Thanksgiving 2024 is a bit sadder this year, with the news that Alice Brock has passed away. What a cruel irony that the woman who inspired the Thanksgiving-themed Arlo Guthrie folk song “Alice’s Restaurant,” departed just a week before radio stations across the land would be broadcasting the story-song inspired by and named after her.

I feel so lucky to have been able to chat with Alice Brock back in 2020 on the Radio Survivor podcast, which we have presented again this year in her honor. This Alice Brock episode is recommended listening, especially in 2024, as it provides perspective on how Guthrie’s song came to be and why it has resonated with so many people.

Although I’ve been compiling lists of where to listen to “Alice’s Restaurant” on the radio pretty much every year since 2010, the lists are never complete and chances are that most folks will need to do their own sleuthing in order to ascertain where to tune in to hear the classic.

In lieu of a listening guide this year, I offer up tips on how to find out if your hometown station is playing “Alice’s Restaurant.”

How to find “Alice’s Restaurant” on the radio in 2024

• Consult the 2023 Radio Survivor “Alice’s Restaurant” listening guide to get a sense of stations likely to play the song in your area
• Check the social media accounts and websites of stations that tend to play “Alice’s Restaurant” for posts about air times (In past years, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have been helpful resources)
• If you are at a loss for station ideas, focus on commercial classic rock stations, public radio stations, and folk/country-oriented specialty shows on college and community radio stations
• To dig even deeper, look through previous Radio Survivor listening guides (which date back to 2010!) to get clues about the array of stations broadcasting the song annually

Have a wonderful 2024 Thanksgiving celebration!

The post Alice’s Restaurant on the Radio Thanksgiving 2024 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Arlo Guthrie’s seasonally appropriate “Alice’s Restaurant” is getting dusted off once again for radio airplay this Thanksgiving 2023.

I’ve been documenting this radio ritual for many years (even while suffering with COVID last year) and was pleased to be able to speak to THE Alice in 2020. Our Radio Survivor conversation with Alice Brock is recommended listening, as it provides perspective on how Guthrie’s song came to be and why it has resonated with so many people.

This year, I was amused to see that there’s a podcast, 108.9 The Hawk, about a fictional classic rock radio station. Apparently in prior years they have done episodes about the rock station staple, “Alice’s Restaurant,” and for 2023 they have produced a mega episode. They write, “Well, now for the very first time, experience BOTH specials – ‘Alice’s Restaurant Attacks!’ and ‘Alice’s Revenge’ combined into one blood curdling, spine chilling, family dinner ruining episode!” Sounds intriguing.

Have a wonderful 2023 Thanksgiving celebration! If catching “Alice’s Restaurant” is part of your holiday tradition, read on for my guide to listening options on your radio dial for 2023.

As always, this is an incomplete list. DO double check with your local stations to be sure that times have not shifted. Additionally, I am only including stations for which I have verified that they will be airing “Alice’s Restaurant” for 2023. However, you may want to consult my prior radio guides to identify other radio stations that tend to play the song annually.

Pre-Thanksgiving Servings of “Alice’s Restaurant” on the Radio in 2023

“Alice’s Restaurant” is also airing before Thanksgiving on some stations. On Monday, November 20, WDIY 88.1 FM (Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania) airs “Alice’s Restaurant” between 7 and 9pm on Steve Aaronson’s “Folk Classics” show, which features a Thanksgiving theme. Additionally, on Tuesday, November 21, “Alice’s Restaurant” airs on WESU 88.1 FM (Middletown, CT) at around 7pm during the Acoustic Blender show.

On Wednesday, November 22, Angelica Community Radio WRAQ 92.7 FM (Angelica, NY) broadcasts it at 9am and WTMT-FM 105.9 The Mountain (Asheville, North Carolina) will air it at 6pm.

Alice’s Restaurant on the Radio on Thanksgiving Day 2023 – November 23, 2023

Last updated on November 21, 2023 at 5:21pm PT. Note that all times are local to the area in which the station is located.

Terrestrial and Online Radio:

WAMC Northeast Public Radio 90.3 FM and 1400 AM (Albany, NY) writes of its Thanksgiving Day plans: “At 12 p.m. we’ll listen to our traditional airing of ‘Alice’s Restaurant’” followed by an interview with Arlo Guthrie at 1 p.m.”

Wyoming Public Media will air “Alice’s Restaurant” at 11am on Thanksgiving Day, as part of the Wyoming Sounds Thanksgiving special (9am to noon) “with host Grady Kirkpatrick featuring roots music, Native American, and Wyoming artists along with the Arlo Guthrie Thanksgiving classic Alice’s Restaurant beginning at 11am.”

WRUR 88.FM at University of Rochester (Rochester, New York) will air “Alice’s Restaurant” at 11:30am during Open Tunings with Scott Regan. Kane O, who has been airing this song for many years, writes on Facebook, “BIG ‘Ups’ to my Pal, Professor Scott Regan for letting me crash his show to carry on our wonderful tradition! Thankful indeed! #42.”

WDRC 102.9 FM “The Whale” (Hartford, Connecticut) writes, “Tune into 1029 The Whale on Thanksgiving at 6a, Noon and 6pm we will be playing Alice’s Restaurant in it’s entirety!”

WCSX 94.7 FM (Detroit, Michigan) is airing “Alice’s Restaurant” at 10am and 4pm on Thanksgiving.

WMGK 102.9 FM (Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania) continues its annual tradition. According to the station’s website, “Everyone can enjoy the tradition of ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ on MGK three times on Thanksgiving day in 2023. Paul Kelly will start it off by playing the Arlo Guthrie Thanksgiving classic at 8 a.m., and Danny Ocean will play it at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.”

WZOO 99.9 FM (Central North Carolina) and 700 AM (Asheboro) and 106.1 FM (Greensboro) writes on Facebook of its plans: “Are you wondering if WZOO is going to continue the tradition of playing Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie on Thanksgiving? You bet we are! Listen at 12:05 pm, right after the news! Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at The ZOO!”

WAFX 106.9 FM The Fox (Chesapeake, Virginia) writes on Facebook, “The Thanksgiving tradition continues on Thursday at 12 noon with the airing of Arlo Guthrie’s performance of “Alice’s Restaurant” hosted by Mike Arlo!”

Rock Radio 559 (Porterville, California) posted on Facebook, “A radio tradition every Thanksgiving. Arlo Guthrie ‘Alice’s Restaurant Massacree’ 12 noon and 7pm Thanksgiving Day on rockradio559.com.”

WTMT-FM 105.9 The Mountain (Asheville, North Carolina) is airing “Alice’s Restaurant” on Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Eve. On Facebook the station posted, “The Thanksgiving tradition continues! Alice’s Restaurant on 105.9 The Mountain. You’ll hear it on Wednesday night at 6pm and twice on Thanksgiving Day at Noon and 6pm.”

WTTS 92.3 FM (Indianapolis, Indiana) writes on Facebook, “Welcome to a short holiday week! We are all set to provide Thursday’s soundtrack. OverEasy Thanksgiving is back on 92-3 WTTS, with laid-back World Class Rock all day long. We’ll also play Arlo Guthrie’s Thanksgiving classic ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ four times: 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 9pm.”

WEZX Rock 107 (Scranton, Pennsylvania) plans to play “Alice’s Restaurant” according to its Facebook post, “Alice’s Restaurant has become a timeless tradition. Tune in Thanksgiving Day at 9am, noon, 3pm and 6pm You can get anything you want at Rock 107.”

WEHM 92.9 FM and 96.9 FM (Water Mill, NY) tweeted, “Thanksgiving Day, don’t miss out on Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ hosted by Lauren Stone! Special airings at 12pm, 3pm and 6pm!”

107.5 The Breeze (Portsmouth, Ohio) tweeted, “We’re celebrating a Holiday Classic: ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ by Arlo Guthrie. Follow along as the story unfolds on Thanksgiving Day. It’s always brought to you by Preston Family Funeral Home on Rt. 5 in Ashland. Hear it this Thursday at 9am, Noon and 5pm.”

KPIG 107.5FM and KPYG 94.9 FM Cayucos/SLO (Freedom, California) reports, “On Thanksgiving day, tune into the pig and hear the full version of Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ four times…at 9:00am, noon, 4:00pm, and again at 9:00pm. We hope you and yours have a safe – and healthy – Thanksgiving holiday.”

101 The Fox (Kansas City, Kansas) writes, “A Thanksgiving gift from our family to yours…This Thanksgiving day at 12:00 noon and again at 6pm. 101 The Fox presents all 18 minutes, eleven seconds of Arlo Guthrie’s epic Thanksgiving masterpiece!”

Backland Radio (online) reports that it is playing “Alice’s Restaurant” at 8am, noon, 5pm and 9pm Central Time on Thanksgiving on The Whip at Backland Radio.

92 KQRS (Minneapolis, Minnesota) reports of this year’s “Alice’s Restaurant” tradition: “Our long-standing tradition of spinning Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ on Thanksgiving continues! You have three opportunities to hear it this year: Tune in at 9am, 12pm and 5pm on Thanksgiving Day. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at KQRS!”

KINK 101.9 FM (Portland, OR): Per its website, “It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if we didn’t play the Arlo Guthrie classic, now would it. Listen at noon for ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ and a full second helping at 5pm!”

WTHS 89.9 FM Hope College Radio (Holland, Michigan) is playing Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” at noon on Thanksgiving Day.

WRHQ 105.3 FM (Savannah, Georgia) writes on its website, “Tradition! That’s what Alice’s Restaurant is on the Q and you’ll hear it three times Thanksgiving Day…. 9:30 in the morning, 12:30 in the afternoon and 6:30 in the evening presented by O.C. Welch Ford in Hardeeville.  Alice and Turkey on the Q!”

KOZT 95.3 FM/95.9 FM The Coast (Ft. Bragg, CA) will play “Alice’s Restaurant” at 12 noon on Thanksgiving.

WDVX 89.9 FM in Knoxville, Tennessee is playing “Alice’s Restaurant” at noon on Thanksgiving. Its website says, “WDVX serves up ‘Alice’s Restaurant Massacree’ a song by Arlo Guthrie and a long time Thanksgiving day tradition on WDVX.”

WUMB 91.9 FM (Boston, MA and environs) writes, “The Thanksgiving tradition continues with Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ airing in the 9am, 12pm, and 3pm hours.”

KSER 90.7 FM (Everett, Washington) writes, “Listen at 2pm Thursday for our annual broadcast of the Arlo Guthrie classic.”

WBJB Brookdale Public Radio 90.5 The Night (Lincroft, New Jersey): Will be playing “Alice’s Restaurant” at noon and 6pm.

KTOJ 105.7 FM (Thousand Oaks, California) airs “Alice’s Restaurant” on Thanksgiving day at 9am, noon, 3pm and 5pm.

KTYD 99.9 FM (Santa Barbara, CA) writes on Facebook: “KTYD’s Annual Thanksgiving Tradition! Listen Thursday at 6:30 and 9:30am, 12:30, 3:30 and 6:30pm.”

WXOX-LP 97.1 FM (Louisville, Kentucky) reached out to alert us that they will be playing “Alice’s” at 9:40am on Thanksgiving Day.

WWSF Seacoast Oldies 104.3 FM (Exeter, Maine) will air “Alice’s Restaurant” at noon.

WMVY 88.7 FM (Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod and environs) aka MVY Radio writes on Facebook: “Be sure to tune in to MVYRADIO this Thanksgiving at noon as we play Arlo Guthrie’s Thanksgiving tradition, ‘Alice’s Restaurant.’ This will be the 40th year of this turkey day tradition.”

WQUT 101.5 FM Tri-Cities Classic Rock (Tri-Cities, Tennessee) reports on Facebook, “An enduring Thanksgiving tradition continues! Arlo Guthrie’s classic, ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ will play at noon and 6:00PM on Thanksgiving on WQUT!”

WEBN 102.7 FM (Cincinnati, Ohio) carries on the tradition. DJ Nudge writes on Facebook, “I have 0 clue why we do it or why it matters to you, I just know you go LOONEY for ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ getting a spin at high noon on 102.7 WEBN every Turkey Day” and asks, “Tradition for Tradition sake, I don’t think anyone high-a-top Frog’s Mountain knows why anymore. Why do YOU love us playing the song annually and what does it mean to you?”

WABF 1480 AM (Fairhope, Alabama) writes on Facebook, “Join us for Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ Thanksgiving day at noon and 6pm.”

KWSC 91.9 FM “The Cat” (Wayne, Nebraska) at Wayne State College tweets that, “@ProfAhern brought a Thanksgiving tradition to KWSC-FM. Tune in at 12 on Thanksgiving to hear about littering, the draft and a swell Thanksgiving dinner at Alice’s Restaurant.”

WXPN 88.5 FM (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) reports that it will be continuing its tradition amongst its Thanksgiving Day special programming. According to its website, at “12 Noon: Mike V presents our annual airing of Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant‘!”

The post Alice’s Restaurant on the Radio Thanksgiving 2023 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This is my ninth installment on how to listen to the Super Bowl on the radio, and this year there isn’t much change from last. It seems like most of the same outlets will be carrying the big game in the US, Canada, Mexico, UK and Australia. While the match up between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams can be found on television in most other countries, radio broadcasts are harder to come by.

Sure, if you’re doing something where you have to keep your eyes off a screen you can always tune into a TV or video stream and just listen. But the radio play-by-play is designed for screen-less consumption, making sure every play is described for your stadium of the mind.

Each year I hope to find a new international broadcaster – or better yet, a shortwave station – stepping up to provide audio coverage. Alas, the only truly intrepid network is Australia’s SEN, which will be sending their own announcer for the fifth year in a row.

Here’s where to listen to Super Bowl LVI live from Los Angeles, CA on the radio, Sunday, February 13:

Terrestrial Radio

United States

English: Westwood One Sports affiliate stations

Spanish: Entravision stations

Canada

TSN Radio – Edmonton, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Australia

1116 AM SEN Victoria / 1629 AM SEN South Australia
(also online)

Mexico

W Radio

United Kingdom

BBC 5 Live (also online in the UK)

Armed Forces Network

Armed services members deployed overseas can listen via AFN Radio on satellite, and AFN 360 Internet Radio.

Internet Radio

NFL Game Pass (subscription required)

TuneIn Radio

Satellite and Internet Radio

United States

SiriusXM Super Bowl Radio

Canada

SiriusXM Canada

Is there a terrestrial, online or satellite radio broadcast of the Super Bowl we’re missing? Please let us know.

Feature image credit: Joe Haupt / flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The post How to Listen to Super Bowl LVI on the Radio around the World this Sunday, Feb. 13 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I’ve been staying in the San Francisco Bay Area this week and stumbled upon an AM talk radio network that is new to me: the Black Information Network. The format mirrors that of conventional 24-hour all-news stations like KCBS, Los Angeles’ KNX, New York’s WINS or Philadelphia’s KYW, with regular headline news, business and entertainment segments alongisde breaks for local weather and traffic. But that’s also supplemented with short segments on Black history and other topics for Black audiences.

A quick search informed me that it’s actually owned by iHeartRadio and went on the air June 2020 with 15 stations, now up to 31. I found BIN while tuning around the dial on 910 AM Berkeley, in the East Bay of the San Francisco metro. Even before hearing an ID the station immediately stood out from the sports talk and conservative talk that otherwise predominates on the AM dial.

One striking difference is a lack of conventional commercials. Instead, corporate sponsors are identified in a manner more like public radio underwriting. IHeart CMO Gayle Troberman told AdExchanger that they limited the sponsors to just 10, in order to “ensure that our journalists don’t have to write sensational headlines and be motivated to drive clicks[.]” In the same interview BIN CEO Tony Coles said they’re doing some custom branded content, which it seems isn’t too different from what you more often find in podcasting, even on shows from public radio organizations.

I’m surprised I missed BIN’s launch last year, but perhaps it was better to stumble upon it and have the pleasant surprise. Though different in approach and tone than what many folks from progressive community radio might prefer – it is definitely more mainstream – in my listening the emphasis on Black issues, history and culture is nevertheless front and center, and the network does not shy away from the politics of race. The mix is lively and useful.

Although still a national, rather than local, endeavor, It’s good to hear commercial radio try a new approach to news, an area that has seemed drained of investment as the “news” portion of the “news/talk” format on most stations has been pushed definitively to the conservative talk side, with most of the news limited to top- and bottom-of-the hour headlines and maybe some limited drive-time programming. I am curious to learn how this network evolves, especially if it expands to more cities.

The post Tuning in Black Information Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show, we return to the topic of hip-hop on the radio. While on Radio Survivor, we typically focus on non-commercial radio, like college and community stations; in this episode we look at why certain types of commercial radio stations were important to the growth in popularity of hip-hop music. Our guest, Amy Coddington, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Music at Amherst College and is writing a book about the history of hip-hop on commercial radio.

Show Notes:

• Amy Coddington’s website
• Podcast #145: Hip-Hop Radio Archive with guest Ryan MacMichael
• Podcast #152: The Longest Running Hip-Hop Radio Show in the World? with guest DJ A-L
• Community radio station KGNU is home to The Eclipse Show
• Racial Formation in the United States by Michael Omi and Howard Winant
• Backstory on “Walk this Way” from the Atlantic: “How Aerosmith and Run-DMC Begrudgingly Made a Masterpiece”
• Power 106 Los Angeles radio station
• Jason Tanz wrote the book: Other People’s Property: A Shadow History of Hip-Hop in White America
• Public Enemy’s “Rebel without a Pause” in the HipHop Archive and Research Institute
• Chuck D
• Paula Abdul’s Opposites Attract
• Amber Ruffin on rap lyrics being cut from radio edits of songs
• Snoop Dog
• Hot 97 radio station in New York
• Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight (1979)
• Blondie’s Rapture (1980)
• Wham’s Wham! Rap (1982)
• Influential DJ Frankie Crocker of radio station WBLS
• The Pharcyde

The post Podcast # 320 – How Hip-Hop Made it to Top 40 Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Updated Feb. 6, 2021

Last year I was in New Zealand during the Super Bowl season. In the week before I was hiking the Milford Track on the South Island, backpacking for four days across 33 miles, away from internet and television (though I did pack a little travel radio). For the actual game I was in the capitol city of Wellington, but I didn’t even try to watch because I actually don’t care much at all about football. 

I am, however, fascinated by the global phenomenon, and figuring out how radio listeners can tune in to hear it. But, due to my vacation I didn’t write my annual “how to listen to the Super Bowl” post in 2020. Even some six months ago I wasn’t sure there would be a Super Bowl to write about in 2021. But here we are with the Buccaneers facing off against returning champions the Chiefs for Super Bowl LV on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021 at 6:30 PM EST.

US Super Bowl Radio Broadcasts

In the US it’s pretty easy to find a Westwood One Sports terrestrial radio affiliate carrying the game. Some stations black out their internet feed, and it’s generally hard to predict which ones will. However, I’ve found that clicking around will eventually land you on a functioning live stream. Note that your experience may vary depending on what state or country you’re connecting from.

A reliable internet radio stream can be had with a NFL Game Pass subscription.

The Super Bowl will be broadcast in Spanish on Entravision stations in 24 US radio markets.

Satellite radio subscribers can listen in on SiriusXM channel 104 in the US. Canadian subscribers have it on XM 88. Both are also available online. (Full disclosure: I’m an employee of Stitcher, a subsidiary of SiriusXM Holdings, but that has no influence on including this listing).

International Super Bowl Broadcasts

It’s also easy to find a television broadcast just about anywhere on the globe. But radio is much more of a challenge. Yet not everyone is in a position to watch a screen – whether they’re working or driving, or are visually impaired. For many folks the most descriptive radio play-by-play is the best or most appropriate experience. That’s why my annual quest is to find broadcasters all over the world that carry the game. 

On terrestrial radio, our neighbors to the north in Canada can reliably follow the Super Bowl on the TSN Radio Network in Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. To the south, Mexican listeners can tune in to W Radio and W Radio Deportes, as well as Los 40.

Further afield, Australians will be able to hear the game called by a home-grown announcer for the fourth year in a row on SEN 1116. In the past years I’ve been able to listen to this broadcast live online without problem.

UK rights to the game seem to bounce around different networks, but this year Super Bowl 55 will be heard on BBC 5 Live. In my experience the online stream is geofenced so that only UK audiences can catch it.

People serving in the American Armed Forces deployed around the world, as well as those who live near a base, can hear the big game on AFN Radio. Military personnel can also hear it the online streaming via AFN 360. 

Otherwise I haven’t been able to track down terrestrial radio broadcasts anywhere else in the world. Please send me your tip if I’m missing one.

