Localism Archives - Radio Survivor https://www.radiosurvivor.com/category/policy/localism/ This is the sound of strong communities. Wed, 10 Mar 2021 04:43:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 Podcast #288 – Eagle vs. Transmitter https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2021/03/podcast-288-eagle-vs-translator/ Wed, 10 Mar 2021 04:42:27 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=49721 This week we share more evidence of how broadest radio is an important informational lifeline and human connection for so many people. As most of the country enters year two of the pandemic, we catch up again with Becky Meiers, General Manager of community radio station KCAW-FM in Sitka, Alaska. We last spoke with Becky […]

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This week we share more evidence of how broadest radio is an important informational lifeline and human connection for so many people. As most of the country enters year two of the pandemic, we catch up again with Becky Meiers, General Manager of community radio station KCAW-FM in Sitka, Alaska. We last spoke with Becky at the end of March 2020, before any cases of COVID-19 had been diagnosed in this remote community, though she shared the station’s preparedness plan.

KCAW serves a vital communications role in Southeastern Alaska where small communities are spread out without overland connections, and the only travel is by air or by sea. Becky tells us how the station has gotten through the last year, bringing local broadcasters back to the air as possible, while also growing its local news coverage. Becky also regales us with stories from her journeys to isolated “translator communities” where local repeater transmitters (a/k/a “translators”) required emergency repairs and maintenance.

Show Notes:

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Podcast #237 – How Community & College Radio Can Deal with COVID-19 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2020/03/podcast-237-how-community-college-radio-can-deal-with-covid-19/ Wed, 18 Mar 2020 04:42:04 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=48893 Community and college radio stations are unique in broadcasting because in addition to being important community services, many are also a community crossroads, hosting dozens or hundreds of people in their studios and spaces in any given week. That means the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic poses a specific challenge for these broadcasters. KPFA’s “UpFront” co-host […]

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Community and college radio stations are unique in broadcasting because in addition to being important community services, many are also a community crossroads, hosting dozens or hundreds of people in their studios and spaces in any given week. That means the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic poses a specific challenge for these broadcasters.

KPFA’s “UpFront” co-host Brian Edwards-Tiekert and National Federation of Community Broadcasters program director Ernesto Aguilar join to help us understand how college and community stations should deal with the pandemic on and off the air. As a community journalist, Brian has been on the front lines of helping Bay Area listeners get the best information and advice. He has recommendations for how stations should address critical information, and misinformation, on air, and how they can frame issues for vital community discussion.

Ernesto observes that the pandemic is a “learning opportunity” for stations to be sure they have an emergency response plan that keeps them on air, even if functioning with just one staff, volunteer or engineer. Having automation can be one important tool, causing him to warn that the current situation is a “wake up call” for stations that have resisted the technology as a “badge of honor.”

We also review feedback from listeners and readers who let us know how the stations where they work and volunteer are managing the pandemic.

Show Notes:

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The Greatest Flowering of Community Radio in History Happened in the 2010s https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2020/01/the-greatest-flowering-of-community-radio-in-history-happened-in-the-2010s/ Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:55:37 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=48633 Mid-way through the last decade I declared that, “[w]ith regard to new stations going on the air, 2015 represented the biggest single-year leap forward for non-commercial and community radio in U.S. history.” That’s because 524 new low-power FM stations signed on that year. That was an increase of 56% over the number of existing LPFMs […]

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Mid-way through the last decade I declared that, “[w]ith regard to new stations going on the air, 2015 represented the biggest single-year leap forward for non-commercial and community radio in U.S. history.” That’s because 524 new low-power FM stations signed on that year. That was an increase of 56% over the number of existing LPFMs at the end of 2014 (924).

Over the next four years another 753 signed on, bringing the total number low-power stations to 2,186 as of September 30, 2019 according to the FCC. At the close of 2009, when the service was on the cusp of its 10th birthday, there were 864 LPFMs in operation. This means the count more than doubled in the 2010s. No doubt this period saw the biggest expansion of low-power FM in history.

But because the LPFM service is specifically designed to be locally owned-and-operated, with hyper-local service, it’s clear that the last decade also saw the greatest flowering of community radio in US history. In fact, low-power FMs now make up a full 35% of all non-commercial stations in the country. That’s an increase of 14% from the end of 2009. The reason why the percentage didn’t jump more is that the last ten years were good for full-power non-commercial licenses as well, with 942 launching in that time.

Defining & Counting ‘Community’ Radio

Now, one might argue that not every low-power FM station is operated as a true community station, programmed and staffed by local folks who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to broadcast. It’s true that many are owned by groups – religious and otherwise – that fill their schedules primarily with syndicated programming beaming in by satellite or streamed over the internet. There are others that are mostly filled with automated music that feel more like vanity jukebox stations, with no sign of any kind of live or local hosts or DJs. Added together I can’t tell you how many there are, but I could be convinced that they even make up a full half of all LPFMs.

The problem with counting community radio stations is that there is no central authority. The FCC only cares if a station is non-commercial or commercial – it doesn’t dig into the differences between public, religious, college or community stations – or that it meets the ownership and operational requirements to have a low-power license. While the National Federation of Community Broadcasters represents and assists community stations, there’s no obligation for a station to join, even though the organization has worked hard to connect with these new broadcasters.

Nevertheless, even if only a decent minority of these new stations operate with the spirit of community radio, that’s still on the order of at least 200 to 300 new community stations. This estimate is easy to justify by taking a look at any of the top 100 radio markets in the country, where you’ll find a minimum of one new community LPFM. More likely you’ll hear two, three or more. I’m thinking of cities like Portland, OR, Seattle, Philadelphia and Chicago which all added a few. And while some cities, like Philly and Chicago, long have had rich college radio scenes, they didn’t have true community stations, owned by local non-profits and open to local people unaffiliated with a school or college, until this past decade.

But LPFMs didn’t only go up in major markets, although that was a vitally important aspect of this growth. Dozens or even hundreds of smaller cities and towns got new community stations, too. That leads me to think my estimate of 200 to 300 is too conservative.

Growth for All of Radio, too

Despite the supposed imminent death of radio, the medium continued to grow as a whole in the 2010s – by over 2,300 stations – and community radio outpaced all previous growth in the sector. Radio’s share of most folks’ daily listening may have declined, given so much other audio media competing for their ears. But the need and desire for the terrestrial radio hasn’t gone away.

Why a Radio License still Matters

Today, in this always-connected internet environment, it’s significant that many, if not most, community LPFMs have internet streams, which help them reach audiences – especially younger audiences – that don’t use over-the-air receivers. However, this fact doesn’t make their broadcast licenses and terrestrial signals redundant or vestigial. Rather, being a licensed broadcast station is an assurance to the community that the organization is serious, and intends to stick around. The official sanction of a license shouldn’t be underestimated or overlooked, because it’s also a shared asset that a community is more likely to rally behind and value, in part because, if lost, it’s not easily replaced.

Community stations function as community media centers, providing local residents a chance not only to broadcast, but to learn audio or video production, train up on live sound engineering or create podcasts. These are functions that most commercial, public or religious stations don’t serve, even if their programming is a community service. Though an LPFM’s listening audience may be small compared to a town’s local NPR affiliate, the interpersonal network and impact is often much stronger, especially with people who aren’t amongst the local elite or traditionally well-connected.

An Historic Global Flowering

Not only was this the biggest ten-year increase in US history, it was arguably the biggest in world history, too. India certainly adds a lot to that total, with 428 letters of intent (like a US construction permit) issued to groups that applied to build stations, on top of many other countries. This is why the explosion of community radio, especially via low-power FM, is one of the most important radio trends of the last decade.

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Podcast #224: How the FCC Could Support Diversity, Localism & Competition in Radio & TV https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2019/12/podcast-224-how-the-fcc-could-support-diversity-localism-competition-in-radio-tv/ Thu, 19 Dec 2019 03:47:21 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=48571 All nine judges on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently denied the FCC’s request for a rehearing on its many-times rejected media ownership rules. Prof. Christopher Terry calls this the Commission’s “Legacy of Failure.” But it begs the question, what does success look like? Prof. Terry, who teaches media law at the University of […]

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All nine judges on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently denied the FCC’s request for a rehearing on its many-times rejected media ownership rules. Prof. Christopher Terry calls this the Commission’s “Legacy of Failure.” But it begs the question, what does success look like?

Prof. Terry, who teaches media law at the University of Minnesota, joins us to discuss what another broadcast world might look like. Going back to fundamentals, he explains that media ownership rules are expected to serve the objectives of furthering diversity, localism and competition, and that is the standard against which they are judged. The Third Circuit has ruled again and again that the Commission has failed to provide evidence that rules changes – in the face of 23 years of increased consolidation, reduced localism and a dwindling number of women and minority station owners – would stem this tide.

While these seem like difficult trends to reverse, Prof. Terry thinks that a recent FCC policy initiative might actually work, with just a few modifications. He tells us how this could happen. He also fills us in on the status of Network Neutrality as public interest petitioners file their appeals in the appeals court case that upheld the Commission’s reversal of the 2015 Open Internet rules.

Show Notes:

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Podcast #199 – The FCC Is ‘Flunking Statistics 101’ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2019/06/podcast-199-the-fcc-is-flunking-statistics-101/ Wed, 26 Jun 2019 03:52:37 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=46994 The FCC was back in front of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals again, defending its failure to address declines in minority- and women-owned broadcast stations, amongst other failures. In fact, as our guest, University of Minnesota Prof. Christopher Terry, explains, the Commission claims it’s too hard to assess the change in ownership between 1996 […]

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The FCC was back in front of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals again, defending its failure to address declines in minority- and women-owned broadcast stations, amongst other failures. In fact, as our guest, University of Minnesota Prof. Christopher Terry, explains, the Commission claims it’s too hard to assess the change in ownership between 1996 and today.

Prof. Terry notes that the Court expressed skepticism of that claim. It’s just another chapter in the agency’s “legacy of failure,” as he calls it, wherein futile attempt followed by futile attempt to further loosen ownership regulations is built upon a faulty foundation of flimsy data. Yet, that doesn’t mean that the current FCC leadership, backed by the broadcast industry, won’t keep trying. We’ve already seen this in the NAB’s proposal to eliminate local radio ownership caps in hundreds of cities, as we reported in episode #196. Prof. Terry sheds additional light on that proposal, and assesses what a recent Supreme Court decision means for public access television.

Show Notes:

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Podcast #165 – College Radio Is Truly Local Radio https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2018/10/podcast-165-college-radio-is-truly-local-radio/ Wed, 31 Oct 2018 04:10:24 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=43626 Live from the College Broadcasters, Inc. Convention in Seattle we take on college radio’s place in the contemporary media landscape. After deciding not to sell its radio station 13 years ago, the University of Evansville administration said, “we are once again examining the relevancy of the medium and exploring opportunities to enhance our curriculum through […]

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Live from the College Broadcasters, Inc. Convention in Seattle we take on college radio’s place in the contemporary media landscape. After deciding not to sell its radio station 13 years ago, the University of Evansville administration said, “we are once again examining the relevancy of the medium and exploring opportunities to enhance our curriculum through providing additional experience in 21st century communications methods.” That leads us to question: is radio actual a “21st century communications method?”

Here to answer that question, and many more are two students deeply involved in college radio, and the president of CBI, John Morris, who is also the general manager of WSWI at the University of Southern Indiana, just across town from the University of Evansville. Avery Martin is production director a KSCU at Colorado State University and a student board member of CBI, and Aimee Myers, senior music director for KUSF.org at the University of San Francisco.

In this wide-ranging discussion we learn how college stations have put local service at the forefront by creating the position of ‘local director,’ and the on-the-ground tactics stations are employing to be in their local communities, not just broadcasting to them.


Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast. You can support us two ways:

Make a monthly contribution through our Patreon campaign.
Make a one-time or recurring donation with any major credit card via PayPal.
Contribute to Radio Survivor with PayPal or any major credit card

Show Notes:

  • College Broadcasters, Inc.
  • WSWI-FM 95.7 FM The Spin
  • KCSU – Colorado State Radio
  • KUSF.org
  • Podcast #163 – The Post-‘Radio Is Dead’ Era
  • WUEV Supporters Gather Today Amid Rumored College Radio License Sale
  • College Radio Watch: WUEV’s Murky Future, KFJC Broadcasts from Berlin and More News

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    ]]> 43626 Podcast #144 – Standing Up for LPFM’s Slice of the Pie https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2018/05/podcast-144-standing-up-for-lpfms-slice-of-the-pie/ Wed, 30 May 2018 04:38:19 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=42503 Applications for 1,000 translator radio stations may pose a threat to low-power FM stations, say three community radio groups. So the groups filed informal objections against all of them, slowing down the FCC’s processing of these applications. This move has sparked controversy within the radio industry. The Center for International Media Action, Common Frequency, Inc. […]

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    Applications for 1,000 translator radio stations may pose a threat to low-power FM stations, say three community radio groups. So the groups filed informal objections against all of them, slowing down the FCC’s processing of these applications. This move has sparked controversy within the radio industry.

    The Center for International Media Action, Common Frequency, Inc. and Prometheus Radio Project are the groups behind the objections to these proposed translators, which are low-powered stations that are only permitted to repeat the signal of another station. Common Frequency’s Todd Urick and Prometheus’ Paul Bame join the show to explain why they took this action, and to answer some of the criticisms coming both from the mainstream radio industry and from within community radio.

    Paul also reports on the final death blow to the podcast patent troll, and files a correction to his recollection from episode #142 of the “Disco Demolition” night in Chicago.


    Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast. You can support us two ways:

    Make a monthly contribution through our Patreon campaign.
    Make a one-time or recurring donation with any major credit card via PayPal.
    Contribute to Radio Survivor with PayPal or any major credit card

    Show Notes

    • Prometheus Radio Project: Low-power FM radio advocates file 1,000 Objections with FCC
    • Radio World: Sides Are Split on Those 998 Objections
    • Statement of REC Networks: Informal objections filed by Prometheus, et. al. against pending FM translator applications
    • Todd Urick’s editorial on the 998 informal objections
    • Learn more about LPFM
    • FCC: FM Translators and Boosters
    • The Podcast Patent Troll Is Dead and Buried
    • Matthew Lasar: Rock radio’s war against disco

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        ]]> 42503 Low Power Radio and Media Activism: An Interview with Christina Dunbar-Hester https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/07/low-power-radio-and-media-activism-an-interview-with-christina-dunbar-hester/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/07/low-power-radio-and-media-activism-an-interview-with-christina-dunbar-hester/#respond Tue, 28 Jul 2015 18:12:50 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=32845 Here at Radio Survivor we are committed to weekly coverage of low power FM radio, so we’re very pleased to feature an interview with Christina Dunbar-Hester for our Academic Series. Dr. Dunbar-Hester is an Assistant Professor in Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University and she recently published a fascinating book on media activism and […]

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        Here at Radio Survivor we are committed to weekly coverage of low power FM radio, so we’re very pleased to feature an interview with Christina Dunbar-Hester for our Academic Series. Dr. Dunbar-Hester is an Assistant Professor in Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University and she recently published a fascinating book on media activism and low power radio. Her book, Low Power to the People: Pirates, Protest, and Politics in FM Radio Activism (MIT Press, 2014), makes a strong case for the relevance and importance of local, community radio in the digital age.

        Below, Christina explains her research process and her motivation for studying low power, local radio. She also elaborates on the relationship between “free radio” advocates and LPFM broadcasting, and raises compelling questions about how democratic spaces online might be inspired by low power broadcasting.

        Radio Survivor: Your recent book, Low Power to the People, traces the activist movement that helped establish a framework for licensed LPFM stations. How did you initially come to be interested in researching low power radio broadcasting?

        Christina Dunbar-Hester: When I was considering going back to graduate school in the late 1990s, there were a lot of heady claims swirling around about access to media technology as a main plank of a democratizing project. This was an era of high Internet hype in general, but I was particularly interested in the set of claims made by activists such as those in early Indymedia days about “being the media” and using media technologies counterbalance corporate and state power.

        I hadn’t heard of low power radio or microradio at that point, but I knew I wanted to do research that engaged these issues, and also engaged the topic of “the Internet,” but without losing historical or cultural sensitivity to the fact that issues of power, voice, and expertise have a long prehistory; they don’t newly arise with the Internet, nor are Internet-based technologies the main way to redress power imbalance, of course.

        So in about 2002-2003 when I heard about people advocating for low power broadcasting, who were not Luddites but were resisting being told to just “go on the Internet for your communication needs,” I thought that might be an interesting research project. I didn’t have a background in media activism, let alone microradio; I just thought that was a useful point of entry for these issues.

        Radio Survivor: What is the state of LPFM broadcasting today in relation to the larger American broadcasting environment?

        Christina Dunbar-Hester: LPFM is expanding right now due to the passage of the Local Community Radio Act of 2010; new stations that got licenses during that window are going on the air right now, so a lot of cities and towns are seeing new radio stations go on the air. And broadcasting is still going pretty strong: the most recent numbers I’ve seen are from 2013 and they report that more than 90% of Americans over age 12 listen to broadcast radio weekly, for at least a couple of hours per day.

        But I might suggest that we step back and consider what is meant by the “broadcasting environment.” Broadcasting both refers to a set of social practices, and a set of institutions, technologies, and laws — what “broadcasting” is at any given moment occurs in how those things come together. When we talk about the broadcasting environment, do we mean just FM and AM transmissions? What about streaming? Or podcasts? Now a lot of people use smart phones to “listen to the radio”—but you’re doing this over your phone’s data plan, which is partly because your phone service provider (Verizon, AT&T, etc.) prefers that you pay them for that bandwidth. (This is in spite of the fact that a lot of mobile phones have been designed with the capacity to receive FM. The commercial broadcast lobby argues that turning on the FM receiver capacity in phones would make it easier for would-be listeners to tune in, without burning through their data.)

        There are lots and lots of issues like this at any given moment, some more and some less visible to the public. How these issues play out rests on public knowledge, alliances that get formed between various social groups, corporate power, and the law (which is often playing catch-up with newer technologies, and interpreting new technologies in terms of precedents established around earlier technologies). I think we want to take an expansive view of the public interest across telecommunications platforms and assess that, as opposed to isolating broadcasting.

        Radio Survivor: Given that alternative and community media organizations are often working with limited resources, financial and otherwise, researching them can often come with a set of challenges in terms of accessing research materials, such as archival documents. In exploring the history of this LPFM movement, particularly its pirate radio roots, what sort of resources did you use to tell this story and did you face any challenges in doing so?

