‘Zines are like the college or community radio of the print media world. Or maybe LPFM or pirate radio are a more appropriate comparisons, since ‘zines tend to be more personal, limited in distribution, and sometimes reproduced surreptitiously on office copiers. In any event, I’ve been a fan and reader of ‘zines for, I guess, nearly some twenty years now. In fact, my first exposure to ‘zines happened in college radio, when several programs at my station pooled copy money to publish a few runs of a music ‘zine.

Over on his Arcane Radio Trivia blog, intrepid radio researcher Jose Fritz recently posted about the ‘zine Paper Radio:

Paper Radio is about the art and history of radio. Issue # 8 reads in plain language “The goal of Paper Radio is to help readers connect and reconnect with radio. Unlike other mediums, radio sparks the imagination, it paints scenes with sound…” Topics include pirate radio, shortwave (WCBQ, CHU, WWCR, WRMI), pirate shortwave, DX’ing and in the few issues I have, they cover a slew of small local radio stations WNEC, KPFA, KMUD, KENC, WRKU, and WFEA-AM.

Paper Radio is published by DJ Frederick in quantities of a hundred or so, and is on its eighth issue as of this past November. Prior to issue six it was known as Signals. Back in June DJ Frederick threatened to go on a possibly permanent hiatus, but apparently decided to hit the photocopier again after all.

At just three bucks post-paid, I’m ready to order my own copy.

The post Like indie radio, but on paper appeared first on Radio Survivor.

At 2 PM Eastern time this afternoon some percentage of US radio listeners and television viewers heard or saw the national EAS test. I was in the main studio of Northwestern University’s WNUR-FM (where I serve as advisor), and waited patiently for our EAS unit to receive the signal from WBBM-AM, triggering the alert to go out over our station at about 1:02 PM Central.

Damon Penn, a senior official with FEMA and Jamie Barnett, a senior official with the FCC released a joint statement about the test this afternoon, indicating that it was successful some places, not so successful other places. No stats have been released yet, so here’s what the FCC and FEMA say:

“The Nationwide EAS Test served the purpose for which it was intended – to identify gaps and generate a comprehensive set of data to help strengthen our ability to communicate during real emergencies. Based on preliminary data, media outlets in large portions of the country successfully received the test message, but wasn’t received by some viewers or listeners. We are currently in the process of collecting and analyzing data, and will reach a conclusion when that process is complete.”

The Commission does say that over 30,000 broadcasters and communication service providers participated in the test, so there is quite a bit of data to crunch. These participants will be sending their feedback to the FCC over the next few weeks.

Although it represented a bit of an inconvenience to broadcasters, I think the test was a good idea, since nothing of the sort has been performed since the modern EAS system went online fifteen years ago.

Providing vital information during national disasters and other emergencies in a crucial role for our broadcast media, especially radio. It is important that stations be able to quickly transmit emergency communications, and I hope that this national test provides guidance for clearing up any gaps in service.

The post FCC says nationwide Emergency Alert System tesk was pretty OK, will know more later appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Seeking Radio Survivors (KZSC Photo: J. Waits)

We’re excited to announce that Radio Survivor is looking to expand its team.

Founded by Matthew Lasar, Paul Riismandel and Jennifer Waits in 2009, Radio Survivor covers all things radio and we need your help.

Contributing Editors

We are seeking 4 contributing editors to help expand our coverage on Radio Survivor. Contributing editors will be expected to write at least one short post a week on Radio Survivor.

If you are interested in a position with us, please send an email to editors AT radiosurvivor DOT COM with your qualifications and a link to some samples of your writing. In your email to us, please include some ideas about potential types of stories that you’d like to cover or if there’s a specific “beat” that you’d be interested in (such as: pirate radio, community radio, commercial radio, college radio, online radio, satellite radio, FCC news, etc.). This is a part-time, unpaid position, but your stories will be featured on Radio Survivor, an established and growing website visited by radio professionals and radio enthusiasts.

Marketing/Social Media Intern

In addition to editorial help, we are also seeking a marketing intern to help us spread the word about Radio Survivor. Responsibilities include: maintaining and increasing our presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Linked In and other social media outlets and assisting Radio Survivor’s webmaster in tasks related to search engine optimization and social media.