Here’s where to listen to Super Bowl LV live from Tampa, FL on the radio, Sunday, February 7:

Terrestrial Radio

United States

English: Westwood One Sports affiliate stations

Spanish: Entravision stations

Canada

TSN Radio – Edmonton, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Australia

1116 AM SEN Victoria / 1629 AM SEN South Australia
(also online)

Mexico

W Radio

Los 40

United Kingdom

BBC 5 Live (also online in the UK)

Armed Forces Network

Armed services members deployed overseas can listen via AFN Radio on satellite, and AFN 360 Internet Radio.

Internet Radio

NFL Game Pass (subscription required)

Possibly: Westwood One Sports A on TuneIn

Ultimate Sports Radio Network (added Feb. 6)

Satellite and Internet Radio

United States

SiriusXM Super Bowl Radio 104

Canada

XM 88

Is there a terrestrial, online or satellite radio broadcast of the Super Bowl we’re missing? Please let us know.

The post How to Listen to Super Bowl LV on the Radio Around the World, Feb. 7 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

WBCN in Boston, MA is one of the storied freeform FM stations in American commercial radio history. We’re talking about it because there’s a recent documentary film, entitled “WBCN and the American Revolution,” that dives into its history, and how WBCN’s early days in the late 60s and early 70s are intertwined with the counter culture movement in that city.

Our guest is filmmaker Bill Lichtenstein, who was also on-air at WBCN during its formative years. Though much has been said about cities like San Francisco and New York in this era, the stories of Boston are less prevalent in our common cultural history. The story is interesting because the station functioned much like a community station, more like WBAI in New York, than the typical commercial station of the time.

In particular, under the direction of Danny Schechter, “The News Dissector,” who got his start at the station, WBCN wove politically challenging news and public affairs into its music format, reporting live on the scene from pivotal events of the day.

Show Notes

• “WBCN and the American Revolution” website
• Danny Schechter “The News Dissector” wrote for Media Channel in the 90s and 2000s
• Boston Magazine: WBCN: An Oral History
• One of the Last “Progressive” Rockers (WBCN) Goes Digital-Only
• WBCN and the American Revolution Documentary Collection at the UMass Amherst Libraries

The post Podcast #241 – WBCN and the American Revolution appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Though most large market radio dials around the country are pretty full, there remain places where are there some spots in the commercial band. The Federal Communications Commission will be auctioning off 130 of them beginning April 28.

Before anyone gets too excited, it’s important to note two substantial caveats. First, very few of these licenses are in large or even medium-sized markets, and they’re only in 30 states. Folks looking to broadcast in Indiana, Delaware, Idaho, New Jersey or Pennsylvania, for instance, are out of luck.

The second caveat is mostly for those interested in pursuing community-style broadcasting – unlike the licensing windows for full-power non-commercial and LPFM stations, these will cost money. It’s a real auction, with the opening bids starting at $750 for signals in places like Yakutat, AK (pop. 662), Essex, CA (pop. 89) and Wamsutter, WY (pop. 451), all the way up to $100,000 for one license in Sacramento, CA (pop. 508,530), the biggest city and market on the list by far.

It must be stressed that these are opening bids. Depending on how many bidders there are, those prices could skyrocket.

Also note that that’s just the price for the license. An actual station – with studio, tower and transmitter – is not included.

That said, if you’ve ever dreamed of owning your own radio station, this is your next best opportunity. Moreover, entering this auction is likely – but not guaranteed to be – less expensive than trying to buy an existing license on the open market.

Those that are still not discouraged have a few steps to complete before the bidding begins on April 28. The Broadcast Law Blog has a rundown of the timeline, beginning with filing a short-form application to tell the Commission what channels you’re interested in between January 29 and February 11. Keep in mind that you’ll also need the cash in hand ahead of time; the FCC requires a minimum bid deposit be made by March 20.

A final caveat is that you need to be serious if you want to be successful. Should you win an auction, the Commission will require you to fill out a full application form that specifies all the technical details for where you will site your transmitter. It’s definitely not a lottery, or a make-it-up-as-you-go-along process.

Though I have no plans to cover this auction as closely as the LPFM licensing window from 2013, I’ll be curious to see who wins.

The post Want a Radio Station License? April Is the Next Chance (at Least for 127 Cities) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Can US radio survive even more consolidation? The National Association of Broadcasters is asking the FCC to raise local radio ownership caps in the 75 biggest radio markets, and to get rid of limits entirely in the remaining 194.

The prospect of even less diversity on the airwaves has motivated a broad coalition of music industry organizations to create the Keep Local Radio Local campaign, to help listeners tell the FCC not to further deregulate radio.

Kevin Erickson is director of the Future of Music Coalition, one of the co-sponsors of this campaign, along with the musicFirst Coalition. He joins the show to explain why radio is still important to musical artists and local communities, and why more ownership consolidation poses a threat.

Show Notes:

• Keep Local Radio Local
• Future of Music Coalition
• musicFirst Coalition
• Can your local radio announcer pronounce your city’s name? Chris Terry on the Telecommunications Act of 1996
• Happy (?) 21st Birthday to the Telecom Act of 1996
• Rolling Stone: New Study Examines Impact of Country Radio Programming on Women

The post Podcast #196 – The Campaign To Keep Local Radio Local appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Looking for info on how to listen to this 2021’s Super Bowl LV? Click here.

Updated Jan. 31, 2019

Once again it’s time for my annual hunt for the Super Bowl on the radio around the world.

Last year I had fun listening to the first Australian to call the big game for his home audience. Announcer Gerard Whateley returns for Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta to broadcast the game on 1116 SEN Victoria, along with 1629 SEN South Australia and Macquarie Sports Radio digital DAB+ channels in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

While TV broadcasters around the globe will carry Super Bowl 53, to hear it on terrestrial radio you pretty much have to be in North America, Mexico (added Jan. 31), the United Kingdom (added Feb. 3) or the land down under. If you can’t watch a screen to catch the game because you’re driving, working or otherwise occupied you certainly could just listen to the audio portion of the video broadcast or stream. But television and radio announcing are very different arts because radio announcers know you can’t see, and so they provide much more description to help paint a mental picture.

Luckily, if you can tune in to online radio, then you should be set.

TuneIn Radio typically has the Super Bowl streaming for free to all listeners even though regular season NFL games require a paid premium subscription.

Update Feb. 3 – TuneIn is only streaming to Premium subscribers, though you can get a 30 day free trial right away.

Westwood One Sports affiliate stations in the U.S. carry the game, and you can often hear the broadcast on their streams. But it’s not guaranteed because many will also black them out.

Update Feb. 3 from reader Cathy Derringer – WSAI Cincinnati is definitely streaming Super Bowl LIII on its iHeartRadio stream.

It’s also worth checking out the New England Patriot’s home station, 98.5 FM The Sports Hub. I’ll note that I tuned in to 1116 SEN in Australia over the internet, too.

Here’s where to listen to Super Bowl LIII live from Atlanta, GA on the radio this Sunday, February 3:

Terrestrial Radio

United States

Westwood One Sports affiliate stations

Canada

TSN Radio – Edmonton, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg

Australia

1116 AM SEN Victoria / 1629 AM SEN South Australia
Macquarie Sports Radio DAB+

Mexico

Added Jan. 31: Reader Eric Jon Magnuson reports that Radio Centro 97.7 XERC in Mexico City will carry the game.

United Kingdom

Added Feb. 3: Reader Owen Parkin reports that TalkSport Radio will broadcast Super Bowl LIII across the U.K. on DAB digital radio and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

Armed Forces Network

Armed services members deployed overseas can listen via AFN Radio on satellite, and AFN 360 Internet Radio.

Internet Radio

TuneIn Radio – Westwood One Sports

Satellite and Internet Radio

United States

SiriusXM carries the game over its subscription satellite and online radio services in English and multiple languages:

• New England Patriots radio broadcast: Sirius 82, XM 226
• Los Angeles Rams radio broadcast: Sirius 83, XM 225
• Westwood One national radio broadcast: SiriusXM NFL Radio Channel 88
• Spanish language broadcast: ESPN Deportes SiriusXM 468, Sirius 133, XM 227, Online 977
• Chinese language broadcast: Sirius 136, XM 230, Online 980
• German language broadcast: Sirius 135, XM 229, Online 979
• French language broadcast: SiriusXM 174
• Japanese language broadcast: Sirius 137, XM 231, Online 981
• Hungarian language broadcast: Sirius 138, XM 232, Online 982
• Portuguese language broadcast: Sirius 134, XM 228, Online 978

Canada

Sirius XM Canada also carries the Super Bowl in a variety of languages:

• New England Patriots radio broadcast: Sirius 82, XM 226
• Los Angeles Rams radio broadcast: XM 225
• Westwood One national radio broadcast: SiriusXM NFL Radio Channel 88
• Spanish language broadcast: ESPN Deportes, SiriusXM 468 (Streaming-Only for Sirius), XM 227
• Chinese language broadcast: XM 230 (not available on Sirius satellite)
• German language broadcast: XM 229 (not available on Sirius satellite)
• French language broadcast: SiriusXM 174
• Japanese language broadcast: Sirius 137, XM 231
• Hungarian language broadcast: Sirius 138, XM 232
• Portuguese language broadcast: XM 228 (not available on Sirius satellite)

United Kingdom

Added Feb. 3: TalkSport Radio in the U.K. is broadcasting the game, and also has an internet radio feed.

Other

Added Feb. 3: Ultimate Sports Radio online will call Super Bowl LIII.

Is there a terrestrial, online or satellite radio broadcast of the Super Bowl we’re missing? Please let us know.

The post How to Listen to Super Bowl LIII on the Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As 2018 draws to a close the FCC is poised to throw another death blow at radio, proposing to allow complete ownership monopolies in hundreds of radio markets. At the same time the Commission has to defend its decimation of network neutrality in court, even after the DC Court of Appeals ruled the earlier open internet rules are utterly constitutional (twice). And while Sinclair lost its bid to steamroll what’s left of TV ownership caps and acquire Tribune’s stations, another company is getting ready to vacuum them up.

The state and status of our media and communications freedom hangs in the balance. That’s why we ask Prof. Christopher Terry to help us make sense of it all. He’s professor of media law at the University of Minnesota, and he’ll explain what it all means, and what we can do about the Commission’s plan to let even the four major TV networks merge into mega-networks.

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

Make a monthly contribution through our Patreon campaign.

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Show Notes:

• Podcast #139 – Sinclair and the FCC: Opening the Door to Local Media Oligopoly
• The FCC’s Legacy of Failure: Failure Then Gives Us More Failure Now
• Podcast #50 – Prometheus v FCC and a Generation of Gridlock
• Podcast #33 – 20 Years Ago Local Radio Was Crushed
• Mozilla files arguments against the FCC – latest step in fight to save net neutrality
• Podcast #157 – Restoring Net Neutrality, One State at a Time
• Nexstar Expected to Buy Tribune Media for $4B
• FCC Kicks Off Quadrennial Regulatory Review

The post Podcast #172 – The FCC at the End of 2018, with Prof. Christopher Terry appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“The radio industry… is an example of an industry that was doing pretty well, and they gutted it.”

The “they” is the private equity industry, which provided the financing to companies like Clear Channel (iHeartRadio) and Cumulus to go on the epic buying sprees that resulted in today’s enormously consolidated commercial radio landscape. Investigative reporter Josh Korman explains how this happened in the documentary “Corporate.FM.”

The film debuted six years ago at the Kansas City Film Festival, when Jennifer Waits also interviewed director Kevin McKinney for Radio Survivor. The film had been in the back of my mind when I noticed that it was available for streaming on Amazon Prime. So, of course, I sat down to watch it.

Kinney told Jennifer that, “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.”

It the opening sequence, “Commercial.FM” lays out its raison d’être: “The power of radio is that our neighbors are listening to it at the same time, and together we create a critical mass of support at the local level.”

The film vividly illustrates this point, and how its promise has been mortgaged, through the voices and experience of people who work, or have worked, in the industry. Kinney spotlights talent from Kansas City, Lawrence, Kansas, and San Diego, all of whom have been affected by industry consolidation. Their stories are further illuminated by experts like journalist Eric Boehlert and Prof. Robert McChesney, who have researched and documented media consolidation.

Though I think it’s a perspective that deserves airing, I have to admit that going in I was expecting “Corporate.FM” to focus primarily on the cultural aspects of commercial radio’s decline, of how local DJs who would play local bands got replaced by nationalized playlists and voice tracking. It’s important to recognize this effect, but it’s also very well tread ground.

Instead, I was impressed at how effectively the film tells the political economic story that’s at the root of these changes. In very clear terms it lays out how ownership deregulation – in the form of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 – legalized and incentivized massive corporate buyouts leveraged with debt. These deals generated windfall profits in the short term, and enriched bankers and executives in the long term, at the expense of hundreds of jobs, the death of localism and the 20-year blood-letting of an entire industry. It does this without getting lost in jargon, or just boring the viewer to death.

As one commentator says in the first three minutes of the documentary, “The internet didn’t kill radio. The commercial radio industry is killing itself.”

“Corporate.FM” makes that case solidly.

If you have Amazon Prime it’s a must-see. If you don’t, it’s also available for rent or purchase, and I’d say it’s well worth the $1.99 rental, even if you think you know the story. Seriously, it’s a story I’ve been following for 22 years (and I’m kind of a cynical old bastard, too), and I found a lot to like and learn in “Corporate.FM.”

Watch the trailer:

The post Now Streaming: ‘Corporate.FM’ Clearly Explains the Decline of Commercial Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Late night talk radio innovator Art Bell has died at the age of 72. He passed away in his sleep, at home in Pahrump, Nevada on Friday, April 13.

For the night owls, insomniacs, late-shift and early-morning workers, Bell was a comforting voice crackling through the AM airwaves on his shows “Coast to Coast AM” and “Dreamland” from the late 80s until 2007, when he left broadcast radio. He was known for lending an open mic and an open ear to all forms of beliefs and experiences lying outside the mainstream, from alien abductions and near-death experiences, to conspiracy theories and pirate radio. Guests and callers alike could expect a respectful reception from Bell, who yet managed to balance his receptivity with a mild skepticism, sometimes signaled only with a drawn out “Ummmm hmmmmm.”

In many ways Bell popularized and nationalized a form of freeform radio that had been in existence for at least a couple of decades prior. It’s actually not a far leap from Bob Fass’ “Radio Unameable” show, airing on New York community radio station WBAI since 1963, to “Coast to Coast AM.” Sure, Fass’ program has always been more distinctly political, strongly aligned with the counter-culture, giving airtime to Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies and broadcasting live from the 1968 DNC in Chicago. But Bell was not allergic to politics. Though it tended to be embedded in a foundation of a cynical sort of libertarianism, wary of government conspiracies and cover-ups, rather than forthrightly oppositional, left-wing or anti-capitalist.

Yet, “Radio Unnameable” is just one of the most well-known examples of late-night call-in radio born in the 60s, that then found a home on community and college radio stations when the taming of FM corporate rock radio exterminated freeform from the commercial airwaves. Talk of conspiracies, fringe health practices and even aliens have nearly always had a home on community radio, especially in the hours when management and other staffers aren’t listening, and may barely care about what’s being broadcast, especially since the FCC’s “safe harbor” rules pretty much eliminate the risk of fines for accidentally (or purposely) airing a profane caller’s rant.

For instance, last year my colleague Matthew Lasar recalled Mae Brussell, who held forth on shows like “Dialogue Conspiracy” on community stations in California during the 1970s and 80s. And that’s just one particularly durable example. Certainly many overnight conspiracy call-ins have come and gone, leaving nary a trace.

Yet Bell, himself, was always careful to maintain the role of moderator more than an evangelist for conspiracy theories, even though his choice of guests and repartee with listeners revealed his sympathies. Perhaps he was at least a little aware that his national prominence and job security might rely on such balance. He couldn’t rely on the bigger national advertisers that his daytime counterparts like Rush Limbaugh had, giving them significantly greater revenue leverage when their more indiscreet partisan (and worse) ravings triggered public blowback.

By the late 90s “Coast to Coast” could be heard just about anywhere in the U.S., on hundreds of stations. One taking a late-night road trip across the country could easily stay tuned in to the show just by hitting the seek button every couple of hundred miles. Of course, this was thanks to the industry consolidation wrought by the Telecom Act of 1996, and the fact that airing his show was likely the most economically viable choice for many AM stations.

It should be noted that “Coast to Coast” was (and is) distributed by Premiere Radio Networks, the nation’s largest radio syndicator, owned by the nation’s largest radio owner, iHeartMedia, formerly Clear Channel. It’s likely that “Coast to Coast” replaced dozens of local talk shows, as stations got bought, budgets got cut, and airing a satellite feed became cheaper than having a live human in the studio. While living in Central Illinois I can remember when Chicago’s clear channel WLS-AM dropped the locally produced Nate Clay show from weeknights in favor of “Coast to Coast,” sometime in the early 2000s.

Still, when the receivable late night alternatives often were limited to right-wing garbage, endless sports talk, tightly-playlisted automated music and easy listening, listening to Bell could be an entertaining relief. You didn’t have to believe in order to find interest, and not everything on the show was unbelievable. I enjoyed listening to him interview folks like Merle Haggard, physicists Michio Kaku and pirate radio expert Andrew Yoder.

Because of his willingness to give airtime to all manner of conspiratorial thinking, pseudoscience and fringe views, some might draw a line from Bell’s work to the post-truth, “fake news,” conspiracy-mongering broadcasters and internet media outlets of today. But I think it’s unfair to target him with much individual blame. He was never a fire-breathing partisan, and he didn’t invent this form of open-minded call-in radio so much as refine it and popularize it.

I think his friend and fellow broadcaster Whitley Strieber clearly identifies in his own remembrance what was unique about Bell:

“He was more a listener than a talker by nature, and he had a very open mind. It wasn’t that he would believe anything, but rather that he wouldn’t disbelieve things simply because they violated consensus reality.”

I’m not here to defend Art Bell, nor is his work and legacy immune from criticism. He certainly made some of his living selling an unknown fortune in MREs, gold and other survivalist accoutrements to paranoid listeners preparing for the meltdown of global order. Not every idea he gave platform to was benign or harmless. But I think that even if he had never taken to the airwaves, politically we’d still be where we are today.

Radio, however, wouldn’t be the same. And for a good two decades, syndicated corporate talk radio would never have been as colorful or entertaining.

Although “Coast to Coast” has continued on with replacement host George Noory, Bell acolytes would contend it’s a pale imitation of the original. I agree with that sentiment.

For better or worse, Bell didn’t leave behind a school of broadcasters following in his footsteps.

To learn more about Bell’s life, career and influence I recommend The Washington Post’s obituary as the best I’ve read so far.

The post RIP Art Bell, Who Brought Freeform Call-In Radio Nationwide appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Looking for info on how to listen to this 2021’s Super Bowl LV? Click here.

Every year I enjoy the little treasure hunt of figuring out where you can listen to the Super Bowl on the radio. Having done this for five years now, parts are the same every year, especially when it comes to terrestrial US listening. But what keeps me on the hunt is figuring out how listeners outside the US can tune in, especially without internet access.

Why do I do it? Because regardless of whether or not you’re an NFL fan (and I’m actually not), the Super Bowl is a cultural touchstone, and one of the few big events that ties so many people together for just a few hours every year. While most will watch it on TV, audio is still the most accessible medium for many, whether they’re driving, working, or otherwise unable to watch a screen. Sure, you could just listen to the TV sound, but the play-by-play is different on the radio, since the announcers assume you can’t see the action. It’s truly a different experience.

Here’s where to listen to Super Bowl LII live from Minneapolis, MN this Sunday, February 4:

Terrestrial Radio

If you’re just about anywhere in the United States or Canada you should have no problem tuning in the big game. Good luck finding a terrestrial broadcast anywhere else. However, you’ll have more luck online, see below.

United States

As usual, Westwood One Sports carries the Super Bowl live, with the pregame beginning at 2 PM ET. Check the network’s station map to find your local affiliate.

Canada

TSN Radio will carry Super Bowl LII beginning at 6:30 PM EST.

Australia

(added Feb. 1)
Reader Eric Jon Magnuson relays that Melbourne’s SEN 1116AM will broadcast the game with one of its own talent doing play-by-play.

U.K.

Though BBC Radio 5 Live has carried the Super Bowl in years past, for 2018 it sounds like UK residents are out of luck. However, if you have internet access, see Internet Radio below for online options.

Armed Forces Network

Armed services members deployed overseas can listen via AFN Radio on satellite, and AFN 360 Internet Radio, starting at 11 PM CET.

Internet Radio

This year TuneIn is providing free access to Westwood One’s Super Bowl LII coverage online. This includes the national broadcast, along with the Eagles’ and Patriots’ home calls. Plus, in addition to English you can hear the game in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin and Hungarian.

