Radio Station Visit #122 – WYBF at Cabrini University
My trip to Cabrini University’s college radio station WYBF was a long-time coming. Located on Philadelphia’s main line in Radnor, Pennsylvania, WYBF has shared an FM channel with WXVU at nearby Villanova University since 1991. I’d known of this time-share arrangement for many years and my own alma mater station WHRC had even made attempts […]
College Radio Watch: College Radio Symposium at University of Virginia and More News
On March 17, I’ll be speaking at the WTJU/WXTJ-hosted symposium “College Radio: Then, Now, and Next” at the University of Virginia. Specifically, I’ll touch on the history of college radio as well as the state of college radio today. I’m excited to connect with friends, colleagues, and representatives from other college radio stations and am […]
Podcast #83 – How AM Revitalization Pressures LPFM
Advice for LPFM stations and podcasters this week. A recent rule change at the FCC allows more AM stations to get repeaters on the FM dial, but may put unnecessary pressure on existing low-power FM stations. Paul and Eric discuss this situation and what LPFM stations may need to do in response, along with the […]
Radio Station Visit #121 – Solar-Powered LPFM KUHS-LP in Hot Springs, Arkansas
My grand tour of Arkansas radio stations concluded with a trip to see KUHS-LP in Hot Springs. Host of the 2016 Grassroots Radio Conference (GRC), KUHS-LP is a new, solar-powered low power FM (LPFM) station, having launched over 97.9 FM in August, 2015. As far as field trips, my visit to KUHS was different from […]
1951: Uncle Sam produces military training film on independent radio
It is beyond me why The United States Army produced a documentary on running an independent radio station in 1951, but here you have it. “Also serving the public,” the film notes, “are radio stations without networks. Typical is this small independent station in New York.” The “typical” indie station the Army focused on was […]
College Radio Watch: WSOU Burrito, Praise for College Radio from Social Distortion Founder and More News
On the podcast this week, we talked about the uncertainty at CMJ and pontificated on why charts can be useful to radio stations and the music industry, including record labels, promoters and bands. I was thinking about those connections as I read musician Mike Ness’ statements about the importance of college radio in a Boulder […]
Radio Station Visit #120 – KABF in Little Rock, Arkansas
When I arrived at community radio station KABF in Little Rock, Arkansas on the afternoon of October 7, 2016, I was embarking on my fifth radio station visit in a 24-hour period. A bit delirious from my cross-country and cross-state travels, I became immediately re-energized after spotting a trio of friends waiting for me outside […]
Podcast #82 – Busting Myths & Counting Charts
Conventional wisdom says young people don’t listen to the radio. Jennifer Waits talks to two college broadcasters from KUOZ-LP at the University of the Ozarks who bust that myth. She also takes us on a tour of a new community LPFM, KPSQ-LP, located in a hotel in Fayetteville, AR. But first, Paul and Jennifer discuss […]
The ‘Right’ Voices
I recently rediscovered a National Public Radio (NPR) article that addressed a 2014 study by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on ‘Public Attitudes and Understanding’ of ‘Science and Technology’ in which only 74% of those surveyed thought that the Earth orbits the Sun. To rephrase and reframe that statement, that’s approximately 26% of the population of the United […]
College Radio Watch: What’s up with CMJ Charts and More News
For at least the past year there have been more regular grumblings about the status of CMJ and this week Pitchfork is reporting that, “For the second week in a row, CMJ has not published its weekly college radio charts, calling into question the fate of an institution that has tracked the music played by college stations around […]