Last week we declared that the 2010s were a banner decade for community radio. As Jennifer notes, though college radio had a tough start to the last decade, with the loss of prominent stations like KUSF, KTRU and WRVU, the service seriously bounced back, aided by factors like the low-power FM boom, internet radio, HD Radio and support from the new College Radio Foundation. That all adds up to the defensible declaration that it was also the biggest growth decade for college radio, too. We unpack all that happened.

Digging further into our second “Decade in Review” episode, Jennifer also looks at how efforts to preserve radio programming and materials stepped up, seen most prominently with the founding of the Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force. On that subject, we’re pleased to report that this show has been selected for collection by the Library of Congress as part of a new podcast program. We’ll talk to the manager of the Podcast Preservation Project on next week’s show.

Finally, we also dig into how video, and YouTube specifically, has become radio, in many ways. A picture may be required, but what does it matter if it’s the audio that’s most important?

But, wait, there’s more! Find out how Jerry Lee Lewis fuels a discussion of border blasters, the tempestuous relationship between radio and the record industry through times of both war and peace in some bonus content that didn’t fit into this episode. Our Patreon supporters can hear this bonus episode, and so can you for a gift of just $1 a month.

Show Notes

• More College Radio than Ever in the 2010s as it Takes New Forms
• Preservation is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• Podcast #207 – Building More Communities Around Your Station
• Is YouTube the Home of the New Radio Pirates?

The post Podcast #228 – College Radio’s Biggest Decade appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We begin part one of our review of the last decade in radio with the observation that it saw the greatest expansion of community radio in history. Though the second US LPFM licensing window that happened in 2013 is a significant driver, the growth happened all over the world.

The 2010s were also a growth period for a lesser-known type of radio station, that isn’t officially even radio. We’re talking about FrankenFM TV stations that can be heard on the FM dial. Not remotely as numerous as low-power FMs, they nevertheless increased in number.

We also note the cataclysmic shifts in independent internet radio that went largely unnoticed outside specialist press (and Radio Survivor). Though indie stations, and platforms supporting those stations, still exist, an unknown number were effectively forced to shut down.

Still, at the end of the decade, there are substantially more radio stations on the air than ten years ago. Not bad for a dying medium, eh? Next week, in part two, we dig into the decade in college radio, and dig deeper into the convergence of radio and video.

Show Notes:

• The Greatest Flowering of Community Radio in History Happened in the 2010s
• Podcast #67 – New Community Radio in Borneo
• Podcast #103 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina
• Podcast #198 – Defending Human Rights with Radio in Honduras
• Podcast #170 – Community Radio in Brazil
• The Near-Death of Independent Internet Radio Is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• The Rise and Possible Fall of FrankenFMs Is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• Understanding Radio in the Popular Zeitgeist – An Analysis of Radio Survivor’s Most Popular Posts of the Decade 2010 – 2019

The post Podcast #227 – A Banner Decade for Community Radio and FrankenFMs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Musician, DJ and radio artist Don Joyce passed away nearly three years ago, leaving behind a voluminous archive of his unparalelled collage radio program “Over the Edge.” The documentary “How Radio Isn’t Done” sheds light on this member of Negativland, his life and his work in recontextualizing the never-ending flow of media messages that flood everyday life.

Director Ryan Worsley joins to talk about Joyce, his hyper-focused artistic process and what she learned creating this affectionate and honest portrait of an iconoclastic figure and broadcasting legend.

Show Notes:

• “How Radio Isn’t Done” on Vimeo
• “How Radio Isn’t Done” on Amazon
• Paul’s review of the film, “An Affectionate & Honest Filmic Portrait of Negativland’s Don Joyce“
• Negativland – “The Chopping Channel”
• RIP Don Joyce: Negativland Member, Artist, KPFA DJ
• Negativland’s ‘Over The Edge’ Catalog Now Available at Internet Archive
• Radio Survivor Podcast #9: Remembering Negativland’s Don Joyce
• ABC (Australia) documentary about a long-running cassette radio show: “Cassette famous“
• Radio on Tape: from ‘Second Side Up’ to ‘The Hour of Slack’
• The Grassroots Radio Conference is happening Oct. 5 – 7 in Portland, OR. The call for proposals is now open.

The post Podcast #141 – How Radio Isn’t Done, According To Negativland’s Don Joyce appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“Will performance royalties create a new class of radio pirate?”

