I was sad to hear that radio DJ/Negativland member Don Joyce passed away yesterday. As a fan of freeform radio, sound collage, and experimental sounds, I’m awed by the longevity of Joyce’s KPFA radio show “Over the Edge,” which has been on the air since 1981. Thanks to Joyce’s friend and Negativland co-conspirator Peter Conheim […]
On this episode Dr. Christopher Terry from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee tells us how the FCC has fumbled its updates of media ownership regulation for a dozen years, and why that’s important. We also learn why community radio and independent musicians should care that NPR has left the MIC coalition, a lobbying group targeting music […]
Michael Gaines contacted us after doing some research about the potential for very low power FM radio–something under 100 watts, but higher than the milliwatts permissible for unlicensed Part 15 transmissions. After an email exchange on the topic–which revealed we both worked at the same college radio station in New Jersey–I encouraged Michael to share […]
The first low-power FM construction permits of the month were issued in the last week–three of them, to be precise. Two are in Florida, and one in California. That brings the grand total to 1,871 LPFM applications approved from the 2013 licensing window. One grantee had its request to cancel its construction permit finalized by […]
A report from a committee of advisers to struggling community radio station KUSP in Santa Cruz, California, offers an updated overview of the signal’s financial situation. “There has been a focus in the public discussions on the NPR cost, with the mistaken assumption that the cost of NPR programs was the primary contributor to the […]
No new low-power FM construction permits were issued this past week, which, of course, had a holiday weekend probably slowing down the works. However, the FCC did release its quarterly count of broadcast stations in the US. Not surprisingly–especially if you keep up with LPFM Watch–the radio service with the biggest increase in the second […]
When it comes to funding community radio stations, Zambia’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services can only offer some friendly advice: good luck with all that. “Let me make it very clear that it will not be possible for Government to fund community radio stations,” the Zambia Daily Mail quotes Chishimba Kambwili as saying. “Already we […]
The United Kingdom is so famous for its pirate radio stations that Hollywood made a movie about one. But as always the government is quite dour about these unlicensed signals, and has shut 400 of them down recently, according to a newspaper report. The London Evening Standard says that a quarter of the crackdowns over […]
I just noticed a great piece on REC Networks, “The Six Segments of LPFM,” which outlines the wide array of groups that hold licenses for low power FM (LFPM) radio stations. As we’ve been following the growth of LPFM, particularly after the 2013 application window, I have been interested to learn more about stations in […]
An advisory group to the Parliament of Botswana has unanimously endorsed the establishment of community radio stations in that southern African country to “mitigate communication breakdown between Dikgosi and their communities.” Dikgosi is the plural for Kgosi, a Setswana word for tribal chief. The problem, as the advisory board Ntlo ya Dikgosi sees it, is that […]