If you are interested in a position with us, please send an email to editors AT radiosurvivor DOT COM with your qualifications and links to relevant social media projects. This is a part-time, unpaid position, but you will be helping to grow the well-respected Radio Survivor, one of the few websites devoted to radio news.

The post Radio Survivor is Looking for Contributors and a Marketing Intern appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This weekend, Radio Survivor embarked on the Terrible Twos. On June 11, 2009 we posted our first story on Low Power FM radio. Jennifer Waits, Paul Riismandel, and I have been blogging away ever since.

24 months later, our mission is the same. We see ourselves as critical advocates for participatory radio—community, public, college, Low Power FM, Internet, satellite, public, mobile, and pirate. We ponder the medium from the vantage of participants and consumers. We love radio in all its forms, but Radio Survivor is not “the voice of the industry.” We write from the perspective of listeners, joiners, and fans.

As such, we’re often ahead of the curve. The New York Times ran an op-ed piece on Sunday about the unfortunate sale of Vanderbilt’s college radio station and the crisis of college radio in general. It’s great of The Times to discover the problem. But if you regularly visit these pages, you know that Jennifer is a national go-to writer on this issue, recognized as such by her peers.

When Air America radio hit the dust, I don’t think anyone had a better analysis of the network’s history than Paul (ditto for his work on Howard Stern). Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission has just issued a new report on media, which notes that bandwidth costs often restrict how local an Internet radio station can get. We posted a piece on that problem almost a year ago.

But we’re not a cheering squad for the masses, either. We’re perfectly happy to point out dubious college, community, and pirate radio strategies when necessary, because we want these venues to thrive. Radio Survivor is what its logo says it is: “news, views and tough love for radio.”

Regular readers should look for a significant design change for the site, and soon. But the purpose will always remain the same. So if you’re starting a new show, starting a new station, having a problem (eg, your campus administration wants to shut you down!), or have just won a victory, send us an e-mail or join our Facebook page. If you search for and buy something via our Amazon store, we’ll get a cut of the proceeds, and that always helps.

Thanks, by the way, to all the people who have helped us get to this place, among them Gavin Dahl, Chris Stroffolino, Kevin Vance, Allison Rolls, Bob Mason, John Anderson, and Helen Yamamoto. Adelante!

The post Happy Birthday, Radio Survivor (we’re two!) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What Do You Have to Sell, Donate or Swap?

An under-utilized feature on Radio Survivor is the free Classified Ads section on the upper-right side of the website. Our dream is that people will post radio-related events, job opportunities, requests for equipment, and more. I often run across people who are looking to find radio equipment for new stations and frequently hear about radio events that others are hoping to promote (conferences, radio station benefits, etc.), so the classifieds could be a useful clearinghouse for these announcements.

This week I heard from someone at a college radio station in Florida who is looking to save some money during the upcoming CMJ Music Marathon in New York City by having their college radio DJs share hotel rooms with students from other stations. We just added a classified ad for this and if you are interested, definitely contact the folks at Osprey Radio. If they don’t find some people to share rooms, they may not be able to go to CMJ due to the expense.

And, if this isn’t of interest, think about placing your own ad. Here are some of the things that I’d love to see posted:

-Radio equipment for sale, for free, or wanted

-Radio job postings (from job seekers and employers)

-Upcoming radio conferences and events

-Radio-related calls for papers for journals, books, conferences

The post Room-Sharing at CMJ Music Marathon in Radio Survivor Classifieds appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Live streaming local TV from Terremoto, Chile

According to Communications Quarterly news posted today, there are several frequencies being used in the amateur shortwave bands:

SSB frequencies: 10 meters – 28.300, 28.500 MHz 15 meters – 21.200, 21.350 MHz 20 meters – 14.200, 14.350 MHz 40 meters – 7.050, 7.095 MHz 80 meters – 3.738, 3.750 MHz (via CQ Public Service Editor Richard Fisher, KI6SN)

Chilean hams and emergency service agencies are asking that other amateurs keep these frequencies clear so that emergency communications are not impeded.

The communications on these frequencies may be difficult to hear on many radios because they’ll be using SSB, or single-sideband, a power-saving mode often used by hams to transmit longer distances using less power. These broadcasts will sound distorted on a regular shortwave radio, and require the use of a receiver that features SSB reception. I have such a radio, but in the RF interference zone of my Chicago apartment I’m having difficulty getting any clear reception.