During the normal season NFL games are otherwise only available with a paid subscription to TuneIn Premium.

A TuneIn representative also confirmed that the streams will be available worldwide, all beginning with the pre-game at 2 PM EST, 19:00 UTC.

Satellite Radio

United States

SiriusXM subscribers in the U.S. also can hear WestwoodOne’s national coverage on channel 88, along with the other program streams:

• New England Broadcast – Mad Dog Radio Channel 82
• Philadelphia Broadcast – Fox Sports Radio Channel 83
• Spanish Broadcast (Deportes) – ESPN Deportes Channel 468
• German Broadcast (Prosieben) – Sirius 132 / XM 227 / App Channel 963
• French Broadcast (W9) – Sirius 138 / XM 226 / App Channel 962
• Hungarian Broadcast (AMC Hungary) – Sirius 137 / XM 225 / App Channel 961
• Mandarin Broadcast (Tencent) – Sirius 134 / XM 228 / App Channel 964
• Japanese Broadcast (NHK) – Sirius 135 / XM 229 / App Channel 965
• Spanish Broadcast (TV Azteca–Mexico) – Sirius 108 / XM 230 / App Channel 966

Canada

Canadian SiriusXM subscribers can hear the national broadcast on channel 145, the away broadcast on 83 and the home broadcast on 82.

Is there a radio broadcast we’re missing? Drop us a line and we’ll add it to the listing.

The post How To Listen to Super Bowl LII on the Radio this Sunday appeared first on Radio Survivor.

While we mostly celebrate non-commercial radio here at Radio Survivor, that doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate commercial radio when done well. The problem is that in the 20 years since the 1996 Telecom Act grossly deregulated radio ownership, the quality of most commercial radio dropped precipitously, leaving many stations with very little local programming, with fewer—or maybe even no—local hosts.

Yet, there are still some truly local commercial stations out there, with real, live air staff who are in touch with a community’s tastes and needs. I was delighted to tune in to a few during a recentlty-completed road trip vacation from Joshua Tree, CA back home to Portland, OR.

Old School Local News in Joshua Tree

At the top of the 9 AM hour on a Friday morning I was treated to about 20 minutes of locally reported news and community updates on Z107.7, KCZD-FM in Joshua Tree. Ostensibly a CHR / Top 40 station, the news report included reports from a variety of correspondents, covering local events and other information of local import. It reminded me of the hourly news I heard on WOBM-FM growing up in Toms River, NJ, reported by local journalists and hosts, detailing the kind of regional stories that would never be heard on the stations coming out of bigger cities to the north and west.

It’s easy to understand why radio is an important lifeline in a community like Joshua Tree, located in the California desert, where cell signals and wifi can be hard to find just a mile off the main road through town. Someone visiting the national park probably won’t get a cell signal, but can still turn on the radio and hear emergency announcements, or just the weather update.

Krushing It in Sonoma

The following week I was treated to local DJs serving up alternative, blues and country-inflected rock while rock I stayed a couple of days in Windsor, CA to tour wineries in nearby Healdsburg. KRSH-FM, The Krush—the name reflecting the area’s wine industry—kept us company as we drove around the region. I was sad to hear the signal fade when we later journeyed north.

I left a few days before the devastating wildfires fires began, and once I arrived home I followed The Krush online. The station broadcast regular news updates until it was forced off the air by the fire, but kept updates going on its website and social media accounts the entire time.

Radio Without Rules in Humboldt

Outside Eureka, as we made our way toward Redwood National and State Parks, a scan of the dial turned up KHUM-FM, Humboldt freeform radio. The station’s motto is “radio without the rules,” and I have to say after listening for a few days, this is more true for KHUM than any commercial radio station I’ve heard in at least a decade.

One afternoon around 2 PM the hour started off with the song “Borneo” from Firewater, an eclectic world-beat influenced band that I love, but honestly have only ever heard on the radio once before (on KEXP, by the way). That was followed by the contemporary swing band Squirrel Nut Zippers and the classic swing artist, Bob Willis and His Texas Playboys.

If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought I was listening to college or community radio. Even many of the DJs had the relaxed, conversational tone you expect on the left end of the dial. But I also heard honest-to-goodness ads, mostly for local businesses, including spots where these business owners testified their support for the station.

Compared to the five-to-seven minute long stop-sets I suffered through while traveling the freeways between Bakersfield and Sonoma County, KHUM’s were refreshingly short, rarely clocking in over 2 minutes. That said, there was a fair amount of repetition, probably reflecting a small inventory of advertisers.

The Advantage of Small

At this point it is fair to recognize that these stations all serve relatively small or rural communities and markets, the kind that are of less interest to behemoths like iHeartMedia or Cumulus. That means big companies are relatively unlikely to buy up competing stations there, consolidating operations and pushing ad rates ever downward.

They also serve communities that seem able and willing to support unique local commercial radio. That’s always the rub with commercial radio – listeners don’t expect to have to donate to keep you on the air, so the local business dollars need to be there. Depending on the local economy, it just might be the case there isn’t sufficient advertising dollars in some small towns.

Nevertheless, it is both refreshing and heartening to stumble into quirky commercial stations that reflect and serve local needs.

Though this piece is about commercial radio, honorable mention goes to community radio KMUD in Humboldt County, which also kept us entertained and informed from just south of Garberville, all the way up past the Oregon border.

Do you know of or listen to a commercial radio station that still provides unique local service? Let us know in the comments.

The post The Joy of Finding Truly Local Commercial Radio (Yes, It Exists) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The local service of radio grows enormously in value when disaster strikes a community. This is what we’ve seen with the wildfires that have swept through the Northern California counties of Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake and Solano beginning last week. Fast moving and unpredictable, these deadly fires also took out communications infrastructure like cell towers, internet and cable TV, leaving radio as one of the most reliable sources of potentially life-saving information.

Commercial and non-commercial stations stepped up to offer emergency information to residents and first responders. Large Bay Area stations offered coverage, but often it was smaller, locally-owned stations that could better serve the hyper-local information needs, able to report the conditions on the ground in specific towns, cities and neighborhoods, from what roads are shut down, to what kind of donations were most in need at specific emergency shelters.

My San Francisco-based colleague Jennifer Waits reported hearing an emergency services press conference on “Sauvignon Rock” station KVYN-FM The Vine in Napa, which also ran a bilingual call-in show where residents could get answers regarding local emergency services. In addition emergency information was broadcast on Sonoma Community Radio KSVY and country station KZST in Sonoma.

The Willits News in Mendocino County documented the service that LPFM KLLG provided the community:

“Michelle Cummins, program manager at KLLG radio said people were coming up to her at Mariposa Market last week thanking her for the fledging station’s crucial role during the fire emergencies.

“When cell phone towers were damaged and all cell phone communications (with the exception of satellite phones), and internet were unavailable over a two day period as a result of the Mendocino Lake Complex fire, KLLG and KZYX Public radio became the local sources of information in Willits.”

Inside Radio talked with staff of two small commercial radio groups in the area, Wine Down Media and Redwood Empire Stereocasters (owner of KZST), which switched their stations’ music programming to “wall-to-wall coverage.” Staff at Redwood Empire studios even had to evacuate twice due to the fire threat, only to return when the flames receded. Owner Gordon Zlot recounted the story to public radio KALW in San Francisco.

Radio newsletter Tom Taylor Now published a report from the Sonoma Media Group, owner of six stations, including news/talk KSRO. Market manager Michael O’Shea said the latter station ran, “24/7 commercial-free news coverage for 72 straight hours, with virtually all the group’s on-air people helping the news anchors with coverage, handling phones, feeding social media, etc.” The coverage was noticed and appreciated. “I can’t tell you how many times listeners would call and tell us this same discovery,” he said. “[T]hey almost had to re-learn the ultimate magic of local live radio.”

Amateur radio operators also reported for duty, as they do during nearly every kind of disaster, natural or man-made. According to the American Radio Relay League ham radio operators were stationed at local hospitals and large nursing homes through the middle of last week in Mendocino County. In Sonoma County amateur operators were relaying fire and emergency information on amateur radio frequencies, and also supporting shelters and maintaining a presence at the area Emergency Operations Center.

This celebration of local radio isn’t at the expense of other media platforms. Most of these stations maintained a strong presence on social media, providing updates along with live feeds from regular press briefings by local authorities whenever possible. Moreover, some stations had to rely only on their internet streams and social media when their transmitters were knocked off air by the fire.

And, while internet and cell was out in some areas, this wasn’t the case everywhere. What this means is that radio is part of a fabric of media and communications, where each platform has its particular strengths and can be called to serve when and where other platforms are less appropriate, or unavailable.

What makes the difference are the people who step up to do the work, to broadcast information and create that lifeline when needed. One advantage that a radio station has is that community trust – the standing of being a community asset that folks trust due to a record of service. You might say that a local radio station is authenticated – you know (in most cases) that they’re working hard to be accurate and reliable in their service, especially in trying times.

With so many media and audio options available to us, it’s understandable if you don’t tune in to local radio every day. But don’t forget about your local stations, either. Because it’s all too likely that there will be a day when you need them, and tuning in will be vitally important.

Additional reporting and contributions by Jennifer Waits

The post Local Radio’s Value Demonstrated During Emergencies appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this episode we revisit our features on Bainbridge Community Broadcasting, and our interviews with founders Barry and Channie Peters. BCB started out as a low-power community radio initiative, but pivoting into podcasting when the group discovered that would better serve their community. We’ll listen to our first conversation with them from July 2015, and then Paul’s follow-up visit to their studios in November 2016.

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.

Show Notes:

• Bainbridge Community Broadcasting
• Radio Survivor Podcast #8: Bainbridge Community Broadcasting Chose Podcasting over LPFM
• Podcast #73 – Catching Up with Bainbridge Island’s Community Podcasting Experiment

The post Podcast #107 – Exploring Community Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

At 11:59pm last night, Brown University’s student-run commercial college radio station WBRU brought its broadcasts over 95.5 FM in Providence, Rhode Island to a close, making way for syndicated Christian radio programming from K-LOVE. On Wednesday, we learned more about the impending FM license sale to Educational Media Foundation, as paperwork was filed with the FCC.

According to the WBRU Asset Purchase Agreement, the purchase price is $5,630,000. EMF has asked WBRU’s owner, The Brown Broadcasting Service, to file a request with the FCC to modify the commercial FM license in order to transition it to a non-commercial radio station. The agreement states:

Seller agrees to reasonably cooperate with Buyer in connection with the filing of an application by Buyer to modify the FCC license to designate the Station as a non-commercial facility and to request a waiver of the FCC’s ‘main studio’ rules under the provisions of Section 73.3517(a) of the FCC’s rules (‘Non-Commercial Application’) to be effective on or after the Closing Date, so long as any such Non-Commercial Application is filed on a basis that is contingent and effective only upon a prior Closing, and does not adversely affect any operations of Seller.”

The agreement stipulates that the filing of the application to designate WBRU as a non-commercial station is slated to occur at “closing,” which is expected to be between 10 and 30 days after FCC approval of the license assignment to EMF. As of today, the WBRU call letters have been changed to WLVO. An Affiliation Agreement was set to begin at 12:01am this morning, with EMF taking over programming of WBRU at this time.

The Network Affiliation Agreement states that WBRU would begin airing EMF’s K-LOVE programming at 12:01am today. In exchange for the airtime, Brown Broadcasting Service will be paid $8,000 a month in addition to reimbursable “station related operating” expenses of up to $15,000 a month. It’s an unusual case, in that WBRU has been run by a non-profit and is licensed as a commercial station. EMF is also a non-profit and its Network Affiliation Agreement indicates that it may conduct fundraising over WBRU’s FM signal. The agreement states:

EMF is a non-profit corporation which broadcasts the K-LOVE programming on a noncommercial basis with revenues generated through contributions and donations received from contributors and donors residing within communities receiving K-LOVE’s broadcast programming. Licensee acknowledges that all donations received from listeners within the Station’s service area as a result of the rebroadcasting of K-LOVE’s program signal shall be the sole property of EMF.

Licensee shall promptly forward any donations it receives to EMF at the address specified for notices herein, along with an accounting specifying the name and address of each such donor, and the date on which the donations were received. EMF shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations of the states reached by the Station’s signal with regard to solicitation of donations.”

Although it’s been operated by Brown University students, WBRU is run as an independent non-profit. Students and board members opted to sell the FM license and in an interesting twist, the president of Brown University offered to loan to station money in order to avert the license sale. WPRI writes:

The president of Brown University offered the school’s financial support to alt-rock station WBRU and cautioned students about the legal and ethical implications of selling their coveted 95.5 FM signal, Eyewitness News has learned.

In an April 27 email obtained by Eyewitness News, Brown President Christina Paxson told student members of WBRU that the university would financially assist the station if necessary, asking them to ‘carefully consider the view that the station can indeed be brought back to health.’

‘As you know, Brown stands ready to provide the station with a loan that will give you the time to make the necessary changes to the station’s operations,’ Paxson wrote.”

The article provides more back story on the vote to sell the license:

Tucker Hamilton, a former member of the WBRU team and a recent Brown graduate, said the students’ vote to sell came after the station’s professional board, comprised of industry professionals and alumni, voted in favor of the sale.

‘They felt that the financial problem was so bad that we need to vote to sell the signal, which was our most valuable asset as a terrestrial radio station,’ Hamilton told Eyewitness News. ‘They said that they looked at all the options and tried to pursue them and the only option was to sell.'”

WBRU plans to continue its radio activities online with two separate music streams (alternative rock and 360) and new podcasts. It is looking for terrestrial homes for some of its FM programming, in particular its Sunday program “The 360 Degree Experience in Sound.” According to a statement on the WBRU website:

WBRU’s long-running Sunday program ‘The 360 Degree Experience in Sound’ is steadfast in its commitment to the greater Providence and RI black and incarcerated communities. We plan on continuing that on-air tradition by finding another station to carry our Sunday programming and are currently in search of that new signal.

A new 360 produced show, Amplifier, will highlight the amazing work of existing Providence organizations that work with Black, Brown and marginalized people.”

I was surprised to hear that there’s a possibility that some shows may return to FM over Brown Student and Community Radio (BSR)’s forthcoming low power FM (LPFM) station. WPRI reports that the new LPFM has applied for the WBRU call letters and that its acting station manager indicated that the station would be open to airing content from former WBRU hosts. Radio Survivor readers will recall that BSR used to broadcast terrestrially in the Providence area and went online only in 2011 after its contract for airspace on WELH was discontinued.

Meanwhile, an appeal has been filed with the Rhode Island Attorney General, protesting the proposed WBRU license sale. GoLocalProv reports:

Former WBRU board member Tucker Hamilton says that the sale of WBRU was coerced and the process did not follow the proper steps. He is raising questions about the legality of the sale.

Hamilton appeared on GoLocal LIVE and told News Editor Kate Nagle that that process violated numerous rules of the board for the iconic college radio station.

Hamilton is part of an alumni group that has appealed to Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin to block the sale of the station to Christian radio network Education Media Foundation.”

Listeners have also been expressing sadness over the loss of WBRU’s FM broadcasts. Providence Journal shared details from the moment that WBRU morphed into WLVO last night. Andy Smith writes,

It ended, for now at least, with these three songs: ‘This Must Be the Place’ by the Talking Heads, then ‘1979’ by the Smashing Pumpkins, and finally ‘I Fell in Love with a Girl,’ White Stripes.

At least one F-bomb dropped.

Then three or four minutes of static, then K-LOVE arrives with ‘What a Beautiful Name’ from Hilltop Worship.”

It’s certainly the end of an era for WBRU, particularly considering the long history of student radio at Brown University. Students there were instrumental in the development and proliferation of student-run carrier current campus-only radio stations beginning in the late 1930s. A descendant of Brown’s early “gas pipe network,” WBRU is one of the few remaining student-run college radio stations with a commercial FM license.

Although K-LOVE is now broadcasting over the WBRU frequency, the license assignment still requires FCC approval.

The post WBRU Programming Leaves FM in Advance of $5.63 Million License Sale to EMF appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Rumors have been circulating for awhile that the 95.5 FM license for commercial radio station WBRU at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island was up for sale and just last month there was speculation that an announcement would be coming soon. Over the weekend, Providence Journal reported that WBRU was selling its license to Christian radio network EMF, which operates K-LOVE and Air1 on radio outlets all over the country. Call letters are expected to change, with WBRU’s content moving online.

A statement on the WBRU website reads in part:

WBRU is not going away. While we are currently in the final stages of selling its FM broadcasting license, we have big plans. We are going to reinvest the revenue from the sale to continue creating music and news content for the southern New England community. This will be provided on various platforms—platforms that millions of people already use to access their music and news content in the car, on their phones and computers, and on home streaming devices.

Before we leave 95.5, 24/7 streams of both alternative rock and The 360 Degree Experience in Sound will be available at wbru.com and via our new smartphone apps. This marks the first time that either format has been available seven-days-a-week from WBRU.

Our mission statement directs us to be a self-supporting educational workshop focused on creating and distributing music-centric entertainment and news content. It is with serious consideration for this mission that we take this next step. With technologies and media habits changing so rapidly, we want to channel our energy and resources into creating a content-based media workshop with an eye towards innovation. WBRU has a storied history as a leader in innovation. We were one of the country’s first college radio stations and one of the first college stations to acquire a commercial FM license—before it was a popular platform. We were also among the first stations to stream on the Internet. It is with the same entrepreneurial spirit that we’re moving forward.”

The post WBRU License Expected to be Sold to Christian Radio Group EMF appeared first on Radio Survivor.

While making plans for my trip to Charlottesville, Virginia for the College Radio: Then, Now and Next symposium, I was looking forward to seeing all three radio stations that have an affiliation with the University of Virginia: WTJU (see my tour report #129), WXTJ and WUVA. Each has a distinct personality. WTJU is a non-commercial FM station with mostly non-students hosts, WXTJ is a student-run, freeform low power FM station, and WUVA (pronounced woo-vuh) is a student-managed commercial FM station whose most recent format was country.

Equipment and On-Air sign in WUVA studio. Photo: J. Waits

Just a few months before my visit, WUVA announced that it would be selling its FM license to a commercial radio group, so I was worried that I would miss my opportunity to see the station. Luckily, WUVA was still inhabiting its studio space, so I was able to get a quick tour on March 16. To me, this was even more notable, as I’ve only visited a handful of college radio stations with commercial licenses.

Nash Icon – the most recent WUVA format. Photo: J. Waits

Celebrating its 70th anniversary this fall, WUVA (its call letters are a nod to the University of Virginia acronym: UVA) is the descendant of a campus-only AM carrier current radio station that launched in the fall of 1947. Its license is held by WUVA, Inc., which is managed by students, with oversight by students and alumni. The WUVA website explains,

In the post-war era, some universities were beginning to recognize broadcasting as an area for academic study. At these schools, many student-originated stations evolved into the ‘official’ college radio station, receiving sanction, funding and facilities from a supportive institution. However, at schools without a formal broadcasting or mass communications program — including the University of Virginia — these stations tended to remain financially and organizationally independent, continuing largely as extra-curricular student organizations.

Most operated as non-commercial, public radio stations, relying on small budgets consisting mainly of listener donations and meager community support. A handful, however, sought and secured permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate as commercial broadcasters, selling advertising to support themselves, and evolving into a unique breed within the species: student owned and operated — yet fully self-supporting — commercial broadcast operations.

 

1960s WUVA recruitment flyer on wall at WUVA. Photo: J. Waits

After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain an AM license, WUVA added a cable FM transmission, which meant that listeners off campus could tune in. Eventually, WUVA was granted an FM license by the FCC and in 1979, WUVA started broadcasting over the commercial frequency of 92.7 FM. Since that time, the station has run a variety of commercial formats, including Album Rock, Top 40, Contemporary Hits, Urban Contemporary and Country. Although affiliated with the University of Virginia, WUVA is an independent organization (WUVA, Incorporated). According to its website,

WUVA, Incorporated has fostered independent, student-owned, student-operated electronic media at the University of Virginia since 1947. Although this organization has members who are University of Virginia students and may have University employees associated or engaged in its activities and affairs, the organization is not a part of or an agency of the University. It is a separate and independent organization which is responsible for and manages its own activities and affairs.”

1974 WUVA promotional cartoon posted on the wall at WUVA. Photo: J. Waits

In its early years, radio station WUVA had a large number of student participants, but those numbers dwindled in recent years, exacerbated by the station entering into a local marketing agreement with a commercial broadcasting group and leaving campus in the mid-1990s. The station eventually moved back on campus to Alumni Hall in 2010 and will be moving out shortly now that the WUVA-FM license sale is being finalized.