        Christina Dunbar-Hester: This is a great question. I had access to a good deal of microradio ephemera at various field sites and in the Prometheus archive. But it would have been a lot more challenging to do a project where broadcast content was central.

        My book is primarily ethnographic, combining fieldwork and interviews. My main interest was what people were doing that I could observe, so the book captures as much of that as I could achieve; it looks at how activists promoted radio technology. I was able to get at some of the recent past with interviews, which included people who had done unlicensed microradio and had advocated for legal microradio/LPFM in Washington. I also had access to policy conversations, a lot of which were archived online (comments to the FCC and the like).

        Radio Survivor: I would love to hear about the relationship between pirate radio and LPFM broadcasting. How did pirate radio broadcasting influence the LPFM movement and what sort of similarities and differences are there between these two types of radio?

        Christina Dunbar-Hester: Well, “pirate” is kind of an overarching term that doesn’t necessarily connote any particular stance or affinity. Pirates have existed throughout the history of broadcasting for various reasons. But more narrowly, unlicensed microbroadcasters, some of whom called their transmissions “free radio,” were hugely influential for LPFM. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was no way for a small-scale broadcaster to obtain a license from the government, so a lot of folks took to the streets, by which I mean the airwaves, launching all these little stations as explicit electronic civil disobedience.

        It’s obviously impossible to know how many of them there were, but there may have been around 1000 microradio stations in the mid-1990s. Two people with memorable stories, who were inspirational to other microradio broadcasters, were Mbanna Kantako in Springfield, IL in the late 1980s, and Stephen Dunifer in Berkeley, CA, in the 1990s. Dunifer had a high-profile court battle with the FCC when he refused to stop broadcasting, and the 9th Circuit upheld his right to continue for a time. The members of Prometheus Radio Project in Philadelphia, who are the subject of my book, were inspired by the microbroadcasters to fight for legal access to the airwaves.

        Radio Survivor: How is radio well-suited for media advocacy or for dealing with questions raised by media activists? Or is it? Could the medium be used more effectively to advance media advocacy both within and outside the academy?

        Christina Dunbar-Hester: Radio, both historically and in the present, is a great point of entry into many points of contention in our present and future media landscape. (Though we don’t want to get so narrowly focused on any particular medium that we lose sight of the fact that the interesting questions cross media and platforms: e.g. who owns platforms, who is empowered to listen and to speak on them, etc.)

        Symbolically, radio has some really vital lessons for media activism. LPFM, for example, exists in space on the spectrum, owned by the people, for noncommercial use by the people. Lots of spaces we treat like commons online are platforms and sites owned by corporate owners who see users as sources of revenue. The contrast is huge, and very meaningful. What would it look like to have a space online that is the equivalent of LPFM? How would that get built in terms of social and regulatory infrastructure, and what would it look like technically?

        These are questions I get into with my students, who often grasp the idea of community media more generally through what we learn about the history of radio (including hams and LPFM; we don’t do much about CB in class), and it’s then a natural realization for them that social media platforms, even when they can occasionally have the feel of community media, are fundamentally not built to support the uses and values of public or community media.

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        Weaken the FCC’s payola rules? Future of Music Coalition says no https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/05/weaken-the-fccs-payola-rules-future-of-music-coalition-says-no/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/05/weaken-the-fccs-payola-rules-future-of-music-coalition-says-no/#comments Wed, 13 May 2015 00:38:36 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=31690 The Federal Communications Commission is wrapping is up its proceeding on whether to weaken its payola rules, and the Future of Music Coalition has several fine responses to the proposal. Before we get to them, you may be asking who came up with this grand idea, which boils down to eliminating the requirement that “pay for play” […]

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        FCC-Blue-BookThe Federal Communications Commission is wrapping is up its proceeding on whether to weaken its payola rules, and the Future of Music Coalition has several fine responses to the proposal. Before we get to them, you may be asking who came up with this grand idea, which boils down to eliminating the requirement that “pay for play” (sponsorship) be identified “at the time of broadcast” (this is called the Sponsorship ID Requirement). No surprise as to the authors: a small boatload of big radio executives, including key personnel from iHeartMedia (formerly ClearChannel) and Entercom. Both of these entities not too long ago paid out big bucks to the Commission in one of those “voluntary settlements” regarding the illegal practice of accepting material goodies from air play seekers without telling the public that said transactions occurred. But back in November their Radio Broadcasters’ Coalition petitioned the FCC for “regulatory relief,” as it’s called on the Beltway. To wit:

        “the Coalition requests that the FCC waive the technical requirement that a radio broadcaster airing music or sports programming include an on-air sponsorship identification announcement ‘at the time [sponsored material] is so broadcast,’ provided that the radio broadcaster participates in an initial, robust, listener education program and thereafter airs daily announcements during the most-listened-to dayparts and posts enhanced disclosures online.”

        So you won’t learn that some deejay or Program Director got a new laptop computer in exchange for playing some tunes unless you tune at some specified moment during the radio station’s schedule. But that’s ok, the Coalition explains, because, like, there’s this thing called The Internet. More from the filing:

        “It is indisputable that the Internet is increasingly important and available to Americans, and that consumers today expect to be able to get the information they care about online wherever and whenever they want it. If listeners were told that additional sponsorship information was available online, there is every reason to believe that those interested in this information would be able and willing to access the information via the Internet.”

        One side comment: “the Internet” has become neoliberalism’s regulatory argument sinkhole; a justification for every kind of ethical short cut imaginable. Future of Music’s first filing against this proposal emphasizes the huge harm “structural payola” could do to what’s left of locally based music radio:

        “Preventing structural payola is essential for promoting broadcast localism. Payola distorts radio playlists and allows airwave access based on financial backing and business relationships rather than talent. Local artists often do not have the same financial backing as major label superstars. Moreover, payola incentivizes DJs to pick playlists based on the preferences of large recording industry conglomerates instead of the tastes of the local community. Payola, therefore, is antithetical to localism and the FCC must more aggressively combat this insidious practice.”

        As for the idea that consumers, or “those interested,” will reliably find sponsorship disclosures on the ‘Net, FOM responds:

        “There is no way to assess the veracity of these claims; so-called ‘enhanced’ disclosures from the broadcasters remain purely hypothetical, as to our knowledge, no station group has chosen to offer these data. Regardless of the amount or nature of information posted to individual station sites, it seems unlikely that the average radio listener will ever engage with this information in a meaningful way. Station sites are operated by individual broadcast affiliates, and are highly variable in their most fundamental utility. We are unconvinced that broadcasters will present information—however detailed—about sponsored content in a way that is easily encountered by the relatively small percentage of listeners who visit these online properties. In fact, the rise of ‘radio aggregator’ apps such as TuneIn make it even less likely that those who consume content from the commercial radio conglomerates will interact with the static websites maintained by the individual stations. If there is an additional benefit to expanded disclosure on station sites, then this is something that the broadcasters are free to provide in addition to existing on-air requirements. In other words, no waiver is needed to experiment with added-value information regarding sponsored content.”

        Amen. FOM’s second filing has an excellent summary of the various music industry representatives who have filed against this idea. Many individual consumers have also written in to oppose the plan. Read the longer proceeding filings here.

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        Cleveland’s “La Mega” and the case for channel 6 FM radio https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/01/clevelands-la-mega-case-channel-6-fm-radio/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/01/clevelands-la-mega-case-channel-6-fm-radio/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2015 12:54:33 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=29463 The Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding on whether to permit Low Power TV stations to broadcast FM on channel 6 (87.7 FM) has reached its formal deadline: January 12 (backgrounder here). The FCC rolled the question into a whole suite of issues facing LPTV. Of interest to us is a defense of the channel 6 FM […]

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        La Mega radio 87.7 FMThe Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding on whether to permit Low Power TV stations to broadcast FM on channel 6 (87.7 FM) has reached its formal deadline: January 12 (backgrounder here). The FCC rolled the question into a whole suite of issues facing LPTV. Of interest to us is a defense of the channel 6 FM practice from Murray Hill Broadcasting and WLFM-LLC filed late last week. Murray Hill runs the Spanish language FM station “La Mega” in Cleveland, Ohio. WLFM runs WGWG-LP in Chicago. Both operate as channel 6 powered 87.7 FM signals. Both are owned by the Venture Technologies Group.

        “The Spanish-language programming on 87.7 ‘La Mega’ in Cleveland exemplifies the innovative, niche broadcasts enabled by channel 6 stations,” Murray Hill and WLFM write:

        “La Mega provides one of the only audio outlets for Northeast Ohio Hispanic audiences. The response has been overwhelming. According to the Hispanic Alliance, a nonprofit organization that addresses Hispanic and Latino community needs in the Cleveland Metropolitan area, ‘La Mega has immersed itself in the Cleveland market… and has become an asset that feels as though it has always been part of our environment. It has become the great equalizer among the many Latino groups living in this area.’ The Ohio Latino Affairs Commission expressed a similar sentiment: ‘Through La Mega’s air waves, you have been able to educate, inform and preserve the language and cultural values that bind together generations of Hispanics in the region and the state. The impact of La Mega is felt throughout Ohio and we consider you a valuable partner in supporting andinforming Latinos.’ The Ohio Hispanic Bar Association was similarly enthusiastic: ‘It is very exciting that after so many years we have a radio station that can call our own. Your services have provided a forum and media source not only to entertain but help educate and bring awareness to the Hispanic Community.’ In addition to news and entertainment, La Mega offers a Spanish-language radio outlet for Cleveland Cavaliers games.”

        As for WGWG: “In Chicago, when the Smooth Jazz format was abandoned by a major radio group, the niche was filled by WLFM-LP. The channel 6 station aired FM programming on 87.7 that attracted underserved, urban, niche audiences. At one point, the station was the second-most listened-to station in Chicago among African Americans age 35-64.” The station seems to have morphed through a variety of identities since then.

        In conclusion, without this arrangement, “these diverse ethnic audiences would not have access to an important news and entertainment resource,” the filing observes. “We urge the FCC to respect the public interest benefits of these stations and to provide a flexible framework to allow LPTV stations on digital TV channel 6 to operate analog FM radio services on an ancillary or supplementary basis.”

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        REC Networks Questions 245 LPFM Applications Filed by Hispanic Christian Community Network President https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2013/12/rec-networks-questions-245-lpfm-applications-filed-by-hispanic-christian-community-network-president/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2013/12/rec-networks-questions-245-lpfm-applications-filed-by-hispanic-christian-community-network-president/#comments Wed, 04 Dec 2013 00:44:31 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=24161 LPFM advocate REC Networks has been cranking out reports and analysis in order to make sense of the nearly 3,000 LPFM applications that were filed in the October-November, 2013 window. In the course of that, it has been flagging applications that seem to have errors or that look to be masquerading as local applicants. Today […]

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        #lpfmLPFM advocate REC Networks has been cranking out reports and analysis in order to make sense of the nearly 3,000 LPFM applications that were filed in the October-November, 2013 window. In the course of that, it has been flagging applications that seem to have errors or that look to be masquerading as local applicants.

        Today REC Networks posted an informal objection (PDF) that it just filed with the FCC in which it expresses concerns about 245 LPFM applications that were prepared by Hispanic Christian Community Network President Antonio Cesar Guel. Hispanic Christian Community Network reportedly owns more than 40 LPTV stations. Although the Guel-prepared LPFM applications all claim to be for unique, local non-profit organizations all over the country, REC Networks found discrepancies in many of the applications and is asking for the FCC to either dismiss the applications or investigate them further.

        According to a statement by Michi Eyre of REC Networks, “Our informal objection was intended to ‘flag’ these 245 applications to call the FCC’s attention to various patterns in these applications.” REC Networks found that these applications were for organizations incorporated in Texas and all had identical organization phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and educational statements. Additionally, some of the applications listed questionable main studio locations, including “gated communities, apartment complexes and non-existant [sic] addresses.” Others listed addresses that appear to be at P.O. Box locations.

        As Radio Survivor has been taking a closer look at applications from all over the country, we’ve run across a few of these applicants ourselves. In Los Angeles, Guel filed on behalf of Los Angeles Hispanic Community Radio and in the San Francisco Bay Area, he filed applications for South San Francisco Hispanic Community Radio and San Francisco Hispanic Community Radio. Both San Francisco groups are proposing stations on the sites of local churches and the Los Angeles group proposes a station at a residence. REC Networks found that another application in the San Francisco Bay Area, for Concord Hispanic Community Radio, indicates a main studio location at a non-existent address.

        REC argues that applications like this go against the local spirit of LFPM. According to its informal objection:

        “REC feels that attempts by larger organizations to infiltrate the LPFM service under the guise of questionable local presence would undermine the Commission’s goal of localism and violate the spirit of the recently passed Local Community Radio Act. REC feels these applications are not truly local.”

        REC asserts that the applications were not actually filed by local applicants, but were instead filed “on behalf of a much larger organization with many LPTV holdings. Antonio Cesar Guel is the President/CEO of Hispanic Christian Community Network, Inc. and holds a 100% attributable interest in 41 LPTV stations. During the first LPFM window, Guel was involved with the filing of several questionable LPFM applications for which REC objected to back then.”

        According to REC’s objection, there are 41 LPFM applicants that would not be facing competition (being placed into mutually exclusive or MX groups) in their regions if the Hispanic Christian Community Network-related applications did not exist. REC argues that “it is very unfair to these organizations to be delayed due to being in a MX group with an allegedly fraudulent application.”

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        UK radio listeners: we want our morning hosts local https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2013/07/uk-radio-listeners-we-want-our-morning-hosts-local/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2013/07/uk-radio-listeners-we-want-our-morning-hosts-local/#respond Fri, 26 Jul 2013 15:39:01 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=21736 Britain’s broadcasting regulatory agency has released a new survey on listener attitudes towards radio. Among the bullet points: more than half of the nation’s local radio listeners want local presenters (radio hosts) between six and 10 a.m. “Considering the role of sharing programming across stations, 59% of BBC local/nations listeners and 52% of local commercial […]

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        OfcomBritain’s broadcasting regulatory agency has released a new survey on listener attitudes towards radio. Among the bullet points: more than half of the nation’s local radio listeners want local presenters (radio hosts) between six and 10 a.m.

        “Considering the role of sharing programming across stations, 59% of BBC local/nations listeners and 52% of local commercial listeners think it is important to have a local presenter during breakfast drivetime,” the poll notes.

        Other findings:

        • 59 percent of the United Kingdom’s adult population listen to local radio every week; eighteen percent of adults listen to the BCC; 51 percent to commercial stations.

        • A majority of those polled say they are interested in “local news,” but that mostly means weather and traffic. “Radio listeners in Scotland and Northern Ireland are more likely to say they are interested in news about their nation than in local news.”

        • Most responders said they were happy with how their station covered local news:

        “The majority of listeners to BBC local/nations and local commercial radio listeners are satisfied with the way their station covers local news (82% and 70% respectively). The role of local news on local radio is vital to many; over half (56%) of local commercial and over two-thirds (67%) of BBC local/nations listeners say they rely on their station to keep them updated on local news headlines.”

        • Almost half of local radio listeners say they check local online sites every month:

        “Listeners to local radio use a range of different local media sources each month, with the majority using local/regional TV in addition to local radio. Seventy four per cent of all local radio listeners also read local newspapers on a monthly basis, although only 50% of those in Northern Ireland do so. Forty eight per cent of local radio listeners also use local online sites each month, increasing to 76% in London.”

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        Chicago’s WBEZ is the 4th station to drop Smiley and West https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2012/10/chicagos-wbez-is-the-4th-station-to-drop-smiley-and-west/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2012/10/chicagos-wbez-is-the-4th-station-to-drop-smiley-and-west/#comments Sun, 14 Oct 2012 17:19:09 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=17909 Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ quietly dropped the syndicated Smiley and West program from its Sunday line-up at the end of September. This stands in contrast to the station’s decision to drop Car Talk reruns from its Saturday line-up, which management communicated in an email to donor members explaining the decision and soliciting feedback (full […]

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        Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ quietly dropped the syndicated Smiley and West program from its Sunday line-up at the end of September. This stands in contrast to the station’s decision to drop Car Talk reruns from its Saturday line-up, which management communicated in an email to donor members explaining the decision and soliciting feedback (full disclosure: I am a member and I sent them an email saying “thank you!”). I can’t say for certain that the station didn’t send an email notice about Smiley and West’s cancellation, but I checked my spam filter and can say that I definitely didn’t get one.

        Chicago media reporter Robert Feder quoted a Chicago Public Media spokesman who said audience erosion was one reason for the cancellation. The spokesman also said that,

        “More importantly, the show had developed much more of an ‘advocacy’ identity, which is inconsistent with our approach on WBEZ.”

        Feder also quotes a statement made to the program’s syndicator, Public Radio International, by Chicago Public Radio CEO Torey Malatia. In it Malatia says that Smiley and West was “becoming like Democracy Now,” which is the Pacifica Network’s signature daily news and public affairs program, hosted by the iconic and unabashedly progressive journalist Amy Goodman.

        Smiley and West, hosted by Tavis Smiley and Prof. Cornel West, grew out of Tavis Smiley’s eponymously titled weekly Tavis Smiley Show. Previously two hours, the second hour became Smiley and West in 2010.

        Media activist group Chicago Media Action has started a campaign to oppose the cancelation of Smiley and West, which includes a facebook group. They’re encouraging listeners to call or email the station, which is currently in pledge drive mode. On the CMA website Mitchell Szczepanczyk writes,

        “In an era of media concentration that has seen communities of color diminish in visibility from the nation’s radio waves, cancelling Smiley and West in a city with a majority-minority population is not, to put it lightly, a good move. Sure, WBEZ isn’t stopping anyone from getting the show from the internet, but they are stopping a great many poor and lower-income Chicagoans from getting the show, most of whom disproportionately do not have ready internet access and are disproportionately from communities of color.”

        WBEZ is the fourth station to drop the program. According to Feder,

        WBUR-FM in Boston dropped the show earlier this year for being “too political,” and KWMU-FM in St. Louis and KMOJ-FM in Minneapolis dropped it last year, citing pressure from listeners for Smiley and West’s controversial and outspoken views of President Obama.

        On WBEZ the program was replaced by shifting the Sunday afternoon schedule forward, so that On the Media airs in the former Smiley and West spot, making room for Car Talk reruns in the 5 PM slot.

