On this week’s show, we peek behind the scenes of The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC). A project of the Internet Archive, the DLARC collection includes a range of amateur radio-related materials, including magazines, ham radio newsletters, podcasts and even discussion forums. Within the expansive library are items generally categorized as non-commercial radio, including pirate radio, shortwave, numbers stations, experimental radio, and “radio weirdness.” Additionally, every episode of the Radio Survivor Podcast was recently added to DLARC, which is how we learned about this archive. DLARC’s Curator Kay Savetz joins us on Radio Survivor to talk about not only the archive, but also how you can contribute.

Show Notes

• The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC)
• Kay Savetz website
• Radio Survivor Podcast episodes archived on DLARC
• October 2022 announcement about launch of DLARC
• Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)
• Internet Archive
• Podcast #178: Irish Pirate Radio Archive (with guests Brian Greene and John Walsh)
• Podcast #212: Border Radio in North America (with guest Kevin Curran)
• Podcast #260: Radio History on the Northern Border of Mexico (with guest Sonia Robles)
• Look out FCC Part 15 Devices: AM radio is gonna getcha! (learn about Matthew’s Part 15 spider)
• Radio4All
• The Shortwave Report
• Mediageek radio show

Show Credits:

• This episode was produced by Jennifer Waits
• Hosted by Jennifer Waits, Eric Klein, Matthew Lasar, and Paul Riismandel
• Edited by Eric Klein

The post Podcast #335 – Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications appeared first on Radio Survivor.

MeTV FM and 13 other FrankenFM stations now have an official and permanent home on the far left end of the FM dial. Like I expected, on July 20 the FCC approved a report and order allowing these now-digital low-power TV channel 6 stations to keep their experimental analog radio transmitters on the air. 

It’s a very narrow ruling, premitting only these 14 stations that had received Special Temporary Authority (STA) to broadcast an analog radio signal alongside a digital TV signal. No new stations can apply, and the FCC is not otherwise opening up new FM station opportunitieis on 87.75 MHz FM. However, if these stations are sold, they may transfer their FM rights as part of the sale. This had been prohibited under the terms of the STA.

As I argued last year, the fact that the Commission would even consider letting these loophole stations keep their loophole permanently is evidence that, despite its flaws and contradictions, the FCC tends to see its role as keeping stations on air and maintaining public service. Critically, FrankenFMs always operated within the letter of the law. They only, “took advantage of the physics of their location on the broadcast television band, because the uppermost portion of the channel where these television stations made their home was also capable of reception on the lowermost portion of the FM radio dial,” as Chairwoman Rosenworcel puts it.

Some might say my argument is contractied by how the FCC treats unlicensed, pirate broadcasters, which in many cases may be providing equivalent public service. Like it or not, unlicensed statoins operate in contravention to the rules, and it’s a critical difference for the FCC, and its legal mandates. This doesn’t mean there couldn’t be more productive approaches to pirate radio – indeed LPFM was one – but it does explain why FrankenFMs received different treament.

Adherence to rules is also why the FCC fines licensed stations that break them, even if those fines might jeopardize the station’s viability. However, in reality, it’s extremely rare that the FCC fines a station off the air for routine violations – even indecency – and the Commission will reduce fines if a license holder demonstrates hardship. Again, in the spirit of keeping stations on air and maintaining public service. If a station leaves the air in the face of a fine, more often it’s because the license holder chooses to sell or transfer the license in order to avoid current and future liability. The license and signal is preserved, even if the specific programming changes. 

In any event, it’s been a long, 14-year saga for FrankenFMs.

The post They Live! FCC Permanently Authorizes 14 FrankenFMs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s been nearly three years since the FCC first announced that a new low-power FM (LPFM) application window would be forthcoming. Now we know that November 1 – 8, 2023 will be the third-ever opportunity for qualified non-profits to apply for a license. Jennifer, Eric and Paul review all the pertinent details, explaining why there is excitement around LPFM and this next chance for new community and college radio stations to go on the air.

We also take another look at Franken FMs – vestigial low-power TV (LPTV) stations on channel 6 that can be heard at the far left end of the FM radio dial. They were supposed to go off the air a year ago when the last LPTV stations converted to digital broadcasts. But the FCC eventually granted 13 of them “Special Temporary Authority” to continue broadcasting an analog radio signal experimentally even while their video signals went digital. At its July meeting the Commission plans to vote on rules that would allow these Franken FMs to live on, and we discuss what’s at stake.

Show Notes:

• Podcast #269 – How To Get an FM Radio License in 2021
• New Opportunity for Low-Power FM Community Radio Stations Opens November 1, 2023
• Why There Will Be Fewer Opportunities for New LPFMs in the November Application Window
• The Greatest Flowering of Community Radio in History Happened in the 2010s
• Resources on applying for an LPFM license:
  • Rec Network’s LPFM.app
  • Common Frequency
  • Prometheus Radio Project
• KOMF-LP tour in Denver
• San Francisco Community Radio is a LPFM in a time-sharing agreement
• FrankenFMs Up for Final Vote at FCC
• Chicago’s MeTV FM Takes the Back Door to Radio Ratings Success

Show Credits

• This episode was produced by Paul Riismandel
• Hosted by Jennifer Waits, Eric Klein and Paul Riismandel
• Edited by Eric Klein

The post Podcast #331 – New Low-Power FM Opportunity Coming this November appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Going into the 2023 application window for new low-power FM stations we are unlikely to see the kind of massive expansion of the sort we had after the 2013 window. That’s because there are many fewer open frequencies, stemming from the fact that there are simply more FM radio stations on the dial in 2023 than in September, 2013, right before that last application window opened.

But just how big is the change? The FCC reports on the number of broadcast stations every quarter, so getting an exact number is trivial.

As of September 30, 2013 there were 17,356 FM licensed broadcast stations in the US. As of March 31, 2023 that number was 21,838. That means there are 4482 more – a 25% increase. However, the aggregate growth in FM doesn’t tell the whole story.

LPFMs can be squeezed into the dial on frequencies where full-power stations aren’t permitted. The same is true for translator repeater stations. And the growth in both these kinds of stations has been even greater: 60%!

There were 788 licensed LPFMs in September, 2013, and now there are 1,999 in March, 2023 – 154% more. Translators grew from 6,055 in 2013 to 8,939 in 2023, making for a 48% increase. In fact, combined, LPFMs and translators constitute a full half of all FM radio station licenses today. In 2013 they made up a little less than a quarter.

The LPFM growth is directly attributed to that 2013 application window, which resulted in the vast majority of new stations going on the air between 2014 and 2016. In 2016 and 2017 the FCC conducted application windows for translators, which drove the growth in those licenses. Two of those windows were specifically for AM stations which were newly permitted to obtain repeaters on FM, further fueling demand for valuable space on that dial.

So, that’s the state of things as we head into this next (and possibly final) opportunity for new LPFM community radio stations. Even though there will be fewer opportunities, this is no cause for despair. In the last decade so many more communities got their first – or second, third or fourth – community radio station. For example, my home of Portland, OR – which had two community stations and no true LPFMs in 2013 – added five more. Putting more on the air is kind of frosting on the cake, and at least some will likely be claiming frequencies from some of the LPFMs that weren’t able to survive, especially through the challenges of the pandemic.

The post Why There Will Be Fewer Opportunities for New LPFMs in the November Application Window appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Today there are 13 FrankenFM radio stations broadcasting in the US. These are vestiges of the analog TV past, given a short term lease by the Federal Communications Commission, now with a chance at a longer life.

Until July 2022 FrankenFMs were the analog audio signals of low-power TV (LPTV) stations on channel 6, which could be heard at the low end of the FM dial – at 87.75 MHz, to be precise. But July 2022 brought the final digital transition for these TV stations, which also meant the shutdown of their analog sound transmission.

However, some of these stations managed to build audiences that were generally unaware that they were listening to a TV station, and so they petitioned the FCC for special temporary authority (STA) to continue broadcasting in analog on the FM dial, even though their TV signals went digital. The FCC granted this exception to a baker’s dozen FrankenFMs on an experimental basis, and is now considering making this permanent, with the vote due on July 20.

Some hoped that this might be an opportunity to expand the FM, either by opening up 87.7 FM to more applicants (it’s not part of the official FM dial), or by expanding the dial even further to 82 MHz, reallocating the full bandwidth of what was once assigned to TV channel 6. To some disappointment, the Commission has indicated that it only intends to consider a fairly narrow option, only authorizing these last 13 FrankenFMs, taking additional stations or FM band expansion off the table.

Some public radio broadcasters have opposed any authorization of FrankenFMs because they see them as having taken a back-door into the FM dial, and that their FM service is a happy accident, never intended by the original rules of the game. They also think 87.75 MHz should fall into the non-commercial band (88 – 92 MHz), and object to the fact that many, if not most, FrankenFMs operate as commercial stations.

For its part the FCC seems to acknowledge that these remaining FrankenFMs are serving real listeners who’ve come to rely on their programming, often targeted to minority communities. So this final proposal up for vote represents an attempt to thread the needle, balancing a desire not to negatively impact listeners while also not opening the floodgates or creating additional controversy with the broadcast industry, in which there is no united opinion on expanding the FM band.