1979 WUVA photo on the wall at WUVA. Photo: J. Waits

With such a strong history, I was curious about all of the vintage equipment, records and materials that WUVA must have accumulated after being in operation for 70 years. According to the WUVA website,

When it left Lefevre dorm in the mid 1990s, the station was forced to divest itself of virtually all its analog-era equipment, including an historic collection of vinyl-based music. Except for its transmitter atop Carter’s Mountain, up the ridgeline from Monticello, WUVA had been operating for nearly a decade by leasing other stations’ facilities and equipment. As a result, when WUVA moved into its new studios in the summer of 2003, it had to make major capital investments to re-equip itself with everything from desks and chairs to the latest digital broadcast gear.

1988 photograph on the wall at WUVA. Photo: J. Waits

Although I didn’t see vintage records or equipment when I toured WUVA, the walls of the space were covered with photos, press clippings, and other tidbits of station history that had been blown up and mounted onto oversized display boards. It was an amazing glimpse at 70 years of history.

1980s press clipping posted on the wall at WUVA. Photo: J. Waits

The station space itself is located upstairs in the grand Alumni Hall at University of Virginia. There are several radio studios (some with fireplaces) as well as a room full of computers that has been used by the WUVA News operation, which has an emphasis on video, print and journalism. At the time of my visit, I didn’t see much in the way of radio activity and WUVA’s buyer (Saga Communications) was already broadcasting its own country music format (C-ville Country) over the FM signal via a local marketing agreement. It’s expected that when the sale is completed, the call letters will change to WCVL and WUVA Inc. will retain the WUVA branding for its other projects. Soon, WUVA Inc. will move out of the Alumni Hall space and the organization will devote itself entirely to WUVA News.

WUVA’s home at Alumni Hall at UVA. Photo: J. Waits

WUVA Inc.’s Marketing Director and President-Elect Matt Kesselman graciously toured me around the WUVA space and he and current WUVA, Inc. President Kailey Leinz (both are University of Virginia students) were kind enough to answer some follow-up questions over email. I was especially curious to learn more about student involvement at WUVA. Leinz shared her early experience with WUVA, telling me over email,

I knew coming into college that I was interested in and wanted to pursue broadcast journalism. At the time, the only real opportunity for that was doing radio broadcasting through WUVA, so I signed up immediately. At the time the station was still ‘92.7 Kiss FM’, a hip hop and r&b format. The music was all pre-programmed, but students could sign up for slots to do news, entertainment, or sports spots on the radio.”

Studio at WUVA in 2017. Photo: J. Waits

During her first year at the station, Leinz said that there was still a decent amount of student participation, but that numbers declined every year. She explained that, “I would say the last time students were heavily involved was three years ago. I was a first year and did weekly news spots for the radio– there was still a pretty robust student involvement on the on-air side. It faded by my second year, two years ago, and by last year there was no student involvement whatsoever.” When I asked her why she thought there was a drop-off, she speculated, saying, “I think the system was just getting more and more disorganized as we struggled to keep the radio station afloat, and we were focusing a lot more on our online operation, so eventually radio was just left behind by students.”

Studio at WUVA in 2017. Photo: J. Waits

From what I have seen it is very difficult for students to sustainably and effectively contribute/run a commercial radio station, you need a significant amount of professionals which then takes away from the student element of the college radio station. I also get the sense from talking to alumni that the modern student experience is very different than many years prior where current students are dragged across many activities all demanding their focus, which makes it difficult to keep students working consistently on something that requires absolute consistency. Again, this is a limited perspective.”

WUVA newsroom. Photo: J. Waits

Looking to the future, both Leinz and Kesselman are optimistic about WUVA’s new direction. Kesselman told me, “…WUVA will mostly be focused on news & journalism, particularly modern forms of online journalism which includes a lot of video content.” When I asked about radio, he shared that he does hope that students will continue to do work with audio, saying, “There are no plans currently for an online radio station, I will be pushing my staff to create more audio content in the form of serial podcasts.”

WUVA Media sign at WUVA. Photo: J. Waits

Considering that WUVA has a long legacy, I wondered how folks had responded to news of its FM license sale. According to Kessleman, “Student-side the sale is very exciting, it will free up resources for students to do what they have been focused on for the last couple years. Alumni/board-side, the sale was harder for them but ultimately they understand why it makes sense and are motivated to make it work and make WUVA as successful as possible.”

WUVA stickers at WUVA. Photo: J. Waits

The post Country Music and a 70-year Commercial College Radio Legacy: Visiting WUVA at University of Virginia appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It is beyond me why The United States Army produced a documentary on running an independent radio station in 1951, but here you have it. “Also serving the public,” the film notes, “are radio stations without networks. Typical is this small independent station in New York.”

The “typical” indie station the Army focused on was WMCA-AM, owned by the Nathan Straus family, which broadcast to five states around the Greater New York area. “It serves its audience profitably and well,” the film explained. “It broadcasts news on the hour, with special attention to the city’s own affairs.” Much of documentary surveys the station’s wide range of public affairs and educational programming.

I found this little gem on the Internet Archives, as did others who made comments on the work. The most frequent remark: “I do wonder, however, why the United States Army would produce such a film. It is about privately owned stations, so I am still scratching my head.”

Two other readers came up with theories. Theory #1:

“As to why the Army chose WMCA for an example is very simple. They were cooperative. The Straus family, which owned the station, was very community oriented. And me, I’m a 20 year veteran of the radio biz! Still love it.”

Theory #2:

” . . . there are some subtle cues in the film. The United Nations is mentioned throughout the film, almost in passing. The narrator’s final line “This is an independant [sic] radio station in a democracy.” also seems to hint at a larger purpose. My guess, especially given the time frame and the mentioning of a Japanese radio commentator, is this film was made by the Army for US occupation in Japan, with the goal of demonstrating how a commerical [sic] (as opposed to a state run) radio station operated. Japanese commerical [sic] radio started in 1951. With the Korean War going on, the film is open ended enough to be used also with South Korea and other parts of the globe for a similar purpose.”

Not long after this film was released, WMCA responded to the sudden dominance of television by transitioning to a Top 40 format.

The post 1951: Uncle Sam produces military training film on independent radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Looking for info on how to listen to this 2021’s Super Bowl LV? Click here.

This year fans who want or need to hear Super Bowl LI on the radio can listen in to the usual suspects, at least in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. There are all sorts of good reasons to listen to the game, whether you’re driving, at work, or are visually impaired.

While not as popular as the television broadcast, in 2012 (the last year radio ratings were reported) 23.1 million people in the U.S. tuned in on the radio. That’s why every year we compile this guide.

U.S. Terrestrial Radio

Westwood One is the exclusive radio network of Super Bowl 51, with enough affiliates that nearly everyone in the continental U.S. can probably find the game on their local dial. However, NFL games, including the Super Bowl, are usually not broadcast online by Westwood One affiliates.

U.S. Internet Radio

Update 2/5/17: A reader emailed to let us know that WJQX-FM is streaming the game right now via their website and iHeartRadio.

I’ve also confirmed that Boston’s WBZ-FM and Atlanta’s 98.5 FM are streaming the game via their websites, though not via TuneIn.

If you’re somewhere without good terrestrial radio reception, but have an internet connection, the game is carried on TuneIn Premium’s NFL station, which is part of TuneIn’s subscription service. You get a 7-day free trial if you sign up, so if all you want to get is this Sunday’s big game you could conceivably hear it for free.

The NFL also has it’s own GamePass streaming service, which also has a 7-day free trial.

However, each team’s home station will have special coverage that’s different from the national Westwood One feed, featuring their own local sportscasters. Because of this, I’ve found these stations usually don’t black out their internet feed of the Super Bowl, potentially making them good streaming radio choices. The only hiccup is that this isn’t guaranteed, and you won’t know the situation until game day.

WBZ-FM in Boston is the Patriots’ flagship station. The Falcons’ station is 92.9 FM WZGC-FM in Atlanta.

FOX television is also streaming the game online for free, but only to computers and tablets. Verizon customers can also stream it to their smartphones. Of course this is a video feed, which you can listen to, but isn’t as good as radio is you’re not in a situation where you can watch, like if you’re driving or doing other visual work. That’s because radio sportscasters will describe much more of the action than TV, where they expect you can see more for yourself.

Update 2/5/17:
Unfortunately, all of these links below are dead on Super Bowl Sunday

2/3/17:

I received an email from a radio office on a container ship currently at sea, where they have internet, but can’t use any browser plug-ins or extensions. He asked how they might listen to the Super Bowl on Sunday. Assuming that the local radio feeds in Boston and Atlanta will not be blacked out, my recommendation is to try the WBZ or WZGC on TuneIn, which I think has a non-Flash player option. Also, I was able to discover links directly to these stations’ streams that will open a play natively in Chrome. Here they are:

WBZ Boston:

• http://16943.live.streamtheworld.com:80/WBZFMAAC_SC
• http://16943.live.streamtheworld.com:3690/WBZFMAAC_SC
• http://17453.live.streamtheworld.com:80/WBZFMAAC_SC
• http://17453.live.streamtheworld.com:3690/WBZFMAAC_SC
• http://16883.live.streamtheworld.com:80/WBZFMAAC_SC
• http://16883.live.streamtheworld.com:3690/WBZFMAAC_SC
• http://17513.live.streamtheworld.com:80/WBZFMAAC_SC
• http://17513.live.streamtheworld.com:3690/WBZFMAAC_SC

WZGC Atlanta:

• http://16843.live.streamtheworld.com:80/WZGCFMAAC_SC
• http://16843.live.streamtheworld.com:3690/WZGCFMAAC_SC
• http://18763.live.streamtheworld.com:80/WZGCFMAAC_SC
• http://18763.live.streamtheworld.com:3690/WZGCFMAAC_SC
• http://16883.live.streamtheworld.com:80/WZGCFMAAC_SC
• http://16883.live.streamtheworld.com:3690/WZGCFMAAC_SC

Satellite Radio

SiriusXM satellite radio subscribers can hear Super Bowl LI over the internet service or via their satellite radios, both in the U.S. and Canada. You can hear the Westwood One national feed, the Atlanta or New England home feeds, or hear the game called in Chinese, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Hungarian or Flemish. SiriusXM offers a 30-day free trial. So, again, you might be able to hear the game for free if you don’t want to stay subscribed for more than 30 days.

Canada Terrestrial Radio

Canada’s TSN network is that country’s Super Bowl carrier. In years past the TSN Radio network has carried the Super Bowl, but this year I haven’t been able to find any explicit mention of it.

U.K.

BBC Radio 5 will broadcast Super Bowl 51 on FM and DAB radio across the U.K. This should include Radio 5’s internet stream for listeners in the U.K.

Everywhere Else

The irony is that it’s easier to watch the Super Bowl on TV in the rest of the world than it is to hear it on the radio, even though radio is the less expensive technology. Of course, outside the English speaking world the added cost of having the game called in other languages may be just cost prohibitive enough, whereas on television the ad revenue is likely sufficient to justify the expense.

In the four years I’ve been charting Super Bowl radio broadcasts I haven’t found any outside the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Please do let us know if you find one.

The post How To Listen to Super Bowl LI on the Radio this Sunday appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Are you ready? Drum roll… It’s time for my 100th radio station field trip post. Eight years after my first radio station field trip, I’ve traveled to various pockets of the United States (covering 14 states, plus District of Columbia) and Ireland in order to feast my eyes on a wide range of radio stations, including high school, college, commercial, religious, pirate, community, low power FM, and even a pop-up radio station. For my 100th report, I ventured to Princeton University’s college radio station WPRB-FM.

103.3 FM signage on a window at WPRB. Photo: J. Waits

I’d been wanting to see WPRB for awhile and was particularly focused on visiting during its 75th anniversary celebration so that I could see its historical exhibit. If you hurry, you may just have time to see it as well, as it is set to close in a few weeks, with its last day on Saturday, June 11, 2016. Special festivities are taking place that day, including live music and WPRB DJs spinning. This will also be a rare (and final) opportunity to view the exhibit on a weekend.

WPRB history exhibit pamphlet. Photo: J. Waits

A bit off the beaten path, Princeton University is located in Princeton, New Jersey, which is about 40 miles from both New York City and Philadelphia. Since I started my East Coast trip in Manhattan, I opted to do a day trip to Princeton. WPRB’s Educational Advisor Michael Lupica met up with me at the Princeton train station on the morning of Friday, February 19, 2016.

Princeton University. Photo: J. Waits

The 75 Year History of Radio at Princeton

Our first stop was the WPRB History exhibit in the Seeley G. Mudd Library. “WPRB – A Haven for the Creative Impulse,” celebrates 75 years of radio at Princeton University and includes displays of a wide range of station artifacts. In addition to providing a historical timeline, the exhibit captures the culture of the station through its inclusion of albums, artwork, playlists, promotional items, fan letters (one from 1985 reads, “yours is by far the most interesting and varied station I can get on my radio”), studio notebooks, and even a massive old board. Take a look at the accompanying WPRB History website for more tidbits, including photos, DJ stories, and audio.

Michael Lupica showing off the “WPRB: A Haven for the Creative Impulse” exhibit. Photo: J. Waits

Campus radio at Princeton first began in a dorm room in 1940 and that station was called WPRU. Erik Barnouw, in his 1941 article “Radiator-Pipe Broadcasters,” characterized WPRU as “small but swanky,” and pointed out that, “Amid the severe modernity of this radio studio there is only one grotesque touch – a bed.” In a piece for the Nassau Literary Review from 1940, station founder Henry Grant Theis wrote enthusiastically about the power of radio, saying, “Radio is the modern medium of communication. In a surprisingly few years it has become the greatest molder of public opinion in the world today.” By 1955, the campus-only carrier current station was transformed into a full power commercially licensed FM station with call letters WPRB. According to WPRB, this was the “first commercial FM undergraduate radio station” in the United States. Over the years, the station has increased its power and added online streaming (in 1999). See the WPRB History website (more about that here) for details from every decade of the station’s existence.

From the WPRB history exhibit: Recruitment poster for WPRU. Photo: J. Waits

After perusing the exhibit, we took a lunch break to see the town of Princeton and even got to pop in at the local record shop, Princeton Record Exchange, a regular haunt for WPRB staffers. As the afternoon approached, we headed over to WPRB.

Princeton Record Exchange. Photo: J. Waits

Touring WPRB

Located in a dorm basement, WPRB occupies a healthy sized space, with room for several offices (including Lupica’s and a music office), the on-air studio, a hallway-like record library, production studios, a live music space, engineering room, and business office with cubicles, a conference table, and storage for promotional items like T-shirts and stickers.

Music office at WPRB. Photo: J. Waits

WPRB is an interesting station as far as its governance, as it is a student-run college radio station whose license is held by an outside non-profit. Additionally, it’s one of a handful of FM college radio stations with a commercial license (others that I’ve visited include University of Illinois-related WPGU and Harvard’s WHRB).

WPRB cross-stitch on the wall of the WPRB studio. Photo: J. Waits

WPRB boasts an impressive signal of 14,000 watts at 103.3 FM, reaching a potential terrestrial audience of millions of listeners in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Although the station is student-run, it also welcomes non-student DJs. Overall, WPRB’s format is quite varied, with classical music in the mornings and a wide array of genres throughout the day.

Collage on wall of Mike Lupica’s office. Photo: J. Waits

I stopped off at Lupica’s office to drop off my coat and bags and was impressed by the collage of ephemera on the walls and his collections of vintage items. A long-time DJ himself (there’s a mid-1990s WPRB studio shot of him on his wall), Lupica hosts “The Freeform Pathogen” on WPRB. His office is jammed with books (including “Guide to Old Radios” and a tome about the hip hop generation), music (“2001: A Space Odyssey” is over his door), a Mitt Romney mask, and a live houseplant. He started doing fill-ins and reviewing records at WPRB back in April 1992. Lupica recalled, “I took my FCC written test, handed it to the station manager, who looked it over, nodded a few times and then said: ‘Looks good. Hey, can you cover my show tonight? I want to go see Versus at CBGBs.'” He ended up getting his first weekly show that June and was on the air until mid-2000 (when he left for WFMU). Lupica returned in September, 2011 to work as the WPRB Educational Advisor (the station’s first).

Plant and WPRB button in Mike Lupica’s office. Photo: J. Waits

Music at WPRB

We walked down the hall and greeted several WPRB volunteers who were in the music department office. The space had an unusual layout, with glass doors separating two halves of the office. On one side, DJ Joshua Becker was sitting on a couch working on a laptop, while music staff worked on the other side. Stacks of CDs were in piles on the floor, mail tubs full of music were stacked on a counter, and a turntable and CD player were available for previewing music. It was hard to take in all of the interesting items affixed to the walls, including posters, hand-written notes, coloring book pages, novelty lights, stickers, buttons, a dart board, a broken record, a flip flop, and an animal print (perhaps a rug or a costume).

Music office at WPRB. Joshua Becker (on couch), Music Director Olivia Bradley-Skill (on floor), and Music Director Aida Garrido (holding CD case).  Photo: J. Waits

Music Director Aida Garrido was going through the mail and told me that the station gets around 50 CDs a week. She said that maybe five to eight a week end up being added. The remainder are sold and some score a place on the station’s wall of shame. As far as other physical formats, the station gets maybe two or three vinyl records a week and perhaps three cassettes a month. Although there isn’t space in the studio for cassettes, they do get saved.

Music in WPRB studio. Photo: J. Waits

For the most part, DJs play CDs on their shows, although I happened to be there right before an all-vinyl week was starting. In preparation for that, they planned to disconnect all of the CD players in the studio. Music Director Olivia Bradley-Skill said that the “majority of people are really excited.”

DJ Joshua Becker and Program Director Harrison Waldon in the WPRB Record Library. Photo: J. Waits

Lupica added that it will be good as it will take some DJs “outside of their comfort zone,” especially since some DJs do play mostly digital music. As part of WPRB’s push to get DJs playing a variety of formats, there’s a new policy in place in which new incoming freshman DJs cannot play digital music during their first semester on the air. Bradley-Skill said that when she started that rule wasn’t in place and as a result she felt that people didn’t get as familiar with WPRB’s music library. Program Director Harrison Waldon acknowledged that the library can be “intimidating,” but that it can be “rewarding” to spend time using it. Garrido added that “the point of the library is to learn” and said that the reviews are there to help “make the library less intimidating.” She said that the all-vinyl week was planned in part to help get rid of what some see as “library apathy” at the station.

Music Director Aida Garrido in the WPRB vinyl library. Photo: J. Waits

Garrido revealed that she’s been “preoccupied” with saving written DJ reviews on records, telling me that she wants to “preserve them properly,” which can be challenging with tape degenerating over the years on older reviews. We then wandered to the station’s music library, where I got to see some of those reviews, as well as a whole lot of music. One wall is covered with a unique mural for former WPRB DJ Dr. Cosmo. Completed after he died, the mural depicts a WPRB radio tower, Dr. Cosmo, and a rocket-like superhero flying towards a disco ball-esque planet.

Mural in WPRB record library. Photo: J. Waits

Rolling library-style shelves house music across many genres, including classical, world, rock, jazz, blues, folk, and arcana. The “arcana” category started out because there was an avant classical show of that name at WPRB (read more about the history of that contemporary classical show here) and now it houses “the weirdest of the weird stuff,” according to one DJ. That includes John Cage, early electronic music, and some classical crossover, to name a few categories.

DJs in record library at WPRB. Music Director Olivia Bradley-Skill in center (holding record), DJ Joshua Becker on the left and Educational Advisor Michael Lupica on the right. Photo: J. Waits

Live Music and WPRB Archives

It’s always hard for me to leave college radio music libraries, but we eventually made our way to the live music room. The photogenic space has clean white walls and dramatic colorful spattered paint on the inside of the gear closet. Stocked not only with audio equipment, but also instruments and speakers; the room had been quiet for the two months preceding my visit due to final exams. I was told that it comes in waves and that fifteen bands played at the station last summer.

Gear closet in the WPRB live music room. Photo: J. Waits

Adjacent to the live music room is a studio that had one long shelf full of vintage reel-to-reel tapes that are in the process of being digitized. Lupica said that the reels contain a variety of “college radio detritus.” He pointed out a particularly exciting group of tapes from “The Woodstock Generation,” a WPRB radio documentary about Woodstock, featuring interviews that a Princeton undergraduate recorded in 1969 at Woodstock. Digitization has been a collaborative effort at WPRB and Lupica said, “everyone does a little.”

Vintage reel-to-reel tapes at WPRB. Photo: J. Waits

We also made our way to an auxiliary record library, which contained music that should only be played “occasionally” on WPRB. I had a 1990s flashback in that room, as I spotted music by the Meices, Ben Lee, REM, and Sonic Youth.