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        Corporate FM Premieres at Kansas City Film Fest https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2012/04/corporate-fm-premieres-at-kansas-city-film-fest/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2012/04/corporate-fm-premieres-at-kansas-city-film-fest/#respond Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:00:44 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=14985 At Radio Survivor we obsess about radio consolidation every day of the year, but this topic isn’t pervasive across mainstream popular culture. Because of that, I was excited to hear about a new film, Corporate FM, which delves into the “downfall of commercial FM.” The movie premieres tonight at 8:30pm at the Kansas City Film […]

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        Corporate FM movie poster

        Corporate FM Premieres tonight

        At Radio Survivor we obsess about radio consolidation every day of the year, but this topic isn’t pervasive across mainstream popular culture. Because of that, I was excited to hear about a new film, Corporate FM, which delves into the “downfall of commercial FM.” The movie premieres tonight at 8:30pm at the Kansas City Film Fest and will play at the festival again tomorrow (Saturday, April 14 at 3:45pm).

        The film chronicles changes to the commercial radio industry following a lift on ownership caps in the late 1990s. It argues that corporate radio consolidation has led to a loss of local owners and local content on radio, which in turn has hurt communities.

        To get more insight into the impetus for the film, I spoke with director Kevin McKinney over email. In our conversation he explains why he thinks that commercial radio has let down local communities. He points out that commercial radio has the potential to reach many more listeners than both community and college radio and argues that these non-commercial stations (and LPFM) can’t “fill the void” left by changes to commercial radio. McKinney says, “If an entire city is to be connected, there have to be commercial stations with a staff who can listen to their community and present it back to them.”

        Jennifer Waits: What inspired you to make the film?

        Kevin McKinney: I got the initial idea to make this film because it seemed ludicrous that a station could fire its listeners and then somehow profit.  If all the stations were losing listeners from their declining quality of programming, how could these stations sell for more and more?   The inspiration came when I realized that the people on the inside were fighting to be local but losing to the financial overlords that now owned the stations.

        Waits: Does college/community radio make an appearance in the film?

        McKinney: The film is about the downfall of commercial FM.  I believe that community radio, college radio and even NPR do not fill the void that was left when we lost commercial radio as a medium to support the community, because these stations do not have the same audience.  If an entire city is to be connected, there have to be commercial stations with a staff who can listen to their community and present it back to them.  By cutting back to only one or two people running an entire station, there is no room for audience interaction.

        I did interview community and college stations to help me tell this story.  I wanted to show what the soul of a community through the medium of radio really looks like.  We see some of KJHK in Lawrence, Kansas as well as KKFI, a community radio station in Kansas City, Missouri.

        Waits: Do you see a connection between consolidation in commercial radio and consolidation in public radio?

        McKinney: Everyone is reading the same trades.  And because of that they are all prisoners of conventional wisdom that is INCORRECT.  The consultants who tell Clear Channel to abandon the term “radio” in their name also tell NPR to do the same.  It’s idiotic for NPR because it shows a lack of confidence in radio as a medium, after 40+ years of branding.  It also confuses their listeners into thinking that by supporting public “media” that they are also supporting PBS or that the terrestrial signal does not matter anymore. The worst part of this is that it perpetuates the lie that the internet can replace radio. 

        Radio is powerful because it is the only infrastructure that reaches everybody in a community free and effortlessly. I’m hoping the new CEO of NPR will understand its power outside of other forms of media and change the name back to National Public Radio.  It would be a smart move because the terrestrial signal is the one thing that makes radio unique. The term “media” is vague, and it’s obvious that every business also has a multi-media web page now.  That thinking is sooo 2000.

        Waits: Why is live, local radio important?

        McKinney: ‘Live and local’ is important because without it, radio is no better than the internet or satellite radio. It’s what makes radio relevant.  But the most important reason for live and local is that radio is the only medium in which an entire city can hear itself. Imagine if you could not hear yourself think. How would you develop? This process of hearing ourselves think is how we understand larger more complex ideas. Radio can germinate ideas in the collective heart/brain of a city. Commercial DJs are often told to keep their speaking to 15 seconds or less because research (Arbitron) shows that listeners prefer music. They have to squeeze in the station ID in that time too. That point alone is killing local charities. Gone are the personal stories from the DJ’s own experience that would motivate the larger audience beyond the core givers.

        Waits: Are you a radio activist?

        McKinney: I think when you say “activist” the common image is of a grungy hippy who only cares about LPFM. I love LPFM on its own but I do not think it is an answer or excuse for commercial radio to suck. Any “penny whistle” sized signal is too small to do what commercial FM should be doing.  It has potential in high density populations in a large city or for religious compounds in the countryside, but I don’t see it unifying a large enough population to shape and establish a unique style of a city’s music and culture. I’m an advocate for giving our cities the power to create a critical mass behind local movements and new ideas.

        Waits: Anything else?

        McKinney: We are taking this message on the road to film festivals and independent theaters.  We believe that the local movement needs its collective megaphone back.  We are doing a Kickstarter to fund distribution expenses and purchase NPR underwriting along the way.

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        Public file is still alive as FCC considers online docs https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/10/public-file-is-still-alive-as-fcc-considers-online-docs/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/10/public-file-is-still-alive-as-fcc-considers-online-docs/#respond Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:33:31 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/10/28/public-file-is-still-alive-as-fcc-considers-online-docs/ At yesterday’s open meeting the FCC released a new proposal to “modernize” public inspection files at television broadcast stations [PDF]. The biggest change proposed is to have the FCC host the files on its own website rather than have each broadcaster use its own website. As expected, the Commission also vacated a 2007 order that […]

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        At yesterday’s open meeting the FCC released a new proposal to “modernize” public inspection files at television broadcast stations [PDF]. The biggest change proposed is to have the FCC host the files on its own website rather than have each broadcaster use its own website. As expected, the Commission also vacated a 2007 order that mandated online public files, but never went into effect.

        The FCC is also proposing to reduce redundancy by not requiring broadcasters to resubmit items to their online public files that already have been submitted to the Commission. For instance, stations are required to keep a copy of their biannual ownership reports in their public files, which is something also submitted to the FCC. Other documents, like quarterly Issues and Programming lists are only kept in the public file.

        The Commission is also seeking comment on suggestions to require postings on sponsorship identification information, now disclosed only on-air, and shared services agreements.

        The FCC also indicated that it is not yet ready to take up revisions to public file requirements for radio. Instead the Commission is going to wait to see how changes work for TV, while also acknowledging that radio is a different case, due at least in part to the fact that radio stations are typically smaller organizations. I do think that it’s highly unlikely that public file requirements for radio will go away.

        Andrew Jay Schwartzman of the public interest organization the Media Access Project said of the proposal,

        For twenty-five years, it has been FCC policy to place primary reliance on listeners to identify broadcasters who do not deserve license renewal. The absence of useful information about broadcasters’ performance has made the license renewal process a meaningless charade.

        Today’s action makes useful information available, and makes it much more accessible to the public.

        The Broadcast Law Blog has a very thorough rundown of the many aspects of the FCC’s proposal.

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        Could a Community Radio Station Save Your Life? Hurricane Irene’s Radio Heroes https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/09/could-a-community-radio-station-save-your-life-hurricane-irenes-radio-heroes/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/09/could-a-community-radio-station-save-your-life-hurricane-irenes-radio-heroes/#respond Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:11:57 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=11570 It’s really no surprise to Radio Survivor readers that terrestrial radio is vital during an emergency. We’ve seen some amazing stories about how stations have stepped up to provide needed information and help after disasters around the world, such as in the wake of recent tornados in Joplin and Tuscaloosa and after the 2010 earthquake […]

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        Community Radio Station KZYX in Philo, CA (Photo: J. Waits)

        It’s really no surprise to Radio Survivor readers that terrestrial radio is vital during an emergency. We’ve seen some amazing stories about how stations have stepped up to provide needed information and help after disasters around the world, such as in the wake of recent tornados in Joplin and Tuscaloosa and after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Hurricane Irene was another reminder that having a transistor radio close by can be a vital survival tool.

        WDEV in Vermont was one such station that assisted residents during the flooding following Hurricane Irene. In an article on Boston.com, David Goodman describes how the national media pronounced the hurricane danger over, while Vermont faced horrific flooding. He explains that independent, local radio told a different story:

        “WDEV, an 80-year-old family-owned independent radio station that serves the northern half of the state with local news, music, and Red Sox games, opened its phone lines and hearts to worried residents who told each other in real time what was happening around them…

        WDEV staffer Tom Beardsley ventured outside the studio at 10 p.m. to find an elderly woman on Main Street in Waterbury struggling through flood waters to escape her home. ‘If there are emergency personnel in the area, we could use your help here right now,’ he said urgently, finally signing off so that he could offer a hand himself.

        All the while, WDEV was coping with its own disasters: flood waters were rising around its Waterbury studio, and the station had lost power and Internet communications. The radio station was kept alive by generators — and listeners. News director Eric Michaels gave out his personal cell phone number and urged listeners to call or text in information about where help was needed and how Vermonters were coping. Michaels, Beardsley, reporter Lee Kittell, station owner Ken Squier and meteorologist Roger Hill pre-empted regular broadcasting and stayed on the air for 24 crucial hours.”

        Another independent, local radio station, WRIP in the Catskills also pre-empted programming to provide help to listeners in the flooded region near its New York studios. DJ Big Jay Fink staffed the booth at the local radio station, assisting callers in search of help:

        “For days Mr. Fink, who was soon joined by his colleague Joe Loverro, played matchmaker, soothing stranded residents, taking down numbers to relay to rescue workers and passing on information about makeshift shelters and closed roads. The two personalities and other WRIP employees guided listeners through the arrival of the National Guard, carrying emergency supplies, to towns like Prattsville, and kept people apprised of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s trip on Wednesday to that community, which was devastated by the storm.

        People listened, first from radios powered by batteries or generators, and later from their cars as they drove around to survey the damage, which may top $1 billion in New York alone, Mr. Cuomo has estimated.”

        These stories out of New York and Vermont provide yet another reason to cherish local, independent radio. Do you know of other post-Irene radio heroes?

         

         

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        Radio Comes to the Rescue after Joplin Tornado https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/05/radio-comes-to-the-rescue-after-joplin-tornado/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/05/radio-comes-to-the-rescue-after-joplin-tornado/#comments Fri, 27 May 2011 00:02:15 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=9935 Time and time again we are reminded of the vital importance of terrestrial radio following a natural disaster. Just this week, six commercial radio stations in Joplin, Missouri have stepped up following the horrific tornado there. As was the case after the recent tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and after the hurricane in Haiti; radio has […]

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        Signage at KEAR-AM in Oakland (Photo: J. Waits)

        Time and time again we are reminded of the vital importance of terrestrial radio following a natural disaster. Just this week, six commercial radio stations in Joplin, Missouri have stepped up following the horrific tornado there.

        As was the case after the recent tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and after the hurricane in Haiti; radio has become one of the primary methods of communicating news both before and after the storm. Zimmer Radio, Inc., which owns six commercial radio stations in Joplin, began non-stop coverage of the impending tornado beginning an hour and a half before it hit town on Sunday. As residents lost electricity and Internet access, listening to terrestrial radio became the main way to keep in touch with news about the storm. According to a CNN article:

        KZRG, part of Zimmer Operations’ six radio stations — two that are news and four, music — began its wall-to-wall coverage an hour and a half before the tornado twisted through town Sunday. It hasn’t stopped. For the first 24 hours, there was no electricity. Both cell phones and land lines were out, as was Internet service. All that people in Joplin had were battery-powered transistors.

        The tornado missed the station building by a few blocks. So Zimmer Programming Manager Chad Elliot’s staff cranked up the generators and turned off the music. They even canceled the commercials. All they did was provide vital information to people who had lost everything.

        Elliot said it was the first time the stations had stopped all else to provide 24/7 information, though he had learned the power of radio two years ago during a jumbo ice storm. ‘We’ve had this situation before, when radio becomes the only way of communication,’ he said. Immediately after Sunday’s killer tornado, Elliot said emergency crews drove to the station to provide information for broadcast. The station began telling people where to go for medical help. Or what number to dial for information about the missing. Or where they could buy gas or where there was still a Walmart standing.”

        In addition to sending information out to listeners, the stations in Joplin also served as clearinghouses for callers offering aid or requesting assistance. According to a piece in the Los Angeles Times:

        “The stations, based in a one-story building in Joplin, have transformed their staffs into impromptu public health experts and unofficial public information officers, consolidating multiple broadcasts into a single feed of nonstop disaster coverage under the call letters KZRG.

        Classic-rock jocks and news talk-show hosts have become on-air first responders.

        ‘All of a sudden, it turned into people looking for loved ones,’ said [radio host Rob] Meyer, assistant operations manager. ‘ And we just let it grow.’

        On late Tuesday night and early Wednesday, questions on the show focused on logistics. Where do I get a permit to enter damaged areas? How do I make a FEMA claim? Callers also passed along the latest survivor tips or staked righteous attempts at fighting misinformation, including one woman who called to say that she and her family were not dead — as had apparently been rumored on Facebook.

        Spontaneous charity was rampant. A McDonald’s employee called host Randy Brooks, 40, to take an on-air order: three Quarter Pounders for the hosts and a Happy Meal for Brooks’ daughter. Another caller offered to bring clothes.”

        Again, it’s important to realize the areas in which terrestrial radio excels and the key role that it can and should play in its local community. Every time there’s an earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or similar disaster and local radio heroically responds; we should all stop and pause and think about who will help save us in our own home towns. It’s yet another reason why we should vehemently protest when local stations are targets for takeover by out-of-town conglomerates, as I’m not sure that a voice-tracked DJ or a satellite-fed signal from across the country will be able to help when a tragedy hits in my back yard.

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        Family Radio’s Rapture Fallout Prompts Letters to FCC and Congress https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/05/family-radios-rapture-fallout-prompts-letters-to-fcc-and-congress/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/05/family-radios-rapture-fallout-prompts-letters-to-fcc-and-congress/#comments Thu, 26 May 2011 01:21:24 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=9907 The hype surrounding Family Radio’s prediction of Judgment Day and the Rapture on May 21 (and subsequent pronouncement that the Rapture will be delayed until October 21, 2011) not only attracted the attention of mainstream media, religious scholars, and atheists; but it also has led to much conversation amongst proponents of non-commercial educational radio. Before […]

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        A handful of the stations owned by Family Stations (Photo: J. Waits)

        The hype surrounding Family Radio’s prediction of Judgment Day and the Rapture on May 21 (and subsequent pronouncement that the Rapture will be delayed until October 21, 2011) not only attracted the attention of mainstream media, religious scholars, and atheists; but it also has led to much conversation amongst proponents of non-commercial educational radio.

        Before May 21, 2011 had come and gone, fans of beleaguered college radio station KUSF were suggesting that with the impending Rapture, Family Radio should simply turn over their local station to Save KUSF so that the staff of the formerly terrestrial KUSF could get back on the air.

        Additionally, non-commercial radio supporter Michael Stripling Duncan apparently sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on May 20, requesting that the stations owned by Family Stations be turned over to a college radio organization so that stations like KTRU could get back on the air. He writes:

        “I am sure you are aware of the predicted events of tomorrow, May 21, 2011, and the certainty with which these predictions have been made by Family Stations Inc., of Sacramento, CA, aka Family Radio, holder of multiple FCC licenses for AM and FM radio and translator transmitters.

        It has come to my attention that beginning on Sunday, May 22, Family Stations, Inc. will no longer have need for these licenses or transmitters, either due to lack of physical and metaphysical presence on earth of anyone previously owning, administering, or listening to the stations, or for ownership having been proved to be confidence men of the highest order.

        I therefore petition the Federal Communications Commission to condemn these transmitters and reassign license and ownership of the stations to College Broadcasters, Inc. or other such organization dedicated to independent student media on college campuses for the purpose of providing student media outlets at Rice University and colleges or universities whose governing bodies have secretly liquidated student radio stations in the past. I further urge you and your colleagues to take such action in all due haste, lest the Commission finds itself unable to find a quorum after the Rapture.”

        And, then today, on a more serious note, REC Networks Founder and LPFM supporter Michelle (Michi) Eyre posted a letter (PDF) that she had sent to Senators Maria Cantwell and John McCain (co-sponsors of the Local Community Radio Act). In her blog post about the letter, Eyre “points out the need for ownership controls on non-commercial educational (NCE) FM broadcast stations and FM translators” stating that “mega-ministries” are “precluding local organizations and local ministries from having a voice in their community.”

        In her letter, Eyre writes:

        “This past weekend’s ‘false alarm’ over this alleged ‘rapture’ that was predicted by Harold Camping of Family Stations, Inc. rekindles an issue that has been on my mind for years. That issue is related to the ownership of multiple non-commercial educational (NCE) radio broadcast stations. In the early days, NCE broadcast stations were mainly owned and operated by colleges and high schools as a training ground for students…”

        She then outlines the operations of several “‘mega-ministries’ that operate hundreds of full power FM broadcast stations and lower power broadcast translators.”

        Eyre explains that, “The recent ‘rapture’ hoax…was propagated through 55 FM stations, 12 AM stations, 89 translators and a shortwave broadcast station that can be picked up in many parts of the world…The hoax was picked up by other media sources around the world and the result was worldwide panic.” She points out that although she supports free speech, she is concerned when broadcasters don’t have a connection to their local community and when, in the case of Family Radio, work to “facilitate mass-hysteria.”

        She also mentions the recent sale of KTRU and the pending sale of KUSF and argues that, “I feel the Federal Communications Commission needs to take accountability especially given the way that it has allowed these mega-ministries to expand, purchase failing college stations and file excessive applications in filing windows, sometimes through questionable means.”

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        Public FCC Files on the Chopping Block https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/04/public-files-on-the-chopping-block/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/04/public-files-on-the-chopping-block/#comments Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:45:48 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=9568 Just in time for the start of the latest radio station license-renewal cycle, the FCC opens up for question the notion of abolishing the public file requirement for broadcasters. This is not a self-imposed initiative: it is a consideration the agency is mandated to make, courtesy of the Paperwork Reduction Act. It requires regulatory agencies […]

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        Just in time for the start of the latest radio station license-renewal cycle, the FCC opens up for question the notion of abolishing the public file requirement for broadcasters.

        This is not a self-imposed initiative: it is a consideration the agency is mandated to make, courtesy of the Paperwork Reduction Act. It requires regulatory agencies to periodically review their rules and justify their existence to the Office of Management and Budget.