I’m not typically given to making predictions, but given the STAs already issued to these last FrankenFMs, combined with the very constrained proposal up for vote, my guess is that the FCC Commissioners are likely to authorize them. We won’t know for sure until the next public meeting on July 20, and you can be sure we’ll report on it here.

The post FrankenFMs Up for Final Vote at FCC appeared first on Radio Survivor.

After being on the precipice of shutdown since 2014, Ireland’s long wave (LW) RTÉ 252 is finally leaving the airwaves on April 14. I was alerted to the news thanks to James Cridland’s International Radio Trends, and realized I had not given the station much thought since September, 2021 when it returned to the air after two months of maintenance. 

As Radio Survivor contributor Paul Bailey explained in a 2016 post, RTÉ 252 has a storied history. The station was founded as a commercial station in 1989, broadcasting rock music to the UK. It was acquired by the Irish public broadcaster in 2002, seeing an opportunity to reach the Irish diaspora. Protests from those listeners in the UK motivated the broadcaster to forestall 252’s demise several times in the last decade, but it appears April will see the final shutdown. 

The 252 KHz signal rebroadcasts the RTÉ Radio 1 signal, which is otherwise available on satellite TV in the UK, and online worldwide. A primary argument for keeping it running was that it served older listeners, less savvy with internet streaming, and those tuning in while in their cars. Those rationales seem to have lost their power. 

Though never used for broadcast in North America, the long wave band was once used throughout Europe and the Middle East in order to reach audiences over broad distances of hundreds of miles. LW propagation could be even better than medium wave (MW) AM, which served that function in the US, Canada and Mexico. 

But the catch is that LW and AM broadcasting are expensive, especially to accommodate the high power needed to significant distances. According to RTÉ the 252 transmitter requires a full 2.5% of the organization’s total energy use. The antenna arrays also take up a lot of real estate to function at such low frequencies because, as the name implies, they have long waves. However, RTÉ has not announced plans to dismantle the transmitter site in Summerhill. 

Across Europe both LW and AM/MW are in steep decline, principally due to these high costs and overall declining demand. For instance, the BBC is planning to wind down its own Radio 4 LW service and Radio 5 Live MW/AM transmitter network. AM is under threat in the US, too, as automakers drop support in their electric vehicles, citing interference caused by the motors that is difficult to mitigate.

As an aside, I own a Subaru Crosstrek plug-in hybrid, which has both electric and gas motors. I rarely listen to AM radio in the car, but I’ve noticed that performance on the band is significantly worse than I’ve heard in other gas-engined cars. By comparison, the FM receiver is quite good, especially on HD Radio stations.

It’s probably still too early to write AM’s obituary in North America, though additional life support may be needed. However, the end is likely nigh for LW and MW/AM in Europe. 

While I’m always a little sad to see such an historic service phase out, I do find the energy consumption argument rather convincing. I also suspect internet radio is even more accessible to RTÉ 252 listeners than it was in 2014. But I will admit a little part of me is waiting for the 11th hour stay of execution.

The post It’s the Final Shutdown for Ireland’s Longwave RTÉ 252 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

High school radio station KBPS AM in Portland, Oregon is celebrating a very special anniversary this week: 100 years on the air. It’s an accomplishment that few radio stations can lay claim to. And it’s especially remarkable that this particular radio station has always been a student-focused educational radio station. It’s very likely the longest-running high school radio station in the United States, having launched in 1923.

I was lucky to visit KBPS in 2015 and even before that trip was enamored with its incredible history. Festivities for the 100th are ongoing, with a special live broadcast on KBPS AM 1450 (and KBPS.AM) at 9am on Thursday, March 23, 2023. Alumni are invited to join live on the air or by sending in audio. Details can be found on the KBPS website.

Additionally, KBPS is having a public open house on Thursday, April 20 and Friday, April 21st at 100th Tech Show. Visitors are invited to come by the station at the Benson Polytechnic High School, Marshall Campus in Portland, Oregon for live broadcasts, studio tours, and more. Historical memorabilia will be on display.

KBPS’ license is held by the Portland Public School District. According to the station’s website, “On March 23, 1923, the student body of Benson was licensed by the federal government to operate a radio station using 200 watts of power at 834 kilocycles. The first call letters of the station were KFIF. The station made its formal debut on the air and was officially dedicated in early May of 1923, between the hours of 9:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., on the opening night of the 5th annual Benson Tech Show. In spring of 1930, the call letters changed from KFIF to KBPS, for Benson Polytechnic High School.”

The post Happy 100th to High School Radio Station KBPS appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC is not in the business of taking licensed radio stations off the air.

This is something I’ve been telling community and college radio folks for well over a decade, especially when they get themselves tied up in knots of anxiety trying to read certain regulations like literary theory, worried that a fine over a fleeting f-word or clueless DJ promoting their own live gig once will spell the end. (It won’t, and hasn’t in the last four decades.)

There’s no better evidence for this perspective than the Commission’s latest proposed rulemaking to let FrankenFMs stay resident at the FM dial’s back door of 87.75 MHz, permanently. 

To briefly review: FrankenFMs are TV stations broadcasting as radio stations that were never licensed as radio at all. Instead they’re the vestiges of analog low-power TV (LPTV) stations that broadcast on channel 6, where the formerly analog audio portion of their signals could be heard at the far left end of the FM dial. Essentially, once full-power TV in the US went all-digital in 2009, FrankenFMs exploited what was previously just a technical curiosity to create a backdoor service. 

However, LPTVs had to go all-digital in June 2021, ending analog audio and FM radio reception at the same. But then the FCC authorized Special Temporary Authority (STA) for 13 of these stations to maintain an analog radio signal alongside their digital one, and those stations remain on the FM dial today.

With this new proposal, the Commission is recognizing that to listeners FrankenFMs are real radio stations, even if that’s not what the rules intended them to be. Of course, one could say the same of pirate stations – which the agency is staffing up to fight – but the Frankens at least were authorized to have an audio signal at 87.75 FM, just not necessarily a standalone signal. Yet, that was never prohibited either.

Say it again: The FCC is not in the business of taking licensed radio stations off the air.

(Even if they’re not fully radio stations.)

Of course, this proposal does not come without controversy. The most common objection is that it’s otherwise difficult to put a new FM station on the air, and so it would be fairer not to authorize this backdoor scheme. An additional argument is that if these stations are legitimized, then the Commission should extend the opportunity to more broadcasters.

In fact, the FCC asks if they should do just that, adopting an idea that’s been floating around community radio and public interest circles for the last decade, more recently suggested by National Public Radio: reallocate analog channel 6 TV frequencies 82 – 88 MHz for new FMs. Obviously, this would require new radio receivers to get most of the new broadcasts. But there was a time not too long ago that the AM dial didn’t go all the way to 1710 KHz, so there’s precedent. 

No doubt, many entrenched broadcast interests will probably argue that it’s absurd to license frequencies for stations that won’t be heard on most receivers. I don’t think that is so absurd in today’s radio and media environment. I’ll make that case in a separate post. 

Now we’re waiting for the comment window on this proposal to open when it gets published in the Federal Register. That’s when we’ll see what arguments, pro and con, are made on these ideas, and any of us in the public may weigh in, too.

The post FCC’s Proposal to Legitimize FrankenFMs Proves It Isn’t in the Business of Taking Stations off the Air appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The annual Infinite Dial survey from Edison Research was recently released, showing what people in the US are listening to, and where. It even includes social media platforms like TikTok, which Eric observes young people often use like radio, playing in the background as they go about daily activities. We review the stats, and also get into the FCC’s latest count of radio stations. Spoiler alert: there are more than ever.

Jennifer shares her recent visit to the Pyrite Radio art installation, featuring radios using fool’s gold as their crystal.

Show Notes:

• Edison Research Infinite Dial 2022
• FCC Broadcast Stations Totals for Q1 2022
• For comparison, Radio Station Totals for Q1 2012
• Jennifer’s dispatch on Pyrite Radio for Hii Magazine

The post Podcast #326: The State of Listening and Broadcast Radio in 2022 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine greatly upsets me, as my heart goes out to the Ukrainian people. I feel a connection because my father’s family is from Estonia, which also borders Russia and has a long, unhappy history of Russian domination. While Estonia today is a free republic, the assault on Ukraine understandably puts the people of all the Baltic nations on edge, even as they send aid to Ukraine.

Polish Radio 1 is pitching in with a Ukrainian-language news broadcast on longwave that can be heard across Europe, including Ukraine. These updates can be heard daily at 10 AM and 5 PM CET on 225 kHz.

Though not used for audio broadcasts in the Americas, longwave is a band that sits well below the mediumwave band that is home to AM radio. Longwave can travel longer distances than mediumwave, following the curvature over the earth and even over mountains. Though signals do not travel as far as some shortwave broadcasts. However, longwave’s advantage is a more stable signal with potentially slightly higher fidelity than shortwave. Ireland’s RTÉ 252 is another longwave station we’ve covered, which serves the Irish diaspora in the UK.

The BBC World Service has also added two shortwave broadcasts to Ukraine on 5875 kHz from 0800 to 1000 UTC and 15735 kHz from 0200 to 0400 UTC.

Long-distance radio broadcasts are particularly vital in times of war and conflict because reception is less dependent on stable power, or mobile or wired internet access. Longwave- and shortwave-capable radios are often more common in Europe than in North America, and many people there are more accustomed to turning to these bands for news and information.