I’ve been trying to hunt down some frequencies for Chile-based broadcast stations that use AM/normal mode on shortwave, but I am coming up empty. The only station I’m coming up with is Voice of Chile at 11,890 KHz listed at Radio Shack’s shortwave radio guide.

The National Hurricane Center is broadcasting tsunami updates at 14.300 MHz. I’m able to tune this in, but I’m getting too much interference to hear clearly. With luck people in Hawaii and elsewhere in the Pacific who need this information are receiving it better.

On the internet Ustream is offering a live stream of several local TV channels from Chile and Hawaii.

Thanks to NW7US and RadioGeek who have been providing emergency shortwave information on Twitter.

The post Chile Earthquake and Tsunami Warnings: Shortwave Radio Providing Emergency Info & Communications appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Moi in the basement, via camcorder.

It’s way too early to start writing self-congratulatory histories of this web site, but since Jennifer asked for the back story on how we got started, who am I to refuse . . .

I first approached Paul Riismandel last Spring about creating what eventually became radiosurvivor.com because I was, and still am, concerned that discussion on the ‘Net about the state of radio has become marginal and fragmented. The conversation has become marginal because so much blogging on the future of media focuses on other technologies and venues, among them IP video, social networking, P2P, e-Books and other mobile applications. It has become fragmented because most of the big sites that report news about radio do so from the vantage point of a particular corner of the radio industry—streaming, terrestrial, podcasting—and almost always from the perspective of management.

The rest of the talk is propelled by solo bloggers whose wonderful sites ponder all kinds of interesting questions, but who rarely interact with each other. I wanted something more than that. Radiosurvivor.com’s mission, as I see it, is to stimulate dialogue about radio from a listener perspective. It is the listener, who does not have a monetary or employment investment in some corner of the status quo, who is in the best position to discuss the future of radio.

The big question is . . . what is radio? As it is being transformed by the Internet and wireless, what do we want from it as individuals? And how do we think radio can serve us as neighborhoods, cities, regions, and nations?

I am happy to report that Paul was very receptive to this idea. He contacted Jennifer, and 250 terrific posts later, here we are, drawing in many more page views a day than I ever imagined we would. Our contributor Helen Yamamoto should also be mentioned for her great work.

The domain name “radiosurvivor.com” is intended to evoke the crisis in which terrestrial radio finds itself today—with revenues and listening rates in near free fall, and the other, more recent platforms treading water at best. What do all of us who still believe in radio—we the “radio survivors”—do now? I’m hoping that our writing will draw in many more listener-oriented voices to offer answers to that question.

The post What is a Radio Survivor? Matthew's P.O.V. appeared first on Radio Survivor.

You can see Ron’s posting front and center, and you can post yours too, for free! If you’ve got a radio related job, are looking for work, have launched a new show, web site, or mobile app feature, or have a radio related event coming up, please do post. The notice will appear first on the list, and to the right on our ads and events box.

We only ask that you register with the site (oh, and the listing form will require a very easy adding test to make sure you’re not a bot). Enjoy!

The post Radio Survivor launches Classified Ads and Events feature appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I was disappointed but unsurprised to learn about the end of Pirate Cat Radio’s unlicensed FM broadcast resulting from the FCC issuing a notice of apparent liability (NAL) to Pirate Cat’s operator Monkey Man a/k/a Daniel K. Roberts. However, I am surprised at how long Pirate Cat was able to make a go of it operating out in the open. Perhaps appearing on the Travel Channel’s No Reservations made it hard for the Commission to turn a blind eye much longer.

As Jennifer noted in her report, the FCC observed in a footnote to its NAL that, “the frequency used without authority by Roberts and PCR is 87.9 MHz, which is not allocated to the FM broadcast band.” Over email Jennifer asked me if using that frequency might be any sort of contributing factor for the FCC’s attention, especially in light of an unlicensed operator in Florida recently receiving a $2500 fine for broadcasting on the same frequency.

I was actually a little confused by the FCC’s footnote about 87.9 FM because I’d always understood that the frequency is considered part of the FM dial, though typically not assigned except under special circumstances. In fact, at present there are three stations licensed to 87.9 FM: KSFH in Mountain View, CA; K200AA in Sun Valley, NV, a translator in the Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls, ID CSN Network; and WA2XNX in Brazos, TX, an experimental station licensed to Federal Signal Corporation.