        A communications law attorney filed a Petition for Rulemaking directly with the FCC to do away with the public file five years ago. The Petition attracted less than three dozen comments, most of which came from broadcasters who supported killing it off. The FCC circular-filed the idea.

        According to the D.C. telecom law firm of Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth, the local station public file requirement is essentially pointless:

        According to many broadcasters…such files are largely if not totally ineffective and unnecessary, since (in the reported experience of many of those broadcasters) the public seldom if ever inspects the files. From that perspective, the requirement to maintain the files is an empty make-work exercise that serves no purpose. . . other than to provide the FCC with a way to collect tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars in fines from folks who happen not to have dotted all their public file I’s and crossed all their public file T’s.

        Indeed, the FCC takes the public file requirement very seriously – having recently fined several stations thousands of dollars apiece for failing to maintain them properly.

        However, the argument to abolish is circular. Public files of broadcast stations are seldom inspected because the public is largely unaware that they exist, and even less aware that it has the right to inspect them. Stations certainly don’t go out of their way to inform the public of its rights in this regard, which further exacerbates the lack of utilization.

        Couching advocacy for the banishment of the public file requirement as economically burdensome is also a cop-out. Given the consolidation the radio industry has experienced since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it’s no surprise that stations are letting this important license requirement slip: there’s no longer enough people employed at radio stations to properly maintain many public files.

        The slashing of station personnel arguably has made public file maintenance more burdensome – but that’s a consequence of prior bad broadcast policy, and no excuse for eliminating this rule.

        In fact, one could argue that the public file requirement is the last meaningful remnant of the FCC’s “commitment” to localism in broadcasting. Sure, the agency’s Localism Task Force has studied the issue – even to the point of publishing a detailed Report and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 2008, which would have promoted more use of the public file rules – but nothing has come of it.

        On its face, I’d be willing to trade the public file requirement for localism regulations with more teeth, but that’s a pipe-dream.

        Public comments on this issue will be accepted through June 17. There is no formal FCC proceeding on the subject, but you can send feedback via e-mail to PRA@fcc.gov and Cathy.Williams@FCC.gov. There’s a better-than-even chance that the FCC will recommend keeping the public file rule, but the OMB has final say. Giving the FCC fodder to strengthen its justification can’t hurt.

        [This story was initially published on DIYmedia.net.]

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        University of San Francisco Faculty Association Adopts Resolution Opposing Sale of KUSF https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/02/university-of-san-francisco-faculty-association-adopts-resolution-opposing-sale-of-kusf/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/02/university-of-san-francisco-faculty-association-adopts-resolution-opposing-sale-of-kusf/#respond Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:15:30 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=8421 Right now supporters of KUSF are heading into City Hall in San Francisco, anticipating today’s 2pm Board of Supervisors’ meeting, in which a resolution opposing the sale of University of San Francisco’s college radio station KUSF is expected to be voted on. For the past two weeks KUSF volunteers and fans have been calling, writing […]

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        Save KUSF Sign at City Hall Rally on Feb. 1, 2011 (Photo: J. Waits)

        Right now supporters of KUSF are heading into City Hall in San Francisco, anticipating today’s 2pm Board of Supervisors’ meeting, in which a resolution opposing the sale of University of San Francisco’s college radio station KUSF is expected to be voted on.

        For the past two weeks KUSF volunteers and fans have been calling, writing and meeting with members of the Board of Supervisors and have been making their voices heard during the public comment period of the Tuesday 2pm Board of Supervisors’ meetings.

        Although the city government of San Francisco can’t halt the proposed sale of KUSF’s license to Classical Public Radio Network, supporters at Save KUSF are hoping that this resolution will help to encourage University of San Francisco to reconsider the deal.

        Yesterday the University of San Francisco Faculty Association adopted a similar resolution and is asking for University of San Francisco to halt the station sale. In the resolution, the faculty association points out the educational role that the station held on campus, arguing that “…KUSF has served as a location for teaching, mentoring, internships, and workshop experiences for thousands of USF students and alumnae over the years, as well as a resource for faculty seeking a wider audience…” and that:

        “…KUSF 90.3 FM is a public trust and community asset that serves as an extraordinary educational tool, provides access to vital information to those who otherwise won’t have it, promotes local and independent music, and is immensely valuable to the people of San Francisco and integral to the fabric of our city, and the loss of KUSF would have a very negative impact on San Francisco’s eclectic and prolific local music, arts, and social justice communities…

        the University of San Francisco Faculty Association requests USF to cancel the sale of KUSF 90.3 FM and offer members of the San Francisco community the opportunity to obtain the 90.3 FM license and KUSF name to keep it a San Francisco run non-commercial educational and community station; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the USFFA urges the Federal Communications Commission to reject the transfer of the broadcast license of KUSF 90.3 FM to a Los Angeles company until the community is first given a chance to keep KUSF on the air in San Francisco.”

        Today’s San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ meeting begins at 2pm and can be viewed live online. You can also watch the past couple of meetings (in which the KUSF resolution was discussed), see agendas, and meeting minutes on that same page.

        ***

        Complete Radio Survivor coverage about the proposed sale of KUSF can be found here. I also wrote about my reaction to the KUSF shut down on Spinning Indie.  My article chronicling my KUSF field trip 2 years ago is housed there too.

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        Huge Outpouring of Support for KUSF at Meeting Regarding its Future https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/01/huge-outpouring-of-support-for-kusf-at-meeting-regarding-its-future/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/01/huge-outpouring-of-support-for-kusf-at-meeting-regarding-its-future/#comments Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:04:55 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=8093 Last night KUSF DJs, staff members, alumni and listeners (including students, University of San Francisco faculty, and DJs from other local college radio stations) came out to University of San Francisco in an attempt to get some answers from USF about the sudden shut-down of the college radio station on Tuesday at 10am during DJ […]

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        Protesters Gather at USF Prior to Meeting with University President (Photo: J. Waits)

        Last night KUSF DJs, staff members, alumni and listeners (including students, University of San Francisco faculty, and DJs from other local college radio stations) came out to University of San Francisco in an attempt to get some answers from USF about the sudden shut-down of the college radio station on Tuesday at 10am during DJ Schmeejay’s show. The 478 seat Presentation Theater was filled to capacity with supporters eager to pose questions to USF President Rev. Stephen A. Privett.

        Prior to the scheduled 7pm meeting, people gathered in front of Phelan Hall (where KUSF is housed) with home made signs and caps and shirts emblazoned with “Save KUSF.”  The bell tower overlooking campus ominously chimed, while people swapped stories about the surprise announcement of the station sale to University of Southern California for its new Classical Public Radio Network.

        In the background, campus security turned people away from Phelan Hall and also watched over the growing crowd from atop a neighboring building’s roof. As it got closer to 7pm, the large group walked over to Presentation Theater, while chanting against the station sale. At one point a motorcycle escort even helped to block off Turk Street, while the group crossed over from the main campus. Upon arriving in front of Presentation Theater, one of KUSF’s Music Directors, Irwin Swirnoff, led the crowd in a vocal protest before the assembled entered the theater. As people arrived, they were handed slips of paper, which could be filled out with a name and relationship to KUSF if one wanted to ask a question during the meeting.

        Irwin Swirnoff Leads Group of KUSF Supporters into Presentation Theater (Photo: J. Waits)

        Before the floor was opened to questions, USF President Privett invited those in the room to “pray with him,” as is the tradition at USF at meetings such as these. It turned out to be a telling way to begin the discussion, as many questions later would focus on how the handling of the KUSF sale was in keeping with Jesuit values.

        After thanking the volunteers and staff of KUSF for their service, he said, “It’s very clear to me that there is justifiable anger and disappointment with the decision that I made…” He added, “I don’t expect or anticipate that you are going to agree with me…,” but asked that people listen to his perspective. Privett emphasized that his “primary responsibility” is to students and to ensure that “all of the university’s resources are directed…to a quality education…to our students….”

        With that, Privett opened the floor to questions. Names were called from the slips of paper that were turned in, so it felt fairly random as far as who was given an opportunity to share a comment or ask a question. Although the range of questions and comments were impressive, emotional, and intelligent; for the most part the answers stuck to the party-line that was communicated in Privett’s opening statement and in USF’s official press release from Tuesday. Despite that, there were some surprising revelations and incisive questions that no doubt left Privett thinking in a different way about how he’s handled KUSF.

        Packed Crowd at KUSF Meeting at Presentation Theater (Photo: J. Waits)

        San Francisco listeners talked about how KUSF has been an important resource for the community and said that they will miss being able to hear the station over the FM airwaves.

        Current KUSF DJs talked about their dismay over how the plans to sell the station were kept secret and argued that they were made to feel like “criminals” by the administration when they were simply trying to get answers after the station was abruptly shut down.

        Chad Heimann, a KUSF DJ and a junior Media Studies major at USF, said that “yesterday when I was at KUSF and thrown out…I didn’t feel like a student, I felt like a criminal.” He explained to Privett that he was also a campus tour guide and that he refused to give a tour the day after the shut-down because he didn’t “want to have to say anything bad about the university.” He also expressed how important the non-student volunteers and the San Francisco community are to KUSF, arguing, “I know for a fact…we can’t do this without the community…I can’t run a radio station without the community…I love them and I learn from them.” He also told Privett that right now he feels “ashamed” to attend USF and said, “I feel so betrayed by the school that I love so much.”

        Despite comments like these, Privett downplayed the current role of students at KUSF, at one point saying that only 10 students worked at the station. He quickly recanted that after people questioned him and then seemed to state that perhaps KUSF had a staff of 10 percent students (a point that someone later referred to as the “myth of the 10 per cent”).

        Although Previtt stated that, “KUSF will continue with online programming,” he also said that “KUSF will go back to its roots” as a “student enterprise” and a “learning laboratory.” No mention was made as to whether or not the station would be open to community members as it is now. He was vague about the details on how the “new” KUSF would be programmed, stating that those questions will be decided later by the Dean and faculty members who will be charged with designing a curriculum for the station. On that note, USF Media Studies professor Dorothy Kidd chimed in, saying that she was upset that faculty members in her department were also left in the dark about the sale, saying that if the new direction of the station is as a “teaching facility,” then, “Why is the first time that I learned about this decision, last night? I am a teacher…” She added that, “a lot of faculty members are very upset with this decision.”

        I was lucky to have my name called, so asked Privett a few questions about both the sale and the future of the station. I questioned him about how the offer arrived at USF and whether or not the station was officially for sale. He said that they had not put themselves up for sale and that an offer to buy the station came to them through a broker 3 to 4 months ago. After signing a non-disclosure agreement, he learned who the suitor was (University of Southern California). To me this was intriguing news, as earlier in the day Brenda Barnes from KUSC stated that her priority was to expand the reach of Classical Public Radio Network by seeking out available frequencies in the Bay Area. She emphasized that they were only approaching stations that are already for sale; so it left me wondering if that was the case with KUSF. Many have pointed out that KUSF has received purchase offers in the past, including one from USC that was rejected a few years ago. So, perhaps that indicates that KUSF has been on the market all this time, even though Previtt denied it tonight.

        Sign at KUSF. June 2010. (Photo: J. Waits)

        I also asked about the future of Cultural programming on KUSF (for more details on the program schedule at the old KUSF, see my “station field trip” article) and about the rumored plans that the station will be moving. Earlier in the day, a KUSF Music Director, Howard Ryan (aka “DJ Schmeejay“) was interviewed on Radio Valencia. He said that the school’s communication about KUSF moving to a streaming station seemed to be giving people the false impression that KUSF as it is today would simply be transitioned to an online-only station. He said that there was talk that the station would move to a new building and that there would be no space for the music library, arguing that, “The cultural programming is probably not going to stay” and “It’s really not at all going to be” like the old KUSF. He guessed that the new station would consist of students playing primarily digital music.

        So, after hearing Howard’s words earlier, I asked Privett about the plans for the music library and if it would be retained. He said that it was the property of KUSF and indicated that there would be space for a library in the new location. Later on in the evening he said that the station is moving out of Phelan Hall because the building is being renovated and the campus “needed more beds.” Prior to KUSF’s occupancy, its space in Phelan Hall was used as dorm rooms and the plan is to revert the space back to that purpose. He didn’t indicate where KUSF would be moving.

        Howard was also one of the many people to question Privett about morality and the community-oriented ideals of Jesuits, asking, “”How do you feel this business transaction reflects Jesuit ideals?”  Privett said that the station was not part of the university’s “core mission,” adding they the school “cannot afford this community service.” Howard then asked why the community wasn’t given the opportunity to make an offer to buy the station and asked Privett to reconsider his decision to sell the station to USC. Despite that plea, Privett remained resolute that his decision will stand.

        KUSF Storage Space in an Old Dorm Bathroom. June 2010 (Photo: J. Waits)

        Although many in the crowd probed Privett about business ethics, the secrecy with which the deal went down and how the sale of the station is in keeping with the stated vision, mission, and values of USF, he said, “This was not a crass business decision about dollars…This was about ensuring that our programs involve students…our primary mission is to our students.”

        As the evening wore on he also mentioned that the school wanted to “recoup” both space and monetary resources that went into KUSF. Others countered his statements about the school’s funding of the station, pointing out that KUSF brought in underwriting dollars, donations, and also survived based on the volunteer hours put in by students and community members. People also questioned Privett on why KUSF wasn’t allowed to do fundraisers and why it wasn’t encouraged to become financially self-sufficient.

        After about 2 hours of questions, Privett left the stage and Irwin Swirnoff addressed the crowd from the audience, saying, “We asked that a KUSF representative be on stage,” but were denied. So, the meeting ended with many lingering questions on the lips of DJs and listeners. Privett did state that if people had more questions, they were welcome to email him at privett@usfca.edu.

        In the meantime, the Save KUSF Facebook page had around 3300 fans at last count, an online petition is circulating, and news and updates are being posted on the website Save KUSF. Behind the scenes DJs and staff are planning their next moves to work to formally protest the sale with the FCC. Stay tuned…

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        KUSF Update: Independent Arts and Media Protests Sale, KDFC Has Eye on South Bay, and Protest Tonight https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/01/kusf-update-independent-arts-and-media-protests-sale-kdfc-has-eye-on-south-bay-and-protest-tonight/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2011/01/kusf-update-independent-arts-and-media-protests-sale-kdfc-has-eye-on-south-bay-and-protest-tonight/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:58:34 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=8072 Yesterday it was announced that college radio station KUSF’s frequency and transmitter was being sold to a new public radio group, Classical Public Radio Network, owned by University of Southern California (USC). As part of the deal the commercial classical radio station KDFC will now convert to a non-commercial station and broadcast of KUSF’s frequency […]

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        Save KUSF

        Yesterday it was announced that college radio station KUSF’s frequency and transmitter was being sold to a new public radio group, Classical Public Radio Network, owned by University of Southern California (USC). As part of the deal the commercial classical radio station KDFC will now convert to a non-commercial station and broadcast of KUSF’s frequency of 90.3 FM.

        One of the first official letters of protest was released today by the non-profit group Independent Arts and Media. As a financial supporter of KUSF, Independent Arts and Media is calling for a re-examination of the proposed station sale is offering up an alternate plan.  In a press release this morning they state:

        “The $3.75 million sale of KUSF-FM by the University of San Francisco will have a chilling effect on the culture, community and civic life of San Francisco, the Bay Area, and beyond…We respectfully request a moratorium on the sale and a grace period enabling the KUSF-FM volunteers, through the agency of Friends of KUSF, to develop and execute the following plans:

        * A financing strategy to raise $4 million for the purchase of the station and to seed startup operations for the station in an off-campus setting

        * An operations plan detailing station management, staffing, policies and oversight by the Friends of KUSF Executive Board.”

        The letter goes on to state that the station sale would not be in the public interest of San Francisco residents because it will eliminate “a culturally diverse, community-run outlet for independent music, arts, ideas and news. Replacing KUSF’s broadcast signal with an online-only signal will also put KUSF out of reach of anyone without broadband Internet access due to financial, technological or educational barriers.”

        In other news today,  KUSF Music Director Irwin Swirnoff and President of KUSC Radio Brenda Barnes appeared on the KQED talk show Forum to discuss the radio station “shake up” in the Bay Area yesterday. Irwin eloquently articulated KUSF’s role for the San Francisco community as a “cultural oasis..with shows in 9 different languages… and a range of eclectic music programming.” He also revealed that the shut down of KUSF happened while students and faculty at University of San Francisco were still on winter break, hampering their abilities to organize effectively. He said, “Yesterday was extremely shocking, sad, and disturbing” and added that the timing during a school break meant that, “It didn’t allow us to mobilize the community, mobilize the media…”

        While Brenda Barnes of KUSC said that the current discussions about the purchase of KUSF begin last Spring, but that they had actually been having conversations about a potential purchase with University of San Francisco for “several years.” She said that she was sympathetic to the feelings of KUSF staffers, but spent more time in the interview discussing plans for the future non-commercial KDFC. She also indicated that the station will be expanding its playlist and also hopes to extend its reach into the South Bay, calling it a “top priority” since the current coverage area will not reach as far south as they would like. In a statement sure to frighten any of us involved with non-commercial radio in the South Bay, she said, “…we’ll be looking for stations that are for sale,” adding that, they are not courting stations who have not been put up for sale, saying,”we haven’t gone to anyone and said, ‘would you sell us your station.'”

        Last night I wrapped up the day’s events on Spinning Indie, after following the news throughout the day on Radio Survivor. Tonight there will be a meeting at Phelan Hall at 6:00pm, followed by a protest at 7pm at Fromm Hall. Organizers have set up a Save KUSF website and Facebook page in order to help spread the word.

        The post KUSF Update: Independent Arts and Media Protests Sale, KDFC Has Eye on South Bay, and Protest Tonight appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        Public Radio Station WLIU Sold to Community Group, Renamed WPPB https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/12/public-radio-station-wliu-sold-to-community-group-renamed-wppb/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/12/public-radio-station-wliu-sold-to-community-group-renamed-wppb/#comments Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:39:21 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=7457 When universities put their radio stations up for sale, more often than not the people lining up with cash in hand are non-local radio groups. So, it’s a wonderful surprise when those who work at a  station that’s on the chopping block take the initiative to save the station from outside parties. As we reported […]

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        WLIU sold to Peconic Public Broadcasting

        When universities put their radio stations up for sale, more often than not the people lining up with cash in hand are non-local radio groups. So, it’s a wonderful surprise when those who work at a  station that’s on the chopping block take the initiative to save the station from outside parties. As we reported last year, public radio station WLIU found itself for sale after the State University of New York at Stony Brook took over the Long Island University campus in Southampton, New York.