News from Ukraine is broadcast to the world on Radio Ukraine International, available on satellite in Europe and online. According to the Official WSL Channel, WRMI Radio Miami International has resumed rebroadcasts of RUI on shortwave daily, except Friday, at 1200 – 1230 UTC on 5010 kHz.

The post Radio to and from Ukraine appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A belated happy New Year and welcome to 2022. It’s not quite a New Year’s resolution, but I want to return to regular blogging here at Radio Survivor, at least covering interesting radio stories of note, along with other radiophonic observations.

With the Super Bowl coming in just under three weeks you can look forward to my (nearly) annual how to listen to the Super Bowl on the radio post. Research has already started, so drop us a line if you know of a source beyond the usual US commercial radio affiliates.

First up is this report from Spin Magazine (it still exists!?) on Ice Radio at McMurdo Station on Antarctica. Conducted over email, writer Lukas Harnisch interviews a group of workers at the scientific outpost who volunteer at the station, broadcasting at 104.5 FM. Longtime readers and listeners will recall that we covered the station on our podcast and radio show back in 2019, talking with McMurdo broadcast engineer Elizabeth Delaquess. Nevertheless it’s nice to see the station get some press. Love this quote from Ralph Maestas, who manages TV and radio operations:

“For the last 10 years we’ve had an essay prompt on the back of the sign-up sheet to volunteer that asks them what they think it means to be a DJ in this community. Almost every response is that they want to give something back to the community.”

Next up, amid concerns that Russia plans to invade Ukraine, one or more radio hackers were reportedly jamming a Soviet-era Russian numbers station, UVB-76, this past weekend. According to Motherboard, the hackers were been broadcasting signals over the station’s frequency that appear as pictures – largely troll-inspired memes – when viewed on a spectrum analyzer.

El denominado "The Buzzer" (UVB-76) un sistema de radiocomunicaciones militares rusas desde hace casi 40 años, lleva días interferido por "piratas". Muchos vinculan esta actividad con el conflicto de Ucrania. La pasada noche se emitieron imágenes muy bizarras en su frecuencia pic.twitter.com/5QOMKPtIA1

— David Marugán (@RadioHacking) January 20, 2022

The Motherboard story somewhat inaccurately states that the rogue broadcasters “hijacked” the shortwave station. However, that implies that they’ve taken over the actual broadcast facility or transmitter, either physically or virtually. Instead, what’s happening is that they’re jamming the station by broadcasting over it.

At the moment this seems more of a curiosity than anything else. While numbers stations have long been thought to be transmitting coded messages for international espionage, it’s hard to know if the Russian station in question is still in use by actual spies (if it ever was). Of course, jamming with frequencies that show up as images in the spectrum analyzer is a clever touch, even if it seems like a there’s a pretty limited audience. Thank goodness we have social media, though, else we’d never know about it.

The post Rough Notes: Antarctic Radio Revisited & Jamming Soviet-Era Numbers appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Thanks to reader Paul Bailey I’ve recently been alerted that Ireland’s long-running longwave (LW) radio station RTÉ 252 is back on the air, after a period of maintenance beginning in June of this year. The service rebroadcasts public broadcaster RTÉ Radio 1, reaching longer distances than the mediumwave AM band – no longer in use by RTÉ – and the FM band.

As Bailey explained in a 2016 guest post, RTÉ 252 was founded when the broadcaster acquired the transmitter site from a commercial radio operation that lasted from 1989 to 2002. Able to reach distances of up to 1200 miles with fidelity roughly equivalent to conventional AM radio – with superior quality and reliability than shortwave – RTÉ 252 is able to serve a significant Irish diaspora in the UK. Though the same programming is available globally online, that still makes it inaccessible to many motorists and listeners with limited or no internet service.

Situated below the conventional AM band at 30 – 300 KHz, LW was never officially used for broadcasting in the Americas, though it’s had a long history in Europe, Asia and Africa. However, the long wavelengths mean that the transmission towers need to be very tall and situated on a large parcel of land in order to broadcast efficiently, using hundreds of kilowatts of power. Currently RTÉ broadcasts with 150 kilowatts in the daytime – a fraction of the 500 kw it’s licensed for – which is still 3x what the most powerful clear channel AM stations may use in the US.

All of that means a LW station is relatively expensive to operate and maintain, which is why RTÉ proposed shutting down the 252 operation back in 2014. Outcry from listeners across Ireland and the UK caused the broadcaster to cancel the shutdown in 2019, ultimately deciding to conduct maintenance this year to keep the service going into the future.

The post Ireland’s Longwave Radio RTÉ 252 Is Back on the Air appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission recently announced that November 2, 2021 will mark the opening of the next licensing window for full-power non-commercial / educational (NCE) FM radio stations. The Commission first hinted at this chance back in fall of 2020. Given how often our listeners ask how and when they can get a radio license, we immediately dedicated an episode to that topic. Now that more is known we decided to revisit it.

Even though the application window dates have not yet been announced, now is the time to get prepared. Broadcast attorney Frank Montero guests to help us understand the process of applying for an FM broadcast license. He’s a partner with Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth, which also publishes the CommLawBlog. He explains who qualifies to apply and other requirements to keep in mind.

License application windows are the only time when an organization may apply for an FM radio license, and they don’t happen frequently. The last full-power NCE window was more than a decade ago, and the last chance at an LPFM was 2013. As the FM dial fills up in cities and towns across the country, this may be the last opportunity for a new station in many regions. If you’re interested in operating a full- or low-power non-commercial station we we hope this episode helps get you started. Even if you’re not interested, it’s important to understand just how stations get on the air in the 21st century.

Show Notes:

• CommLawBlog – The Upcoming FCC Noncommercial FM and LPFM Filing Windows: What You Need to Know
• The Next Noncomm FM License Opportunity Opens November 2
• NFCB: Primer On The NCE Radio Filing Window
• FCC Chair: New LPFM & Noncomm License Opportunities Coming Soon
• FCC Awards Full-Power Licenses to 5 LPFMs, Plus 52 More Orgs (2010)
• FCC’s LPFM order will make 2013 a good year for community radio (2012)
• Radio Survivor documented the roll-out of new LPFM stations beginning with the most recent 2013 application window

Feature image adapted from “The FCC’s front door” by Rob Pegararo / flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The post Podcast #300 – How to Get a Noncomm FM License in 2021 (Replay) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The clock is still ticking for FrankenFMs, legacy analog low-power TV stations broadcasting on channel 6 with signals heard at 87.7 FM, on the far left end of the dial. The FCC has determined all analog television signals must convert to digital by July 13 of this year, and just issued a public notice reminding broadcasters of that deadline.

The Commission is pretty unequivocal in its warning:

By 11:59 p.m. local time on July 13, 2021, all LPTV/translator stations must terminate all analog television operations regardless of whether their digital facilities are operational. Stations that have not yet constructed a digital facility must cease analog television operations no later than July 13, 2021, and remain silent until construction is completed. If a station goes silent prior to completing construction of its digital facility, it may file a request for silent authority.

Stations that are still scrambling to get their digital transmissions up and running can make one last Hail Mary pass by filing for an extension no later than March 15. Note that getting an extension doesn’t mean they’re permitted to keep their analog signals going – they just get extra time to get their digital systems ready.

It’s important to note that the FCC makes no mention of FrankenFMs, even though it opened up a proceeding in 2019 to consider what – if anything – to do about them, with final reply comments due February 2020. Today I count 23 analog channel 6 stations that appear to operate as a radio station. The most common format is Spanish-language music, comprising 11 of them. With just 35 total analog LPTV channel 6 stations left, that means only a third are actually operating as true television stations, with video as their primary programming.

If I were to bet, I’d say these 23 remaining FrankenFMs are unlikely to get a stay of execution between now and July 13. Though it’s always possible the FCC will surprise us, the Commission has a pretty full docket as it is, even on the broadcast side, including a radio auction due to launch July 27. Moreover, the idea of letting FrankenFMs remain on the air or get another pathway onto the FM dial remains very controversial within the broadcast industry, with NPR as one of the strongest opponents. 

Chicago’s MeTV Radio is probably the most prominent FrankenFM, having added four true FM broadcast affiliates. When asked about the looming analog shutdown last July, the station’s owner told Chicago media journalist Robert Feder, “We have a solution and [are] moving forward.” The creator of the MeTV Radio format said, “Please stand by.”

Well, I can say I’m standing by and very curious to hear what MeTV and other FrankenFMs will do. Venture Technologies is the largest owner of these stations, and therefore presumably has some resources, as does Weigel Broadcasting, which programs and operates MeTV. 

One solution I can imagine is negotiating space on an HD Radio subchannel (HD2, HD3 or HD4). While there may be some commercial frequencies available for auction this year in some cities that are home to a FrankenFM, that is most definitely not the case in big metroplexes like Chicago and Cleveland. However, it seems like HD subchannels are fairly underutilized, even in big metros, and much easier to lease. Such a move would put a station back on the dial, at least on a large percentage of car radios.

But then that HD Radio channel can be used to feed a low-power translator station, giving it an analog signal, too. Even translators are in relatively high demand in big markets, but still easier to either purchase or lease than a full power signal.