According to the Code of Federal Regulations title 47 section 73.501, “87.9 MHz, Channel 200, is available only for use of existing Class D stations required to change frequency.” These Class D stations are low-power 10 watt stations licensed prior to 1978, when the service ceased to exist. That’s the rule under which low-power high school station KSFH is licensed to 87.9 FM.

So, while it’s true that the Commission generally doesn’t license new stations to 87.9 FM, it’s simply not true that the frequency is not part of the FM broadcast spectrum as asserted in the NAL issued to Pirate Cat Radio. As to the question of whether using that frequency contributed to the FCC targeting Pirate Cat or the aforementioned Florida pirate, I think it’s quite unlikely. The NAL against the Florida pirate makes no mention of the frequency not being a legitimate part of the FM dial.

As far as the Commission is concerned any given unlicensed operator is no different than another. Each field office tends to have its own set of priorities about chasing down pirates, and looking at the list of enforcement actions you can definitely see that each office seems to have periodic bursts of action against unlicensed operators. By and large enforcement actions are complaint-based, and operating out in the open is more likely to result in a complaint than being clandestine.

I suspect that action against Pirate Cat, in particular, came about rather slowly, perhaps influenced by the positive publicity it received and the position of relative respect it has in the community. Of course, these factors will not stop the FCC from taking action against an unlicensed broadcaster; failing to take any action would only serve as an encouragement to others. But I do think that these factors complicate the Commission’s job, causing it to tread a little more carefully.

I think operating an unlicensed station on 87.9 FM is no more risky than operating on any other frequency. The fact that there are very few stations licensed to this frequency makes it attractive for pirates looking for a clear channel and to avoid interfering with other stations. The FCC’s recent decision that FM stations no longer need to protect channel 6 audio on the far left end of the dial may lead to erosion of this opportunity in some areas as more licensed stations encroach on 87.9 FM. Until then, the risk of being a pirate on 87.9 FM is due to being a pirate broadcaster, and nothing more.

The post Pirates on 87.9FM at Greater Risk? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Regular readers may recall that I’ve been doggedly pursuing the minor phenomenon of analog TV channel 6 broadcasters exploiting their audio signal’s proximity to the FM dial to become radio broadcasters. At present the only analog TV stations capable of exploiting this backdoor are low-power TV stations which were not required to go digital this year.

Photo credit: Yukon White Light / flickr

In effect, the FCC is just saying that now that in places where there’s now no analog or digital channel occupying the space next to 87.7 FM, there’s no point in expecting FM stations to avoid encroaching on it. What it doesn’t mean is any sudden increase in available noncommercial licenses at the far left end of the dial. This is because no application window for this class of licenses is scheduled in the near future.

It might allow a few existing noncommercial stations occupying frequencies from 87.9 to 88.5 or so to either raise their power, relocate their transmitter or otherwise improve their signal because they won’t have to protect the vacant channel 6 space any longer. Yet, this might be complicated by the upcoming January 25, 2010 filing window for new digital-only LPTV stations. VHF channel 6 spectrum space should still be in the offing for new LPTV stations, which could block any significant expansion of noncommercial FM into the area of 87.7 FM. However, none of these new LPTV stations will be analog. So they won’t be broadcasting an audio signal that will be heard on the FM dial.

The post The Clock Is Winding Down for Channel 6 Backdoor to FM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I started reading the Professor’s detailed travelogues of his AM and shortwave radio band excursions back when he was writing for WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. After he quit contributing to BotB I learned that he was keeping things going at his own Radio Kitchen blog.

The Professor belongs to a group of radio enthusiasts who record what are known as “airchecks,” which are simply off-air recordings of radio stations. Usually created as a form of historical record, air check recordings serve as an often valuable capture of what is an otherwise mostly ephemeral medium.

In the analog era airchecks were mostly recorded on boombox style radios with built-in cassette recorders. Enthusiasts often traded copies of these tapes with folks from other parts of the country or the world. You see before the internet that was the only way to hear what local radio sounded like somewhere else without traveling.

Only the fanciest radio cassette recorders come in woodgrain.