        Campus radio dated back to as early as the 1970s at the formerly named Southampton College, with stations broadcasting over carrier current (WSCR, which eventually morphed into an Internet-only student station and is presumably now defunct) and FM (WPBX, which was renamed WLIU). Most recently WLIU has been broadcasting a public radio format. When the station was put up for sale, a group of community members and station staffers formed Peconic Public Broadcasting in order to make a bid for the station. For the past year they have been fundraising and working hard to make their purchase of the station a reality.

        Peconic Public Broadcasting successfully completed its acquisition of WLIU on Wednesday, December 15 and the station announced that it will now be broadcasting under the new call letters WPPB at 88.3 FM. According to a press release, the new station will continue to air public radio programming, but with “added local emphasis.”

        It’s great to see that community members in Southampton were able to keep their station both independent and locally owned and it’s nice to finally hear some good news about a college radio station sale.

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        Radio as Survival Tool in Sudan https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/12/radio-as-survival-tool-in-sudan/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/12/radio-as-survival-tool-in-sudan/#respond Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:59:10 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=7338 Although many of us are fixated on radio crises in the United States, from stations getting shut down to favored radio hosts being fired, to college radio stations getting sold off; it’s rare that we talk about the important role that radio can play in keeping citizens informed and engaged. As I wrote in my […]

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        Although many of us are fixated on radio crises in the United States, from stations getting shut down to favored radio hosts being fired, to college radio stations getting sold off; it’s rare that we talk about the important role that radio can play in keeping citizens informed and engaged.

        As I wrote in my story about the work being done in Central Africa by Interactive Radio for Justice and as Jake Chapnick called for in his piece about community radio in Afghanistan, radio is a powerful tool in warn-torn regions. Groups often rally to build community radio stations in these areas and also work to bring in portable radios to areas in which people don’t have ready access to news and information.

        Sudan has seen the development of community radio stations in recent years and now International Relief & Development is working to bring hand-crank and solar-powered radios to villages on the border of Northern and Southern Sudan. The hope is that radios will give people access to news and information about not only the peace process, but also about issues related to human rights. Supporters of this initiative to bring radios to Sudan are encouraged to sign an online petition on Care2’s website.

        To learn more about some of the community radio stations that have been built in Sudan, take a look at this piece on Internews.

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        World Series Highlighted Challenges of Listening to Radio While Watching TV https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/11/world-series-highlighted-challenges-of-listening-to-radio-while-watching-tv/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/11/world-series-highlighted-challenges-of-listening-to-radio-while-watching-tv/#respond Fri, 05 Nov 2010 22:06:01 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=6964 I can’t overstate the excitement in San Francisco this week as the Giants wrapped up their season by winning the World Series. As they headed into the playoffs, I started hearing more and more discussion about the relative merits of local commentators vs. national commentators. Many people told me that they preferred listening to baseball […]

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        World Series Cupcakes from Noe Valley Bakery. Fear the beard!

        I can’t overstate the excitement in San Francisco this week as the Giants wrapped up their season by winning the World Series. As they headed into the playoffs, I started hearing more and more discussion about the relative merits of local commentators vs. national commentators.

        Many people told me that they preferred listening to baseball games over local radio while watching them on TV with the audio muted. My husband described the challenges inherent in this due to the audio delay that exists over the television. While watching Game 1 of the World Series projected from a computer onto a screen, he and his pals listened to the game over local radio.

        It was a surreal experience for them as they were across from AT&T Park, so could hear fan noise and home run-signaling fog horns when something exciting happened in the game, then they caught word on the radio, and finally saw it on TV. Despite these hiccups, sports fans like them plodded on, putting up with the strange experience of hearing things before seeing them.

        Here are a few options for those looking to watch a live event on television (sporting events most readily come to mind) while listening to play-by-play on a local radio station.

        SportSyncRadio has a built-in delay so that TV viewers can listen to a game over a local radio station while watching it on TV.

        There’s also the RadioShark AM/FM Desktop Radio with Time-Shift Recording, which is an AM/FM radio that provides some of the same capabilities as a DVR, allowing you to record broadcasts for future listening. Because of this feature it lets you pause live radio and create your own customized delay.

        Another way to create a delay in your radio audio is by hooking up your radio to your computer and using the free Radio Delay tool. For step-by-step instructions on how to do this, take a look at Bote’s Radio Nexus for details for both Mac and PC users.

        My Home Team Radio is another portable device available to create an audio delay by hooking it up to your radio and a set of computer speakers as shown in this video below. If you’ve tested out any of these options, let us know what you think works best.

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        FCC FREE Radio in Content Deal with SF Station Website https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/07/fcc-free-radio-in-content-deal-with-sf-station-website/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/07/fcc-free-radio-in-content-deal-with-sf-station-website/#respond Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:09:52 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=5531 For the past year we’ve been chronicling the evolution of FCC FREE Radio in San Francisco. Starting out as renegade LPFM community radio broadcasters in 2009, they went Internet-only in May 2010 and are now embarking on a mission of becoming a broader-based Internet radio station and content provider. When I visited a few weeks […]

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        Board at FCC FREE Radio

        For the past year we’ve been chronicling the evolution of FCC FREE Radio in San Francisco. Starting out as renegade LPFM community radio broadcasters in 2009, they went Internet-only in May 2010 and are now embarking on a mission of becoming a broader-based Internet radio station and content provider.

        When I visited a few weeks back, General Manager John Miller hinted at a deal that was in the works that might be a stepping stone for a much larger audience for FCC FREE Radio.

        Well, it turns out that today marks the beginning of the station’s new gig as a content provider for SFStation.com, an online city guide focused on events and attractions in San Francisco. Through its partnership with FCC FREE Radio, SF Station now features a weekly hour-long Internet radio show called SF Station Radio that is made up of music selections and calendar listings for that week. Hosted by a SF Station staff member, SF Station Radio is recorded at FCC FREE Radio’s studio and airs live on Wednesdays from Noon to 1pm. It is also archived on the SF Station website for a week. This week’s episode highlights indie-oriented featured events happening in San Francisco in the next 7 days, as well as music from artists taking part in the Outside Lands music festival.

        In addition to facilitating this weekly radio show, FCC Free Radio is also highlighted as the official radio station for the SF Station website, with a link to its “24-hour Program Stream” provided from the SF Station Radio page.

        With many websites seeking out audio content, this is an interesting partnership and a creative way to blend two community resources. In a similar vein, the San Francisco Bay Guardian launched its own web radio show in April. Their show (which airs several times a week) features Johnny Angel Wendell and San Francisco Bay Guardian Executive Editor Tim Redmond discussing topics ranging from California politics, to the state of news to local controversies such as whether pet stores should be banned in San Francisco.

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        DIY Radio hits Motown for Allied Media Conference https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/06/diy-radio-hits-motown-for-allied-media-conference/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/06/diy-radio-hits-motown-for-allied-media-conference/#respond Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:10:27 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=5057 If I were anywhere near Detroit this weekend I would grab a seat at the Allied Media Conference. Held at Wayne State University, this is the 12th annual conference put together by Allied Media Projects. Sessions focused on media, technology, community-organizing, social justice, and the DIY ethos all began today. With topics ranging from radical […]

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        If I were anywhere near Detroit this weekend I would grab a seat at the Allied Media Conference. Held at Wayne State University, this is the 12th annual conference put together by Allied Media Projects. Sessions focused on media, technology, community-organizing, social justice, and the DIY ethos all began today. With topics ranging from radical comics to culture jamming to creating gender inclusive online games, it’s sure to be a fun conference full of creative and engaged media fans.

        Of interest to me, is that an entire conference track is focused on radio. “Radio Active: From the streets to the airwaves” is being coordinated by Prometheus Radio Project and the Community News Production Institute of People’s Production House.

        Prometheus is doing a live radio webstream from the event (9 to 5:30 tomorrow and 10 to 1:30 on Sunday), in case you want to tune in to hear what they’ve got in store. Radio sessions will include “Build a Mini Radio Transmitter,” “Radio as a Tool to Transform, Organize and Build Community,” and live broadcasts. Other radio-related sessions include a discussion about “Open Source Internet Radio,” and “Your Phone is Your Microphone.”

        Later in the month, Prometheus will be doing more radio how-to’s in Detroit at the United States Social Forum.

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        Two Knight News Challenge Grants go to radio orgs https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/06/two-knight-news-challenge-grants-go-to-radio-orgs/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/06/two-knight-news-challenge-grants-go-to-radio-orgs/#respond Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:08:20 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=4986 The Knight Foundation has taken a lead in funding grants for promising new ideas for journalism, in particular those that exploit opportunities in digital media and are local in focus. The Knight News Challenge Grant is providing $2.74 million in funding to twelve projects that aim to inform specific geographic communities. The winners were announced […]

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        The Knight Foundation has taken a lead in funding grants for promising new ideas for journalism, in particular those that exploit opportunities in digital media and are local in focus. The Knight News Challenge Grant is providing $2.74 million in funding to twelve projects that aim to inform specific geographic communities. The winners were announced at the Future of News and Civic Media conference at MIT and this year two grants are going to radio organizations.

        The PRX StoryMarket is a project that allows any person to pitch or help fund the production of a story for a local public radio station. When the amount of money raised for a particular story is sufficient then the local station can hire a professional journalist to produce it. Proposed by PRX CEO Jake Shapiro, The StoryMarket received a $75,000 challenge grant and is built on software developed for a 2008 challenge winner Spot.us, which uses a similar model for online news in four cities, including Los Angeles and Minneaplois. The project PRX is the Public Radio Exchange which is seven year-old online market for public radio content.

        WBUR logoPublic radio station WBUR in Boston received a $250,000 challenge grant to create a laboratory in a Boston courtroom that aims to establish best practices for digital court reporting. Called Order in the Court 2.0 the project’s courtroom will have a designated blogging area with wi-fi and the ability to stream court proceedings live. The project, headed by WBUR executive editor for new media, John Davidow, will also publish a daily docket on its website and develop a wiki for common legal terms.

        Once again, it’s impossible not to notice that the innovation happening in radio is coming from non-commercial, and in this case, public radio. This segment of the radio industry readily embraced the internet while at the same time emphasizing local service. I’m glad to see the Knight Foundation recognize the fruitful potentials in the merger of this old media with new.

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        How local is radio? FCC wants more data https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/06/how-local-is-radio-fcc-wants-more-data/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/06/how-local-is-radio-fcc-wants-more-data/#respond Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:07:46 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=4987 The Federal Communications Commission is commissioning nine economic studies on the state of the media industry, and numbers five and six couldn’t come too soon as far as I’m concerned. Here they are: Study 5: Quantity of radio news and public affairs programming provided and audience for radio news programming as a function of local […]

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        The Federal Communications Commission is commissioning nine economic studies on the state of the media industry, and numbers five and six couldn’t come too soon as far as I’m concerned. Here they are:

        • Study 5: Quantity of radio news and public affairs programming provided and audience for radio news programming as a function of local market structure. This study will examine provision of radio news and public affairs programming and will examine the impact of local market structure on presence of news formats.  The study may also examine station websites to determine how much news these stations provide.
        • Study 6:  Local content on the Internet. The study will examine the availability and usage of local content on the Internet and analyze the impact of local market structure on the availability and usage of local Internet content.  The study shall analyze, at a minimum, the extent to which websites offering local Internet content are affiliated with local radio stations, television stations, newspapers, or other media entities and whether the degree of such affiliation varies across markets with different local market structures.

        All the proposed studies are listed at the end of this post. This is part of the agency’s quadrennial review of its media ownership rules.

        In all my years of covering the FCC and the Great Media Ownership Debate, one of the things I’ve noted is the lack of up-to-date data on questions like localism. Pro and anti-regulatory groups have been at each other’s throats for years on whether to require more local coverage from radio stations.

        Example: this Youtube clip (see above)  of Senator Barbara Boxer’s (D-CA) tense confrontation with then FCC Chair Kevin Martin in 2007 over his handling of a study on local TV ownership patterns. But much of this discussion takes place without any concrete and vetted research on the degree to which radio stations and their Internet portals really serve the public, local coverage-wise.

        So this is welcome stuff, to my mind. If you’re a researcher at some media institute or college and have more questions, you can contact Jonathan Levy, Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, FCC at (202) 418-2048 or by email at Jonathan.Levy@fcc.gov.

        • Study 1: Media usage as a function of local market structure. This study will analyze media usage (television viewing and radio listening) as a function of local market structure, taking account of the availability of other media platforms and holding constant other relevant factors.
        • Study 2: Consumer survey and consumer valuation of media as a function of local market structure. This study will examine, based on a consumer survey, the impact of local media market structure on consumer satisfaction with available broadcast radio and television service. The study will examine, to the extent feasible, overall satisfaction with the media environment, satisfaction with locally-oriented media content, including news, and satisfaction by demographic groups. The survey will gather information on how much time people spend with various media and how people get news and information. The survey may also collect information on certain measures of civic engagement or political participation.
        • Study 3: Civic knowledge/engagement as a function of local market structure. This study will examine civic knowledge and/or engagement with respect to local or regional events as a function of local market structure, for the overall population and also, to the extent feasible, by demographic group.
        • Study 4: Quantity of local television news and public affairs programming provided as a function of local market structure. This study will examine the effect of local market structure on the total amount of local television news and public affairs programming provided by station and also by market.
        • Study 5: Quantity of radio news and public affairs programming provided and audience for radio news programming as a function of local market structure. This study will examine provision of radio news and public affairs programming and will examine the impact of local market structure on presence of news formats.  The study may also examine station websites to determine how much news these stations provide.
        • Study 6:  Local content on the Internet. The study will examine the availability and usage of local content on the Internet and analyze the impact of local market structure on the availability and usage of local Internet content.  The study shall analyze, at a minimum, the extent to which websites offering local Internet content are affiliated with local radio stations, television stations, newspapers, or other media entities and whether the degree of such affiliation varies across markets with different local market structures.
        • Study 7: Impact of minority ownership on minority-targeted radio programming. This study will examine the impact of minority ownership on minority-targeted radio station formats.  This study will assess whether minority ownership of one or more stations in a market influences the total amount of minority targeted programming available in that market.
        • Study 8: Empirical analysis of the impact of local market structure on viewpoint diversity. This study will examine the impact of local market structure on viewpoint diversity.
        • Study 9: Theoretical analysis of the impact of local market structure on the range of viewpoints supplied. This study will develop and analyze a theoretical model of the impact of local market structure on media owners’ incentives to shape the distribution of information under varying assumptions regarding owner incentives.

        The post How local is radio? FCC wants more data appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        Radio's Critical Role in War-Torn Regions: Interactive Radio for Justice's Work to Empower Citizens in Central Africa https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/03/radios-critical-role-in-war-torn-regions-interactive-radio-for-justices-work-to-empower-citizens-in-central-africa/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/03/radios-critical-role-in-war-torn-regions-interactive-radio-for-justices-work-to-empower-citizens-in-central-africa/#respond Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:58:11 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=3520 The recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti are a strong reminder about the importance of radio as a communications tool, especially in times of disaster. Haitian radio stations have served to help with rescue efforts and shortwave radio operators in Chile were also instrumental in transmitting tsunami updates and emergency communications. Along these lines, the […]

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        The recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti are a strong reminder about the importance of radio as a communications tool, especially in times of disaster. Haitian radio stations have served to help with rescue efforts and shortwave radio operators in Chile were also instrumental in transmitting tsunami updates and emergency communications.

        Along these lines, the organization Interactive Radio for Justice (IRfJ) has been creating radio programs in war-torn regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic in order to help provide information to citizens about their basic human rights. Utilizing local community and Catholic radio stations as their outlets, representatives from Interactive Radio for Justice have created several series of “interactive” radio programs in which listeners can hear citizens asking pressing questions about their legal rights, which are then answered by government officials over the air.

        In parts of the world where television, the Internet, and print media are not commonplace, but radios are in nearly every home; radio broadcasts can become a vital educational tool.

        Recently I interviewed Wanda Hall, Founder and Director of Interactive Radio for Justice, in order to hear from her the reasons why radio is such a critical tool in her work.

        The project began in 2005 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with one of the main goals being to “create interactive conversation” between citizens and legal officials. The focus have been on regions where The International Criminal Court has been investigating serious crimes such as genocide and war crimes and the radio programs attempt to begin a dialog in order to educate communities about the justice system.

        Luckily for IRFJ, the DRC had an established culture of community radio that could be tapped into for the project. In 2008 they also began work in the Central African Republic where “local radio is not as obvious a tool” according to Wanda. She said that because of this, they have teamed up with religious radio stations affiliated with the Catholic church.

        In addition to producing programming, IRFJ also works to provide radios to members of the local communities in order to set up “listening groups.” That way, even if residents don’t have access to a radio, they can go to someone’s home to hear the programming. Group leaders are given radios and they establish a specific time each week that they will open their home to their neighbors in order to listen to IRfJ programming. Wanda told me that in these communities the cost of a radio may be equivalent to a month’s salary, so it’s not unreasonable to expect that it’s a luxury item for many people.

        For residents in these regions with low rates of literacy and a strong oral tradition, radios provide the main source for news. Additionally, Wanda mentioned to me that newspapers aren’t as popular and printing presses “ground to a halt” during wartime. She added that it’s a “musical society…and so radio is effective…word of mouth is effective as well.” She pointed out that even though there are Internet cafes, “you simply don’t have electricity in these places” and “there’s not enough bandwidth to surf the Internet.”

        In the U.S. it’s easy to take for granted the easy access that we have to newspapers, the Internet, and television for news and information. Wanda reminds us that in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the “educational system is destroyed” and there are literally grenade holes in the walls of the schools. She said that people there wonder who is controlling the media, so she is trying to get voices from the community on the air, asking the pointed questions.

        In addition to the radio programs that IRfJ is producing, they also did a project called Music for Justice in which the youth of Ituri were encouraged to write and create songs focused on themes of justice and peace. CDs of the music have been distributed to radio stations in the region and the songs are also played during IRfJ programming. The music was recorded in a number of languages and spans a range of genres including pop, rap, and traditional Congolese music.  Tracks can also be heard and downloaded from the IRFJ website.

        The IRFJ radio programs (which can be heard on their website) tackle a range of topics, covering listener questions about laws, women’s rights, victimization, and “Rights and Legal Recourse on the Road.” Many of the questions are disturbing in that the abuses that these citizens have suffered are horrific, such as witnessing rapes and murders of family members during wartime. Even though the pain of these crimes cannot be erased, it’s reassuring that these radio programs are both giving a voice to victims and providing resources and education about their rights so that some form of justice may be served.