Stay tuned, especially if you have a FrankenFM – operating at 87.7 FM – in your area. If you do, drop us a line and let us know what you hear, and if you catch wind of any announcements about their status.

The post Time Is Running Out for FrankenFMs – Just 4 Months Left appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I’m a bit of an audiophile, because I really enjoy music that is nicely reproduced, not because I’m up for dropping five figures on an audio component. One of the most enduring debates among audiophiles is analog vs. digital.

I don’t really take a position in this debate. I’ve owned a turntable since my age was in single digits, and never gave up my vinyl collection. I listen to records every week, but I’ve owned a CD player for 34 years. Convenience combined with darn good sound mean digital audio fills more hours of my day.

The recent news that the FCC approved all-digital AM broadcasting got me thinking about how radio is still a mostly analog sound medium, and arguably the most accessible and convenient one, at that. While digital HD Radio has made some inroads, in the US I’ll bet a strong majority of people tuned into live terrestrial radio are receiving an analog signal.

Analog partisans – many of whom also advocate for open reel tape in addition to vinyl – often argue that non-digital audio reproduction sounds more natural. Given that most music in the last decade or so was recorded digitally, they even posit that a digitally sourced recording sounds better when pressed into a vinyl LP than when heard on a CD or streaming service.

If that’s the case, then FM radio, in particular, deserves recognition as a great analog medium alongside records and open-reel tapes. In fact, I’ll argue that radio is the most accessible and ubiquitous sound medium in the world.

I have no doubt in my mind that most music heard on the radio is sourced digitally, whether from a CD, a hard drive or an automation system. At college, community and progressive-leaning commercial stations a small percentage of tunes still come from vinyl records played live on turntables. But I’ll even bet that a portion of those are first digitized for more convenient or time-shifted playback. Moreover, a lot of stations have transitioned to digital airchains, using digital mixing boards and networked components to more efficiently route signals between studios and transmitters.

Yet, in the end, right now all signals must end up as analog in order to be broadcast through the airwaves.

Fidelity vs. Processing

At the same time analog does not inherently equal high fidelity, just as digital fails the same equation. Plenty of music stations – especially commercial pop music stations – use processing that squeezes the life out of everything. Intended to make a station sound louder than adjacent ones, especially for listeners seeking across the dial, this compression makes everything sound shouty and eliminates any variation in dynamics that might have been in the original recording.

The overuse of compression in modern digital recordings is already a source of contention for many music lovers, with the controversy known as the “Loudness Wars.” But when you take an already over-compressed recording and put it through another stage of broadcast processing I find the result to be headache-inducing for more than a few minutes of listening.

Luckily, not every station pounds the hell out of its signal. I find many more college, community and public stations go a lot easier on the processing, letting more of the original dynamic range – the difference between softer and louder signals – come through. Classical stations, in particular, tend to have the lightest touch, since dynamics are considered especially vital to the form compared to rock, pop and R&B.

A little bit of audio processing is almost impossible to avoid in broadcast. In part, there’s a need to keep the softest passages above the noise floor. Even though FM stereo is pretty noise-free, there’s always a little bit of low-level static, which can be more prominent as you get further away from the transmitter. A little bit of compression helps keep the music comprehensible most of the time.

Unfortunately, there’s also the need to keep up with the Jonses. When surrounding stations are keeping the needle pegged in the red, your station risks sounding obscurely quiet by comparison. You may have experienced this phenomenon when spinning the dial in the car. You’re listening to one station at a reasonably volume, then switch to the next and feel like you get blown into the back seat. That’s because the second station is overusing (or abusing) processing and compression to sound louder, at the expense of fidelity.

Fidelity AND Processing

This might seem like I’m saying broadcast processing and compression is a bad thing, or a necessary evil. That’s not necessarily the case. Keep in mind that all music is processed and compressed for distribution. Music that goes to vinyl also goes through some processing that in some ways is pretty similar to broadcast processing. There are peculiarities inherent to vinyl records that need to be compensated for, one of which is a smaller dynamic range than you have with digital recordings (or open reel tapes); a little compression helps keep the music above the clicks, pops and surface noise, and can keep the stylus from physically jumping out of the groove. Though high-end vinyl playback systems can achieve pretty impressive dynamics, in practice a good FM broadcast and decent vinyl record are roughly equivalent.

That said, one might argue that playing vinyl on broadcast radio subjects the music to double-processing. In that case, you could say that playing a CD or digital recording on the radio might yield the best results.

Still, all that is just hypothetical perfectionist prognostication, with real-world effects that are mighty difficult to detect. For most people, analog FM radio sounds pretty good, especially where it matters most: in their vehicles. Compared to portable bluetooth speakers and skinny soundbars, the oft-forgotten car stereo is possibly most people’s best sound system.

I’m not claiming that analog FM radio is the ultimate in high fidelity. Though, having tuned in a ton of internet feeds for World Radio Day this past weekend, I can attest that the online stream for a lot of broadcast stations is unmistakably inferior to what you hear on air. Rather, I’m saying that if there is still value in analog sound, then we must include radio in the mix.

Listen, digital audio is here to stay, and I, for one, won’t be tilting at that windmill. But there are aesthetic and fidelity reasons to enjoy, and sometimes prefer analog audio.

I’m not here to convince anyone to give up their streaming account, YouTube or internet station. But if you enjoy vinyl and care about sound at all, fire up an analog radio sometime, particularly if you haven’t in a while. Tune around to the left end of the dial and you might be surprised in what you experience. Find yourself a full-bodied table radio, a receiver connected to a nice set of speakers or a good car radio and you’re probably in for a treat.

The post Radio Is the World’s Most Accessible & Popular Analog Sound Medium appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A number of months ago I was scanning around the AM dial late in the evening from my Portland, Oregon abode. I stumbled upon a station playing hard rock, which I thought to be an unusual find. As the AM dial has become mostly the domain of conservative and sports talk, I rarely encounter music that isn’t a bumper or part of some leased-time foreign-language programming.

In fact, at first I thought perhaps the music was a lead-in to just another talk show, but eventually I heard a full set of three songs. The station identified itself as “The Bear,” but curiously gave an FM frequency, not one on the AM dial. 

An internet search the next day confirmed that “the Bear” is indeed an active rock formatted station located in Merced, California. Its logo features 105.7 FM prominently, with the 1660 AM frequency tucked in the corner. Yet, the AM signal is actually the primary one – the FM is a 250 watt repeater (translator) station. 

Here’s a quick aircheck of the Bear’s station ID, during a break in the syndicated hard rock “Loudwire” program.

Now, AM stations have been permitted to get FM translators for a few years now as part of the FCC’s so-called “AM revitalization” initiative. But mostly I’ve heard sports and news/talk stations get repeated on FM. 

I filed away this experience in memory, but kind of considered it a one-off. That was until my recent vacation in the Wallowa Mountains of Northeastern Oregon. Stowed away and social distancing in a mountainside cabin with limited internet and no cable, I spent quite a bit of time scanning the AM and shortwave bands in search of interesting sounds.

This time I heard a full set of contemporary hip-hop. At the break the station identified as “The Game, nothing but hip-hop.” After the commercial break, the next ID gave a frequency of 103.5 FM. Listening for about 45 minutes while I made dinner, I never heard the AM frequency mentioned once. 

Here is a short aircheck of two station IDs for “The Game.”

“The Game” was coming to me out of Spokane, Washington, 200 miles north of my Joseph, Oregon location. A later search also identified KGA as an AM station, first licensed in 1927, with translator at 103.5 FM. Unlike “the Bear,” branding for “the Game” has no indication of its AM signal. The station’s website curiously makes no mention of AM, either.

For “the Game” it really seems like the AM signal – with a powerful 50,000 watt daytime power – is just a feeder for an FM that broadcasts with less than 1% the power. Granted, I get that few hip-hop fans are likely to scan the AM dial looking for the station, but they might give it a try if they knew about it – especially if they’re on the fringe or outside the FM’s constrained broadcast radius.

It’s refreshing to hear music on the AM band that isn’t being used as a bumper or bed, and isn’t easy listening. But it’s also a little disheartening to realize that it’s likely few listeners actually tune in to the AM signal. 

December 2020 ratings for the Spokane market still list KGA as a sports talk station, ranking at #22 out of 26 stations in the book. Only the AM frequency is listed, and I’m not entirely sure they’d list the FM frequency, too. So there’s no way to really tell which signal has the listeners.

Merced, home to “the Bear,” is no longer measured by Nielsen, and the new ratings company doesn’t share their rankings online. 

With most medium-to-large market FM dials packed to the gills, it only makes sense that some enterprising AM operators would try music as a way to better leverage their FM translators. I understand this has become a bit of a tiny trend, though I’ve not been able to figure out just how widespread.

It seems like music on AM may get even another boost, thanks to the FCC’s authorization of all-digital HD Radio on the dial in October. Stations that already use hybrid HD Radio – where the digital signal is squeezed in next to the analog one – have higher fidelity when received on an HD-capable receiver. Because more bandwidth will be dedicated to the digital signal, all-digital AM stations should have even better sound quality. 

In December, Radio World reported on KMZT-AM in Southern California, which actually flipped from oldies to classical music on its hybrid HD signal. The programming is also heard on the HD–4 channel of a co-owned FM station. The owner says he’ll consider switching to all-digital when there are more HD receivers in use. 