CDs at WPRB. Photo: J. Waits

Blagga Blagga! Seeing the WPRB Studio

Finally, I found myself in the WPRB on-air studio. The large room has a window overlooking the entrance to the station and the DJ faces out of that window while working the board and talking on the microphone. Towards the back of the space there is a small couch, whose arm was patched together with duct tape. Above that there is a bulletin board and next to that is a file cabinet containing both the public file and the WPRB logs.

DJ Misha in the WPRB studio. Photo: J. Waits

The back wall of the studio is outfitted with shelves of new music, identified with WPRB-specific acronyms like “OLD EMPH” and “NEW EMPH” (meaning “emphasis” and referring to records getting extra attention). I also noticed the mysterious word “blagga” on a few items, which piqued my interest. During my visit I got a vague explanation that “blagga” was just a “nonsense word,” so I followed up with Lupica later. He explained,

Blagga is a complicated story! It appears all over the place at WPRB, especially on loud/obnoxious records in the library. I’m not sure who started it, but the earliest LP I’ve found it scrawled on is either the Germs (GI) LP, or the first Flipper record. From there, almost any record with cover art of some sweaty/screaming human might easily earn a ‘Blagga blagga’ thought bubble rendered in crude Sharpie. At some point, it kind of took a life of its own and just became all-purpose WPRB slang. A friend of mine in SF actually registered blagga.com for her old food blog (now shuttered, but the domain is still active!) after she graduated from Princeton.”

“Blagga Blagga” scrawled on a Germs LP at WPRB. Photo: J. Waits

Additionally, there were some great artifacts on the walls, including a WPRB sign crafted by Leo Blais, a cross-stitch sampler that reads “WPRB. Home is Where the Transmitter Is,” and hand-made gloves with WPRB emblazoned on them. DJ Misha was doing her “Slow Fade” show (see the playlist here) and I hung out with her in the room for a bit while she cued up music, read the WPRB Concert Calendar, back announced music and fielded phone calls. Music that she had pulled filled the space, including vinyl records and CDs. She played a mix of sounds, ranging from Syrian superstar Omar Souleyman to electronic music by Roska.

Leo Blais-crafted WPRB sign in the WPRB studio. Photo: J. Waits

In addition to a computer, the studio has two turntables, three CD players, a broken cassette deck, DAT machine, and an instant-replay machine (for recorded announcements). Lupica told me “the DAT only serves as an intermediary device to allow DJs to interface personal devices like laptops with the board.”

Couch, WPRB mittens, and public file cabinet in WPRB studio. Photo: J. Waits

As DJ Misha continued her show, I finally tore myself away from the studio in order to make my train back into Manhattan. After a full day immersed in the world of WPRB, I was fairly certain that I had plenty of material for my field trip post. In reflecting back over the whole day, Lupica’s words echoed in my head. He described the station as “a haven” at a “very conservative school” and told me that it has been a place for “misfits” and “creative weirdos” for years. A Spin magazine award that I spotted in the WPRB history exhibit perhaps says it all. The 1986 Spin Radio Award for Excellence in a Commercial College Station plaque reads, “WPRB Princeton New Jersey has managed to keep its balance in the battle between free-form and format.”

Spin award in WPRB history exhibit. Photo: J. Waits

Huge thanks to Mike Lupica and everyone at WPRB for your generosity in showing me both the WPRB exhibit and the station. This is my 100th station tour report and there are more to come. See my most recent field trips on Radio Survivor and see all of my station tour reports on Spinning Indie. 7/26/16 Update: Hear more about this epic tour and about my 100 radio station tours project on Episode #48 of the Radio Survivor Podcast.

The post Radio Station Field Trip #100 – WPRB at Princeton University appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Looking for info on how to listen to this 2021’s Super Bowl LV? Click here.

For football fans who can’t be in front of a TV or an internet-connected device this Sunday, February 7, radio remains one of the best ways to catch Super Bowl 50. In the US Westwood One Sports remains the exclusive radio network broadcasting the game. The network has hundreds of affiliates, so it should be easy to find one near you.

As is traditional, the home market station for the two teams will have their local talent call the game instead of carrying the national feed. In Denver, Broncos home stations KOA 850 AM and KRFX 103.5 FM will have Dave Logan on play-by-play and Ed McCaffrey on color commentary. For the Panthers, WBT 1110 AM / 99.3 FM will broadcast to North Carolina.

Satellite radio subscribers in both the US and Canada on SiriusXM can hear Super Bowl 50 on channel 88. U.S. Military personnel stationed overseas should be able to listen on their local Armed Forces Network affiliate.

Spanish speakers can hear the game in that language on ESPN Deportes Radio.

Super Bowl 50 on Internet Radio

If you’ll be somewhere with poor radio reception but good internet there are a few options.

While many terrestrial sports stations have internet streams, NFL games–including the Super Bowl–are usually blocked from the webcast. However, last year I discovered that the competitors’ home stations–KIRO in Seattle and WBZ in Boston–indeed were broadcasting the game online.

This year Denver’s KOA says that it will broadcast the game online. WBT in North Carolina has not indicated on its website if Super Bowl coverage will be on its webcast.

On the paid side of the equation the NFL Game Pass is always a choice. It may also be a free one, if you take advantage of a 7-day free trial offer running now through February 10.

TuneIn will offer KOA’s and WBT’s coverage to subscribers of its Premium service. SiriusXM All Access internet subscribers get access to the national, Broncos and Panthers feeds, as well as broadcasts in Spanish, Hungarian, Japanese, French, Portuguese, Cantonese, and German.

International Radio Coverage of Super Bowl 50

Outside the US radio listening is pretty much limited to Canada and the UK, although the Super Bowl is widely broadcast on television internationally. The BBC will broadcast it on Radio 5 on AM and FM, and Radio 5 Live Sports Extra on digital (DAB). The TSN Radio network broadcasts the game to Canadians in Edmonton, Hamilton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

Every year I find it a fascinating exercise trying to figure out where in the world you can hear the Super Bowl on the radio. I’m still a little disappointed that the options are few outside the UK and North America.

Let us know in the comments if you know of other international or internet radio broadcasts of Super Bowl 50

The post How You Can Listen to Super Bowl 50 on the Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Perhaps it was too good to last, or maybe it’s time to revive the tired old saw, “this is why we can’t have nice things.” In any event, Art Bell’s return to nightly broadcast is over, yet again.

In a blog post dated December 11, Bell writes that he is “going to hang it up” and will not return to the air. He blames a “crazy person” who apparently has been threatening Bell and his family. Shots were fired near his home studio during his live broadcast on October 21 while he was live on air. He has also reported to listeners a couple of other incidents since then where he has felt threatened.

I missed his show last night, which was hosted by a substitute, but I understand that Bell came on at one point to explain the situation, saying he had been shot at while walking around his house. Although the connection between these incidents and his broadcasts are not entirely clear, Bell obviously understands them to be related. “As you all know I dearly love what I do,” he writes, “but not at the expense of never ending Terrorism (sic).”

Keith Rowland, who runs the syndicator for Midnight In the Desert, the Dark Matter Radio Network, says that, “I am unsure of the status of the program and replacement host.” So the network is offering refunds to subscribers of the “Time Traveler” podcast service.

I’ve quite enjoyed his return to nightly broadcasting, in which he seemed rejuvenated and to have sharpened his unique skill for being simultaneously open minded and respectfully skeptical with guests and callers alike. I will miss the company of his voice before I drift off to sleep.

Bell’s Midnight in the Desert show was originally intended to be online only, but excitement over his return quickly cause it to spread to 55 broadcast affiliates, including two shortwave stations.

If indeed these violent threats are intended to intimidate Bell into ending his radio show, it’s very unfortunate that they worked. At the same time, one can’t blame Bell for valuing his safety and the safety of his family. Although he once broadcast across hundreds of stations with the backing of the nation’s largest radio conglomerate, he is now pretty much an independent broadcaster. So I can understand how he simply doesn’t have the resources at hand to provide a sufficient level of security in the current environment.

Nevertheless, this is sad news. It was good while it lasted.

The post Art Bell Calls It a Day for ‘Midnight In the Desert’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

When Art Bell announced his return to daily broadcasting last spring the plan was to be internet-only, with just one shortwave station picking up the online feed. By the time his new show, “Midnight in the Desert,” launched in July he’d signed up about 23 terrestrial broadcast stations, indicating some definite pent-up demand.

This week Bell announced plans to begin satellite distribution that will be available to 4,000 terrestrial station in the U.S equipped to receive XDS feeds. While using an internet stream to feed affiliate stations works, it’s still a less-than-reliable workaround. Anyone who has experienced an internet station stutter or drop off can certainly understand why that scheme isn’t quite “broadcast quality.” Moving to satellite also makes it easier and less expensive to scale beyond the 30 affiliates now carrying the show.

The satellite feed begins October 1, and Bell is urging his fans to contact local stations to ask them to pick it up.

It’s interesting to note that MITD is sticking to its limited-commercial format, with only four to five minutes of ads an hour. That’s tiny compared to most syndicated talk radio, in which that number swells to well above 20 minutes. But it also means affiliate stations only have two minutes of ad time they can sell. Distributor Nexus Broadcast puts a positive spin on it, in a way that is reminiscent of how the low ad density in podcasts is touted:

While the local inventory is limited to the two minutes provided, this puts your local inventory at a premium. There should be no worries of losing income because of the limited commercial content. This is a positive for you!

As a listener I certainly appreciate how few ads there are on MITD, and as a radio lover I really do hope it’s a good deal for stations, too. Given the show’s late-night slot, combined with being perfect for AM radio, I can’t imagine it would be much of a risk for too many stations to give it a whirl.

The post Art Bell to Expand Distribution of ‘Midnight in the Desert’ via Satellite appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Most people assume that college radio is by definition non-commercial, but that hasn’t always been the case historically and commercial college radio stations still exist today. Back in the early days of AM radio in the 1920s, the very first college radio stations were commercial endeavors. Fast-forward to the 1940s, when the growth of campus-only carrier current radio stations led to the birth of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS). IBS was very involved with working with both stations and advertisers in order to secure advertising deals to support college radio efforts.

In Gas Pipe Networks: A History of College Radio 1936-1946, Louis Bloch writes about the early days of IBS and its work to attract advertisers for its member stations in the 1940s. Bloch states, “Business for college radio was good and the advertising agencies welcomed me as I made contacts.” Some of the early advertisers on campus-only carrier current stations included The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, Beechnut, Biltmore Hotel, Readers Digest, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, as well as local jewelry stores and record shops.

By the 1940s, the FCC was at work developing a plan for educational FM channels. In its 2011 report on “The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Era,” the FCC states, “Since the 1930s, Congressional and FCC policies have mandated that spectrum be set aside for noncommercial use. The FCC first began reserving spectrum for noncommercial educational (NCE) radio broadcast use in 1938, selecting channels in the 41–42 MHz band before moving the reserved band to 88–92 MHz in 1945. In radio, the FCC continues to reserve the lowest 20 channels on the FM broadcast band for NCE use, as well as channel 200 (87.9 MHz) for class-D NCE stations. The FCC has never reserved any AM channels for noncommercial use.”

As FM grew more popular in the 1940s and 1950s, more and more college radio stations applied for FCC licenses and often transitioned their unlicensed carrier current stations to licensed non-commercial FM stations. However, some college radio stations opted to apply for commercial radio licenses instead. It’s interesting to note that many of commercial college radio stations on the FM dial in 2015 are long-time stations, several of which were descended from early carrier current stations. Additionally, many of these stations are also run by non-profit organizations that are independent from the universities that house the related college radio stations.

The first commercial college radio station that I visited was WPGU-FM  at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which is owned by the non-profit Illini Media Company. Last year I also visited Harvard’s commercial radio station WHRB-FM, which is also owned by a non-profit led by station alumni. Other commercial college radio stations include Princeton’s not-for-profit commercial radio station WPRB-FM (read more about the station’s history) in New Jersey, Brown’s WBRU-FM, owned by the Brown Broadcasting Service in Providence, Rhode Island, Cornell’s WVBR-FM, which is run by an independent non-profit in Ithaca New York, University of Virginia’s WUVA-FM, and Howard University’s WHUR-FM, which is professionally-run and offers mentorships to student DJs at Howard’s online and HD student-run station WHBC (read about my recent visit).

Although FM commercial college radio stations are few and far between, the world of online radio is still the wild west, where stations can choose to be commercial, non-commercial, for-profit, or non-profit. Although college radio started out as a largely commercial form of media early in the 20th century, it’s become far more associated with an independent, non-commercial ethos in recent years. If you are aware of other commercially licensed college radio stations, drop us a note.

The piece originally appeared in the June 25, 2015 Radio Survivor Bulletin. Subscribe to our free, weekly Radio Survivor Bulletin here.

We cover the culture of college radio every Friday in our College Radio Watch feature. If you have college radio news to share, please drop us a note at EDITORS at RADIOSURVIVOR dot COM.

The post College Radio Watch: A Unicorn on FM – Commercial College Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Just one LPFM construction permit was issued by the FCC in the past week, to the Community Advocacy Coalition of Ventura County, in Oxnard, California. As construction permits issued 18 months ago are expiring some of the other low-power radio action pertains to extensions for stations that are not yet on the air. For instance, in Portland, Oregon five different groups recently had their extensions approved for another 18 months.

A Tampa, Florida area commercial radio broadcaster is targeting a LPFM station for allegedly not broadcasting an “educational program,” requesting that the FCC suspend the low-power station’s license. According to a complaint filed with the Commission, Beasley Media Group expresses concern that WVVF-LP is broadcasting “Latin Classic Hits” and “Adult Tropical” formats which deviate from what was proposed in its license application, which included programming like live poetry and short story reading, a local history show, and interviews with local citizens. It should be noted that the licensee also proposed music programming.

Furthermore, Beasley complains that WVVF has “adopted the on-air moniker ‘Viva FM,’ mimicking the type of branding employed by other commercial Spanish popular music formatted stations in the United States… (and) in local television interviews representatives of WVVF-LP have promoted the station as an ‘alternative’ to Tampa’s existing Spanish-language commercial stations.”

That last point is pretty much the crux of Beasley’s objection, that WVVF is posing unwanted competition to its own Tampa-area stations. Beasley

LPFM engineering and advocacy group REC Networks released a statement “admonishing” Beasley. REC argues,

"Regardless of the content the station ends up programming, the First Amendment precludes the FCC from taking action on entertainment format. The Commission only has the authority to take action on unprotected forms of speech such as commercial content and indecent material outside the designated safe-harbor hours.

Indeed, the Commission is loathe to get involved in issues related to programming that fall outside of the constraints noted by REC. While many LPFM applicants do detail their proposed programming, groups are not beholden to these, and there is no history of the FCC taking action against stations that fail to air the exact programming cited in their applications.

The fact that a commercial radio group with stations broadcasting with tens or hundreds of times the power is threatened by a relatively puny 100-watt LPFM likely indicates that there is room for innovation in serving a still-underserved audience in the Tampa area.

The post LPFM Watch: Commercial Station Group Attacks Tampa LPFM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

While visiting Washington, D.C. this Spring, I made some time to visit a few college radio stations. My first stop was to see the student-run streaming radio/HD 3 station at Howard University, WHBC. When I arrived on campus on the morning of Thursday, April 2, things were pretty quiet, as it was right before Easter weekend. As I walked from the Metro station to the university, I passed by Howard’s more well-known station, WHUR-FM. It was impossible to miss, as signs outside the low-slung building were adorned with station logos and several vehicles with WHUR branding (including a van) were parked in the adjacent parking lot. The parent station of WHBC, WHUR is a professionally-run commercial radio station that’s been owned by Howard University since 1971.

WHUR-branded vehicles outside the commercial college radio station. Photo: J. Waits

Just past WHUR is the School of Communications building, home to WHBC. Tucked away in the basement, WHBC has much humbler digs than its parent station. Just outside the station door, there was maintenance work going on when I visited and the smell of fresh paint wafted through the halls. Once inside the station, I was warmly greeted by WHBC General Manager, Howard University junior Jasmine Catchings.

WHBC mural outside the station. Photo: J. Waits

Catchings told me that she loves WHBC and it was the first organization that she joined on campus. Before she even arrived at Howard University, while a senior in high school, she noticed a post on Facebook about WHBC. She reached out to the poster to ask for more information and then when she got to Howard she approached a radio station “tent” at a campus sporting event. Her enthusiasm for the station had led to a passion for radio in general and Catchings told me, “I know I’m going to work in radio,” revealing that she hope to own a radio station some day.

WHBC General Manager Jasmine Catchings outside the on-air studio. Photo: J. Waits

In explaining her love for college radio, Catchings told me, “We’re more than an org, we’re a business” and added that on top of that, the station has a “family atmosphere,” saying that she’s met some of her closest friends at WHBC.

WHBC on-air studio. Photo: J. Waits

It’s always fun taking in the sights and sounds of different college radio stations, as it reveals a lot about their distinct personalities. While at WHBC, I noticed that the walls were adorned with an amazing collection of signed artist photos, hand-made WHBC signage with station “do’s” and “don’ts,” and a huge banner featuring notes from station alumni.

Signed promotional photos at WHBC. Photo: J. Waits

Meanwhile, Catchings filled me in a bit about the station’s history, telling me that WHBC was founded by a student in 1975. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this fall, it’s hoped that there will be some special events to honor the occasion during a reunion in October. When I visited, the station was in the midst of interviewing new potential managers for next year and Catchings said that they would all work together to plan out activities for the station’s anniversary. Summertime is actually a busy time at WHBC, with student managers sticking around the station to begin planning for the upcoming school year.

Banner from WHBC’s 30th anniversary reunion, featuring signatures from alumni DJs. Photo: J. Waits

Although it occupies a small space, which Catchings referred to as “our little home,” more than 100 students volunteer and DJ at WHBC, working in various departments led by 7 student managers. Each manager has a mentor at WHUR and many of them are interested in pursuing a career in radio. Catchings is paired with her General Manager counterpart at WHUR and she told me that it’s been “inspiring” because she’s been able to see “the possibilities” of working at a commercial radio station. She added, “My counterpart…has an open-door policy” and told me that because of that, she’s been able to sit in on meetings and conference calls, which has given her a deeper appreciation for the inner-workings of WHUR. Catchings said, “Nothing is really a secret.” Those deep connections that are being established between WHUR and WHBC often lead to future job opportunities at WHUR for many WHBC participants.

Signage outside WHUR, with promotions for affiliated radio stations, including WHBC. Photo: J. Waits

Although WHBC started out as a campus-only AM carrier current radio station in the 1970s (much of its branding still contains its former 830 AM spot on the dial), today it streams, broadcasts on HD3 (as part of a promotion, HD radios were given to students), runs over both iPhone and Android apps, and has a videostream over a campus cable channel. Catchings told me that the apps are attracting a lot of attention, with more and more listeners tuning in that way. She said that with around 10,000 students on campus, the videostream was also pretty popular, in fact it used to be THE most common way to listen to the station, as it is available on campus cable in all of the dorms.

Video monitor at WHBC. Photo: J. Waits

There are around 30 DJs at WHBC, but when I visited there wasn’t a live DJ in the studio due to illness. Typically shows are in 2-hour blocks, with hosts usually doing their programs twice a week. During the spring semester there were 9 programs, according to Catchings. When there isn’t a live DJ, the station plays automation.

WHBC studio computer showing automation. Photo: J. Waits

Catchings told me that different styles of music are played during specific times of day, even when the station is running on automation. She explained that in the morning the station usually broadcasts fast-paced hip hop and R&B, transitions into more “chilled out” music in the middle of the day and then moves into “sexier” music during the late night.

WHBC’s 2014-2015 show schedule. Photo: J. Waits

The weekends are a bit different and over the course of the entire weekly schedule one can expect to hear a range of genres, including hip hop, neo soul, R&B, gospel, Caribbean, and Christian music. Catchings characterized WHBC as playing “a lot of different urban sounds.” She contrasted the station with WHUR, saying that WHUR is “contemporary” music that’s more akin to what one’s parents would listen to, with the caveat that WHUR’s six HD channels provide a wide array of listening options, including world music.

WHBC offices. Photo: J. Waits

One thing that I didn’t see at WHBC was a library of physical music. A few discarded LPs were stacked on a window sill in the studio and random CDs were also in a few places, but there wasn’t a large collection of music that DJs could pull from. The music library is digital and unlike many college radio stations, WHBC’s playlist is planned in advance by its Music Directors. Anyone can join the music department and that team prepares playlists several days ahead of time. On-air DJs play the tracks that have been chosen by the Music Directors and are also allowed to play requests.