In the digital era you’d think that recording and sharing radio airchecks would be much easier, given the near ubiquity of digital audio and video recording devices. But while radios with built-in cassette recorders were omnipresent at any electronics or discount store in the 1970s through the 1990s, there are few digital equivalents in existence in the 21st century. Although Apple recently included limited FM radio recording capabilities into its newest iPod Nano, it only records up to 15 minutes, and has no AM reception. So what do you do to digitally record hours of AM or shortwave radio?

The Professor recently took up that very question. One solution one might consider is connecting your computer’s audio input to a radio. The big problem there, however, is that computers generate a ton of RF interference which can seriously mess up AM and shortwave reception. iPods and other MP3 devices wreak similar radio havoc.

In his long, but worthwhile and info-rich, post the Professor gives an overview of the state of recording radio digitally, giving a nice user review of C. Crane’s CC Witness radio, which includes an MP3 recorder.

Aside from recording my own radio programs (usually direct off the studio board), I’ve only dabbled in recording radio airchecks over the years. In the 20th century I also mostly used cassette recorders. Due to sloppy labeling practices I’ve mostly lost all of those tapes over the years. I’ve also done some recordings in the 2000s, primarily to capture source material off shortwave for unfinished audio art projects. I did most of those recordings on minidisc recorders which seem to be very well shielded compared to other digital recorders, injecting almost no noise into the signal. The last Hi-MD models let me upload the recordings directly onto my computer for sharing and manipulation. Hi-MD is also how I recorded my mediageek radioshow for podcast distribution up until last year.

I’m not sure that I will ever record enough radio airchecks to merit spending $179 on a dedicated digital radio recorder. But I sure am glad that such a device exists, keeping alive a hobby that documents the rich history of broadcasting that otherwise would just dissipate into the ether.

The post Recording Radio for Fun, Games and Posterity appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Tough times necessitate creativity, not to mention a little bit of compassion. Not to be left behind the National Association of Broadcasters serves up both by offering what it’s euphemistically calling a “free agent rate” [scroll down to the bottom] which gives discounted registration of only $179 to its upcoming Radio Show convention. Radio magazine is little more direct in reporting that the discount is for unemployed broadcasters. Looking to avoid that word, the NAB instead likes to say that the rate is intended for “[r]adio broadcasters who are currently between jobs.”

The free agent entrance to the NAB Radio Show.

Somewhat ironically, the only Cumulus employees at the Radio Show might be those new “free agents” since, according to Jerry Del Colliano [scroll about half-way down], the company has forbidden its staff from attending. Whereas the newly “free” Clear Channel broadcasters will have the great pleasure of listening to their former boss, CEO Mark Mays, at the “Super Session Breakfast.” What a way to start the day! At 7:30 AM it just might be most tolerable with a hangover from the previous night keeping the B.S. obscured in a post-alcohol haze.

I hope you, dear reader, understand that I’m aiming my snark at the Scrooge McDucks running (or ruining) the likes of Clear Channel, Cumulus and the NAB. I intend no fun at the expense of the unlucky broadcasters unceremoniously kicked to the curb by Mr. Mays and Mr. Dickey. If these guys keep up their current mode of business, the “free agents” at the NAB Radio Show will outnumber the working broadcasters two to one, and they’ll have to pay the unemployed guys the $179 to show up.

The audacity to fire thousands of personnel and then magnanimously offer them a $120 discount to attend your industry’s biggest trade show exemplifies the attitude, misplaced priorities and sheer ignorant greed that is killing commercial radio.

The post Unemployed Radio Broadcasters: the NAB Still Loves You (for $179). appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Museum at Cork City Gaol Heritage Centre, Ireland

Along with my obsession for radio I also have a special place in my heart for wax museums; so imagine my glee when I discovered the bounty to be found in Ireland at Cork’s Radio Museum.

One of my first stops during my vacation to Ireland last month, the Radio Museum Experience is located in the Cork City Gaol Heritage Centre. The gaol (or jail) opened in 1824 and housed prisoners until 1923. After the inmates left, radio set up shop on the old jail site.

Beginning on April 25, 1927, radio broadcasting began on the premises in the Governor’s house. The early station, 6CK, became part of the national radio network of Ireland: Radio Eirann (later Radio RTE) and broadcast from the old jail until the 1950s. (By the way Radio RTE has a portion of its website devoted to history of the network’s public service broadcasting, including photos from the 1920s.)