The downside to all-digital AM is that analog receivers – the vast majority of AM radios that aren’t in cars – won’t be able to hear these signals. That is, of course, unless these stations also have FM translators.

I imagine AM stations that have these translators will be some of those more willing to take the risk of trying all-digital AM, since they can still reach analog listeners on the other dial. At the same time, the tiny broadcast areas of translators mean that the potential audience will be smaller, at least in the daytime, when many AM stations run at full power. 

Only one AM station so far has filed paperwork to go all-digital, WMGG-AM in Egypt Lake, Florida. It is simulcast on both a full-power FM and an FM translator.

Even though many of the largest radio owners have signaled little interest in all-digital AM, it should still be a fascinating year for the dial. I’ll be on the lookout for more music formats cropping up. Let us know if you hear anything interesting.

Feature image credit: Michael Curi / flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The post Why There’s More Music on AM Now appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Though there are many good reasons why one might not want to look back at the year that was, we still see some aspects worth noting. In particular, radio and podcasting proved to be resilient media, with broadcasters and podcasters rallying to meet the challenges of quarantines and social distancing brought on by the COVID-19 epidemic. This also brought on renewed interest in legal unlicensed Part 15 radio broadcasting, while the FCC authorized the first-ever terrestrial all-digital radio broadcast service, on the AM dial, no less.

The murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor refocused the nation’s attention on systematic racism and the racial and gender inequality that continues to permeate every aspect of American society. This brought about fresh calls for public and community broadcasters to address the effects of this within their own walls, along with efforts to provide mutual aid, support and guidance to BIPOC and advice to white allies.

An eventful year, it was, and we’re here to run it all down.

Show Notes:

• Social Distancing Sparks Interest in Part 15 Unlicensed Broadcasting, but Caveat Emptor
• FCC’s All-Digital AM Plan Likely Will Be Weak Sauce
• Public Media For All
• Podcast #270: Public Media for All
• FairPlay
• WFUV’s EQFM
• Podcast #240 – WFMU is Still On the Air During the Pandemic
• Podcast #239 – Hunkering Down with Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska
• Podcast #238 – Social Distancing, Going Remote and Automation during Global Pandemic
• Podcast #237 – How Community & College Radio Can Deal with COVID-19
• Voicemeeter Banana is the free software Jennifer has been using to recorder her radio show from home

The post Podcast #276 – 2020 the Year in Radio and Sound appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric, Jennifer and Paul reconvene to catch up on all that is news to us in the worlds of radio and sound. The FCC just unanimously approved all-digital operation on the AM band, while commercial radio – born on the AM band – celebrates its centennial. But keep in mind that broadcast radio is older than that first commodified broadcast.

We also reflect on the very first virtual Grassroots Radio Conference and the history of radio dealing with earlier epidemics.

Show Notes:

• FCC’s All-Digital AM Plan Likely Will Be Weak Sauce
• YouTube: Re-enactment Commemorates 100th Anniversary Of First Commercial Radio Broadcast In Pittsburgh
• YouTube: Should We Hate Spotify? [An Objective View From A Professional Musician]
• Podcast #234 – Community Access Radio in New Zealand
• Prof. Kyle Barrett guested on Podcast #221 – The Intertwined History of the Radio and Recording Industries
• Matthew Lasar explains the history of the rise and fall of “turntable style” music community websites on Podcast #26 – Celebrating Radio Stickers & Turntable Rooms
• Podcast #263 – Broadcasting High School Radio through Wildfires and a Pandemic
• 2020 Virtual GRC Sessions on YouTube
• Podcast #240 – WFMU is Still On the Air During the Pandemic
• WHIV-LP New Orleans, Human Rights & Social Justice Radio

The post Podcast #271: AM Radio Goes Digital as It Celebrates a Centennial appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eleven months after opening a proceeding to consider allowing AM stations to go all-digital, the FCC appears ready to render its verdict later this month. According to Radio World’s Paul McLane, “[B]ased on anecdotal evidence, the commission will likely approve it.”

To recap, the Commission is considering proposals to allow AM stations to voluntary convert to all-digital HD Radio transmission, turning off their analog signals entirely. The purported benefits are better fidelity with no audible noise or interference. The tradeoff is that digital stations will effectively disappear from analog AM receivers, which make up the vast majority of radios.

It is true that about half of all car radios on the road now are HD Radio capable, and that the car is the site of large proportion of terrestrial radio listening. However, HD Radio has very little presence outside the car. It seems to be a big bet to cut off anywhere from a quarter to nearly a half of your listeners by ditching analog radios.

That is the takeaway from the experience of oldies station WIOE-AM in Fort Wayne, IN, which converted to all-digital this past May as an experiment. According to Inside Radio, the station turned the analog signal back on in early June after getting complaints from listeners, some of whom assumed that technical difficulties were to blame.

On the surface, an oldies music format would appear to be a fitting application for digital AM, with the tunes better served by the increased fidelity and reduced noise. At the same time, the older audience is probably less likely to be listening in cars, and even less likely to have an HD Radio capable home receiver.

For what it’s worth, the other station conducting experimental all-digital broadcasts in Maryland reports more positive results, saying that an HD Radio awareness campaign has resulted in it showing up in the Nielsen ratings for the first time.

True All-Digital AM Very Unlikely

Gazing into the crystal ball, Radio World quotes a “veteran engineering professional” who predicts that no major radio company is likely to invest in all-digital AM. Of course, those are the companies that own the vast majority of stations.

If the FCC chooses to authorize voluntary all-digital AM broadcasts, it will be consistent with the Commission’s overall strategy on digital radio. HD Radio, the current digital standard, is also voluntary and squeezed into the current analog dial. By comparison, most other countries with digital radio dedicated separate spectrum to use the DAB or DRM standards. While those systems also required new receivers, the promise of fresh and differentiated programming – like BBC 6Music – gave listeners an incentive to invest in new radios, which cost as little as $50.

On the other hand, the commercial radio industry has provided little incentive for listeners to switch to HD Radio from a content perspective. Mostly it’s just been the promise of lower noise digital sound. While there are at least a dozen different HD2 or HD3 digital-only signals in any major market, they’re generally poorly advertised, and many of them are just repeaters of an AM or just used as a way to feed an analog translator repeater station.

US Digital Radio Continues To Be Weak

By failing to commit the US to a true all-digital broadcasting standard, the FCC and Congress have consigned the nation to a digital radio system that is still unknown by the average person because it offers nebulous benefits. Certainly the broadcast industry has been successful in forging adoption of HD Radio in dashboards, but since the average car is on the road for more than a decade, this has been a very slow road. The adoption outside vehicles is pretty much a failure.

Letting AM stations voluntarily switch to all-digital will be just as weak and ineffective.

My principal concern for all-digital AM broadcasting is that it would undermine the vital emergency communications service these stations provide. During a hurricane, super storm, wildfire or other natural disaster when power and cellular service are cut or intermittent, a person’s lifeline is often that battery operated analog radio receiver. Who is going to run out to the car to tune in that HD station in the midst of 75 MPH winds?

But if it turns out that most major broadcasters won’t be interested all-digital AM, then the worst-case scenario of a disappeared analog band probably won’t come to pass.

Instead it will be just another weak step in the so-called AM revitalization initiative, which has really just been about giving FM translator stations to AM broadcasters. And that’s just a bribe to entice them to keep their AM stations, by making the FM frequency contingent on staying on the AM band.

Seems like a lot of time in the kitchen to cook up a very weak sauce.

Feature image credit: N Migo / flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The post FCC’s All-Digital AM Plan Likely Will Be Weak Sauce appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It seems that social distancing has made unlicensed Part 15 radio a bit more popular. “Part 15” refers to the part of the US broadcast regulations that cover unintended transmissions and radio frequency interference. Essentially, this means tiny radio signals whose transmission can’t be avoided or are negligible. It also covers tiny radio transmitters, like the kind that fit into your cars 12-volt socket to broadcast your smartphone into your dashboard FM receiver, or, less commonly, AM transmitters used by real estate agents to create “talking houses” for drivers by. 

With restrictions and good sense preventing many churches from holding in-person services, many apparently have looked to Part 15 broadcasting to transmit sermons to parishioners parked in their car. With a broadcast range of several hundred feet on the AM dial, it’s a way to bring people together for a shared experience while keeping them safely apart. All without requiring attendees to have smartphones or use up their mobile bandwidth (assuming a church is somewhere with reliable wireless coverage).

While a variety of Part 15 AM transmitters have been on the market for years, a new system actually calling itself “Parking Lot Radio” is in development right now. Suggesting uses for the system, the project’s website says,

In the current climate of Covid–19, the Parking Lot Radio allows churches to hold “drive-in” services. Other organizations can hold lectures, film screenings and other events, while maintaining social distancing.

While a few hundred feet or broadcast range is probably sufficient for a large percentage of worship houses, I can imagine it’s still not enough for some larger mega-churches, which might want to reach hundreds of cars in acres of parking lots.

It’s possible this limitation is behind a letter from Tennessee Rep. Mark Green, who wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai asking for temporary waivers be issued to houses of worship for “long-range FM transmitters.” He specifically asked for the ability to “operate FM transmitters with an effective range greater than 200 feet.”