That was the question I posed in early 2016 after the music royalty rates for small internet radio webcasters skyrocketed with the expiration of the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009. In essence I wondered if some webcasters would just choose to keep on broadcasting online without paying royalties, hoping to avoid detection by SoundExchange, which collects digital performance royalties on behalf of artists.

Two years later I’ve not found any significant movement of royalty-dodging webcasters. Though, if they were keeping a low profile, I should expect that I wouldn’t know much about them in the first place.

Perhaps I wasn’t looking in the right place.

The New York Times recently turned a spotlight on a new class of internet radio stations using YouTube’s live streaming service. The article reports that the channels routinely play music without proper permission from copyright holders, which is why they’re called “pirate radio stations” in the headline.

The stations highlighted in the article originate from the U.K., France and the Netherlands, which means they wouldn’t be subject to American royalty laws (although there are parallel rules in those countries). In fact, it took quite a bit of searching before I found any “pirate” YouTube stations that obviously originate from the U.S.

By and large the stations seem to focus on niche electronic and rock music subgenres that lie somewhat outside the rock and pop mainstream, often featuring many independent and underground artists. This likely puts them further off the major labels’ radar than if they were routinely streaming Drake or Cardi B.

That said, these channels often include copyright disclaimers, like this one posted by Miami POP Dream:

For COPYRIGHT ISSUES song or picture please contact me on YouTube private messaging system, please messaging us and your song will be removed immediately. Once I have received your message and determined you are the proper owner of this content I will have it removed, no drama at all.

As the Times article notes, YouTube disciplines and shuts down channels for copyright violations, but as far as I can tell that’s the only real risk these broadcasters face. It’s unknown if the music rights agencies, like ASCAP or SoundExchange, have gone after any YouTube “pirates” for back royalties, or if they’re simply satisfied to have them shut down.

Just like real broadcast pirate radio, it’s certainly a game of cat-and-mouse. When YouTube broadcasters have their channels shut down for violations, there’s little to stop them from creating new accounts and new channels. Now, they do lose their subscriber base–which in some cases can be a substantial loss–but that seems to be the most painful penalty.

I find it fascinating that YouTube, a video service, has become a dominant platform for streaming audio. Of course, that’s because there is no similarly prominent free service for audio, especially not live audio streaming. YouTube is also very easy to use.

If we went back in time to 2005 and you told me this would be the case in 2018, that would have sounded ludicrous, because video requires much more costly bandwidth to distribute than audio. But I wouldn’t have known that one of the world’s largest companies–Google–would decide to subsidize the lion’s share of video streaming on the internet.

At the same time, unless you’re playing your own music or music that you’ve obtained artist permission for, streaming on YouTube is precarious and unlikely to be a reliable, long-term solution. Many channel operators may not care, at least initially. They may come to care more once a sizable audience is tuning in.

Some grass may grow up through the cracks in the sidewalk. But there’s often someone with herbicide not too far away.

The post Is YouTube the Home of the New Radio Pirates? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On a trip last fall visiting my parents in northern New Jersey, during the evening the I tuned around the AM dial and encountered some fascinatingly unique local stations. I wished I could record some airchecks but didn’t have any easy way to do so, and I couldn’t find any sort of online program archives.

That set me looking for a portable radio with recording capability, and I found the Tivdio V-115, which received some good reviews from other radio nerds, a number of which can be found at the SWLing Post. It turns out to be a powerhouse of a little radio, available for under $20 on Amazon here in the U.S.

Here is my video review, followed by my review summary:

Pros:

• Very compact and portable
• Receives AM, FM and Shortwave
• Digital tuning with DSP
• Fantastic sound for a small radio
• Records radio to MP3 on microSD cards
• Will function like an MP3 player with better speaker sound than most smartphones
• Rechargeable battery, powered by USB
• Sleep timer

Cons:

• Headphone sound is sub-par and doesn’t work with smartphone headphones that have an integrated microphone
• Buttons are stiff and make a loud click when pressed
• Only the strongest shortwave stations come in with the short built-in antenna

As mentioned in the video, here’s our podcast interview with Radio Jay Allen with his advice for improving your radio reception, and his FM radio recommendations: https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2017/03/14/podcast-84-improving-radio-reception/

The post Radio Review: The Tivdio V-115 Records Airchecks on the Go appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I just discovered this fascinating piece of video tape on YouTube, likely dating from the 1970s, documenting a pirate radio and television station operating in my neighborhood, Sunnyside, in Portland, OR. It’s part of an archive of tapes from an archive of The Video Access Project, digitized by the Oregon Historical Society.