Wax Figures at the Cork City Gaol

My trip to Cork’s “Radio Museum Experience” began with an audio tour of the jail; complete with cells filled with creepy wax figures.

As we ended that tour and returned the old school museum-issued cassette player/headphone combos we asked about the radio museum. We were told that it was closed because it wasn’t working. After we explained that we were there mainly to see the radio museum, they invited us upstairs to check it out.

I thoroughly enjoyed poking around the Radio Museum. I’m not entirely sure why it was closed, except for the fact that lighting was dim in places and some of the audio components weren’t working.

Radio Museum Artifacts

On display were collections of old radios, vintage broadcasting equipment, and a re-creation of the original studios of station 6CK. You could also catch tidbits of old radio broadcasts, see a map of early broadcasting stations from around the world, and read about the history of radio in Ireland. A bonus for me was seeing the corpse-like wax figure propped behind the board in the old studio.

Since I’ve been reading a lot about radio in the 1920s recently, my visit to the Radio Museum in Cork was timed perfectly for historical reflections.

I’m glad to see that these artifacts are being preserved and that there’s an opportunity for people to take a look at Irish radio history.

But it also saddens me that the exhibit wasn’t really open to the public. Hopefully it will be up and running again soon for all to enjoy. Otherwise it becomes yet another example of radio increasingly fading away from view.

The post Radio History Imprisoned at Cork's Radio Museum Experience appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We’re almost four months old!
Thanks for being our readers!

The post Hooray for Radio Survivor! appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Well, apparently last week due to some funkiness in the atmosphere, one could tune into the radio in western New York and hear sounds from thousands of miles away. As reported by Ben Beagle in the Batavia News,

“Atmospheric anomalies played havoc with local FM radio reception on Wednesday, pulling in signals from more than 1,000 miles away.

While driving home — a quick 12-mile commute from Batavia to Le Roy — I thought something was wrong with my radio. I could not get a Rochester or Buffalo radio station to come in. On WBEE-FM (92.5) I could hear some music, but it sounded like it was coming out of a white noise machine. Other stations seemed to have just disappeared. Nothing. Even WGCC-FM in Batavia was overtaken by static (though sometimes with college-radio music it’s hard to tell).

But the radio was functioning. Nothing had been amiss during the morning drive. There was reception in the afternoon, too, it just wasn’t coming from the usual places. The scan button was stopping and music was playing clearly from stations that the scan button had never stopped on before.

I felt like I was in an episode of “The Twilight Zone.” Or maybe the fabric of the universe was ripping apart. Something strange was happening. My wife looked at me like I was having a breakdown.”

Apparently what was happening was due to something called sporadic E-skip. In the article he explains that:

“Basically, a radio station’s signal bounces around the atmosphere and can be picked up a great distance away. Even the most powerful FM signals don’t normally reach more than 80 or 90 miles But E-skip, [radio consultant Scott] Fybush explained in an e-mail, usually brings in stations at a range of about 700 to 1,200 miles. ‘When an (E-skip) opening is especially strong, as today’s was, it can bring in so many distant signals that they wipe nearby stations off the dial, as you experienced,’ he wrote.”

That must have been both wild and exciting to hear far-away stations on the radio. Chalk this up to another benefit of terrestrial radio in my book! Did you experience these displaced stations on your dial last week?

The post Hearing Radio from Thousands of Miles Away appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In the vein of practice what you preach, two of the bloggers here, myself and Jennifer Waits, have regular weekly radio programs. Our third accomplice, Matthew Lasar, is a frequent guest on my program, mediageek. The mediageek radioshow covers grassroots media along with a focus on the regulatory and legal maneuvers that affect our ability to communicate freely.

Matthew was my guest last week to talk about this here little blog and the new FCC, which just saw its last two new commissioners ratified by the Senate.

The previous week I was lucky to have Jennifer as my guest to talk about the value and importance of college radio in the modern multichannel universe.

Matthew has made several appearances on the radioshow in the last fifteen months, and I hope that I’ll have the opportunity to have Jennifer on again, too.

Mediageek airs live weekly for an hour on WNUR 89.3 FM in Evanston and Chicago, IL at 9 PM on Thursdays. A half-hour syndicated version airs on thirteen other non-commercial stations in the US and Canada, which are listed at the radioshow website. And if the show doesn’t air on a station near you, you can always listen at the show’s website.

