Greed and Consolidation Trigger Another Bankruptcy in Radioland
On Friday the Wall Street Journal reported news that’s no surprise to radio industry watchers, that the third largest radio owners in the country, Citadel Communications, is about to declare bankruptcy in a deal pre-arranged with its creditors. The loudest critic of Citadel has been industry-insider Jerry Del Colliano who predicted last week that the […]
High School Radio's Star Stations
Last month I had the pleasure of visiting WGBK-FM, a high school radio station in suburban Chicago. This was my very first trip to see a station run by teens and I was thrilled to witness young people doing radio. Not only were they working as DJs on standard music shows, but they were also […]
Home Star Runner explains radio
I still think the last word on explaining radio genres goes to Strong Bad of the Home Star Runner series. Listen and loin:
Survey: A third of Brits listen to Internet radio
A British audience research firm says that one out of every three adults in the United Kingdom “now claims to have listened to the radio via the internet.” “Claims”? Reading UK audience research takes a little getting used to. There’s a skepticism for the subject cohort that you don’t find in the United States. In […]
DJs in Peril: Radio Horror on Film
I’m one of those geeks who does TiVo searches using “radio” as my key word in order to ensure that I’m not missing an interesting radio-themed pop cultural moment. For some reason this week’s television listings offered up a bounty of radio nuggets, from the classic 1990 teen angst film Pump Up the Volume, to […]
NPR goes Android, launches new mobile site
Android users will now be able to access the full range of National Public Radio programming thanks to a new app – “NPR News.” The feature for the open source smart phone was built for NPR by Google developer and public radio fan Michael Fredrick. In addition, NPR has launched a new site for mobile […]
Chicago Public Radio Calls Out LPTV Stations Exploiting Backdoor to FM Dial
Far outside the view of the general public, the virtual cratediggers of the FCC’s electronic recesses like Matthew and myself are sometimes privy to the little slap-fights that go on between broadcasters. In this case things are getting a little heated over the far left end of the FM dial, with a prominent public radio […]
Early termination fees – an issue for mobile radio?
Four United States Senators are on the warpath over the Early Termination Fees that wireless services charge if you duck out before the completion of the contract. Their Cell Phone Early Termination Fee, Transparency and Fairness Act would bar carriers from charging ETFs that exceed the price break on the phone you get for accepting […]
How 'Teenager Party' helped bring down the Iron Curtain
It was 1958, and the staff of Radio Free Europe pondered what to do next. The CIA funded broadcasting service was still reeling from the disastrous Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The United States had encouraged Hungary to revolt against Communist domination, then did nothing when the Soviet Union crushed the uprising. RFE took much of […]
Vinyl-Only Show on Commercial Radio Station WRXP
If I were ever to be interviewed for my own “Radio Obsessives” series on Radio Survivor, the topic would no doubt be my Spinning Indie Radio Station Field Trip project. Since April 2008 I’ve visited 20 different radio stations, ranging from tiny online-only college stations like WECB, to renowned community radio station WFMU outside of […]