Podcast #37 – Preservation, Pirates, and Radionomy
On this week’s show we hear about efforts to preserve radio’s past, and the FCC’s letter writing campaign intended to undermine pirate operators. Jennifer Waits joins to talk about the Library of Congress’ recent Radio Preservation Task Force conference. She explains why preservation efforts provide not just an important record of radio’s past, but also […]
FCC Weighing the End of Clear Channel AM Stations
As the first round of AM stations get a shot at having translator repeaters on the FM dial, the FCC’s AM revitalization proceeding is still not completely resolved. There are still several questions that the Commission is accepting comments on, until March 21. Broadcast attorney David Oxenford presents a very thorough rundown of these issues […]
Radio 2.0: Uploading the First Broadcast Medium
My third book about radio is scheduled to be released on March 31 by its publisher, ABC-CLIO. It is titled Radio 2.0: uploading the first broadcast medium. The writer Susie Bright has already noticed its release via her Twitter account. The press has a very nice page for the small tome on its website. I […]
College Radio Watch: Preserving College Radio’s History at the RPTF Conference
I’m back from my whirlwind East Coast travels, which included numerous radio station tours and the Radio Preservation Task Force‘s inaugural conference: “Saving America’s Radio Heritage: Radio Preservation, Access, and Education” at the Library of Congress and University of Maryland. The two-day conference was a wonderful opportunity to talk radio with an incredible roster of […]
LPFM Watch: Construction Permits in Louisiana and Texas, Plus More Guel-Related Dismissals
During my East Coast travels last week, I met up with folks from two new low power FM (LPFM) radio stations. During one of the visits, I was peppered with questions about community radio and it was suggested that Radio Survivor publish some pieces about what makes for a good community radio station. In a […]
Major Labels Sue Internet Radio Platform Radionomy for Copyright Infringement
Another major threat to small and medium sized internet radio stations has surfaced. As Torrent Freak first reported Tuesday, on February 26 four major recording labels filed suit in federal court against internet radio platform Radionomy, charging that the company engaged in copyright infringement. The plaintiffs–Arista Records, LaFace Records, Sony Music and Zomba Records–allege that […]
Sound Advice: 5 Ways New LPFMs Can Build Community Support Today
This might surprise you, but I spend quite a bit of time thinking about how community-focused broadcasters (and podcasters, for that matter) can create healthy organizations that result in amazing programming. Part of this requires shaking off decades-old assumptions about community radio, as well as embracing the challenges of today’s media environment. Many of my […]
Podcast #36 – Why Radio Is Like a 1980s Mall & Podcasters Are the Punk Rockers
We have some follow-up on our coverage of the 20th anniversary of Telecommunications Act of 1996. We share a listener email that challenges our FCC history by pointing out how radio deregulation got its foothold at the commission before Ronald Reagan even took office. We discuss how radio went from serving audiences to becoming more […]
Marking Network Neutrality’s First Anniversary
Friday was the one-year anniversary of the FCC’s Open Internet Order, which established strong network neutrality rules in the U.S., in part by reclassifying internet service as a public utility. As Public Knowledge’s Meredith Whipple observes, “despite the clamoring of the ISPs that Title II would be the end of times, the Internet ecosystem is […]
Women, community radio, and the struggle against Ebola and Zika
There’s a great interview up on SoundCloud with Anne Bennett, director of Hirodelle USA, which supports community based radio projects across Africa. I transcribed some of Bennett’s comments, which she made during a World Radio Day conference in London. They focused on how to get public health information out to women that women will regard as credible, […]