The program is free to air for any noncommercial radio station. So if you work at a noncomm station or have a local station that you think should broadcast it, drop me a line and let me know.

The post Listen to the Radio Survivors appeared first on Radio Survivor.

source: USAID

A look at radio licensing trends in the United States over the last five years shows an interesting pattern. While the number of commercial AM and FM full power licenses has declined or remained flat, there’s been a big expansion in educational FM stations. Lets’ review the stats in QA form.

Q. How many Federal Communications Commission licensed full power radio stations are there United States?

A. As of December 31, 2008 the FCC counted 14,253. These break down to 4786 AM stations and 9467 FM stations.

Q. How many of those FM stations were commercial versus educational?

A. 6427 were commercial. 3040 were educational (“educational,” of course, includes public radio stations).

Q. How many FM translators and boosters are there?

A. 6120.

Q. How many Low Power FM stations are there?

A. 859. There could be a lot more if the FCC made it easier to get licenses.

Q. Are these license numbers growing?

A. Yes, and no. There were 13,383 full power radio stations at the end of March 2003, so the aggregate is going up. But the number of AM stations has declined by 18 and the number of FM commercial stations has remained nearly the same (up 248 from 2003—a 4 percent increase). Meanwhile the number of FM educational stations has grown by 640—a 25 percent boost in that sector’s growth. So basically educational FM is pulling most of the weight when it comes to conventional radio license expansion. Were it not for that sectors’ strength, the total number of licenses would have increased by 230, a 1.5 increase in growth.

Sources:
BROADCAST STATION TOTALS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2008, FCC, February 27, 2009.
BROADCAST STATION TOTALS AS OF March 31, 2003, FCC, May 5, 2003

The post Radio factoid: educational broadcasting is pulling the weight when it comes to full power station growth appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Back in the early days of FM, when AM radio ruled the roost and an FM radio was still a rare commodity, many station owners simply simulcast their AM station’s programming on their FM stations. In the 1960s the Federal Communications Commission put the kibosh on that scheme, ordering FM stations to air different programming. This, in turn led to the development of freeform FM radio, since many station owners were glad just to have something to put on air that didn’t cost them much money. However, by the early 70s the increased fidelity of FM would make that band profitable in its own right, overtaking AM in audience share by the 80s.

Colorado Dept. Transportation radio network with repeater stations

Yesterday the FCC took us back to the future, in a way, approving the use of FM translator stations by AM stations (PDF of Report & Order). Translator stations are repeaters for full-power stations intended to fill in gaps in its signal area that might exist due to geography or other propagation anomalies. By design translator stations are low powered at anywhere from 10 to 1000 watts and may not originate their own programming. They’re also allowed to be short-spaced on the dial, crammed into channel spaces closer than permitted for full-power stations, or LPFM stations (for more on that discrepancy see this post from Matthew).

When the idea of AM stations having FM translators was first proposed I was quite skeptical, fearing an onslaught of new translators repeating commercial AM programming filling up every available nook and cranny on the FM dial, pre-empting the further expansion of LPFM. Luckily the actual order passed by the FCC is more rational than feared.

As the Broadcast Law blog points out, AM stations will only be permitted to make use of FM translators already licensed or issued a construction permit as of May 1, 2009. That means there won’t be a land grab brought on by a rush of new translators–station owners will have to rely on the translators they’ve already been granted by the FCC. It also means stations owners will have to make a choice as to whether their FM translators will be more valuable repeating an FM property or AM.

The NAB lobbied for AM repeaters on FM in order to compensate for two situations. First, the overly crowded AM dial is often useless at night (and I wonder who’s to blame for that?) due to interfering signals brought on by the ability of AM signals to propagate further after dark. The second is that many AM stations still have day-time only licenses, since they would cause too much interference after dark.

I’m still skeptical of the need for AM stations to have translators on the FM dial, since any broadcast group large enough to have licenses for FM translators already has FM properties it could switch its AM stations over to. This change isn’t going to help any of the few remaining independently owned AM stations not accompanied by any FM licenses. So it just sounds like the big commercial broadcasters want to have their cake and eat it too.

I’m just glad there isn’t a new translator license application window scheduled so that there might still be some frequencies available for low-power FM in the near future.