        The post Radio's Critical Role in War-Torn Regions: Interactive Radio for Justice's Work to Empower Citizens in Central Africa appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        The Radio Survivor Guide to escaping mainstream radio https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/02/in-search-of-japanese-metal-bands-on-the-net-german-and-french-bands-too/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/02/in-search-of-japanese-metal-bands-on-the-net-german-and-french-bands-too/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:41:39 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=3166 Radio Survivor’s Helen Yamamoto offers her comprehensive guide to every band genre that she (and we) can think of on the ‘Net.

        The post The Radio Survivor Guide to escaping mainstream radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        As someone who dislikes long commercial breaks and hearing the same songs over and over on the radio, I’ve always had an interest in finding alternative ways to discover new music. Since it has now been a few years since I began this quest, I’ve decided to list some possible alternatives to “mainstream” radio (in no particular order).

        Internet Radio

        I absolutely love the concept of Internet radio, although my experience has admittedly been limited to Pandora Radio and Last.fm.  Summarized, they’re customizable radio with limited commercials (that you can mute if you feel the need). Awesome, yes?

        Since I’m studying multiple languages for graduate school, I’m constantly searching for what I consider to be “good” music from other countries in an attempt to assist with my learning process by increasing my exposure. To test the effectiveness of these websites to help with this goal, I searched both websites for three different bands that perform in three different languages: a Japanese metal band named Dir en Grey, a German band named Wir sind Helden (We Are Heroes), and a French artist named Yelle.

        I was thoroughly impressed by the fact that Last.fm not only had each group that I searched for but also managed to remain in the same genre and, almost always, the same language, including a limited amount of similar music in English. Pandora appears to be less conducive to expanding one’s international musical horizons, failing to provide any music for Wir Sind Helden and initially returning only English results.

        That said, here are some general notes: I like that Last.fm provides you with a list of recent songs and radio stations while Pandora only allows you to look at recently played songs for a currently playing radio station (the history is cleared if you switch). I was  surprised to discover that Last.fm allows you to maintain a “library” of tracks that you’ve listened to, although I suppose the trade off is that users are unable to pause (as far as I can tell) songs (the alternative is to leave the radio station) and can only structure their stations around entire bands as opposed to both songs and bands (Pandora allows both options). I’m more familiar with Pandora, which is probably why I prefer its layout. I also like having the option of structuring a station around a song as opposed to an entire band because occasionally you stumble upon those amazing songs from, unfortunately, horrible albums that you really don’t need to subject your ears to again (Ex: Matt and Kim’s “Daylight” and most music from the ’80s, like this).

        Pure VolumeMusic Websites

        1) If you enjoy any of the following genres, I STRONGLY suggest visiting purevolume.com which is an amazing way to discover new bands and genres (I’ve been regularly visiting it since at least high school). The website generally has limited free downloads, allows you to occasionally stream entire albums (many of which are new), and lets users listen to sample tracks from each band (some of which are available to download for free). The number of bands that I have learned about through this website is ridiculous.

        • Acoustic (as it applies to the other listed genres)
        • Alternative
        • Christian (like Relient K)
        • Club (generally with some rock or pop influence)
        • Death Metal (nothing that I find particularly interesting)
        • Electronica (see the next section of this article)
        • Emo
        • Experimental (generally pertaining to these other genres)
        • Folk (not in the traditional sense)
        • Hardcore
        • Hip Hop (like Gym Class Heroes, not 50 Cent…)
        • Indie
        • Jazz (typically mixed with rock or pop)
        • Metal (nothing that I particularly enjoy)
        • Metalcore
        • Pop
        • Pop Punk
        • Post Hardcore
        • Powerpop
        • Progressive
        • Psychedelic (typically mixed with more modern rock)
        • Punk
        • Reggae (More like Sublime and less like Marley)
        • Rock
        • Screamo
        • Southern Rock (I’m impressed/intrigued with people who are familiar with this)

        2) For all genres of electronic music, my friend Amy (seconded by Morgan) suggests Beatport, which seems to be amazingly organized and  provides example tracks from each genre, a number of charts, and various DJ mixes. Specifically, Beatport covers the following:

        • Breaks
        • Chill Out
        • Deep House
        • DJ Tools
        • Drum and Bass
        • Dubstep
        • Electro House
        • Electronica
        • Hard Dance
        • Hardcore/ Hard Techno
        • House
        • Indie Dance/ Nu Disco
        • Minimal
        • Progressive House
        • Psy-Trance
        • Tech-House
        • Techno
        • Trance

        3) Another type of website that can be extremely helpful is a lyrics website. They tend to list upcoming or popular albums and/or songs. Here are a few examples:

        4) Myspace, quite surprisingly, isn’t dead yet. The website has a distinct music section which can thankfully be accessed without an account. Browsing is relatively easy, and the music homepage displays charts for top artists, songs, albums, and videos and features a number of playlists posted by Myspace and various artists. Users can also access the New Releases page which has “New This Week” and “Recent Releases,” both of which can be separated into songs or albums. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see a mention of the Melvins and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

        5) My friend Thor recommended Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives which arguably boasts the largest database of metal albums and allows users to browse the website by letter, country, genre, or reviews. To test the quality of the site, I ran searches on a few metal bands, specifically Children of Bodom, Wintersun, and Judas Priest. Each search returned information on the band’s specific genre, lyrical themes, origin, year of formation, current label, status, current line-up, former members (if applicable), additional notes, links to purchase the band’s merchandise, a complete discography (or extremely close), and relevant links. Absolutely amazing!

        6) Metal Underground was suggested by my friend Jake and features updated “Metal News Headlines”, recent interviews and reviews, upcoming releases, and thousands of band pages with general information on each band along with reviews and news. After a few minutes of just poking around this site I learned that a folk metal band that I saw in San Francisco a while ago, Eluveitie, is coming out with a new album, a singer for a band that I was planning on seeing had to leave the band’s current tour (Killswitch Engage), and that Mike Portnoy, the drummer for Dream Theater, just finished filling in for The Rev (RIP) on Avenged Sevenfold’s newest studio album. The website also has a “Best of 2009” list with some fantastic suggestions.

        7 + 8 ) Daytrotter, suggested by my friend Miguel, has a relatively large archive of acoustic performances for a number of underground indie/alternative bands (similar to purevolume), a small collection of reviews, another small collection of concert videos, and a list of shows being promoted by the website. He also suggests Beatcrave, which appears to cover a number of different genres, although both websites tend to be dominated by indie and/or electronic.

        Music Blogs

        Although I don’t regularly read any music blogs, some of my friends have suggested the following:

        1) Delusions of Adequacy (DOA), suggested by my friend Justin, features a number of album, song, and concert reviews and also includes “interviews, features, and more.”

        2 + 3) My friend Addy suggests Pitchfork and “i guess i’m floating.” As someone who favors rock/alternative/etc, I immediately recognized a number of bands from purevolume on “i guess i’m floating,” which looks pretty awesome from my perspective. I also recognized a few bands listed on Pitchfork, such as The Morning Benders and Caribou, although I’m not sure what genres it covers.

        4) Hype Machine, or hypem.com, suggested by my friends Rebecca and Morgan, is a music blog aggregator, which means that it consolidates a number of music blogs into a single website. As hypem states, “Every day, thousands of people around the world write about the music they love– and it all ends up here.”

        5+ 6) My friend Jomar suggests The Silent Ballet, which features a number of articles, reviews, and charts, and TheSirensSound, an “unstoppable blog about great music.”

        7 + 8 ) Miguel suggests “music induced euphoria,” which appears to be a true music blog, and “mindset,” which creates a “cut the crap” playlist each month of some decent/good-sounding tracks (see the archive here).

        Some general suggestions

        1 +2) Honestly, the best ways to discover new music are to go to shows (listening to each band) and to simply talk to people. Bands tend to tour or book shows with groups with a similar sound or fan-base, so, chances are, if you go to a show for one of your favorite bands, you’ll probably like at least one other band that’s playing. Open mic nights or bars and other venues that regularly have live music are also great ways to support local music and to get acquainted with local bands, such as Wave Array (East Bay, CA), Luke Franks or the Federalists (East Bay, CA), and D.R.A.M.A. Kings (Washington DC). Also, some venues, like the DNA Lounge (metal) in San Francisco or Yoshi’s (jazz) in San Francisco and Oakland, generally only host a specific type of genre, so you can always look at their calendars for upcoming shows. Talking with friends who have a similar taste in music is another fantastic way to learn about new bands and genres.

        3) Amazon.com also has a feature listing related purchases. So, for example, if I were viewing The Best of The Ink Spots, I could scroll down to “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” and see suggestions for The Mills Brothers and The Andrews Sisters.

        4) Wikipedia pages for bands tend to, if they’re any good, list some of the band’s influences. For example, Children of Bodom’s page lists Yngwie Malmsteen as an influence for their album Something Wild. Wikipedia pages also tend to list “epic” and/or memorable tour lineups, such as the Wacken Open Air 2008 tour discussed on Children of Bodom’s page which mentions Iron Maiden, Sonata Arctica, amd Avantasia.

        5) Look at band labels. For example, Fueled By Ramen has signed a number of prominent and underground alternative, indie, and punk bands, such as The Cab, Cobra Starship, Friday Night Boys, This Providence, The Academy Is…, and A Rocket To The Moon. Jomar also suggests Metal Blade Records, which features bands like Cannibal Corpse, GWAR, and As I Lay Dying, Relapse Records, which features bands like Dying Fetus and Mastodon, and Southern Lord Records, which features a number of bands that I haven’t heard of but am now interested in.

        Anyway, I hope that this was helpful! I should note that, due to my own musical interests and subsequent musical knowledge, this collection somewhat neglects a few genres. Please feel free to expand upon anything that I missed or to contribute some information towards a genre that I was unable to provide specific information for (off the top of my head: opera, classical, country, jazz, R&B, and hip hop).

        I would also like to thank some of my friends for their suggestions which I have attempted to incorporate into this article.

        The post The Radio Survivor Guide to escaping mainstream radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        Community Radio’s Challenges After the Haitian Quake https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/02/community-radios-challenges-after-the-haitian-quake/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/02/community-radios-challenges-after-the-haitian-quake/#respond Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:54:47 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=2950 As we wrote last week, radio has played a vital communications role in Haiti in the weeks following its devastating earthquake last month. But what we didn’t cover in that story is the sad state of some Haitian community radio stations which have suffered major damage to buildings and equipment. According to a series of […]

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        Can you hear me?

        As we wrote last week, radio has played a vital communications role in Haiti in the weeks following its devastating earthquake last month. But what we didn’t cover in that story is the sad state of some Haitian community radio stations which have suffered major damage to buildings and equipment.

        According to a series of articles on the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) blog, community radio plays an important educational role for Haitian citizens. By broadcasting native language programming it is serving a rural population in which 80% of homes are said to contain radios.

        A post from last week reports that,

        “In the western and southeastern parts of the country, at least 16 stations are facing serious problems that have suspended their broadcasts, Sony Esteus, executive director of SAKS, a local organization of community radio stations, told CPJ. The earthquake obliterated SAKS’ office in the Bourdon neighborhood, east of Port-au-Prince.”

        In a post this week, CPJ shares some video of the destruction at the office of community radio organization SAKS, as well as footage from a destroyed community radio station in Fondwa.

        Take a look at CPJ’s entire blog series on Haiti to find additional stories about the role that radio is playing during this crisis and to learn about the state of several other radio stations.

        The post Community Radio’s Challenges After the Haitian Quake appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        Radio Survivor's Top Radio Shows – Jennifer's #2: "Trading Time" https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/01/radio-survivors-top-radio-shows-jennifers-2-trading-time/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/01/radio-survivors-top-radio-shows-jennifers-2-trading-time/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:39:10 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=2761 One of terrestrial radio’s many benefits is that is has the capacity to be a resource for the local listening community. Since in recent years there has been less and less local content on commercial stations, there’s a great opportunity for college and community radio stations to put even more emphasis on the needs of […]

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        KZYX- Home of "Trading Time"

        One of terrestrial radio’s many benefits is that is has the capacity to be a resource for the local listening community. Since in recent years there has been less and less local content on commercial stations, there’s a great opportunity for college and community radio stations to put even more emphasis on the needs of the listening audience in one’s backyard.

        My all-time favorite local radio show is on the community radio station KZYX in Philo, California. “Trading Time” is call-in swap show (airing every Saturday morning from 11am to noon) that allows people in Mendocino County to advertise goods for sale, rides needed, or items that they are looking for. It’s like a community bulletin board on the radio (or a live version of Craigslist).

        The folksy hosts of “Trading Time” introduce callers, repeat details about the various items for sale, and read off emails and snail mail-delivered listings that have come in from other neighbors. Although on the surface listening to a bunch of people calling in with items to sell or trade might sound mundane, there’s something about the show that is riveting. It provides a real slice of life for the local community and you get to hear a cross-section of folks sharing news of what their current list of cast-offs might be.

        Scenery near Philo

        Someone might call in offering an old truck. Another caller could be seeking a ride to San Francisco. And yet another might be looking for a couch. In addition to calling in live during the show, members of the community can also submit their listings of items they’d like to buy, sell, trade or barter to the station by snail mail or by using an online submission form.

        If you don’t live near Philo, similar shows air all over the country, including the following:

        KSCJ 1360 AM in Sioux City, Iowa:  KSCJ Swap Shop is on the air Saturdays and Sundays

        WJXR 92.1 FM in Jacksonville, Florida : Swap Shop airs Monday through Saturday mornings

        Mid Kansas Radio in McPherson, Kansas: Swap Shop airs daily. You can also check out some of the daily listings on their website. Today they’ve got free puppies and someone is looking for a lava lamp.

        WGNS Talk Radio in Murfreesboro, Tennessee : Swap ‘n Shop has been on the air since 1947! Some of the latest listings include hay, pit bull puppies, and a “wheel barrel” for sale and someone who is looking for help fixing their “fridge.”

        KGAS in Carthage, Texas: KGAS Radio Swap Shop is on the air weekday mornings. Callers can list up to 4 items in 30 seconds. No firearms allowed and only clean and sanitized mattresses.

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        Notable Comments on the RadioSurvivor Decade in Review https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/01/notable-comments-on-the-radiosurvivor-decade-in-review/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/01/notable-comments-on-the-radiosurvivor-decade-in-review/#respond Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:13:04 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=2203 One of the most satisfying aspects of putting together our review of the decade’s most important radio trends was the number of comments we received. It appears we touched a nerve or two. And while not everyone agreed with our arguments or conclusions, we did get some thought provoking responses. Seeing as how we like […]

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        Readers comment on our decade review.

        One of the most satisfying aspects of putting together our review of the decade’s most important radio trends was the number of comments we received. It appears we touched a nerve or two. And while not everyone agreed with our arguments or conclusions, we did get some thought provoking responses.

        Seeing as how we like to encourage some rousing debate about radio, with this post I’d like to highlight a few of them.

        Responding to #11, cash-strapped schools turn their backs on college radio, Seth Thornberry points out:

        In another example of the spirit of independent radio, the DJs from KTXT got together and created The Llano Idea which has kept up the volunteer run radio (online, at least).

        In response to #6, HD Radio launches, but who listens? Who cares? BrianK finds some hope for the service:

        Ford announced today that HD Radio is factory installed in their autos and the at least 4X digital power increase for HD radio is on the cusp of being approved which will give listeners stereo reception upto twice as far as traditional auto FM receivers in noise-free and to my ears much better high frequency response

        But Greg begs to differ, noting that,

        Ford has been announcing that it would add HD Radio since 2007, but it never materialized. Also, Ford is an investor in iBiquity. … BMW even has an HD Radio trouble-shooting guide, and there are nothing but complaints about HD Radio in BMW Forums, so I’m guessing that it will be the same situation with Ford.

        And Robert D Young Jr quips:

        PS. just one little correction: CD quality is really “seedy” quality.


        Blue raises an important point in their response to #5 The Age of Pandora:

        What Pandora doesn’t offer is anything local, even though they are a Bay Area company, I think. KDFC is the only radio station supporting the local arts community by staying classical. Radio can still be about supporting and interacting with the local community. Pandora is cool for folks whose tastes are outside the mainstream. …

        Gary finds some limitations with Pandora, complaining:

        As an opera fan, I don’t like how Pandora gives you the “greatest hits” approach.

        Commenting on #4 Podcasting, Brian Cox writes:

        Podcasts put the power of broadcast in the hands of the people. As an ex radio guy I’ve slowly watched terrestrial radio take a nose dive. Which is because they’ve lost touch with the listener. Podcasts offer the content that terrestrial radio is afraid to play and say.

        And Tapeleg asks,

        who in commercial radio these days is producing actual content? Aside from your talk shows (politics, sports talk), who is creating actual content that is original and worth achiving and listening to later?

        Mike Ryan of Sydney, Australia comments on #2, the growth of Internet radio, letting us know that

        Clear Channel block their streams from international listeners. The content companies may wake up to the concept of the “long tail” – ie bigger audience means more opportunities for sales and artist exposure. Thanks to torrents I have just discovered “Northern Soul”. Amazon UK will be getting an order shortly.

        Marvin remains skeptical about the internet radio threat to satellite in his response to #1, the birth and troubled childhood of satellite radio:

        Although I enjoy the free internet streams (Pandora. ect.. etc) and have tried to stream from the car with an iPhone and aux cable connection, I must say it was a frustrating experience. … Satellite seems to make perfect sense to me – a few orbiting transmitters unobstructed instead of thousands upon thousands of towers with cell and radio transmitters. Also, the clearity of satellite amazes me … so crisp.

        While egiscodr argues,

        With the price points and tons of content, I do not think Sirius XM has much to worry about from internet or terrestrial radio.

        What do you think? Make your comments here or on the original posts. Keep it lively, just keep it respectful.

        The post Notable Comments on the RadioSurvivor Decade in Review appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        Wrapping up the decade in radio and looking forward to the decade ahead https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/01/wrapping-up-the-decade-in-radio-and-looking-forward-to-the-decade-ahead/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2010/01/wrapping-up-the-decade-in-radio-and-looking-forward-to-the-decade-ahead/#respond Wed, 06 Jan 2010 04:11:52 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=2179 As I said in my introduction to our subjective and opinionated review of radio in the 2000s, I still think it was darn near impossible to predict how the medium of radio would end up at the beginning of 2010. Sure, the seeds for satellite radio, HD radio, low-power FM, internet radio and MP3s were […]

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        Wrapping up our decade in review.