CDs at WHBC. Photo: J. Waits

In addition to music, WHBC does a lot of sports coverage, including broadcasting football and basketball games. On top of that, the station has a live DJ team that spins music during half-time at various sporting events, including basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, and volleyball games. When broadcasting those games, half-time over the air typically includes interviews and a mix of music.

WHBC equipment emblazoned with former carrier current home. Photo: J. Waits

Finally, there are also news, talk and public affairs shows, including the Sunday night talk show Internal Affairs, which also runs over the HBCU SiriusXM satellite radio station, which is programmed by Howard University and airs material from other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The WHBC website also contains a collection of podcasts of various student-produced news stories.

WHBC Law. Photo: J. Waits

Also somewhat unusual for college radio, WHBC operates as a commercial radio station, much like its terrestrial counterpart WHUR. A team of people work to sell various forms of advertising, including commercials, on-air liners, several types of sponsorships (both on and off-air), and even TV slides during the station’s videostream on campus cable.

On Air sign at WHBC. Photo: J. Waits

Thanks so much to Jasmine Catchings for the tour of WHBC. I look forward to hearing more about the station’s 40th anniversary festivities this fall. This is my 86th station tour report. In future posts I will write about a few more visits to stations in D.C. and Virginia. See my most recent field trips on Radio Survivor and see all of my station field trips on Spinning Indie.

The post Touring College Radio Station WHBC at Howard University appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Monday night at midnight Eastern Time is the much anticipated return of Art Bell. Though originally planned to be an online-only show on the Dark Matter network, 21 AM and FM stations and two shortwave stations have now picked it up. Most of the stations are outside major markets, with the exception of affiliates in Salt Lake City, Toronto and my city, Portland, Oregon.

I was happy to learn about KXL-FM signing on to Midnight in the Desert. When I first reported on the new show, I noted that while I welcome Bell’s return to broadcasting, I prefer being able to simply tune it in on my bedside radio rather than having to use my smartphone or laptop. Now I’ll be able to do that here in Portland. *Midnight in the Desert* will replace two hours of the paranormal themed Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis, which is based at KXL.

Last Tuesday Bell participated in a Reddit Ask Me Anything. Although most of the questions were about past interviews and other paranormal topics, he did field some about his new show, and radio in general.

The biggest reveal is that he plans a test show for Sunday night, where the central question is, “what do you want to see?” Odds are that most of the show will be listener calls on just that topic. He also assured that all calls to Midnight in the Desert will not be screened, and that Fridays will be “open lines,” meaning that listener calls will make up most of the show.

One reader asked him what he thinks of iconic radio host Phil Hendrie’s impression of him. Bell said he “loved” them, and that “they really are funny.” For the equipment geeks, he shared that he uses a Beyerdynamic microphone (he didn’t specify a model, but I’d guess it’s the M99) and a Symetrix vocal processor.

Responding to a question about what inspired him to get into radio, Bell said that he got started with ham radio at age 12, and was on commercial broadcast by 13.

First radio job, small FM on top of a mountain in Franklin, NJ. Religious FM. Read the news every hour. Station manager didn’t like people too close to the mic. So he’d come in and yank the chair out from under you while live on the air!

And, certainly to the delight of his fans, Bell also made clear his opinion on the condition of his old show Coast to Coast AM. “I think the current host of that show does it a disservice,” he said. "The current state of that program is the genesis for Midnight in the Desert.

I’ll definitely be tuning in for Sunday’s test show–though I’m not sure it will be on broadcast–as well as Monday night Midnight in the Desert debut. I will also report back my impressions of the new show.

The post Art Bell Returns Monday Night, Possible Test Show on Sunday Night appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Recently a reporter asked me how common independently-owned commercial radio stations were. I told him that they were a dying breed and another example of this disappearing category is talk radio station WYBG-AM in Massena, New York. After 57 years on the air, the station shut down on June 30. Its owners still hold out hope that someone will save the station by purchasing the license so that it can potentially resume broadcasting.

According to Watertown Daily Times, local owners Wade Communications (Curran E. Wade and his wife Dorothy M. “Dottie” Wade) have held the station’s license for 27 years and made attempts to sell the license. The article states,

Mr. Wade said a number of factors figured into the decision to close the radio station. As the only live and locally owned and operated radio station, he was handling 99 percent of the sales, was traveling about 700 miles a week and will turn 79 years old in two months. A transmitter problem in 2013 kept the station off the air for two months, from October to the beginning of December, and Mr. Wade said it never recovered from that. ‘It’s hard on small businesses,’ Mrs. Wade said.”

The post Farewell to Small Town AM Station WYBG appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Chicago may be the home of the highest rated channel 6 TV station dressed in a radio station’s clothes.

I wrote about MeTV FM in February when it hit the airwaves. The station broadcasts on the audio channel of WRME-LP channel 6, which is receivable at 87.7 FM. I call these “back door” radio stations because they’re not actually licensed as such, and are heard on the FM dial because of a technological fluke, rather than by design.

MeTV FM is operated by Weigel Broadcasting, the company behind the nationwide nostalgia formatted television MeTV network seen primarily on HDTV sub-channels, playing a comparatively wide-ranging and eclectic selection of oldies targeted at a baby boomer audience. It’s been clear to me that the station hit a nerve because my post about it has received more than 40 comments, mostly from satisfied listeners.

According to media blogger Robert Feder the station has crept up to number 25 in the most recent Chicago ratings book. This gives the station a weekly cumulative listenership of 507,700 people, more than three times what the station had a year ago when Tribune Media operated it with a sports talk format.

Astonishingly, MeTV FM beats more established and well-known stations like ESPN Radio affiliate WMVP 1000 AM and conservative news-talk station WLS 890 AM. Keep in mind that this is a station that broadcasts with a fraction of the power of its competition, at a frequency that isn’t even an official part of the FM dial, and therefore isn’t receivable on all radios.

MeTV’s growing popularity only begs the question of how long the station will remain on its frequency, although its lease on life right now is up in the air. At some point in the future LPTV stations will be required to convert to digital transmissions, just like full-power stations did in 2009. This would mean channel 6 audio would no longer be received on FM radios.

September 1 of this year had been the mandatory digital transition deadline, but in April the FCC suspended it. The digital transition is probably inevitable, but not likely to occur until the upcoming television spectrum incentive auction is completed. LPTV stations have asked the FCC to permit them to stay analog, or even move into the actual FM dial, though these ideas aren’t popular with radio broadcasters.

Continued ratings success likely would give Weigel reason to pursue an actual FM signal, both to increase coverage area and keep it on the air longer. Although purchasing an existing FM license might be a bit expensive, there is probably a poorly performing station that could be leased.

Beyond it being a back-door FM station, MeTV FM is an interesting experiment, because by all accounts it’s a fresh take on an old format. It will be all the more fascinating if it can make the jump to a legitimate FM station.

The post Chicago’s MeTV FM Takes the Back Door to Radio Ratings Success appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“Here at IA, we’re told it was done in a particularly sudden and ugly way: Two officials with Cumulus Media, which bought the station four years ago, showed up last Friday at the station’s offices on Julian Street and told veteran reporters Jennifer Hodges and Jeanne Lynch to pack their belongings and turn in their keys. They were being laid off with severance checks and cash to travel home.”

This cuts local radio coverage to San Jose, California down to two other stations, KCBS and KQED. Cumulus bought KGO in 2011 and caused a veritable listener riot by dumping a host of popular talk show hosts, then dumping some more. Internal Affairs has a quote from San Jose’s mayor Sam Liccardo on the latest retrenchment: “it wouldn’t serve the station well to abandon the region’s biggest city and hope that folks could simply phone it in.”

We just got a press release from SAG-AFTRA, which represents broadcast workers, on the closure. Here’s the release quote from Len Egert, Executive Director of the San Francisco local: “Once again, Cumulus Media has demonstrated its lack of support for local Bay Area communities. We believe that there is a connection between good local jobs and good local media, and our communities would be better served if Cumulus invested more in its local employees.'” The union is running a petition drive asking Cumulus to pay its San Francisco Bay Area employees better wages and not resort to subcontractors for news.

The post Anger follows Cumulus closure of KGO’s South Bay wing appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Fernando and Greg (CBS)

We got a press release late last week for a new digital station that I’m thoroughly enjoying: Pulse Radio. It’s a LGBTQ oriented HD2 channel extending KMVQ-FM of San Francisco, home to the Bay Area deejay duo Fernando and Greg and afternoon host St. John. Lots of Ke$ha, Marina and the Diamonds, Martin Solveig and similar tunes streaming 24/7, plus the deejays holding forth between sets. You can check it out on radio.com.

Fernando and Greg are a big deal over at KMVQ. They do the morning drive segment for the CBS station, serving up a steady patois of gossip and humor with a sympathetic ear towards LGTBQ causes and events. But I remember when it was not so certain what was going to happen to them. Back in 2009 they worked for KNGY-FM, aka “Energy 92.7,” which billed itself as San Francisco’s lone independently owned commercial music signal. Their morning show was the first gay oriented commercial version in the United States. Bay Area radio listeners loved it.

All the more reason why San Franciscans went to the mattresses when KNGY changed hands and the new management cancelled the format. Suddenly a “Save Energy 92.7” Facebook group sprung up with 6,000 members. The city’s Board of Supervisors passed a resolution asking the station to keep its LGBTQ orientation. I went so far as to phone the new owner, who accused me on calling him on his “personal number” (actually it was the contact number he put on his FCC license form). I asked him some polite questions, like would he consider keeping Fernando and Greg on board and such.

“Beg your pardon?” he sullenly responded. “This is obviously a joke.” Clearly Fernando and Greg were not coming back.

But they persevered. By October of 2009 they launched a podcast on Stitcher mobile radio and by November they had returned to the Bay Area FM airwaves via KMVQ. Now they serve up the morning drive, a regular KMVQ podcast, plus Pulse. I like to think of Fernando and Greg as two radio pioneers who have managed to navigate the rocky terrain of Internet radio and surface with their localness and identities in one piece. Kudos to CBS for helping them make that happen.

The post Pulse! Fernando and Greg and the history of Internet radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Last month I told you about nocturnal radio king Art Bell’s scheduled return to broadcasting. At first it looked like his show, Midnight in the Desert, would be internet-only, save a single shortwave broadcast.

But now 17 AM and FM stations have signed on as affiliates. Another shortwave station, the infamous WBCQ, will also broadcast him to the world.

In an interview with USA Today, Bell said that the terrestrial broadcasters have to agree to carry only six minutes of commercials an hour, way below the typical talk radio load of 15 to 20 minutes every hour. Why? “Because I want more content and more content,” he said.

There are other restrictions for affiliates that have more to do with logistics and controlling costs. For instance, terrestrial stations may not run the show on their own internet streams, principally because of the additional licensing cost for Art’s famous bumper music selections. And the stations’ ads can only be inserted during two fixed breaks–the rest of the show’s schedule will not adhere to a strict clock.

Now, 17 is a fraction of the stations that carry his old show, Coast to Coast. But it sure isn’t bad for a bootstrapped operation that wasn’t designed to be on terrestrial broadcast in the first place. I won’t be surprised to see that affiliate list grow if Midnight in the Desert manages to keep rolling beyond a few months.

Although Art Bell doesn’t come from grassroots radio, he is still a fringe personality by mainstream radio standards. It’s nice to see him launch an independent internet project and still have the ability to make it onto broadcast, pretty much without marketing it for that purpose.

Midnight in the Desert hits the tubes and the airwaves July 20.

The post Art Bell’s Return Will Be on Terrestrial Radio, too appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The University of Sioux Falls has filed paperwork with the FCC in order to assign the license for its student-run college radio station KCFS 94.5 FM to Badlands Airtime, which is affiliated with Sioux Falls, South Dakota pawn shop, Badlands Pawn. According to the Asset Purchase Agreement, the sale price for the KCFS license is $1.5 million. Badlands Airtime also submitted a request to the FCC in order to modify the license, in the hopes of changing it from non-commercial to commercial after the FCC grants the license assignment.

The request from Badlands Airtime stipulates, “…the purchase agreement…is expressly conditioned upon grant of the assignment with the station license status modified from noncommercial to commercial, effective upon consummation.”

Badlands Airtime is hoping to launch a radio network that includes several frequencies in the area. It’s also awaiting word from the FCC regarding its application to acquire the license for AM station KZOY and an FM translator.

With this collection of frequencies, Badlands Airtime plans to launch the radio network Guns, Gold & Rock ‘n Roll on Thanksgiving Day, 2015. According to the Badlands Pawn website,

We are relocating a fully operational AM/FM radio station from the Sioux Falls market. We will be converting this station to our in-house station which will launch at 9am, Thanksgiving Day, 2015 when we open Badlands Pawn. This will be the best quality station in the Midwest. Live DJ’s and the best in Badlands Rock 24 hours a day. This station will broadcast live from the pawn shop and the main studio will even be behind glass so the customers of Badlands can watch the station in action while shouting out a request or 2. Of course the station will have the best regional and national DJ’s. It is our intention to simulcast our Guns, Gold & Rock N Roll Radio Network to over 30 stations and towers throughout the Midwest so you will be able to hear the radio station for hundreds and hundreds of miles. With the hi-tech design of the facility, performing acts on the Badlands Stage will be able to be broadcast live on the radio in addition to celebrity appearances and performances.”

According to the University of Sioux Falls’ website,

KCFS – USF’s student operated radio station – is geared toward discovery of new music and the appreciation of familiar music. On a daily basis the station pumps out music to the Sioux Falls area that is designed to enlighten, invoke emotions, create thought and relax or stimulate listeners. After all, that should be the purpose of music: to change perceptions and to encourage new ideas.”

KCFS is affiliated with the school’s Media Studies department and is located in the school’s Media Center, which also houses public radio station KCSD-FM (operated by South Dakota Public Broadcasting). KCSD was licensed to University of Sioux Falls up until 2014. There’s no word yet on how the students at KCFS feel about these proposed changes, but NorthPine.com reports that, “The university will retain the rights to the KCFS callsign, its web domain, and current format.”

The post University of Sioux Falls to Assign College Radio Station License to Local Pawn Shop appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s hard to believe that some radio stations still haven’t gotten the message that the Emergency Alert System (EAS) is no joking matter. Today the FCC announced that it has fined iHeartCommunications $1,000,000 (see the order and consent decree here) after an investigation into an October, 2014 broadcast of the syndicated “The Bobby Bones Show.” According to a statement issued by the FCC today,

While commenting on an EAS test that aired during the 2014 World Series, Bobby Bones, the show’s host, broadcast an EAS tone from a recording of an earlier nationwide EAS test.  This false emergency alert was sent to more than 70 affiliated stations airing ‘The Bobby Bones Show’ and resulted in some of these stations retransmitting the tones, setting off a multi-state cascade of false EAS alerts on radios and televisions in multiple states. 

As part of the settlement, iHeart admits that its broadcasting of EAS tones during ‘The Bobby Bones Show’ violated the FCC’s EAS laws.  The company is required to pay a civil penalty of $1 million dollars and implement a comprehensive three-year compliance and reporting plan.  Additionally, they must remove or delete all simulated or actual EAS tones from the company’s audio production libraries.”

On Radio Survivor we’ve been following the flurry of enforcement actions in the past few years related to the airing of false emergency alert tones. The FCC notes that, “in the last six months, the Commission has taken five enforcement actions totaling nearly $2.5 million for misuse of EAS tones by broadcasters and cable networks.”

The FCC’s main concern is that EAS tones should only be used in the event of an actual emergency (or test) in order to maintain the effectiveness of the EAS system to warn citizens during real crises. Back in fall 2013, the FCC even issued an Enforcement Advisory about the Emergency Alert System. If you have any confusion over it, it’s worth revisiting in order to avoid a hefty fine.

The post FCC Fines iHeart $1 Million for Airing Fake Emergency Alert Tone during Bobby Bones Show appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Pew Research Center released its annual State of the News Media report for 2015. One fact struck me that I haven’t seen otherwise commented on elsewhere: only 30 Spanish-language radio stations in the US air news and talk programming, out of more than 500 Spanish-language format stations total. That’s seems really low to me.

What isn’t clear from Pew’s Hispanic Media Fact Sheet is whether those 30 stations are exclusively news/talk formatted or if they are counting music stations that also air a little bit of news, even if only during drive-time (the former is most likely, as I’ll explain). Still, at just 6% of all Spanish stations, the percentage that are news/talk still seems low.

I guessed that across the board news/talk stations account for more than 6% of all radio in the US. To make that comparison let’s just assume those 30 Spanish-language stations are news/talk formatted, not music stations that feature some music. Separately, Pew counts a total of 1,990 news/talk formatted stations in the US, out of 15,442 full power radio stations. That means 13% of all stations in the US are news/talk formatted.

If we assume that the 1,990 news/talk station count also includes the 30 Spanish-language stations, then let’s say 1,960 of news/talk stations are all or majority English-language (or at the very least not Spanish-language). Subtracting the number of Spanish-language stations from the total station count gives us a count of 14,942 that are likely English-language (or possibly multi-lingual). That adjustment still leaves the percentage of news/talk stations at 13%. Not particularly high, but still double that for Spanish-language radio.

While the quality of commercial radio news/talk programming often leaves much to be desired, I still argue there’s real value in having access to dedicated news/talk broadcasts where listeners can expect to get regular updates, even if just at the top and bottom of the hour. The value grows when there’s a major news event or crisis or during election season. That’s why I’m taken aback at how few Spanish-language news/talk stations there are, which creates a meaningful service gap for Spanish speaking listeners.

To the best of my knowledge there are two Spanish-language commercial radio news services in the US. CNN in Español claims 125 affiliate stations, most of which are music stations that presumably air headline news reports. Univision America news and sports programming is heard on three affiliates in New York City, Miami and Puerto Rico.

Radio Bilingüe is the all-Spanish National Latino Public Radio Network. It operates twelve full-power stations that broadcast a 24/7 mix of news and music programs, including a live daily call-in and a weekly news magazine. Another 92 affiliates broadcast some Radio Bilingüe programs, nine of which air major daytime blocks.

Scanning through the affiliate list I see that many of the stations that don’t air major blocks of shows are community or public stations with the majority of programming in English. This, I’d conjecture, makes these broadcasts less attractive to listeners who prefer Spanish programming, especially if there are all-Spanish stations in the same market.

Spanish-language radio has been a growing sector, so it’s disappointing to see that news/talk service lags behind radio overall. At the same time I’m glad to see that about a quarter of all Spanish stations are affiliates of a news service. The ability to quickly bring in a national news feed in Spanish allows a station to provide better public service when needed. Nevertheless, it seems important for reasons of both civic engagement and public safety that Spanish-speaking listeners should have better access to full-time news/talk programming, that is more equal in proportion to what is available to English-speaking listeners.

The post There Are Surprisingly Few Spanish-Language News Stations appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As if it wasn’t already obvious, online audio of all types is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact, 44% of all Americans over age 12 listen every week.

It’s most popular with young people, though also quickly gaining traction with everyone under age 55. This is according to the the 2015 edition of their Infinite Dial survey of American listening habits, released last week by Edison Research and Triton Digital.

The key number for all broadcasters to pay attention to is that 77% of listeners aged 12 to 24 listen to internet radio in a month, and 73% of them use a smartphone, compared to 61% who use a desktop or laptop computer. While broadcast radio holds onto its dominance in the car, 59% of 12 to 24 year-olds have listened to internet radio in the car.

When it comes to choosing a service the runaway winner is Pandora, which 54% of that age group listened to in the last month, with Spotify and iTunes Radio coming in a distant second and third, with 23% and 20%, respectively. iHeartRadio comes in an even more distant fourth, with only 14% of listeners 12 to 24 saying they listened in the last month.

On the one hand iTunes Radio’s popularity is impressive given that the service is barely 18 months old. On the other hand, the fact that it’s included on every iPhone makes it an easily accessed default for a lot of users.

As a whole these numbers are a bracing wake-up call for all terrestrial broadcasters. Public radio has bolstered itself a little better with its investments in podcasting, which also saw gains in listenership this year. Yet not all public or non-commercial broadcasters have leveraged podcasting equally, and commercial radio has barely made a dent.

What we’re watching is a whole generation of listeners skipping broadcast radio altogether, not just over the air, but on their smartphones and computers as well. Not to put too fine of a point on it, Pandora is eating broadcasters’ lunch… and dinner, and dessert. Teens’ and young adults’ preference for Pandora, Spotify and iTunes Radio is an unavoidable indicator that they are not interested in the poor to mediocre music programming served up by the vast majority of radio stations, and they’re sure as hell not going to listen to it online when there are simply better choices.