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Everybody and their mother who watches Federal Communications Commission politics wrote up pretty much everything proposed FCC Chair Julius Genachowski said at his Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing on Tuesday. But a lot less got written about the comments of the other nominee: Republican Robert M. McDowell, he up for a reappointment. And even less words appeared about some of the noteworthy things McDowell didn’t say—particularly about the Fairness Doctrine.

“First of all,” began Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas as soon as it was time for questioning McDowell, “on the Fairness Doctrine, that is something that is very important to many people. . . ”

Ban all unbanning

Robert M. McDowell at his senate confirmation hearing

Now, before we continue with Hutchison’s question, let’s step back and make an observation. The fact that the Fairness Doctrine is “very important to many people” is a curiosity to many other people, including me. This FCC rule, which required radio and television stations to offer “reasonable access” to opposing points of view, has been deservedly extinct for 21 years. The President of the United States says he opposes its return. Michael Copps, current Chair of the FCC opposes its return. Genachowski said he won’t bring it back. A few Democrats say they favor it, but there is no bill in the House or Senate calling for its restoration, although an amendment has passed the Senate which would forever ban its being unbanned in the unlikely event somebody actually wanted to unban it, said unbanning the present and future Chairs of the FCC promising not to do (as has already been noted).

But oodles of right wing talk radio loving conservatives and libertarians insist that it is coming back, or something like it is coming back, and Robert McDowell has been one of these insisters on occasion. “Should it return again, as several current Members of Congress have called for, I doubt it would wear the same label,” he told the Media Institute last year. “That’s just Marketing 101: if your brand is controversial, make a new brand. The Doctrine could be intertwined into other communications policy initiatives that are more certain to move through the system, such as localism, diversity or net neutrality.”

Basically the plot, as it has been outlined by way too many bloggers to shake a stick at, is that instead of bludgeoning right wing talk radio/TV via the Fairness Doctrine, it will be weakened by other means, somehow. Rules requiring more local programming or diversity will sap its Samsonian strength; and the real point of these rules is not to get more locally based programming or wider range of voices on broadcast radio and TV, but to move broadcasting in a more leftward direction, which is basically what the Fairness Doctrine was supposedly designed to do.

As for how net neutrality will accomplish this—frankly, with localism and diversity at least I can summarize the argument, even if I don’t agree with it. With net neutrality, I can’t even outline the logic.

You were saying

In any event, sorry to interrupt Senator Hutchison, but some background seemed necessary. ” . . . and reinstating [the Fairness Doctrine] is something that everyone I know thinks would be a bad idea,” she continued. “And I wanted to ask you if you see any signs of the Commission moving in that direction through the localism effort. What is your view about what is going on?”

Well, surely here was an opportunity for McDowell to have a grand old time with this frisky subject. But instead he replied as thus:

“First of all, Senator, I’ve spoken out for quite a while about my concerns about any reimposition of the Doctrine. Some call it the Censorship Doctrine. Others call it the Forced Speech Doctrine. So I will simply call it The Doctrine in order to be fair. But I believe it probably is unconstitutional.”

“I don’t have any concerns at the moment that the Commission will pursue it. I take Mr. Genachowski at his word that he will not pursue it. But there are some other concerns that I have regarding heaping more obligations on broadcasters, especially at this time, but throughout as well. The broadcast industry is really taking it on the chin right now, due in part certainly to the recession. About a third of their advertising revenue comes from car dealerships alone, and, of course, we all know the fate of car dealerships. There are more and more broadcast stations in distress these days. And then there’s the whole aspect of all the new media competition I outlined in my opening statement. The eyeballs and ears and ad dollars are going to new media. And I think we need to be mindful of that before we impose any new regulations.”

This response satisfied Hutchison, and the discussion moved on. But it’s important to note that although McDowell brought various localism proposals into the conversation, he held back from suggesting that they were a back door means of reimposing the Fairness Doctrine. Instead he simply characterized them as potentially burdensome to broadcasters.

Why didn’t McDowell rise to the occasion? Possibly because he was in mixed company (there were Democrats in the room who probably would have angrily challenged him on the matter) or perhaps because he has chosen to step back from all the frothy Fairness Doctrine rhetoric, which critics have characterized as conspiratorial.

In any event, conservatives hoping for a little red meat on this issue surely must have been disappointed by his response. I wasn’t. I want these proposed localism and diversity rules debated on their own merits or demerits, and was grateful for McDowell’s restraint.

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