Careful with that FM Transmitter, Pastor

It’s notable that Rep. Green’s request was for FM transmitters, which are far more limited under Part 15. While the regulations for the AM dial put significant limits on transmitter power and antenna length, there’s no explicit limit on the signal distance. Clever and careful engineering can wring out a little more reach, and distances closer to a half-mile or more can be achieved.

But the FM band is regulated by a tight signal strength limit (250 uV/m) at 3 meters from the antenna, causing one engineer writing in Radio World to summarize the situation as, “[b]asically if you can hear them more than 250–300 feet from the site they’re not legal.”

Yet, a simple search for “FM Transmitter” on Amazon quickly turns up a product advertised as “Transmitter for Church, Dual Mode Long Range Stereo Broadcast with Antenna,” that promises, “[t]ransmission distance more than 300 meters (In the line of sight, field, open land).” It even promises, “FCC certified,” leading the average shopper to think they’d be ready to broadcast legally more than 900 feet away.

Don’t hit that “Buy Now” button yet. 

Digging deeper into the product description we see the transmitter clearly listed as delivering “0.5W” which very like means a half-watt of power. Though it doesn’t sound like much compared to even LPFM’s 100 watt power limit, that’s still way too much. 

Compare this to a truly legal and FCC certified Part 15 FM transmitter from the radio company C.Crane. The company states in the product’s FAQ that,

Most of our customers achieve 40 – 60 feet depending on their situation. The signal will travel up to 70’ under good conditions. 

That’s less than a tenth the distance the Amazon until promises.

C.Crane doesn’t list their transmitter’s output, only specifying that it measures at “the maximum allowed by the FCC.” Though if we just look at the power consumption of 22.3mA and the fact that it runs on two AA batteries that provide three volts, then we can safely estimate it consumes less than a tenth of a watt. It most certainly transmits only a fraction of that.

What this means is that there is no way the Amazon half-watt transmitter is legal to use under Part 15 regulations, and the likelihood that it’s actually FCC certified is about a snowball’s chance in Hell. However, the fact that transmitters like these sell for about $100 and have the patina of legality probably means there are dozens, if not hundreds of churches and other well-meaning organizations using them all over the country. I wouldn’t be surprised if even just one of Rep. Green’s constituents has fired one up on Sundays, and maybe got tipped off that they could run afoul of the FCC.

The Challenge of Expanding FM Part 15

It’s not surprising that Chairman Pai recently denied Rep. Green’s request. In effect, he writes that the existing regulations are there for a reason, and that applications for licenses require proof that the proposed station would not interfere with existing ones. 

I certainly would love to see a more robust legal unlicensed radio regime in US. Ideally it would be like New Zealand’s, which reserves a few frequencies for transmissions up to a one watt of power. I’d even settle for something tinier.

That said, I can actually empathize with the FCC on this one. The Part 15 rules are set under law; any changes would be difficult and slow. An attempt to provide waivers would result in howls of protest from the broadcast lobby, who are already in a tizzy about the rampant pirate operators in places like Brooklyn, Boston and South Florida. 

I can also imagine the waivers would be challenging to enforce. Without a license to revoke, how would the FCC ever verify that anyone is keeping to the new limit, without basically further stepping up overtaxed field enforcement operations? Moreover, there aren’t commercially available FCC certified transmitters that would fit the bill. I doubt the Commission would want to tacitly authorize the currently-illicit transmitters that are all over online marketplaces.

Of course, a Sunday morning half-watt broadcast on an otherwise empty frequency in a small Tennessee town is unlikely to generate much harm, nor much attention. There are relatively few FCC field agents, and it’s hard to guess how many would enjoy spending their Sunday mornings cruising around looking for churches to bust. That doesn’t make it any more legal, and I’m not advising any law-abiding house of worship do this. I’m merely assessing the real-world risks. 

Yet I would also agree that there’s a slippery slope from the well-meaning, conscientious and non-interfering broadcaster to the also well-meaning, but more loosey-goosey operator who decides to go for even more power, or to try squeezing their station onto a frequency that really isn’t that clear. On top of that, I understand that a lot of the transmitters you can get online put out a pretty dirty signal that cause additional interference by “splattering” onto adjacent frequencies. Using one responsibly is difficult or – as some would argue – impossible.

It takes knowledge, research and skill – and proper equipment – to broadcast cleanly above Part 15 limits without causing problems. So, caveat emptor.

Ultimately, this is why the Part 15 rules exist, even if some might argue that they’re too conservative and stringent.

Legal Unlicensed Part 15 Options Abound

That doesn’t mean churches, theaters or other organizations can’t leverage Part 15 broadcasting. As I mentioned earlier, there is a whole industry around manufacturing well-engineered and reliable transmitters, particularly for the AM band, where the achievable distances are greater. Despite the AM band’s diminished reputation, you can still get very good sound for voice and many kinds of music. Plus, the vast majority of cars still have AM receivers built in, which are also well optimized for the band.

Hobby Broadcaster should be the very first place you visit, where proprietor Bill DeFelice has done the hard work of testing and reviewing transmitters and writing guides for broadcasting legally and effectively without a license. We talked with Bill on episode #120 of our podcast, and I humbly suggest it’s a must-listen if you’re thinking at all of getting into Part 15 broadcasting. 

Radio World also published a series of editorials and letters on Part 15 this summer, which might be of interest to the more technically minded. 

Admittedly, the better FCC certified Part 15 AM transmitters are quite a bit more pricey than the sketchy FM ones on Amazon. You can expect to pay anywhere from $700 to $1000 for something like a Hamilton Rangemaster or ChezRadio Procaster.

But I’m also happy to report that the venerable Talking House transmitter – originally designed for real estate agents – can be had new for around $130. I own one of these that I use for my own tiny Part 15 broadcasts, transmitting experimental radio sounds to the surrounding neighborhood and passing cars. Using the stock antenna and very little optimization I can get the signal about a block away on a portable radio (that’s just 200 feet here in Portland, Oregon). In a car I’ve heard it faintly as much as four blocks away when the wind is blowing just right. That performance meets my expectations, and it sounds just fine for what I’m doing. 

We at Radio Survivor love a tiny radio station. We’ve written and podcasted about the topic many, many times. If your interest is piqued, dig into the world of Part 15 with us:

• LA’s KCHUNG Radio Demonstrates the Power of Part 15 Broadcasting
• Radio Station Visit #117 – KCHUNG Radio in Los Angeles
• Podcast #74 – Station or Static? KCHUNG Is L.A.’s Underground Radio
• Podcast #51 – Carrier Current is Cool
• A Middle Ground Between Unlicensed Micropower & LPFM?
• Reviving the southwest with community radio
• Pacifica’s KPFK to try unlicensed radio

P.S. I wanted to note that while Part 15 FM radio is limited compared to the AM band, if you prefer to try the FM band there are a number of fully-legal and FCC certified transmitters out there. Beyond the consumer-grade C.Crane model mentioned above, Progressive Concepts has been building and selling sturdy pro-grade transmitters for a couple of decades. Their ACC100 models promise a 200 foot radius transmission distance, which pretty much the most you can expect while staying legal.

Photo credit: Lorie Shaull / flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The post Social Distancing Sparks Interest in Part 15 Unlicensed Broadcasting, but Caveat Emptor appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Thanks to our intrepid and loyal readers I’ve learned a bit more about the mystery signal I reported on last week.

To recap, I DX’d a station at 1700 AM – a frequency with very few stations assigned across the continent – that simply played 80s pop music, with station IDs that were difficult for me to suss out, though they seemed to be in Spanish. I surmised it to be XEPE-AM in Tecate, Mexico.

Two readers emailed to confirm my identification. Eric, who lives north of me in Lake Stevens, WA, wrote that, “XEPE on 1700 kHz does indeed play English pop songs, especially from the ’80s or so, when it needs to fill time between the Spanish language talk shows. I was confused the first time I heard that as well.”

Chris, a “a fan of casual DXing AM,” shares his journey:

I checked that frequency right away to see what was there.  (I am in Pleasanton, near the SF Bay Area of California.) Being only about 4:00pm or so at the time, there was nothing to hear, no surprise there…

Later, my wife and kids and I drove out to a park at about 9:00pm to try to see the Neowise comet, and on the way I told them I wanted to try the station I read about.  They know I like to find oddball AM stations and the kids (11 y.o. twins) “allowed” me a minute away from their pop FM stations.

Well, that same station in Tecate made itself apparent, with the Four Seasons’ “Who Loves You” from 1975, clear as a bell.  Didn’t even get the whole song in before the kids shut it down, from the rear console of our ‘03 Odyssey, their own little radio command center, but I was satisfied that I had found it.  On our way back home, after not seeing the comet, I hit the station again and caught a few crumbs of Carol Douglas doing “Doctors Orders” from 1974.

Chris was later able to tune it in from home on his (Jay Allen approved) Sangean PR-D18. Awoken by his cat a little before 5 AM, he heard the transition from music into talk programming.

Teacher and scholar Sonia Robles authored a book on border radio from the Mexican perspective, “Mexican Waves,” and dropped us a line to assure us, “-honestly- that Mexicans love 80s and 90s US music.”

