old […]
Radio Station Visit #154: Mercer Island High School Radio Station KMIH-FM
Mercer Island High School radio station, KMIH is the third in a trio of high school radio stations that I visited while in Seattle in October, 2018. First licensed in 1970, KMIH holds a class D FM license, currently over 88.9 FM in Mercer Island, Washington. Hand-made KMIH poster. Photo: J. Waits Founded in 1969, […]
Podcast #185 – Funding Change Threatens Canadian Community Radio Stations
A change in Ontario university funding rules threatens more than a dozen campus community stations in Canada. Barry Rooke, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association is our guest to help explain the situation. He explains how the structure of Canadian community and college radio stations differs from those in the U.S. […]