It can be challenging to track down the history of specific college radio stations and I often find interesting tidbits while doing online research. In the course of my research, I ran across a couple of sources from the early 1970s that point to the state of college radio at the time. As I’m ensconced […]
The first new low-power FM construction permit since January has been issued, to Wimberly Texan Radio, in Wimberly, TX. Also, in the last two weeks 18 new LPFMs have received their licenses. There was one interesting dismissal from an applicant that the FCC determined was associated with an unlicensed station. As discovered and reported to […]
We dig into the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision on new royalty payments for internet radio, looking for clues about the future of small and medium-sized webcasters. In our final review of the 20th anniversary of the Telecom Act of 1996, Matthew Lasar explains how the Act and the political environment of the time affected community […]
Awhile back I saw a post on social media announcing the 75th anniversary of college radio. Although I’m excited any time someone writes about college radio history, I was also troubled, because I know that college radio is much older. Being quite fascinated with the early days of college radio, I’m aware of licensed college […]
This is our second episode examining the history and legacy of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in recognition of the law’s 20th anniversary. This time around Prof. John Anderson from Brooklyn College explains how Reagan-era deregulation, culminating in the Telecom Act, triggered civil disobedience on the airwaves along with citizen action that continues to push […]
February 13 is World Radio Day, a day set aside to celebrate radio as a medium, sponsored by UNESCO. This year’s theme is “Radio in Times of Emergency and Disaster.” Though celebrated globally, World Radio Day is less well known in the United States. To help better connect us with global community radio, Eric talked […]
In this week’s Radio Survivor Podcast, I talked about my ongoing radio station tour project. I’m nearing my 100th radio station tour, so I chatted with Eric Klein about the overall project and reflected back on some of my early station tours in 2008. (more…)
Twenty years ago a piece of legislation was passed that would change radio forever–and not for the better. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 lifted ownership restrictions on stations, unleashing an onslaught of acquisitions, consolidation and the ultimate devastation of local radio in communities across the country. Dr. Christopher Terry from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee joins […]
Thousands of internet radio stations have gone silent in 2016, while thousands more may yet shut down, primarily because of new performance royalty fees that have skyrocketed for small and mid-sized internet radio stations. In this piece I explore how this challenge might encourage some webcasters to give up complying with the law and simply […]
They call the camp “The Jungle.” It is a refugee zone on the northern edge of Calais, France. Around 6,000 migrants have streamed into the center of late. As this rough map of the area (below right) indicates, many are coming from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and various Kurdish regions. They also migrate in from countries in North […]