Of course, we were very excited to hear from Sonia, and have booked her for a forthcoming episode of our radio show and podcast. You can read a review of her book in Humanities and Social Sciences Online.

We also heard from our old friend Tha Dood, who reminded me that a rare breed of AM pirates like to use 1700 and 1710 AM, for two reasons. First, these frequencies are relatively clear of licensed stations. 1710, in particular, is reserved for Travelers Information Stations (TIS), operated at low power by state and local governments to provide travel advisories and tourist information.

The other reason is that because these are the highest frequencies on the AM band, they also have relatively short wavelengths, making it a little more efficient to transmit with a shorter antenna. Mind you, the word relative is operative here – 530 kHz AM has a wavelength of 1800 feet, while 1700 kHz AM is 578 feet. Generally speaking, you want your transmission antenna to be like a half or quarter of that length, but could get away with a smaller fraction. (For comparison, 88.1 mHz FM has a wavelength of just 11 feet.)

I’ve never heard an AM (mediumwave) pirate here in the Pacific Northwest, and the ones I’ve seen reported on message boards like HF Underground seem to be primarily on the US East Coast or in Europe. Greece, Turkey and the Netherlands seem to be particular hotspots.

All of this should be an incentive to take a journey to the right end of the AM dial with a decent radio every so often. You never know what you might hear.

The post Confirmations of 1700 (AM) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Before going to bed I often enjoying scanning the radio dials, listening for signals that don’t come through while the sun is out. A couple of weeks ago the AM band was particularly fertile, especially at the upper end of the dial. These frequencies north of 1600 kHz are known as the “expanded band” because they were added to the service in 1990.

Some factors aiding the reception of distant signals on these frequencies are that there are relatively few stations, and they are limited to a maximum of 1 kilowatt of power at night. That limited power of course is a limitation on overall propagation, but when conditions are right it can mean pretty good long-distance catches.

I received one station over the course of several nights that particularly fascinated me. At 1700 kHz I heard continuous 80s pop music – think Huey Lewis and the News – with an intermittent station ID that was hard to make out, as the signal faded in and out. On the occasions when the ID was clearer I’m pretty sure it was in Spanish, but difficult to understand. Even over the course one hour-long listening session I never heard even one commercial, or anything but the short ID or pop songs.

Very few stations are assigned this frequency – just seven in North America in fact. Looking the list of 1700 AM stations in the US, none is closer than 1400 miles away from my Portland, OR location (that station is in Des Moines, IA). While a couple stations have a Spanish language format, they don’t seem like they’d be playing American 80s pop.

At 949 miles, the closest station is actually in Tecate, Mexico, part of the Tijuana metro area. Unlike the US stations, XEPE-AM broadcasts with 10,000 watts at night. While still about a fifth of clear-channel power, that much signal in a relatively uncrowded band also helps explain why it can come in well on occasion in Oregon.

According to Wikipedia the station has a news-talk format, but that’s not what I’m hearing after dark. It might be that’s the daytime format, and perhaps it reverts to automated music at night just to fill the time. I don’t have a better explanation.

I wasn’t equipped to get a recording of the station, and it hasn’t been coming in clear since about July 6. The radio I’m using is a C.Crane CCRadio 2, which was designed to have excellent AM reception. Radio guru ‘Radio’ Jay Allen says, [f]or raw sensitivity the CC-2 is right up there with the best.”

I’ll keep trying with a recorder handy to see if I can’t get an aircheck to share. Otherwise, let me know if you have another theory on the station’s identity.

The post DX Adventures at 1700 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Catching a low-power FM radio station in the wild in New Zealand requires a bit of luck. Permitted to broadcast with up to one watt of power without a license, these stations have a bit more range – generally up to one kilometer radius (.6 miles) – than a legal unlicensed Part 15 station in the US, which might be heard up to a quarter-mile away. However, that’s still not a big footprint, even when compared to licensed LPFMs stateside, which may broadcast with as much as 100x as the NZ stations.

One factor working in the listener’s favor is that the country’s LPFMs are consigned to a set of frequencies bookending the FM dial: 86.7 to 88.3 mHz on the left end and 106.7 to 107.7 MHz on the right end. When I talked with Kristen Paterson, station manager of Wellington Access Radio and a co-founder of a university LPFM, she conjectured that the top end LPFM band was set aside as a kind of buffer between full-power broadcasts and the air traffic band situated just north of FM. 

Regardless of the reason why they’re relegated to the far-left and far-right ends of the FM dial, knowing this makes it a little easier to hunt for them. That said, during my time in the country in late January and early February, I could confirm reception of only two.

The first catch was in Browns Bay, in the East Coast Bays area of Auckland, the country’s largest city. I tuned in what I believe to be Great Tech Radio at 107.7 FM. I say “believe to be” because over the course of an hour or so I never heard a legal ID. I did hear an assortment of oldies, from Diana Ross and the Supremes to the Bee Gees, along with a 60s comedy record, accompanied by back announcing and weather forecasts. Those forecasts included days prior and after my listening time, leading me to believe the station was automated and the forecasts weren’t the freshest. 

I identified Great Tech based upon several online LPFM directories, though I won’t hold to that ID if challenged. Given that they’re unlicensed and don’t require much investment to put on the air, New Zealand’s LPFMs are quite transitory, and I found rather few that maintain a regular web presence. 

My second catch was in the resort city of Queenstown, located in the southwest part of the South Island. It’s a beautiful setting along the shore of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by mountains.

Drop FM came in loud and clear for me on 87.7 FM. I first heard 90s vintage drum ’n bass music, which I learned is a staple for the station when I googled it. The station stands out from other New Zealand LPFMs by having a very consistent web presence, along with an internet stream. In fact it has two other frequencies in Wanaka, north of Queenstown, and the suburb of Frankton. 

Drop FM broadcasts live from dance clubs in Queenstown on a regular basis – though, understandably, corona virus seems to have put those events on hold. While drum n’ bass and related electronic genres seem to be the station’s bedrock, I also enjoyed a long set of eclectic R&B one evening as I was packing up to leave for my next stop.

I last stayed in Wellington, the country’s capital. I’m sad to report I was unable to confirm reception of any LPFMs over the course of several evenings. Perhaps the city’s hilly geography – it resembles San Francisco in that way – worked against me. Or maybe there just weren’t any active stations in a one kilometer radius from my Air BnB. 

I remain fascinated by this broadcast service, since, to the best of my knowledge, New Zealand has the highest power allowed for legal unlicensed broadcasting anywhere in the world. Setting aside a set number of frequencies seems to be an effective way of allowing more voices on the air at a very low cost, while also giving an outlet to broadcasters who might otherwise go “pirate.” This was my second visit to New Zealand, and I do intend to visit again. When I do, I’m tempted to bring a small transmitter to set up my own temporary LPFM.

I still can’t help but think that such a service in the US could help stem the tide of unlicensed broadcasters in the urban areas of Boston, New York, New Jersey and South Florida, while also providing an opportunity for communities and groups that weren’t able to get on the air during the last LPFM licensing window in 2013. Though the FM dial is pretty well full in most metropolitan areas, I suggest that the band could be extended a little to the left, to encompass frequencies mostly vacated by former analog channel 6 TV stations. 

Of course, this proximity to the FM dial has long been exploited by the handful of analog low-power TV stations still broadcasting on channel 6, which by and large now primarily operate as radio stations at 87.7 FM rather than TV stations, often known as FrankenFMs. The FCC is currently deciding the fate of those stations, since all TV is really supposed to be digital, and their transition deadline has been pushed repeatedly over the last five years. I propose that if channel 6 low-power TV stations are allowed to stay analog, keeping their near-FM broadcast signal, then that extra little bit of dial space should be given over to unlicensed LPFM everywhere else, where there isn’t an existing channel 6. Keep the limit to 1 watt, and maybe let them have 87.9 FM, too. I can see little harm, and much benefit. 

However, reality is that even that little bit of uncommercialized real estate is unlikely to be tolerated by the National Association of Broadcasters, nor National Public Radio, whom I expect would lobby heartily against such a radical notion. 

Still, I can dream… until my next trip to New Zealand.

The post Radio Field Report: Legal Unlicensed LPFM in New Zealand appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission is all about radio at the end of 2019, and we catch you up on what you need to know. We all have questions about the possibility of AM stations going all-digital, including the FCC. The regulatory body released the things it wants to know about how digital stations would work, and how it would impact listeners, especially those in rural communities.

Also, the Commission is reconsidering restrictions on duplication programming between AM and FM stations, and the fate of Channel 6 TV on the radio, a/k/a FrankenFMs, hangs in the balance.

Then we dive into the reports that CMJ – the publication and event series that documented and supported the cultural influence of college radio – will come back from the dead. Will it return to print? Will there be an annual Music Marathon in NYC? We ponder.

There was more to discuss about the CMJ return than we had time for, including provocative questions, like: Do we even need a CMJ anymore? Our Patreon supporters get to hear this unvarnished exchange in a Patron-exclusive bonus episode. You can hear it, too, when you sign up to support our work at Radio Survivor, starting at just $1 a month.