It’s truly a wonderful slice of counter-cultural public access television that starts with a man demonstrating how to reconnect a house to the city water supply after it’s been cut off due to non-payment of bills. At the end of the demo, about 19 minutes in, it seamlessly segues to a man with a portable radio playing reggae, who starts explaining that he started putting together radio stations, “for the hell of it.” He goes on to claim that “apparently, half the neighborhood of Sunnyside is involved in the station right now.”

Then the interviewer and camera follows the man into a house, up into its attic where we see a radio studio occupied by several people. In addition to the record players and mixers, he also shows a television transmitter, though we don’t get a glimpse of the programming.

In the title of the video it’s apparently credited to someone named Wayne Waits, whom I found listed in the “Video Directory” section of the magazine Radical Software volume 1 number 5 from 1972, devoted to nascent the independent video production and video art community of the time. Waits was listed as someone with video equipment and expertise, though his street address is care-of community radio station KBOO, when it was located down the street from where I live now.

As an aside, imagine a time when the number of independent private owners of video recording equipment could be listed in in just 13 pages of a magazine. When I consider the fact that most people carry a device in their pocket capable of recording video with four to eight times the resolution, and then transmitting it around the world within seconds, it kind of blows my mind. I have to stop and take a second to awe in how far communications technology has come in my lifetime.

I’m particularly fascinated by the fact that this likely aired on public access TV, where the participants in these ostensibly illicit activities would have been easily identified by any interested authorities. That said, cable TV subscriptions and viewership was much lower at the time, and public access channel viewership probably very, very low. Plus, the show would have been much more ephemeral than today–it would take some 35 years for it to become on-demand and findable to anyone without access to the original reel of tape.

Here’s the whole show below, or you can forward to 18:45 to just catch the pirate radio portion.

The post Public Access TV Archive Documents 1970s Portland Pirate Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Your broadcast station–LPFM, community, college–needs to have its programming on the internet, one way or another. Now.

Why? Because you risk missing a generation of listeners whose media intake is primarily online. YouTube is where they hang out the most, but online radio is also a destination. Where they’re moving away from is your AM or FM broadcast.

That’s the big takeaway from the 2017 Infinite Dial survey of American online listening habits conducted by Edison Research and Triton Digital.

The results are stark. 87% of young people aged 12 to 24 listen to online radio every month, yet only 50% say that AM/FM radio is important for keeping up with new music.

The number one way young people keep up with new music: YouTube. Amongst the 70% of people aged 12 – 24 who say it’s somewhat or very important to keep up with new music, 80% say YouTube is their first choice, followed closely by friends and family (77%), and then Spotify (59%) and Pandora (53%).

Radio is the fifth choice for those aged 12–24, compared to ranking third amongst all Americans who keep up with new music, ranking just behind friends and family at 68% and YouTube at 64%. So, even if YouTube isn’t beating radio with all ages, it’s neck-and-neck.

These results aren’t too different from last year’s report–which we discussed then on our podcast–yet the trend towards YouTube and internet listening only becomes clearer and clearer.

The point of this post is not to scare monger or to play Chicken Little. I’m also not claiming that young people don’t listen to broadcast radio or listen to your station. However, my own unscientific poll of college students I’ve talked to in the last five years tells me that if they listen to terrestrial radio they only really listen in the car. If they listen to radio at home or in the office they’re listening online.

Luckily for non-commercial broadcast stations, live online streaming is much less costly than it is for unaffiliated internet-only stations, which means a large percentage of college and community stations have active online streams. However, it’s understandable that the added cost and resources are still a challenge for many smaller stations and new LPFMs. This means that they have to delay being online for a while, or even indefinitely.

YouTube Is a Resource, Not a Rival

That’s why YouTube is a boon for non-comm stations, not a competitor. All that content on YouTube, it’s got to come from somewhere. Why not your station?

I’m not talking about posting your regular music shows played from CDs, records and MP3s. It probably isn’t worth the effort, and copyright challenges will complicate the effort.

Instead, take advantage of the music already happening at your station. Being artist-friendly is one of community and college radio’s greatest strengths. The planned or impromptu in-studio performance is a hallmark of great non-commercial radio. So when those happen, get them recorded and post them on YouTube, ASAP.

I have no illusion that a teenager looking for the newest Drake track is going to inadvertently discover your station this way. However, there are probably teenagers who follow bands in your community, or who play in those bands. If you have those artists live on air and post their performances on YouTube those young fans will look for and find those videos.