It’s a tough situation for the biggest commercial radio owners, since they’ve spent so much effort gutting their local talent, without cultivating much national talent, choosing instead to grind away with the same basic programming formulas from the turn of the century. Loading up hundreds of barely differentiated stations into a smartphone app and promoting it relentlessly on your broadcast properties doesn’t do much good when the youngest generation of listeners isn’t tuning them in to begin with.

There’s more hope for other broadcasters that are not so laden with debt or handcuffed by outmoded assumptions. Community, college, public and independent commercial stations aren’t going to compete head on with Pandora, but do have an opportunity to capture millennials’ ears online. To do this, they first have to recognize that it’s necessary. Now is that time.

HD Radio Is Not the Global Choice

This week John Anderson published a examination of global digital radio. The most popular format across Europe, now making incursions into Asia, is the DAB standard, not the HD Radio standard used here in the US. John notes that Norway is even planning to end analog broadcasting altogether in 2017 since digital signals now reach 99.5% of the country’s population.

The question is: in five or ten years will the rest of the world be enjoying more advanced (and maybe higher quality) digital radio than we do in the States, where most people don’t enjoy it much at all?

Update on BBC Radio Streams

Finally, I have a follow-up to my mention of listeners upset by changes to the BBC’s online streaming two weeks ago. Writing in the Guardian, Jack Schofield has published a very clear explanation of the situation, along with suggestions of how to best play the Beeb’s new streams, though with an understandable emphasis on listeners in the UK.

The short answer is that most PCs, tablets and smartphones should be able to play them. It’s internet radios, which have their capabilities mostly baked in, that are still in limbo, though Schofield lists a couple of models that might do the trick.

The post Digital Watch: Broadcasters Are Losing Young Listeners Online appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing updated guidelines for broadcaster contests, allowing radio and television stations to post the rules for these events on websites as a substitute for completely explaining them over the air waves. At present “licensees are permitted to employ nonbroadcast methods for disclosing material contest terms,” but “they may not substitute such methods for the required broadcast disclosure.” Now the FCC suggests “modernizing” the rules to “allow broadcasters to satisfy their obligation to disclose material contest terms by making such terms available in writing on a publicly accessible Internet website.”

Not surprisingly, the industry is unanimous in its support of the idea. You can read all the hosannas yourself coming from the usual suspects in the proceeding: iHeart, Entercom, NPR, etc. Broadcasters have even put together a Coalition for the Modernization of the FCC Contest Rule—a gaggle of smaller broadcast networks.

“The Contest Rule was created in, and for, a media environment that no longer exists,” the Coalition opines. “The FCC adopted the Contest Rule in 1976, well before the Internet became a widely available resource for information. Today, consumers frequently turn to the Internet to access news, entertainment, and sports information – often from the websites of their favorite television and radio stations.”

You get the drift. I could have written most of these filings myself. But I wonder if broadcasters will think this is such a peachy innovation once it goes into effect. Here are three potential areas of difficulty.

Game rule checking while driving? As we noted in a post last week, despite the Internet and satellite and mobile wireless, AM/FM radio still dominates the average automobile. 81 percent of commuters still opt for good old analog radio on the way to work. So what are they going to do when the contest is announced and the Morning Zoo gal or guy says hurry up and call in or text or tweet or whatever: check the game instructions website on their mobile while driving? I suppose some will and, assuming that they don’t kill themselves or somebody else in the process, they’ll know the score. But a lot of people won’t even bother, and the station in question will have to deal with folks calling or texting without understanding what they’re actually supposed to do or stand to win. Crabbiness will ensue. It won’t be pretty.

Rules will overproliferate. One of the virtues of requiring radio stations to outline their contest rules over the airwaves is that it functions as a form of discipline. The conditions must be explained simply and concisely. But once game instructions migrate to web pages, that virtuous limitation will disappear. The temptation to add this or that codicil or condition will be irresistible (especially when lawyers are consulted). Game rules that were once simple will become more and more complicated. And this will lead to Problem Number Three.

Which rules are the rules? Most radio station game contests go well, although some go south on a pretty spectacular level. But even if a contestant doesn’t die of water asphyxiation, there are already instances of radio stations botching contests that included web based information. These included contests in which winners were announced before the stated online game entry period concluded; or, even creepier, a station that told listeners they could win “10,000” in a game. The website, however, stipulated that this meant 10,000 Italian lira, the equivalent of a little over 50 USD.

The FCC understands that this could be a problem. “To avoid consumer confusion, we propose that, consistent with existing Commission precedent, any material terms announced on air must not differ from the material terms disclosed on a Web site,” the agency’s Federal Register proceeding announcement explains. “For example, if the on air announcement or advertising for the contest identifies a particular prize by brand name or model, then the Web site disclosure must be the same.”

But of course once a radio station can disclose contest rules in more than one place, the potential for accidentally announcing and publishing different versions of the game doubles. The Commission gets this as well, acknowledging that stations might have to change their game rules in the middle of the contest. “If a licensee that chooses to satisfy its disclosure obligations via the Internet changes the material terms of a contest after the contest is first announced,” the FCC observes, “we propose that the licensee must announce on air that the contest rules have changed and direct participants to the website to review the changes.” But will the announcer also remind listeners to reload the cache on their websites?

Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer on this proposal. I’m sure that most of the time the contests will go reasonably well. But I think there’s a subtext motivation for this drive to “modernize” radio station contest rules: the consistent, three decade old desire of radio license owners to relieve actual human beings of the obligation to clearly say and explain things over their stations on a real time basis. In any event, we’ll see how it goes. After all, nothing can stop a bad idea whose time has come.

The post Will we regret the “modernization” of radio contests? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Talk radio veteran Darryl Parks is a harsh critic of how the format continues to lose touch with most of the radio audience who aren’t white male baby boomers. In a new post this week he takes aim at Rush Limbaugh, describing the leading conservative talk host’s “fall into oblivion.”

Parks notes that Limbaugh’s program is sinking in the ratings in New York and Los Angeles and has been shuttled off to lower ranked stations. Now it’s rumored– as first reported by Robert Feder–that his Chicago affiliate is preparing to dump ol’ Rushbo, too. A spokeswoman for WLS-AM owner Culumus Media has denied that rumor, though Parks says, “three different Cumulus executives have told me on different occasions they wish they could get rid of Limbaugh’s show and they can’t sell it.”

What’s best about Parks’ tough love missives for talk radio are the behind-the-scenes details he drops about how the business really works. It’s common knowledge that the Limbaugh show is produced by Premiere Networks, which is conveniently owned by iHeartMedia, giving it easy access to hundreds of stations. But Parks fills out the story, revealing that along with requiring stations to carry Rush, “the local stations have to pay a ‘rights fee’ in addition to the barter commercial inventory they broadcast from the network. There was no negotiation whether to broadcast the show or what fee was to be paid.” Barter inventory are the commercials included by in the show that stations air without compensation.

As a result, he says this non-negotiable requirement to carry and pay for the program, “forced local stations to lay-off other talk hosts, producers and gut news departments. Talented people left the radio business and the death spiral for talk radio began. It began years ago.”

I knew about the barter obligation, but I didn’t know that even iHeart’s own stations had to tithe, too. But I guess the heavily indebted company has to find some way to keep writing checks to fulfill Limbaugh’s $400 million contract.

It’s important to point out that Parks identifies as a Republican, lamenting how talk radio has missed the boat on reaching younger generations. He says he tried to warn Clear Channel execs of the impending fall, but his advice fell on deaf ears.

Me, I see this as just more evidence as to how the commercial radio business is a victim of its own greed, myopia, and mismanagement, typified most clearly in the way iHeart doubles-down on Limbaugh at the expense of anything that remotely resembles fresh programming. Radio isn’t dying, but their AM talk audience, and hosts, are.

The post Why Rush Limbaugh Is Dragging Down AM Talk Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Sixteen groups joined the ranks of those with low-power FM construction permits in the last week, bringing the grand total up to 1730 new stations going on the air. There were twenty-two applications dismissed in the same period.

Fourteen of those dismissals come from groups in rural Oregon and the city of Bend that all received assistance from one individual, Robert Lund. As REC Networks reports, objections were filed against these applications by LPFM advocacy groups like Prometheus Radio Project. In Prometheus’ informal objection, the group alleges these applications violate LPFM rules prohibiting common ownership of stations or multiple applications from a single group. Cited evidence includes identical contact information across multiple applications, along with the fact that Lund is listed as a Registered Agent on the incorporation documents for twelve of the applicants.

The ultimate cause for dismissal was that the non-profit corporations listed on each of the applications had lost recognition by the state of Oregon. As REC observes, this typically happens when the corporation fails to file an annual report. Because this was sufficient cause to dismiss the applications the Commission did not address the other objections filed against them.

REC notes that the corporate status of groups associated with the infamous-in-LPFM-circles Antonio Cesar Guel has also lapsed. REC has therefore filed a supplement to several of its informal objections highlighting this fact.

Will the Real Woodstock…

A strange dispute over using the name “Woodstock” is going down in that Upstate New York town, pitting city hall against independent commercial station WDST-FM. According to the Daily Freeman WDST goes by the moniker “Radio Woodstock,” and objects to the township’s new LPFM using the name “Woodstock 104.” WDST provided the Daily Freeman with documentation showing that it trademarked both the phrases “Radio Woodstock” and “Woodstock Radio.”

The LPFM’s CEO Randi Stele told the paper, "You cannot trademark the name of the town. That’s restraint of trade.”

For his part, WDST’s general manager said he hopes a court case can be avoided and that other options for the LPFM to identify itself as being from Woodstock can be found.

Finally, The Seattle Globalist has a nice wrap-up from the Seattle Public Library’s celebration of World Radio Day, highlighting new LPFM Hollow Earth Radio.

The post LPFM News: Group of 13 Apps from OR dismissed, Name Fight in Woodstock appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Channel surfing on cable or over-the-air TV you may have come across Bewitched, Columbo or other “classic” re-runs on a station that calls itself MeTV. This successful Chicago-based upstart network that airs its nostalgic programming on digital television subchannels across the country is dipping its toes into the radio pool.

Today MeTV parent company Weigel Broadcasting is taking over Chicago’s LPTV channel 6, which is better known for its audio frequency that bumps into the far left of the FM dial at 87.7 FM. The station has been on a wildly shifting ride for the last six years, going from smooth jazz to alternative rock to a failed experiment as a Tribune-run sports talk station. A whole lot of time, energy and money has been invested in a station that isn’t even properly licensed for the FM dial–existing in a spectral loophole–and whose continued existence is now subject to an ongoing FCC rulemaking proceeding.

Using the new WRME-LP call letters, 87.7 MeTV FM plans to bring a nostalgia-heavy “Me Music” format to the Chicago airwaves, targeted at Baby Boomers. Weigel’s Neal Sabin, who is responsible for the new radio format, said, “87.7 MeTV FM will differ from the current ‘classic hits’ format by playing a much broader range of music skewing on the pop/softer side including singer/songwriters, album tracks and hits deemed ‘oldies’ by some programmers but considered gold by our target audience.” These artists include Carly Simon, James Taylor, Neil Diamond and ”Motown superstars."

According to media reporter Robert Feder, the station has no air talent or full-time programming staff, relying on a part-time freelancer to get things started.

Given the tenuous future of analog LPTV stations, it’s unclear what the strategy is for MeTV FM. Although the FCC is considering options for allowing channel 6 LPTV owners to continue as radio broadcasters in some fashion, it’s an option that incumbents, like NPR, take pains to oppose. The more likely scenario is that analog LPTV stations will have one or two years to transition to digital, turning off their analog signals that enter the FM dial through the back door. When the deadline for that transition looms, what happens to MeTV FM?

I’d have to guess that Weigel is leasing the signal for a song–so to speak–making the endeavor a relatively low-cost experiment. If MeTV FM finds an audience on this relatively weak signal, that could be fuel for growing the format onto legitimate FM stations.

Otherwise, going with old-fashioned analog FM for this experiment is a smart move. Although internet radio might at first seem like the quickest and most obvious route, the performance royalty and bandwidth costs could actually outpace that for leasing channel 6. Plus, Weigel is targeting an aging demographic that is less likely to use internet radio, and which it has already engaged though its pioneering use of underutilized digital TV sub channels. And, on top of that, the company can advertise its radio station on TV pretty much for free.

I will be curious to see if MeTV FM forges a lasting place on the Chicago FM dial or becomes just another passenger though the revolving back door of 87.7 FM. Since I’m no longer in Chicago I would appreciate if any readers in the station’s listening area would tune in and leave a comment with your impressions.

The post MeTV enters Chicago’s FM Back Door at 87.7 FM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week, College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) issued a joint statement about athletic department prohibitions on the broadcast of sports programming by student media outlets.

The statement reads,

College Broadcasters, Inc. (CBI) and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) stand behind student media outlets that have lost the ability to offer live game coverage of their schools’ athletic events due to exclusive agreements signed between athletic departments and commercial broadcasters.

Student-run media outlets are a vital part the experiential education offered on college campuses. Restricting or denying student access to high-profile events is both harmful to student development and antithetical to the value of the free exchange of ideas championed at educational institutions.  Many professional sports broadcasters and journalists first developed their skills in student media. Cutting off access to student media outlets not only undermines the academic and co-curricular mission of higher education but also hinders the development of today’s students into tomorrow’s media professionals.

While we understand the economic imperatives behind these agreements, we believe these can exist co-operatively with student-operated broadcasts, which are generally non-commercial in nature. We cannot support contracts with outside entities that restrict the freedoms of student media, particularly when these agreements are made by college administrators only, without considering student opinions.

CBI and the SPLC would like to urge colleges and universities to consider student media outlets when considering broadcast rights agreements with outside entities, and to preserve the rights of student media outlets to cover their fellow students’ athletic events.”

Often sports broadcasts are a boon for student radio stations, not only offering great experience for broadcasters, but also providing a space for students, alumni, and fans to tune in to hear coverage of their home school’s sporting events. I’ve also heard from some stations that live sports broadcasts are also some of the most popular programs on college radio as well.

Wrapping up my Seattle Radio Station Tours with Visit to KXSU at Seattle University

This week I completed my series of radio station tour posts from my fall 2014 trip to Seattle. Read more about my visit to soon-to-be LPFM KXSU at Seattle University as well as my trips to University of Washington’s Rainy Dawg Radio and University of Washington-Bothell’s UWave Radio in Radio Survivor’s growing archive of Spinning Indie Radio Station Field Trips.

KSPC CD and Record Expo on February 8

I have fond memories of my time volunteering and DJing at Pomona College radio station KSPC-FM in Claremont, California. In fact, I even worked at one of its record fairs. It’s nice to see that the tradition continues, with the next KSPC CD and Record Expo taking place this Sunday, February 8th. The San Bernardino County Sun writes that, “The expo, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, expects to attract at least 500 music lovers…” KSPC’s General Manager Erica Tyron told the Sun, “…despite the shift towards digital and streaming services for music, the expo gives people an opportunity to meet and talk with other music fans as well as to engage in the collectible, physical media that has been such a strong part of music history thus far.”

University of Oklahoma to Get LPFM

Yesterday another university was granted a construction permit for a new low power FM (LPFM) radio station. According to its application, University of Oklahoma plans to use the new license for a student-run college radio station.

KTEQ Returns to the Air at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Where Radio Broadcasts Date Back to 1922

In an in-depth piece for Radio World, Mario Heib writes about KTEQ‘s triumphant return to the air in Rapid City, South Dakota. Off the terrestrial airwaves for 14 years, KTEQ brings back a long tradition of radio on campus, which started in 1922 with the launch of WCAT. According to Heib, WCAT was “the first licensed wireless station in South Dakota” and initially had “a format consisting mainly of weather forecasts.” The station added lectures and “then came news, local talent and music broadcast by holding a microphone close to the horn of a Victrola phonograph. The AM station WCAT, or ‘Wildcat Radio,’ operated from September 1922 to 1952.” FM radio returned to campus with the initial launch of KTEQ in 1971. Read more about KTEQ’s history here and here.

WJPZ Birthday Banquet + Documentary about Syracuse University Station

Does your college radio station have an alumni association? WJPZ has a very active one and regularly hosts get-togethers and is making a station documentary, The Greatest Media Classroom: The Story of WJPZ, available in exchange for donations. It’s hosting its annual Birthday Banquet on February 28th.

CJUM Launching New Student Hosted Shows about TV, Classical Music, and K-Pop

Canadian campus-community radio station UMFM (aka CJUM) at University of Manitoba has added a few intriguing student shows. According to the Manitoban, “Campus and community radio station UMFM 101.5 prides itself on bringing quality fringe content to Winnipeg listeners.”

KCR Nominated for Radio Awards

San Diego State University’s college radio station KCR (which can be heard online, over campus TV, and over digital cable) is up for a bunch of Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Awards, according to the Daily Aztec. But even more exciting for me, is the fact that the station has one of those Leo signs (pictured in the article!).

Goshen College Station WGCS Gearing up for IBS Awards

Another IBS award nominee, Goshen College radio station WGCS The Globe has won major awards in the past. The Elkhart Truth, did a Q&A with the station’s General Manager and asked what sets The Globe apart from other stations. General Manager Jason Samuel said, “There are two things. One is we have a format, and we treat The Globe as if it were this commercial entity or how it would be theoretically in the real world outside of college. But we have taken The Globe and moved it out into the community and increased our footprint, and that is the true difference maker. We have a satellite studio down at Ignition Music Garage. We partner with them in promoting — oh, geez — at least 25, maybe 30 shows a year at Ignition…”

Cal State Long Beach Sells FM Station to Religious Group

The FCC has approved California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation’s application to assign the license for KJZD 91.1 FM in Perris, California to Educational Media Foundation (EMF). According to the Asset Purchase Agreement, the sale price was $50,000. EMF plans to use the station as a satellite of its Radio Nueva Vida Radio Network. This follows reports that Cal State Long Beach’s jazz station KKJZ will be moving off-campus to Westwood. Neither station is run by students and the campus is home to student-run streaming and HD-3 radio station K-Beach.

We cover the culture of college radio every Friday in our College Radio Watch feature. If you have college radio news to share, please drop us a note at EDITORS at RADIOSURVIVOR dot COM.

The post College Radio Watch: Student Media Advocates Decry Restrictions on Student Sports Broadcasts; LPFM News, and More appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Looking for info on how to listen to this 2021’s Super Bowl LV? Click here.

Once again, it’s time for the big game and time to run down where you can listen to the Super Bowl on the radio. While most football fans will have plans to be as close to a TV as possible, there are still folks who want to catch the game but can’t be near a television, whether because of work or other circumstances.

Westwood One Sports will be supplying Super Bowl XLIX to stations across the country, starting coverage at 2 PM ET on Sunday, February 2, with kick off at 6:30 PM ET. The flagship stations for the Seahawks and Patriots–KIRO 710 AM and WBZ 98.5 FM, respectively–each will have their own broadcast teams calling the game. The feed for all these stations is terrestrial only, and will not be available online.

Update Feb. 1, 2015: Unlike past years, some stations indeed are broadcasting the Super Bowl on their live internet streams, including KIRO in Seattle and WBZ in Boston.

Subscribers to SiriusXM can listen to the Seattle, New England or national broadcasts in English or a Spanish broadcast via their satellite receivers.

For internet audio streams US listeners can subscribe to NFL Audio Pass or use SiriusXM’s internet service. However, NBC will be streaming its live television coverage online for free this year to anyone on a US broadband connection. So even if you can’t watch, you can still listen, though television play-by-play is a different beast than radio.

However, the free NBC stream is not available to mobile broadband users. That’s only available for Verizon customers who subscribe to NFL Mobile.

International Super Bowl Radio Broadcasts

Outside the US radio coverage is spotty, while TV broadcasts are more widely available.

Those serving in the armed forces overseas can hear Westwood One’s Super Bowl broadcast on Armed Forces Radio.

Canadians can tune in the Super Bowl on TSN Radio stations or on SiriusXM Canada. .

Listeners in the UK can listen to the Super Bowl on BBC Radio 5 Live on medium wave (AM) and digital radio (DAB).

In December shortwave broadcaster Radio Miami International–which operates the station formerly owned by Family Radio– announced that WRMI would “cover numerous top sporting events in 2015.” Listed amongst the events is the Super Bowl. However, it doesn’t seem like there will be play-by-play. Rather, there will be twice daily updates at 9 AM and 9 PM ET. I emailed the station to get clarification and will update this post when I hear back.

If you know of an international radio broadcast not listed here, please tell us about it in the comments.

The post How To Listen to Super Bowl XLIX on the Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

New York radio station WXNY-FM is being asked to pay a $20,000 penalty because it aired Emergency Alert System (EAS) tones as part of a comedy sketch on the January 28, 2014 episode of the Luis Jimenez Show.