        As I said in my introduction to our subjective and opinionated review of radio in the 2000s, I still think it was darn near impossible to predict how the medium of radio would end up at the beginning of 2010. Sure, the seeds for satellite radio, HD radio, low-power FM, internet radio and MP3s were already planted by the turn of the century. But home broadband–nevermind wireless or mobile–was a relatively exclusive luxury. MP3 players were lucky to sport enough memory to hold about a hundred minutes of music and weren’t integrated into cell phones. Satellites for Sirius and XM were launched, and HD Radio was being experimented with, but no stations were on the air. Clear Channel was flying high for more than $90 a share.

        Anyone taking a broad view of the radio industry in 2000 could certainly see a lot of balls being thrust up into to the air, but it would have taken a psychic to predict where they would land. Nevertheless, for all of the churn we can say very safely that audio-focused content is alive and well.

        It’s become clear to me that we Radio Survivors do consider radio to be greater than just the traditional electromagnetic broadcast medium. While we included the RF-based college radio, pubic radio, LPFM, HD Radio and satellite radio in our review, we also touched upon internet radio, Pandora and digital downloads. I believe we are first and foremost fans of terrestrial broadcast radio, but that does not cause us to ignore or discount new audio media. Nor does it cause it us to claim that they are not, in essence, radio services.

        The homogenization and delocalization of the broadcast dial caused listeners to seek alternative places to hear more interesting and diverse content. At the same time the popularity of MP3 players and Pandora shows that people were also looking for customization.

        The thing I want to point out about all of these new options is that, truly, only one is wholly under the listener’s control: MP3s (or other digital music files). With all the other options, including Pandora, the listener still gives up some control over what comes next. With any service that has “radio” in its name, the programming is linear, and you generally don’t know what’s coming up. It doesn’t matter whether there’s a live DJ, a pre-programmed playlist or a library of tunes on random. You might choose an all-Springsteen or all-Mussorgsky station, but the actual song or piece is not under your control. With Pandora or Last.fm you choose an artist to set the tone and style, but all the subsequent plays are up to the algorithm.

        What that says to me is that radio listeners–no matter the form of radio–are still looking for a curated experience. With music they may want more control over the genre, sub-genre, style, artist or time-period. With talk and information programming they want to choose the topic, host or political slant. But in both cases the listener wants somebody (or something) else to create the overall experience.

        The fact that the major commercial radio companies so degraded this well-crafted experience helped drive away listeners to these other audio forms. Regardless, I believe there would have been erosion of commercial radio’s listenership triggered by these new ways of getting audio entertainment. It just might not have happened so fast and dramatically, and the big radio players might have been able to make the transition to online more smoothly.

        As we look forward, the growing availability of wireless high-speed internet is going to make the medium itself less important than the programming that’s on it. I do think that each medium will continue to enjoy its own unique advantages. Whether it’s the low-tech ubiquity of analog broadcast, the nationwide coverage of satellite or the chaotic, but nearly infinite choices on the internet.

        After content, the second most important factor will be how much hardware you have to buy. HD and satellite radio are already at a disadvantage because they require specialized equipment that (so far) doesn’t do much else. That makes it harder to compete with a mobile device that checks email and facebook, make phone calls, sends text messages AND receives thousands of online stations. If it were starting today, AM and FM radio would be at a severe disadvantage, too. But they enjoy a first-mover advantage, which means that receivers are so cheap and ubiquitous as to be nearly free.

        I’m not sure there has to be any clear winners or losers here. I actually see the potential for coexistence amongst all these forms of radio. Whether or not that can or will happen is up to the companies, consortia and oligopolies who are mostly in control of the commercial, HD and satellite radio.

        It should be an interesting listen.

        In case you missed them, here’s a rundown of our 14 most important radio trends in the last decade. They’re in no particular order.

        The post Wrapping up the decade in radio and looking forward to the decade ahead appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        High School Radio's Star Stations https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/12/high-school-radios-star-stations/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/12/high-school-radios-star-stations/#respond Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:58:17 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=1574 Last month I had the pleasure of visiting WGBK-FM, a high school radio station in suburban Chicago. This was my very first trip to see a station run by teens and I was thrilled to witness young people doing radio. Not only were they working as DJs on standard music shows, but they were also […]

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        DJs at Glenbrook South High School Radio station WGBK

        DJs at Glenbrook South High School Radio station WGBK

        Last month I had the pleasure of visiting WGBK-FM, a high school radio station in suburban Chicago. This was my very first trip to see a station run by teens and I was thrilled to witness young people doing radio.

        Not only were they working as DJs on standard music shows, but they were also producing documentaries, PSAs, restaurant reviews, and covering sports events. In the future they will also be hosting live bands in their studios. During my visit to the station, I was amazed and excited to see that kids as young as 13 were getting the opportunity to experience the magic of radio.

        WGBK, which airs programming from two different radio stations run by students at Glenbrook South High School and Glenbrook North High School, is one of the handful of high school radio stations in the United States that is regularly recognized with accolades at the John Drury High School Radio Awards.

        Both schools that air programming over WGBK offer broadcasting classes, so the experience for these radio students is much like one might get from working at a college radio station.

        [Similarly, the U.K. has their Sony Radio Award for Schools competition highlighting excellence in student radio. Recent winners include Radio Roseland and ISCA College Radio.]

        For a refreshingly different take on radio, it might be worth your while to seek out a high school radio station in your town. If you can’t find one, then perhaps take a listen to some of these John Drury award-winning stations:

        WLTL 88.1 FM – Lyons Township High School, La Grange, Illinois (Won “Best High School Station” 2009)

        WBFH 88.1 FM- Bloomfield Hills High School, Michigan (Won 2nd Place for “Best High School Station” 2009)

        WGBK 88.1 FM- Glenbrook South High School, Glenview, Illinois (Won 3rd Place for “Best High School Station” 2009)

        WGBK 88.1 FM- Glenbrook North High School, Northbrook, Illinois

        KDPS 88.1 FM- Central Campus, Des Moines, Iowa (frequency is also shared with a college station)

        WWPT 90.3 FM- Staples High School, Westport, Connecticut

        WRHS – Reavis High School, Burbank, Illinois

        KASB 89.9 FM- Bellevue, Bellevue, Washington

        WXBA 88.1 FM- Brentwood High School, Brentwood, New York

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        Texas says no to the FCC's proposed localism rules https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/11/texas-says-no-to-the-fccs-proposed-localism-rules/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/11/texas-says-no-to-the-fccs-proposed-localism-rules/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:43:16 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=1473 The Texas Association of Broadcasters opposes the FCC’s proposed localism rules. Why not? Everybody else does. Two years ago this December the Federal Communications Commission proposed a quartet of new regulations to nudge radio stations to provide more local news, music, and public affairs programming. These included rules requiring a certain amount of local programming […]

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        source: Despair.comThe Texas Association of Broadcasters opposes the FCC’s proposed localism rules. Why not? Everybody else does.

        Two years ago this December the Federal Communications Commission proposed a quartet of new regulations to nudge radio stations to provide more local news, music, and public affairs programming.

        These included rules requiring a certain amount of local programming from each station, requiring licensees to staff their stations with an actual human being 24/7, mandating that license owners set up local station advisory boards, and a requirement that a signals’ main studio be situated in its signal area.

        Since then these proposals have received nothing but cat calls and boos. The public interest groups that clamored for them in the first half of this decade rarely come to their defense. Instead, just about every regional or national broadcast association writes to the FCC denouncing them on a semi-regular basis. The religious groups say the local board rule will drive their stations in the hands of heathens, atheists, and Family Guy fans. The Fox TV lovers say it’s all a plot to bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Even advocates for minorities question the proposals, among them Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), father of now FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.

        So no surprise Texas wants them nixed too. Here’s the what the association told the FCC this month:

        “The proposed 24/7 staffing requirement would force some small 24-hour AM radio stations to sign off at night, eliminating highly valued programming and local emergency information updates to listeners because of increased costs. In such cases, stations are currently able to provide automated programming and insert live, local information or updates of significant community interest as local needs dictate.”

        Ok. Help me out here. How would “increased costs” force stations to sign off at night if most of the programming they’re providing is already automated? I can see where’s there’s a price tag to 24/7, but how does that force a station that mostly depends on canned programming to shut down? And if the station is providing those “live, local information . . . updates” at night, they’re probably fulfilling the 24/7 rule already. So what’s the problem here?

        Another point Texas makes:

        “The proposed requirement that each station have a studio within the community of license would require a group of licensees that serve multiple communities to incur significant additional costs at the risk of diverting money from local programming or forcing some stations to go “dark.” In many instances, licensees to multiple small, contiguous communities have concentrated administrative and studio operations in one location, achieving significant fiscal efficiencies that allow members of all the communities to benefit from a robust station operation. Such efficiencies would be lost under this proposal and reduce highly valued service to some of those communities.”

        This appears to me to be a long winded way of saying ‘we can’t do this because we’ve centralized our licenses to the point where, well, we just can’t do it.’ Which is, of course, the problem that the FCC is trying to address with its proposed rules.

        Ok. Fine. The nation’s commercial radio stations can’t afford to structure themselves to effectively serve their local communities. So the question for the FCC is who can? And how do we get them the spectrum they need to do the job?

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        New study says "little or no local news" at most radio stations https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/10/new-study-says-little-or-no-local-news-at-most-radio-stations/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/10/new-study-says-little-or-no-local-news-at-most-radio-stations/#respond Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:20:38 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=1283 A new study says that most commercial stations “do little or no local news reporting,” and public stations aren’t much better.

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        Corporaton for Public BroadcastingWe reported last week that a study from the Knight Commission was quite critical of the amount of time that National Public Radio stations give to coverage of doings within their signal areas. Now yet another assessment offers the same perspective, this one penned by Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson over at Columbia Journalism Review. Their essay “The Reconstruction of American Journalism” is even more concerned about the trend, actually, both on commercial and non-commercial stations.

        “On radio, with the exception of all-news stations in some large cities,” they write, “most commercial stations do little or no local news reporting.” And they continue:

        “A growing number of listeners have turned to public radio stations for national and international news provided by National Public Radio. But only a relatively small number of those public radio stations also offer their listeners a significant amount of local news reporting. And even fewer public television stations provide local news coverage.”

        The authors mention a few bright spots, but overall: “local news coverage remains underfunded, understaffed, and a low priority at most public radio and television stations, whose leaders have been unable to make—or uninterested in making—the case for investment in local news to donors and Congress.”

        What to do? Schudson and Downie say Congress, specifically the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, needs to get busy on this problem. It should declare local news reporting “a top priority for public broadcasting and change its allocation of resources accordingly.” And the CPB should require every public radio and TV station to produce a minimum amount of local programming and require stations to report to the funding agency on their progress. And Congress should change the CPB’s name to the Corporation for Public Media and give it more money.

        Finally: “Congress should also reform the governance of the reformed corporation by broadening the membership of its board with appointments by such nonpolitical sources as the Librarian of Congress or national media organizations. Ideological issues that have surfaced over publicly supported arts, cultural activities, or national news coverage should not affect decisions about significantly improving local news reporting by public media.”

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        LPFM Expansion Moves Forward, but Is It Too Late? https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/10/lpfm-expansion-moves-forward-but-is-it-too-late/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/10/lpfm-expansion-moves-forward-but-is-it-too-late/#respond Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:38:03 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=1239 Today the House Commerce Committee unanimously passed the Local Radio Act by voice vote, opening up the gates to send the bill for a vote by the full House. This bipartisan action is the best hope the restoration of low-power FM has seen since its wings were clipped back in 2000. When the FCC created […]

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        Volunteers erect KDRT-LP's new antenna.

        Volunteers erect KDRT-LP's new antenna.

        Today the House Commerce Committee unanimously passed the Local Radio Act by voice vote, opening up the gates to send the bill for a vote by the full House. This bipartisan action is the best hope the restoration of low-power FM has seen since its wings were clipped back in 2000.

        When the FCC created LPFM it intended that these stations could be spaced one notch closer on the dial to a full-power station than another full-power station could be place. That is, if there were a full-power station at 101.1 FM, another full-power station may be no closer than 101.9 FM. But under the FCC’s original rules an LPFM could be at 101.7 FM, known as the third adjacent. Each adjacent is .2 MHz, so the first adjacent to 101.1 FM is 101.3 FM and the second is 101.5 FM.

        Under heavy pressure from the National Association of Broadcasters Congress and President Clinton horse-traded away this closer spacing in a rider to an omnibus spending bill passed at the end of 2000. This move achieved the NAB’s true goal of limiting the number of new non-commercial stations by making 10 and 100 watt stations absurdly obey the spacing limits for 10,000 watt stations, even though the NAB’s own members operate close-spaced low-power repeater stations called translators. With a flick of Clinton’s pen some hundreds of communities–especially in large metroplexes–were instantaneously deprived of the opportunity to have a new low-power non-commercial community radio station.

        LPFM advocates like the Prometheus Radio Project generally claim that passage of the Local Radio Act will enable hundreds of new stations to go on the air. But I do actually wonder if those hundreds are still possible.

        The brilliant folks at REC Networks have had an easy online LPFM channel finder for years that lets you search for potential LPFM frequencies anywhere in the US. The finder lets you search using the current restrictions on channel placement, or using the FCC’s original spacing requirements allowing LPFM’s to be on a full-power station’s third adjacent.

        REC Networks says, "Sorry Charlie," for LPFM in Chicago.Just today I did a search to see if there would be any open frequencies for either a 100-watt or yet to be licensed 10-watt LPFM station in the city of Chicago if the Local Radio Act passes. According to REC Networks the answer is, “no.” I even did a search for some of Chicago’s adjacent suburbs to see if it would be possible to set up a 10 or 100-watt station that might be heard in the city. The answer was still, “no.”

        I chose Chicago for my search not just because I live here, but also because the city is home to a prominent community radio effort, the Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP) which has been organizing on behalf of LPFM in the hopes of getting a new station on the Chicago dial. The station goes online soon, and so I was wondering if they have even a half of a chance of being on FM soon. I’m hoping that maybe my quick search and analysis is missing something.

        In any event, I’m no radio engineer. So someone with a little better technical knowledge might be able to do a more precise search that will turn up a Chicago location and frequency ready for LPFM when the Local Radio Act passes. But I do think my search highlights a problem: the radio dial is even more crowded now than in 2000. In the intervening nine years there’s been several full-power FM station license windows along with a licensing window for translator stations. Because translator stations are paradoxically allowed to be spaced on the third adjacent even though LPFM stations operating at the same power may not, I fear that many of these repeaters have taken up frequencies where we would otherwise have LPFM station had not Congress clipped the service in 2000.

        I don’t doubt that if the Local Radio Act becomes law then new LPFM stations will be possible in small and mid-size cities, and probably on the outer fringes of larger metropolitan areas. But I’m not feeling too optimistic about the city limits of the nation’s 20 largest cities where hyper-local, community-based broadcast is arguably well needed.

        In any event, I’m hoping for a speedy vote on the Local Radio Act by the full House, along with passage of the companion Senate bill. Compared to health care reform, restoring LPFM is an easy feel-good win for both Republicans and Democrats that will only piss off the NAB a little bit. Still, there’s three votes (Senate Commerce Committee, full House and full Senate) before President Obama has a chance to sign it. We’ll keep you in the loop.

        The post LPFM Expansion Moves Forward, but Is It Too Late? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        Celebs Rally to Help WLIU Stay Local and On the Air https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/09/celebs-rally-to-help-wliu-stay-local-and-on-the-air/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/09/celebs-rally-to-help-wliu-stay-local-and-on-the-air/#respond Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:43:39 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=1128 As Paul Riismandel reported in August, Long Island University-owned public radio station WLIU is about to lose funding from its institution and is entertaining offers to purchase the station. Yesterday was the deadline for bids and a star-studded group of “friends” held rallies and pulled together an offer to save the station from extinction or […]

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        Save Public Radio on the East End (SPREE) Campaign

        Save Public Radio on the East End (SPREE) Campaign

        As Paul Riismandel reported in August, Long Island University-owned public radio station WLIU is about to lose funding from its institution and is entertaining offers to purchase the station.

        Yesterday was the deadline for bids and a star-studded group of “friends” held rallies and pulled together an offer to save the station from extinction or a takeover by religious broadcasters. No word yet on the dollar amount of the offer and if it was accepted, but there should be news very soon. According to an article in the Sag Harbor Express:

        “In an interview yesterday, [Station Director Wally] Smith said the non-profit group Peconic Public Broadcasting, Inc., was to make a ‘fair and full value bid that is about twice what we believe to be fair market value.’

        Porter Bibb, a media consultant who has spearheaded the effort to create PPB, Inc. and its fundraising arm, Save Public Radio on the East End (SPREE), said two weeks ago that consultants have estimated the fair market value for the license and equipment to be about $1 million. It is estimated the cost of acquiring the station and its assets, as well as moving it to a new location — likely Wainscott Studios — would cost about $3 million.

        At Thursday’s rally, Smith said he did not know how many other suitors there were for the station, which would need to be sold to an organization which would run it as a non-profit, but said he and others were prepared to establish a new operating company within eight weeks to take the station over. Yesterday, he said he knew WNYC was ‘very interested’ in the station, as well as several religious organizations.”

        According to the Peconic Public Broadcasting website, “Save Public Radio on the East End” is:

        “A volunteer committee of concerned citizens united to insure that the eastern end of Long Island (North and South Forks–Patchogue to Orient Point and Montauk) has a free and independent, non-commercial NPR voice with local management, broadcast personnel and, most importantly, a strong commitment to local history, culture, politics, business, and the arts.”

        Among this group of “friends” helping to save the station are stars like Alec Baldwin, Jann Wenner, Suzanne Vega and Joy Behar and their efforts have been characterized as the Long Island community pulling together to save the station. I wish them luck.

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        Radio Pubcaster WLIU Receives Stay of Execution https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/08/radio-pubcaster-wliu-receives-stay-of-execution/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/08/radio-pubcaster-wliu-receives-stay-of-execution/#respond Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:25:20 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=872 Earlier this month Long Island University announced it would sell off its public radio outlet WLIU, tired of sinking $1.3 million a year into the station. Now, according to the Southampton Press (via Current) the university has given the station’s management a little more time to try and put together a nonprofit corporation to buy […]

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        WLIU 88.3 FM

        WLIU 88.3 FM

        Earlier this month Long Island University announced it would sell off its public radio outlet WLIU, tired of sinking $1.3 million a year into the station. Now, according to the Southampton Press (via Current) the university has given the station’s management a little more time to try and put together a nonprofit corporation to buy WLIU. The terms of a deal struck between LIU and Stony Brook – Southampton, where the station rents space, allows WLIU to stay in its studios and on air through to December 3.