By no means is this a new idea. Radio Survivor contributor Ann Alquist made the argument for video in a post more than two years ago. She also pointed out that videos serve as marketing, and are something that grabs the attention of local funders and underwriters.

Make It Easy On Your Station

When we discussed this on our latest podcast, my co-host Eric Klein cautioned that it’s better to edit that audio together with the board feed, for better sound. The audiophile in me agrees wholeheartedly with that sentiment. But the part of me that wants your station on YouTube now doesn’t want that extra effort to get in the way of it happening in the first place. Plus, judging from many live videos I see on YouTube (not just of famous musicians) that have tens of thousands of hits, the quality of the performance matters more than the quality of the recording.

So, when a singer-songwriter sits down behind your mic to share a quick tune, take a moment to whip out a smart phone and shoot it on video. As soon as she’s finished, upload that sucker!

To me, this is a case where perfect threatens to be the enemy of finished. I’ve been part of too many prolonged discussions at stations where well-meaning staff members’ and volunteers’ nitpicking to make things better ultimately mean things don’t get done. Don’t let this happen to your station’s YouTube efforts.

Over time you can improve your videos. Wouldn’t it be great if a young video whiz checked out your channel to see her favorite local artists and decided she could do a better job, and then decided to volunteer? That’s how I’ve seen so many projects move forward in volunteer-driven radio – less than perfect execution often attracts that person who can make it one or two notches better.

Consider partnering with your local public access cable channel, or a high school, college or university that has a video production program.

To be clear: if your station isn’t able to live stream now, be sure to start a YouTube channel and upload all the musical moments that happen on or off-mic. If your station is streaming but not using YouTube, get to it.

Even if there isn’t much live music happening, upload short profiles or interviews with DJs talking about their favorite music, or even videos of your talk programming. Anything is better than nothing!

Make Your Mixes On-Demand with Mixcloud

Another option I want to point out is Mixcloud, which is a free service for posting and sharing DJ mixes. And what is your average music show, but a long DJ mix? Mixcloud only streams shows, so downloading isn’t allowed. But this is why it’s free for both your station and the listener. Mixcloud covers the royalties and the hosting; you just have to upload the shows.

Did I mention it’s free?

Mixcloud isn’t nearly as well known as YouTube or the major online radio platforms, whether Spotify or iHeartRadio, so fewer people browse it. Yet the folks who do are true music lovers. Plus, just like YouTube videos, you can embed them on your station’s website.

I can’t emphasize it enough – the key is to just get started. Whether it’s posting a few shows to Mixcloud or videoing your first in-studio performance for YouTube.

Inspiration

For some inspiration, here are some college and community radio YouTube and Mixcloud channels to check out:

YouTube

The Lounge from WKNC at North Carolina State University

KCR at San Diego State University shares news and other highlights.

Community Radio WEFT in Champaign, IL partners with local public access TV channel UPTV for WEFT Sessions in-studio performances.

Community Radio WMNF posts performances from Live Music Showcase

MixCloud

WERW Real College Radio at Syracuse University

KBGA at the University of Montana

Limerick City (Ireland) Community Radio

KVWV-LP Community Radio, Bellingham, WA

The post Station not on the Internet? You’re Losing Young Listeners, Big Time appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In our second VLOG we go behind the scenes of the Radio Survivor Podcast. For the podcast nerds, Paul gives a tour of the production gear and set up, then Eric reflects on the feature interview with essayist and podcaster Chauncey DeVega from episode #19.

Let us know what you think in the comments, or drop us an email to podcast@radiosurvivor.com.

The post Behind the Scenes of the Radio Survivor Podcast appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As an experiment of sorts, I decided to shoot my first video blog (or “vlog”) for Radio Survivor. I’ve been wanting to share a bandscan of all the HD Radio stations in Portland, OR, where I live, and I finally got down to it.

Although I’m a critic of HD Radio, I do think it’s interesting to explore the HD-2, 3, and 4 signals, which offer some interesting alternatives and seem to change up fairly often. I thought this might be of interest to many of you who have never used or heard an HD Radio receiver, except for maybe one that’s in a car, which isn’t actually an ideal place to scan and find all the subchannels.

Yes, I know I’m a little out-of-focus. It wasn’t obvious until after I started editing, and I decided that perfect was the enemy of done. Better focus can wait for VLOG #2.

Let me know what you think in the comments–especially if you think there should be a #2.

The post VLOG #1: Portland HD Radio Bandscan appeared first on Radio Survivor.