EAS tones are only supposed to be broadcast during actual alerts or during authorized EAS tests and are never to be broadcast in other circumstances. The Consent Decree issued between the FCC and Univision (the license holder of WXNY-FM) states that:

WXNY-FM is one of Univision’s Spanish-language radio stations serving the New York City metropolitan area. Several of WXNY’s disc jockeys, speaking in a mix of Spanish and English, played the tones during a comedy routine, at one point acknowledging it was illegal, but continuing to broadcast the tones. The station’s use of the EAS tones in this manner violated statutory and regulatory prohibitions against the transmission of actual or simulated EAS tones absent an emergency or test of the system.”

WADO [the parent company of WXNY-FM] states that the DJs played a sound effect containing a ‘simulated’ version of the EAS Header and End-of-Message Codes several times during a comedy sketch. WADO admits that the sound effect contained recorded EAS Tones that had aired over the Station during the previous day’s broadcast of an authorized EAS test. The Station first broadcast the EAS Tones while DJ Speedy was speaking about men who gain weight. The Station broadcast the EAS Tones a second time when DJ Luis, laughing, remarked, ‘[H]ey you set off the radio emergency system’ and then played them a third time as part of the continuing banter among the DJs. Moments later, just after DJ Speedy said ‘I’m going to tell you about two young boys that . . .,’ the Station played the EAS Tones a fourth time. Then DJ Luis commented: ‘[l]o que no se puede poner es el sonido por que I think it’s illegal, ya. . . .Eso es para emergencias. . . ,’ before playing the EAS Tones a fifth time.”

The post FCC Tells WXNY-FM that it’s Not Funny to Broadcast Emergency Alert Tones appeared first on Radio Survivor.

iHeartMedia (née Clear Channel) CEO Bob Pittman and radio/TV host Ryan Seacrest were both present at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, and they were stumping for radio. Pittman began an on-stage interview on Wednesday declaring that “radio is probably the most relevant product that rides on all this technology… radio is your best friend.”

He noted that in 1970 radio reached 92% of Americans, and in 2014 it still reaches 92% of Americans. The phone and computer now amount to additional radios, Pittman said.

Seacrest joined him, saying that “we can’t think of radio as just radio,” but as “everywhere,” since hosts like him spend so many hours a week with a listener. “We want to be their companion.”

Pittman talked up the live aspect of radio, which he said further differentiates it from television, which he said young people principally understand as always available. He also said that iTunes and streaming music is for when you want to escape the world and radio is for when you want to connect with the world.

On the face of things, it’s hard to find fault with Pittman’s and Seacrest’s assertions about radio, or at least live host-driven radio. The problem is that only a portion of commercial radio programming actually exemplifies these qualities.

Sure, morning drive programs are likely to feature dynamic hosts and live news, traffic and weather updates that connect the listener to the world. Even if the show itself is syndicated from a bigger market, I’ll admit that there’s a good chance there will at least be some local weather and maybe some news headlines inserted a couple times an hour.

But outside flagship stations in the biggest markets, most FM stations revert to automation for the rest of the broadcast day. Depending on the market and the company, the voice listeners hear and the programming decisions may not even be local. And good luck hearing any news and weather outside drivetime. There’s no more companionship or “being in touch with the world” in that than there is with a rerun of M*A*S*H on afternoon TV.

AM talk stations have a different kind of automation, with the vast majority of them piping in the same syndicated programs, again with very little local content. This may constitute companionship for the dwindling and rapidly aging AM listenership, but it really doesn’t for the millions upon millions of radio listeners who aren’t white men over the age of 35.

The utter bland sameness of most of the commercial radio broadcast day is probably one big reason why listenership for the iHeartRadio online platform has stalled out. As Edison Research reports, iHeartRadio added listeners at a fast pace beginning in 2011, peaking with 245,463 average listeners in May 2013. Since then, the number has dipped to around 242,000 and stayed there. By comparison, in the same period since May 2013 Pandora grew 32%.

To explain it, Edison observes that,

“most all of the sites that are geared (or mostly geared) to the streams of AM/FM Radio stations are flat or down since May of 2013. Cumulus is down 22% from that time in the September Triton numbers. CBS is down 14%. ESPN and Greater Media show modest gains. In general – it is more than fair to say the business of streaming the content of American radio stations is stagnant at best.”

That makes sense to me. Let’s just take for example the classic rock format. An app like iHeartRadio serves up dozens of stations with nearly identical playlists. You might use iHeart to listen somewhere you can’t use a radio, or if you’ve got a particular fondness for a distant station. And even I admit it can be fun tuning in stations from all over the country. But the novelty wears off quickly when you realize that the vast majority don’t actually vary much from your own local stations.

The sad thing is that there’s nothing inherent in this state of affairs. There is some good commercial radio out there. The reason there isn’t more is that the nation’s largest broadcasters built their empires by leveraging themselves with mountains of debt to hoover up stations, squeezing out profits by jettisoning DJs, producers, programmers and local management. It worked for a little while, but that era ended a decade ago.

iHeartMedia, Cumulus, Citadel, CBS – they can bring back the vibrancy of the kind of personality-driven live radio that Pittman lauds. They either just don’t want to spend the money, or they really don’t have the money to spend. That’s not because radio is dying, but because all the big owners spent the last 19 years starving the cash cow, while all but chasing away every new listener under the age of 30.

It’s reasonable to be optimistic about radio, especially the dynamic and live kind of radio Pittman praises. iHeartMedia-style radio, not so much.

The post iHeartMedia CEO Defends Radio at CES (with Unintentional Irony) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Getting into the prediction game is always risky. Sure, hundreds of political pundits make their living forecasting elections, seemingly blithe to actual outcomes. But I’d prefer not to be wrong this quickly.

Early this morning I published this week’s Podcast Survivor feature, focused on my predictions for podcasting in 2015. Quite confidently, and without much additional discussion, I asserted, “I don’t hold out much hope that the commercial radio industry will make any meaningful investment in podcasting.”

Then, when I woke up I found a press release in my inbox from CBS Radio touting the company’s new Play.It podcast network. While the site features plenty of existing broadcast shows, from 60 Minutes to The Danny Bonaduce Show, there are also a bunch of new born-digital podcasts. For instance, there are shows like the @Sreee Show hosted by the Chief Digital Officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Top Talk with L.A.-based chef Pace Webb and Define Your Life with fitness trainer Shaun T.

CBS has also brought over some existing podcasts to the play.it platform, including The Meister Piece with Susie Meister and the marketing-centric UnPodcast. In fact, back in November the UnPodcast hosts discussed their deal with CBS on episode 49, noting that they hope to bring on some advertisers as a result.

There will also be shows created in partnership with outlets like Gawker’s Deadspin, Foursquare and Vox. Only one of these shows has been announced, the Vox Podcast with Ezra Klein, though the first episode has not yet debuted. While none of the new Play.It shows is particularly innovative, the approach represents solidly proven podcast strategy and is sufficiently different from the typical commercial radio offering.

Taking a page from public broadcasting, CBS seems to be using its new podcasts as a way to try out potential terrestrial programming. The company says that in the coming months Play.It programming will be available on some of its stations’ HD2 channels in some major markets. While HD-only channels have a limited audience, the adaptation to commercial broadcast is still significant (and means eligible podcasts have to keep it clean).

Although I predicted otherwise, I’m glad to be wrong. My prediction that commercial radio wouldn’t invest in podcasting isn’t because I want the industry to miss yet another digital lifeboat slowly passing by its sinking ship. It’s because for the last decade and a half I’ve watched the industry weigh itself down with debt while tossing overboard talent and anything resembling an innovative idea. I’m also not saying that Play.It is an innovative move. But it is a timely one, that shows some hope that CBS Radio has some clue about podcasting.

The test, of course, is how well Play.It can attract audience and advertisers. Like iHeartRadio, the platform benefits from its parent company’s network of stations to promote it. That’s not a guarantee of success, but it’s a leg up.

The real hurdle is for Play.It to learn the podcast market and not only use pages from the broadcast playbook. Just looking at today’s debut, CBS could have made a bigger splash with such a big announcement. So far I’ve only seen coverage of Play.It in the radio industry press; nothing even in the tech press. Aside from the popular podcast of the 60 Minutes audio, there’s not a hint of the Play.It shows in the iTunes charts. While I’m certain CBS plans to attract new listeners from terrestrial to its podcasts, it’s also a good idea to entice some podcast fans, too, with some promotion directed their way.

Having a big brand media name doesn’t hurt, but is not sufficient in and of itself in the podcasting world. It will be interesting to see if some of the new shows draw in enough audience to push their way into the charts. Even more interesting will be watching to see if any other big radio player follows CBS’s lead.

The post CBS Radio Proves Me Wrong with its Play.It Podcast Network appeared first on Radio Survivor.

They Might be Giants just brought back its Dial-a-Song series (which debuted in the 1980s) in which the band is releasing a new song every week for a year. As part of the promotion, it will be debuting each week’s song over a Monday night podcast (“The Gist”) on Slate as well as sharing the song with radio stations in its new Dial-a-Song Radio Network. So far, a wide range of college, commercial, online-only and community radio stations have signed up for the network.

More than 100 stations have signed up for the 2015 Dial-a-Song Network and there’s still time if others want to join. Some of the participating stations include community radio stations KKUP and WFMU, college radio stations KXLU and KTCU, online stations Radio Dork and Radio Free Charlotte, as well as some stations in the UK and Canada.

Starting today, each week’s song can also be heard online on Dial-a-Song every Tuesday (and fans can also subscribe to get the entire 52 week series).

The original Dial-a-Song project allowed fans to hear each week’s new song by calling up a phone number and hearing the song over the recorded message. In a nod to that, each week’s online video shows the image of a phone, with the music emanating from its handset.

The post They Might Be Giants Launches Dial-a-Song Radio Network appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Some of our perennially most popular posts are about smooth jazz radio in Chicago (and there’s a lot of different kinds of jazz on Chicago radio). After being bumped around the dial for the last five years, the format has emerged on a new station once again, this time broadcasting from a new translator station high atop the John Hancock Center.

It’s been quite a ride. Smooth jazz was bumped from its two-decade home station WNUA-FM in 2009, moved to a TV channel 6 back-door to the FM dial, was axed again in 2012, only to migrate to an HD2 channel this past January. Then, once again, earlier this month the smooth jazz format came to an end on WTMX-HD2, replaced by an all-Jazz Christmas format for the holidays.

However, all is not lost for smooth jazz fans. On December 26 WTMX-HD2 began airing a new–but similar–urban jazz format called “The Groove.” The new station is headed up by veteran Chicago broadcaster Rick O’Dell, who was at the helm for the all the format’s incarnations. The smooth jazz format that aired on WTMX-HD2 from January to December was simulcast from O’Dell’s SmoothJazzChicago.net internet radio stream.

The station is also heard on analog radios via a new translator at 103.9 FM located right on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. “The Groove” is owned by Windy City Broadcasting, which leases the HD2 channel and owns the translator, which it purchased this past summer for a cool million bucks. That’s a lot of money for a 15-watt station, though Windy City has applied to boost power to 99 watts. Still a low-powered station, but being positioned up high in the heart of the city makes it accessible to a lot of listeners.

The channel 6 / 87.7 FM signal that first caught my attention five years ago is still on the air. The alternative rock format left the station in January when it returned to its former and storied q1home at 101.1 FM, where it was previously known as Q101 (the rights to the Q101 name are now owned by a web radio station).

Since January 87.7 has been leased by Tribune Broadcasting to air a sports talk station called The Game. However, that too is coming to an end tonight at midnight, when Tribune pulls the plug. In a November incident that went viral in sports and broadcast circles, the station’s two afternoon hosts learned about the shut down on Twitter live on the air, before they had been notified by management. The whole broadcast was caught on video by the live station cameras. Oops.

Chicago media writer Robert Feder reports that the signal will be taken over by the company behind the Me TV network–Weigel Broadcasting–which syndicates nostalgic old re-runs to digital television sub channels throughout the country. Feder says the new station will start February 1, and that 87.7 FM will simulcast its WGN-AM signal in the interim.

The post In Chicago Smooth Jazz Radio Moves Again appeared first on Radio Survivor.

There are a number of radio and music scholars who write for both academic and non-academic audiences. Eric Weisbard is one example of that. In the 1990s, he made his living as a rock critic for publications such as Spin and the Village Voice and today he is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at University of Alabama. In his new book, Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music, Weisbard delves into the history of radio formats. Specifically, he argues that radio formats have ultimately created multiple, “parallel mainstreams.”

As is the case for many scholars who end up writing about music and radio, Weisbard has a college radio past (he was on the air for 5 years in the 1980s). And he occasionally dabbles in radio to this day. Last week, I spoke with Weisbard about not only his book, but also about his personal connection with radio. He told me that the book grew out of his dissertation and explained that he expanded on that work by taking a look at radio in the 2000s and by digging into the history of rock radio station WMMS in Cleveland. Weisbard admitted that he isn’t a radio scholar and said that his approach is very much informed by his education and work as a historian.

Jennifer Waits: Tell me about your experience in college radio and how that informed your research.

Eric Weisbard: My college radio station, WPRB in Princeton, was the place that got me interested in music and very much led me on the path to both studying it and writing about it professionally…And I would also say that the college radio perspective of wanting to kind of present a view of music that’s different from the mainstream, ended up informing all my writing. So even though this book is a celebration of mainstream music, in some ways it’s written to tell people that what they think about the mainstream is wrong. So, in that way it’s very much in the spirit of college radio.

Jennifer: When did you do your dissertation?

Eric: In the years after…rockism and poptimism emerged as debated topics…I started working on my dissertation in 2005. In a lot of ways this began as an attempt to put a history around concepts like rockism and poptimism, even though…I ended up deciding that actually thinking about formats and genres was a way to take that discussion some place new.

Jennifer: Did you do radio in graduate school?

Eric:  No. Having been in college radio and having an affinity for radio is one of the reasons why when I started this project, radio was something I used as a touchstone. But the truth is that I’m not a radio person by and large and I’m not a radio scholar by and large. I’m a former rock critic teaching American Studies with a PhD in History who’s very interested in how music intersects the culture as a whole. From my perspective, radio is the most essential way that happens.

Jennifer: In your book you talk about radio formats as “under theorized” and music genres as “highly theorized.” Could you explain that a little bit more?

Eric: Formats, which attempt to match a group of sounds to a group of people, are different than genres, which are much more about an ideal of what music can be about…There’s something different about saying “my main concern is that this music speaks to a group of people” than to say “my music has to sound a certain way.” In other words, you’re prioritizing your ability to connect with people over your ability to make a particular kind of musical statement…Even though the desire that informs formats is a commercial desire…sometimes music that uses format thinking rather than genre thinking ends up speaking for groups of people who get left out when division of music is a more idealist one. And that’s the provocative claim of the book.

Jennifer: What do you think some of the most compelling formats might be?

Eric: I think the formats have basically stayed the same since the 70s, with the exception of the expanded role for Spanish language radio…When the commercial center of radio shifted to FM in the 1970s, it was right at the moment that all of those late 60s social and cultural issues had put identity right at the forefront and so different groups of Americans used this new space, FM radio, to claim portions of the center for themselves…The big picture is a small group of formats, Top 40, adult contemporary, rock, country, R&B, and since the late 1980s/1990s, Latin radio, those formats are the core formats of commercial radio…They each speak to different populations and groups of people who use them to hear stuff that wouldn’t be central otherwise and to have an experience of the culture in which who they are is defined as quintessentially normal.

Jennifer: Do you think freeform is a format?

Eric: Someone corrected me recently, because I’d always sort of thought that freeform was short for “free of format,” and he informed me that, no, freeform is a phrase that predates the format system. So it’s just a nice coincidence of language that you can hear freeform as meaning free of format. But what I think is that there’s no absolute rule for how different kinds of rock come across on radio. And, freeform, out of which, a lot of AOR evolved in the 1970s, out of which a certain amount of modern rock evolved in the 80s and 90s, out of which, I suspect, a certain amount of internet radio has evolved in the 2000s…Freeform remains this place of a kind of musical elitism that speaks to a certain section of the listening audience, but even more-so speaks to people who intend to be part of the creative class themselves…I now see it as very much connected to larger trends in American culture…being different from the mainstream…an expression of a certain kind of elite status. Is that cynical?

Jennifer: You devote one chapter to Cleveland rock radio station WMMS and all of its format changes over the years. Does the station hold special significance for you?

Eric: I knew I wanted to do a radio chapter and when I was thinking of how to bring rock more into this book…at some point I realized that WMMS was perfect for my purposes for a couple of reasons. One was, it was a midwestern station and I was really interested in how what had been seen as a collegiate thing/the rock of Woodstock had become by the 1970s, what’s often called blue collar rock, the rock of Bruce Springsteen, the rock of…Bob Seger, …the rock of any kind of sort of Heartland artist playing for a Heartland audience. And so I loved the idea of picking a midwestern radio station to follow this. And Cleveland, as the city of de-industrialization and rivaled only by maybe Detroit, was a great place to think about these things.

Then, the second amazing thing. It turned out that the program director of WMMS, John Gorman, who ran the station from 1973 to 1987 and then again for a couple of years in the 1990s,…had kept files of all his station memos for those many many years. He’d done his own memoirof the radio station on his own terms, based on those memos and since he was done, he was willing…[and] very generous to let me…just read through those memos and get a sense of the station from the inside.

Jennifer: What do you love about radio?

Eric: From the perspective of playing songs on the radio… last Friday night, for example, a friend who has a show on the NPR station here in Tuscaloosa, invited me to spin records for 2 hours. From that perspective, I love…playing anything you feel like, making connections and that’s the throwback to my college radio days. From the perspective of the person who wrote this book as he listens to radio still as almost a voyeur into other kinds of cultures, what I love about radio is that it makes the world normal…that it makes the world normal in five completely different ways simultaneously in virtually every place in America. That’s what I love about it.

The post Radio’s Top 40 Democracy: A Q&A with Author Eric Weisbard appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Catch Alice’s Restaurant on the 2023 radio dial. See our latest listening guide.

Once again it’s time for my annual run-down of some of the radio stations playing the Arlo Guthrie epic “Alice’s Restaurant” as part of an annual Thanksgiving Day tradition. There’s no exhaustive list of stations that plan to air the song, so I suggest you do your own research to see if your hometown station might be playing it as well.

In the next few months, you may also get the chance to hear the song live in concert, as tickets are already on sale for Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant 50th Tour.” Those of you in the New York area can also catch Arlo Guthrie live at Carnegie Hall this Saturday (November 29th) for his annual Thanksgiving Concert with the Guthrie Family.

Community radio station KBOO is also doing a screening of the film Alice’s Restaurant as a station fundraiser tomorrow night (Wednesday, November 26, 2014) at 7pm at the Clinton Street Theater in Portland, Oregon.

Of course, you can listen to Alice’s Restaurant any time you like online, or even enjoy an illustrated version on YouTube, but if you are old school and want to hear it live on the radio, here are some options:

KFOG (104.5/97.7 FM in San Francisco) will play Alice’s Restaurant at noon Pacific time on Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 27).

WDCV 88.3 FM (Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA) will play Alice’s Restaurant every even hour on the hour (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12) on Thanksgiving Day.

KISM 92.9 FM (Bellingham, Washington): Is playing Alice’s Restaurant at 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, and 6pm Pacific time on Thanksgiving Day.

92 KQRS (Minneapolis, Minnesota): Will play Alice’s Restaurant at 11am and 6pm on Thanksgiving Day.

iRadioPhilly: Will play Alice’s Restaurant at noon and 6pm Eastern time on the classic rock Ziggy station on Thanksgiving Day.

WFUV 90.7 FM (Fordham University station in Bronx, NY): Will play Alice’s Restaurant on Thanksgiving day at noon Eastern time.

WFIT 89.5FM (Melbourne, Florida): On Thanksgiving Day from 10am to 1pm Eastern time, the Florida radio station will play a “new updated version of the song.” According to WFIT, “Arlo will tell us what the Guthrie’s ‘really do’ on Thanksgiving.”

Q104.3: The New York classic rock radio station will play it at noon on Thanksgiving.

WPLR 99.1 FM (Milford, CT): Will play Alice’s Restaurant at 6am, 12noon and 6pm on Thanksgiving.

93.7 FM the Bus (State College, PA) will be playing it several times on Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t specify the exact times.

If you know of more stations planning to air the song this year, please add them in the comments. Also, take a look at my Alice’s Restaurant posts from 2013, 2012, and 2010 to see some of the stations that have played it in the past and to learn more about the tradition.

The post Thanksgiving 2014 Brings Another Chance to Hear Alice’s Restaurant on the Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.