In which I launch the Hybrid Highbrow podcast . . .
Hybrid Highbrow podcast #1 is out! Ta daaaaa! The maiden episode focuses on the similarities between two early 20th-century “talking machine” singers: blues shouter Mamie Smith and opera star Enrico Caruso. Both sang in the middle ranges, alto and tenor, rather than the high or low registers. This made them perfect for acoustic recording. Both […]
Podcast #97: PhillyCAM’s LPFM in the City of Brotherly Love
Intrepid radio tourist Jennifer Waits reports back from her journey to PhillyCAM radio in the City of Brotherly Love, adding a low-power FM station, WPPM-LP, to an established public access TV operation. Following up on episode #96 we catch up on the latest smart speaker research and Jennifer shares news about two college stations sold […]
College Radio Watch: Weber State to Sell KWCR License to EMF, WUMD’s final days of FM and More News
I was interested to learn that public radio station WGBH has launched a radio show focused on higher education. According to WGBH, the June 18 pilot episode of “On Campus Radio” discusses “the nature of free speech on campus.” One story digs into examples from Wellesley, “where conservative professors are trying to burst the liberal […]
LPFM Stations Get a Boost
For the first time, the FCC just granted booster stations to two LPFMs in California. Like the name implies, a booster helps a station to fill in parts of its broadcast area where geographic impediments–like hills or mountains–prevent the signal from being received well where it otherwise should be heard. Unlike a translator repeater station, […]
‘Radio Silence’ – 10-Part Series Explores Iraq & Its Displacements
“Radio Silence” is a ten-part radio event from Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz that will launch on July 29 with a live performance on Independence Mall in Philadelphia. The series returns famed Iraqi broadcast journalist Bahjat Adulawahed to the airwaves, along with the talents of Iraqi refugees, Iraq War veterans, musicians and performers, to frame the […]
Lost and Found on One Radio Day in 1939
A nineteen hour tape of an entire day’s radio broadcast of WJSV in Washington DC is available via Hoopla. The day is September 21, 1939, a day in which Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech to congress asking it to amend the Neutrality Act so he could aid the allies as World War II had begun.
Podcast #96 – Are Smart Speakers Smart for Community Radio?
Amazon Echo. Google Home. And soon, Apple’s HomePod. Smart speakers are quickly taking up residence in homes. Taking voice commands to deliver news, weather, music and more, they play a very radio-like role in people’s daily routine. Radio journalist Brian Edwards-Tiekert joins to explain what these speakers can do, what they can’t, and what the […]
A quick tour of Thrillhouse records in San Francisco
There are all kinds of reasons why I love my neighborhood in San Francisco, and Thrillhouse Records is definitely one of them. It is an excellent little community based record store situated on Mission and 30th street, just below the climb up to scenic Bernal Heights. Thrillhouse describes itself as so: “Thrillhouse Records a volunteer […]
College Radio Watch: Radio Camp, the Most Veteran College Radio DJ? and More News
Over the past few weeks, my social media feed has been packed with graduation photos, ranging from preschool to college. Although we are still a week away from summer solstice, the end of the school year launches the seasonal break for many people, including college radio stations. Some stations are preparing to go silent for […]
Podcast #95 – Mixcloud Can Be Community Radio, Too
After covering the comeback of the live streaming radio platform Live365 two episodes ago, listeners asked us to check out MixCloud, which offers free streaming of music radio shows, DJ sets, mixtapes and podcasts for anyone, including radio stations and independent producers. So this week we talk with Xanthe Fuller, Head of Community for Mixcloud. […]