        Although WLIU management now has two more months to put something together–the original end date was Oct. 3–that still doesn’t seem like a lot of time to find funders to replace LIU’s $1.3 million annual contribution. As I commented before, I hope that the station can remain on air as a public station and that maybe this situation pushes the management to a more open community-based model that will both cost less and rely less on expensive national programming.

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        Long Island Pubcaster Up for Sale https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/08/long-island-pubcaster-up-for-sale/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/08/long-island-pubcaster-up-for-sale/#respond Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:11:10 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=703 Clear Channel, Cumulus and their commercial radio brethren are not the only ones facing economic hard times right now. While public radio in general may be doing better, it’s not necessarily the case for individual stations. The most recent example is Southampton, NY’s WLIU which is being put up for sale by Long Island University […]

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        Clear Channel, Cumulus and their commercial radio brethren are not the only ones facing economic hard times right now. While public radio in general may be doing better, it’s not necessarily the case for individual stations.

        WLIU 88.3 FM

        WLIU 88.3 FM

        The most recent example is Southampton, NY’s WLIU which is being put up for sale by Long Island University (via Current). It seems that the U is tired of ponying up some $1.3 million of the stations total annual budget of $2.4 million.

        Admittedly that’s a pretty hefty bill for any university to foot in order to keep a station on air, even if it is valued community resource. But I can’t help but wonder if there aren’t costs that can be cut (besides salaries). Dropping Car Talk alone could save a pretty hefty chunk of change. Apparently LIU attempted to find another local non profit to take over the station and found no takers, so now it’s off to the auction block while the staff try to find a way to raise enough money to buy it.

        My biggest concern for when a university or college stations goes up for sale is the strong possibility that it will be snatched up by one of the big Christian broadcasters, which never seem to suffer the same cash flow problems as institutions of higher education. The transfer tends to be accompanied by a quick loss of news and local public service programming, replaced by satellite-fed proselytizing and “family friendly” music that is programmed to sound like Clear Channel-lite.

        Perhaps the staff of WLIU will have more luck if they can re-imagine the station as something closer to a community/public hybrid, retaining some core national programing while opening up more airtime to local volunteers. That may be one way to drum up more local financing, especially at a time when local service in radio is otherwise at an all-time low. I wish them luck and I’m hoping that the people of Long Island are able to retain this public service broadcaster.

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        Don't Call them Pirates: San Francisco's New LPFM FCCFreeRadio https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/07/dont-call-them-pirates-san-franciscos-new-lpfm-fccfreeradio/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/07/dont-call-them-pirates-san-franciscos-new-lpfm-fccfreeradio/#respond Thu, 16 Jul 2009 23:46:23 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=366 The San Francisco Bay Area has been home to a wide range of radio pioneers and renegades, from the very early days of broadcasting with Doc Herrold’s experiments 100 years ago to freeform radio in the early days of FM in the 1960s to pirate radio advocates like Stephen Dunifer of Free Radio Berkeley. And […]

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        FCCFreeRadio Studio in San Francisco

        FCCFreeRadio Studio in San Francisco

        The San Francisco Bay Area has been home to a wide range of radio pioneers and renegades, from the very early days of broadcasting with Doc Herrold’s experiments 100 years ago to freeform radio in the early days of FM in the 1960s to pirate radio advocates like Stephen Dunifer of Free Radio Berkeley.

        And now today, during a period of time when many have written off terrestrial radio entirely, there are still those who find reason to be inspired to build new over-the-air stations.

        Over on my Spinning Indie blog I just wrote up a profile of a new micropower FM station in San Francisco called FCCFreeRadio. Operating under the same assumption as fellow station Pirate Cat Radio, FCCFreeRadio believes that the U.S. government has granted emergency authority for broadcasters to operate without a license during time of war, including the current “war against terrorism.”

        Regardless of whether or not you believe their legal rationale, I think it’s impressive and inspiring to see that they are trying to create a community station playing local programming. They haven’t given up on radio and are hoping to bring back a little of the good old days of personality-driven radio. I admire their passion.

        The post Don't Call them Pirates: San Francisco's New LPFM FCCFreeRadio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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        And Now, a Long-Distance Dedication https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/07/and-now-a-long-distance-dedication/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/07/and-now-a-long-distance-dedication/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:38:27 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=317 The relevancy of the Billboard Top 40 singles chart seems to have faded over time in concert with the splintering of genres and audiences, and so the final broadcast of Casey Kasem on American Top 20 this past weekend seemed to garner only the barest of media notices. Perhaps that’s because Kasem handed off the […]

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        Casey Kasem in 1975

        Casey Kasem in 1975

        The relevancy of the Billboard Top 40 singles chart seems to have faded over time in concert with the splintering of genres and audiences, and so the final broadcast of Casey Kasem on American Top 20 this past weekend seemed to garner only the barest of media notices. Perhaps that’s because Kasem handed off the keys for his signature program, American Top 40, to Ryan Seacrest back in 2004.

        I have very fond memories of listening to AT40 growing up in Toms River, NJ, hearing it on the slightly distant WJLK-FM out of Asbury Park (of Springsteen fame). As a ten-year-old I could get quite excited when my favorite single of the moment climbed up the chart. Even then I don’t think I ever had much of an emotional response to the schmaltzy Long-Distance Dedication Kasem ready every week. But I enjoyed learning the brief trivia and bio info of the top artists, which was more than I’d hear even from the DJs on the local stations.

        Besides the thrill of the countdown, the joy of listening to Casey’s program was how it represented the diversity of the pop chart, from disco to soul, hard rock to country. While I might not have listened to a lot of these styles of music otherwise (especially country), many of those past hits stick with me to this day.

        By the time I hit high school my music tastes had both broadened and narrowed, and I was much less interested in mainstream pop music. Aside from the occasional encounter while scanning the band on a road trip, I can’t say that I’ve tuned in to Casey since the 1980s. Although most of the time I’m a cynical indie music snob who snubs most of commercial music radio on principle, I do have a small little place in my cold, dark heart for Casey Kasem and AT40. Especially during a time when radio was locally programmed by default, the weekly countdown had more of a unifying effect rather than a homogenizing one. Sure, the 40 most popular songs in New Jersey were probably different than in Wyoming — heck, Toms River’s Top 40 was probably a lot different than Newark’s. Yet, the national diversity seemed to seep through at least a little bit. And, as an already avowed radio geek, I got to hear exciting national radio ads of the sort rarely heard on the comparatively podunk stations at the Jersey Shore.

        Negativland's U2 EP

        Negativland

        Now when I think of Casey I can’t help but be reminded of Negativland’s ill-fated U2 single featuring outtakes of Casey losing it with expletive-laced tirades (NSFW YouTube link) while cutting voiceovers for the Top 40. Any mention of U2, Bono or the entire country of England spurs me to blurt out, “These guys are from England, and who gives a sh*t?” (Yes, it’s a problem, but I don’t want help — another NSFW YouTube link, BTW).

        Although American Top 40 continues on, the retirement of Casey Kasem is still indicative of a real change in radio. In some ways the relevancy of the Top 40 has changed not just because of narrowcasting, but also due to the loss of localism. The Top 40 isn’t that different from most station’s whole playlists, only the order is different. And compared to many other national hosts–from Rush Limbaugh to Howard Stern–Casey was much more gentle on-air presence. In a lot of ways he was even a throwback when I was listening to him the 1980s.

        I’m not sure Casey’s retirement is sad or even bittersweet. Perhaps it’s simply just worth noting, recognizing and paying due respect to a breed of broadcaster and a kind of radio that is already a very distant memory.

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        Clear Channel Station Can't Trust Its Own Forecast https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/07/clear-channel-station-cant-trust-its-own-forecast/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/07/clear-channel-station-cant-trust-its-own-forecast/#respond Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:30:43 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=233 The irony would be so delectable if it weren’t for the 1033 unfortunate drivers whose cars were stuck in the mud, many of which were totaled and not returned for over a week. As Jerry Del Colliano reports at Inside Music Media, a Clear Channel station in Grand Rapids, MI threw its annual B93 Concert […]

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        The irony would be so delectable if it weren’t for the 1033 unfortunate drivers whose cars were stuck in the mud, many of which were totaled and not returned for over a week.

        As Jerry Del Colliano reports at Inside Music Media, a Clear Channel station in Grand Rapids, MI threw its annual B93 Concert Bash on June 20 in nearby Ionia by the Grand Rapids River, apparently oblivious to flash flood warnings issued by the National Weather Service. In fact, a NWS representative told local WOOD-TV that there were warnings about the river level cresting as high as 17 feet by 9:30 AM issued as early as 5 AM the day of the concert.

        Severe weather alerts are something that so many people still rely on radio for, and the reason why broadcasters are mandated to participate in a national Emergency Alert System. I can say from experience that the EAS system will spit out notifications of just about all NWS warnings. Recently I’ve certainly seen warnings for flash floods and river flooding issued to our EAS system at WNUR-FM, where I’m the adviser.

        More than any old concert promoter, the staff of B93 was in a perfect position to be alerted to the flash flood avisory for the Grand Rapids river. But who knows if anyone at the station even checks the EAS anymore. The system is designed to override programming in the event of a significant emergency, like a tornado warning, but doesn’t with lower-level alerts. And somehow I doubt there was a live DJ on air Saturday morning prior to the concert starting.

        Sure, any organization can make a bad judgement call in the face of unpredictable weather conditions. According to most news accounts it looks like local Ionia officials share blame for also missing the warnings and not shutting down the concert. Nevertheless we expect that the public service of radio at least provide this bare minimum of important information, and certainly not carry forward with events that put so many thousands of lives, not to mention millions of dollars in property, at risk.

        Such a mishap could have occurred in the pre-consolidation era, but I doubt it. Localism means more than throwing a fee concert (but $15 for parking) once a year. Now thousands of car owners are learning the collateral damage of massive media consolidation.

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        Corporate Radio Gets a Little More Life after Michael Jackson's Death https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/06/corporate-radio-gets-a-little-more-life-after-michael-jacksons-death/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/06/corporate-radio-gets-a-little-more-life-after-michael-jacksons-death/#respond Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:22:47 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=188 I’ve been combing through the web trying to get a handle on how radio has responded to the death of Michael Jackson on Thursday. There’s much anecdotal evidence to suggest that radio listenership was up, as fans sought out his music and news about his death from the radio. However, as listeners turned on their […]

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        TV Coverage of Michael Jackson's International Radio Airplay

        TV Coverage of Michael Jackson's Radio Airplay

        I’ve been combing through the web trying to get a handle on how radio has responded to the death of Michael Jackson on Thursday. There’s much anecdotal evidence to suggest that radio listenership was up, as fans sought out his music and news about his death from the radio. However, as listeners turned on their radios and TVs (and the Internet) to hear the sounds and see the images of the pop icon at his best, not all stations were able to deliver great programming from the outset. As Matthew pointed out on Thursday, many commercial stations with automated programming weren’t in a position to provide Jackson-themed music and commentary as the news broke.

        However, an article in the Boston Globe today, “Live Radio Takes the Lead: Canned Programs are Set Aside as DJs and Fans Celebrate Michael Jackson,” points out that the Boston airwaves did have some success in terms of satisfying fans. According to the piece:

        The death of pop megastar Michael Jackson brought new life to Boston radio this week, as local stations scrambled to capture the moment. Station managers called for all hands on deck, replacing automated voices with live talent to talk about the man and the music, take calls from nostalgic listeners, and saturate the airwaves with Jackson’s hits.

        It was a historic day in an era of corporate radio, controlled play lists, and canned voices. At Mix 98.5, DJ Lady D played Jackson tunes and interviews from 7 p.m. to midnight on Thursday, the day of Jackson’s death. Caught in a week when the regular morning team was on vacation…the station called in three of its top personalities from around the clock, who sat together yesterday morning, live on the air.

        In cars, living rooms, and offices, listeners set aside the solo experience of their iPods for a day and gathered around the radio to tap into something bigger – memories of college years, albums shared by millions across a range of musical tastes, dance hits two decades old that can still fill a dance club with another generation of fans.

        “It’s a good reminder of what live radio can do, of the role that radio can play in bringing a community together,” said Scott Fybush, editor of Northeast Radio Watch in Rochester, N.Y.

        Many stations no longer have live announcers, using canned voices for part or all of the day, and so can’t react to a major news event, he said.

        Jammin’ 94.5 called back its morning crew for a second shift after the news broke. They talked about Jackson and spun his music until midnight. The pop icon was the only topic of conversation on Kiss 108 yesterday morning, and Oldies 103.3 played nonstop “Thriller,’’ “Billie Jean,’’ and other Jackson favorites all day…

        The article also points out that some stations were unable to react, either because they didn’t have live DJs or didn’t have enough music in their collections:

        There were some outliers yesterday, stations that did little to acknowledge Jackson’s passing, sticking to their usual focus and format. WBOS 92.9 fired its DJs last year and now features canned announcers between its alternative rock hits – “voice tracking,’’ as they say in radio – all day. It played just two Michael Jackson covers by other artists, said program director Ken West.

        Most telling of all is speculation that this sort of communal grieving experience across radio may soon become a thing of the past:

        Jackson had more fans across a broad spectrum of listeners than perhaps any pop figure of his generation, radio executives and music critics said. Fybush, the Northeast Radio Watch editor, observed that with more stations abandoning the live, local personalities of the past, “this may really be the last of these moments as far as music radio goes.’’

        It’s so fascinating to me that the way that people listened to music on Thursday night may have been a radical departure from the way they listened to music on Wednesday. And, I agree, that it suddenly brought everyone back to the past, when radio was local, live, and communal. Is it possible that this will have any sort of lasting impact on radio?

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        Hot Tip: Small Market Radio – Buy! https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/06/hot-tip-small-market-radio-buy/ https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2009/06/hot-tip-small-market-radio-buy/#respond Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:51:36 +0000 https://www.radiosurvivor.com/?p=111 Sometimes you have to hand it to the financial press, there’s nothing like a little money to make them believe in old fashioned values, like localism, again. Any keen observer of the commercial radio landscape knows that right now the nation’s largest radio station owners are certainly not making money. But, as the Wall Street […]

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        Sometimes you have to hand it to the financial press, there’s nothing like a little money to make them believe in old fashioned values, like localism, again.

        Any keen observer of the commercial radio landscape knows that right now the nation’s largest radio station owners are certainly not making money. But, as the Wall Street Journal’s “Heard on the Street” column points out, smaller owners focused on smaller markets ain’t doing so bad.

        As the Journal’s Martin Peers reports,

        Average revenue at stations in markets below the top 50 fell 6.6% last year compared with around 9% for bigger stations, BIA [Financial Network] estimates. It projects smaller stations will continue outperforming through 2013.

        Peers chalks up the disparity to the suffocating debt that the likes of Clear Channel and Citadel Broadcasting took on to go on their post-1996 buying spree party; he even calls the current fall in fortunes a “hangover.” By comparison smaller market stations were less costly to vacuum up.

        Peers points to Grosse Pointe Farms, MI based Saga Communications as one of these small market broadcasters, with 89 stations mostly in places like Des Moines, IA, Columbus, OH and Champaign, IL. Because I lived down in Champaign, home to the University of Illinois, for fourteen years, I’m quite familiar with Saga. In the six years or so following the 1996 Telecommunications Act the company acquired four FM stations in the market of roughly 150,000 metro. While stations in the number 220 market in the country (according to Arbitron) are cheaper than in Chicago, New York or LA, I was stunned when back in 2000 Saga paid a hefty $7 million for one of the top rated FMs in Champaign.

        Five years ago Saga’s first quarter results of a 17.7% reduction in net operating revenue wouldn’t be such good news. But compared to Clear Channel, which became a penny stock before going private equity, it sounds like the party might be on again.

        The Journal’s piece on small market stations was pretty slight by any measure. But that didn’t stop the Gerson Lerhman Group from posting their own analysis of the piece that’s only 33 words shorter. But Gerson Lehrman’s Alan Albarran takes the small market station cheerleading much further, writing,

        The fact is small market stations are deeply involved in their communities–they focus on localism.

        Travel across small markets and listen to radio stations, and you will hear local news, high school sports, farm and agriculture reports (where appropriate), discussion of community events, and other things you won’t hear among big groups in big markets who focus on boring and repetitive playlists followed by several minutes of commercial “stop sets” as the industry refers to them. They don’t have any news or much traffic and weather information aside from drive time and do little to engage the local audiences. It’s one of the main reasons why younger audiences gave up on radio years ago and switched to iPods and Internet radio.

        Whoa! Stop the presses! So the market analyst is saying that radio is meant to focus on local service, and that big radio lost the iPod generation because it left localism behind? Who’re they talking to, Michael Copps and the Prometheus Radio Project?

        Now, having lived in one of these small markets during the great consolidation rush of the last thirteen years I’m wondering what idyllic old-timey stations Albarran has been listening to. At least half of the stations in Champaign primarily air syndicated programming and voice-tracking most of the day. Saga, actually, fairs a little better, with live local morning shows on its two highest rated Champaign stations that do feature local news, weather and sports updates.

        Yet, we cannot ignore that what Saga did in small markets like Champaign isn’t a hell of a lot different than what Clear Channel did in markets of all sizes across the country. Both companies came into markets and bought as many stations as they could, then consolidated their operations to cut costs. By any estimate Saga was not nearly as brutal as Clear Channel, but the effect is that the two stations added to Saga’s arsenal during my Champaign tenure (WCFF, formerly WKIO & WXTT, formerly WXLS) no longer have nearly the amount of local programming and service they did before. In fact Saga moved WXTT from the smaller city of Danville 40 miles east of Champaign to the suburb of Savoy which borders Champaign to the south, effectively depriving the more economically depressed city of a station that once provided local service targeted to the Danville area.

        I, for one, hold out hope that the inevitable post-consolidation sell-off results in some commercial stations falling back into the hands of true local owners–not just smaller consolidators. Localism is about ownership, not just programming. Listening to the stations owned by these smaller consolidators shows that it’s not like 1996 never happened. Localism has taken a hit everywhere.

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