Show Notes:

• Call for Papers: ‘Century of Broadcasting: Preservation and Renewal’ Conference
• Podcast #192: Saving Radio History with the Radio Preservation Task Force
• FCC Opens Proceeding for All-Digital AM Radio
• Radio World: FCC Takes Your Questions on AM All-Digital
• Multichannel News: FCC Seeks Input on Analog Radio as Digital TV Service
• Davis Wright Tremaine LLP: FCC Seeks Comment on All-Digital AM and Radio Non-Duplication NPRM
• The Rise and Possible Fall of FrankenFMs Is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• College Radio Watch: CMJ to Return in 2020 and More News
• College Radio Watch: CMJ Lawsuit, WREK’s 50th, Station Tours, and More News
• Podcast 62 – The FCC’s Legacy of Failure & CMJ’s Uncertain Future
• What is the Future of CMJ?
• College Radio Participants Meet Up at CMJ’s Inaugural College Day on Tour in Portland

The post Podcast #223: Will CMJ Return, Will AM Go Digital and Will FrankenFMs Disappear? Plus Other Big Questions appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In a few dozen markets around the country there is a rare species of FM station that is only heard on the far left end of the dial. Because of the unusual spot on the dial, and sometimes unusual programming, some listeners may think they’ve tuned in a pirate. But these stations are legal, if not quite something the FCC intends to exist.

When I first found these stations more than ten years ago, I called them “Back Door FMs.” Later some commentators would call them “FrankenFMs.” The first instance of this moniker I can find is from Radio World in November 2014. The term became more popular when writer Ernie Smith covered the phenomenon for Tedium in 2016.

I think FrankenFMs are one of the most important radio trends of the last decade because only a handful of them were around when the decade started, and their number has nearly tripled in the intervening years. Yet, the 2010s might be remembered as their heyday, since they’re scheduled to go away in June of 2020, unless the Federal Communications Commission decides to intervene.

How Digital TV Inadvertently Turned a Curiosity into a Service

When I was a kid growing up at the Jersey Shore, I was fascinated by the fact that I could hear channel 6 WPVI-TV, Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate, on the left end of my radio. And disappointed that I couldn’t listen to other TV stations.

The existence of that phenomenon is owed to the fact that the first six channels of analog TV are just below the FM dial, with channel 6’s audio portion – which is also frequency modulated – situated at 87.76 MHz, receivable on most radios. For the roughly 44 years that analog television and FM radio were neighbors this was mostly a curiosity, since only some television shows make sense without the picture.

This changed on June 12, 2009, when all full-power television stations turned off their analog signals, becoming fully digital. The ones on channel 6 disappeared from the FM dial. But not every channel 6 station went away.

Because they were designed to serve local communities at a lower cost – similar to low-power FM – low power television stations were given a longer lease to hold onto their analog signals. That also meant that channel 6 LPTVs could still be heard on the radio.

As television viewers made their adjustment to digital receivers, the value of these low-powered analog signals began to fall. Those on channel 6 found a new lease on life: embrace their existence on the radio dial.

A Decade of FrankenFMs

I discovered my first such station on the Chicago radio dial just days after the analog TV shutoff, in June 2009. Back then WLFM briefly returned smooth jazz to the area’s airwaves – the station is now MeTV FM, which will I’ll return to in a bit. I soon learned there were a number of these stations around the country, from Anchorage, Alaska to New York City.

When the digital TV transition happened there were 77 analog channel 6s remaining on the air in the U.S. Two years later the FCC decided they would all be required to transition to digital by September 1, 2015. Then they received a reprieve in 2014, getting to stay analog while the Commission conducted what is known as the “incentive auction and repack.” This process allowed digital TV stations to trade in spectrum to be auctioned off for advanced digital services. Stations in affected markets then “repacked” in bunched up spectrum. It concluded in June of this year, and analog LPTVs were given an addition twelve months past this point to make the digital transition.

Today there are just 41 analog channel 6 stations left, just a bit more than half as there were a decade earlier. But now most – 31 – appear to operate as radio stations, with a majority broadcasting either a Spanish-language or religious format, usually syndicated and non-local. The last time I counted them was in 2014, when I came up with about 18. This increase certainly indicates that there’s little value left in analog television broadcasting as a visual service. The audio signal is clearly what’s most valuable.

A Stay of Execution?

Once more an analog sunset is upon us in just over six months when the post-repack grace period is finished. This time around the FCC isn’t asking the question if analog LPTVs should stick around – their digital transition appears imminent. Instead the Commission is directly addressing the existence of channel 6 FrankenFMs.

The Media Bureau is asking for the public to weigh in (MB Docket No. 03–185) on whether or not these stations should get an exception to continue broadcasting an analog audio signal as a “supplementary service” even while their video signals go digital. Moreover, should the FCC only consider stations that are actually operating as radio, or should all be considered?

If this supplemental audio service were to be allowed, should only existing channel 6s be eligible, or would someone be able to apply for a new station and also get permission to broadcast an analog radio signal? The FCC also asks if a channel 6 license is sold or transferred, should that right to the analog audio transmission also be transferred.

It’s significant that the FCC is in effect proposing to officially recognize channel 6 LPTV stations as radio stations, rather than just sort of tolerate the loophole. Of course that’s because the loophole is about to go away.

Should FrankenFMs Be Saved?

As I noted above, the majority of the FrankenFMs seem to broadcast syndicated programming. Only a handful broadcast anything I’d call interesting or unique, which is unfortunate to me.

On the one hand I have to tip my hat to clever broadcasters exploiting a loophole to get onto the radio legally, especially in tight markets with few or no opportunities to squeeze another station onto the dial. But I really want these stations to be run by passionate folks, eager to do something innovative or different, not just rebroadcast some satellite or internet signal, or another iteration of a tired format already heard everywhere.

Even though it’s formally an oldies station, I think the aforementioned MeTV FM is the clearest example of a unique Franken-FM. Deviating from the usual canon of 60s, 70s and 80s music, the station mixes in a healthy dose of what I’d call “forgotten oldies.” These are one-hit-wonders or even hit songs by established artists that were popular in their day, but somehow never endured heavy rotation in the years after.

MeTV FM’s eclectic oldies format stands out so much that it now has an audience big enough audience to show up in the Nielsen ratings beginning four years ago, even beating out the nine-decade-old news/talk station WLS-AM.

Previously only available to terrestrial listeners in the Chicago area, MeTV FM now streams online, so you can check out its distinctive oldies format for yourself no matter where you are. It even has picked up four FM affiliates: KXXP 104.5 FM serving the Portland, Oregon metro out of White Salmon, Washington; WXZO 96.7 FM serving the Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York area; KQEG 102.7 FMserving the LaCrosse, Wisconsin metro from La Crescent, Minnesota; and WJMK 1250 AM in Saginaw, Michigan, which has a translator at 99.3 FM. HD Radio listeners in Milwaukee, Wisconsin can tune it in on WMYK-HD2.

As far as I can tell, MeTV FM may be the only FrankenFM that serves as the flagship station for burgeoning network of true FM stations.

A couple of other interesting and notable FrankenFMs include indie/alternative Hella 87.7 FM in Redding, California, and Kickin’ Country 87.7 FM in Ridgecrest, California.

Though channel 6 TV stations have been tucked into the bottom of the FM dial for more than four decades, it’s only in the last one that this has been systematically exploited, turning into a small shadow service. Yet every broadcaster taking this advantage has known the lease would eventually expire, and now they’re definitely making a last-minute Hail Mary. I’d be more inclined to rise up in their defense if the majority were idiosyncratic, eclectic or at least locally programmed.

Instead, I’d rather see that little bit of spectrum freed up for actual FM broadcasters, and non-commercial ones at that, since the space from 87.7 to 88.1 is in the non-commercial band. Because there are many more markets without a TV channel 6 than there are with FrankenFMs, such a change could open up the possibility for dozens, if not hundreds, of new local radio stations. I’d even go so far as to reserve the space just for LPFMs, which would allow for even more stations, and more diversity. This is the sort of innovation that engineering firm REC Networks has been advocating since at least 2008.

At the same time, I empathize with the broadcasters who have built compelling and creative services on channel 6s, but who now see their stations on the chopping block. I think it would be a true loss to their local radio dials if MeTV FM or Hella 87.7 were to go away. But it’s also true that radio stations and formats go away all the time, often for more mysterious or wrongheaded reasons. In this case the broadcasters can’t say they weren’t warned – in fact, they’ve had an effective five year extension.

It will be fascinating to see how the FCC decides to resolve this issue, and how the rest of the broadcast industry reacts.

The post The Rise and Possible Fall of FrankenFMs Is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On Nov. 22 the Federal Communitications Commission voted unanimously to adopt a proposal for rulemaking to allow AM radio stations to convert to fully digital broadcasting, using the MA3 all-digital mode of HD Radio. There was no dissent, and all three Republican commissioners issued separate statements of support. As I noted earlier, if approved, all-digital AM broadcasting would be voluntary.

In addition to deciding if AM stations can convert to digital, the proceeding will also pose questions about how these new all-digital signals will be required to protect adjacent stations from interference. The FCC hasn’t published the full proposal for these details in docket 13–249 yet. Once published in the Federal Register a 30-day comment period will open up where any interested party may let the Commission know their opinion on the idea.

If approved, stations that go all-digital will no longer be receivable on analog receivers, which includes most portable and home radios. About 50% of new car radios feature HD reception. Though because the average vehicle on the road is 11 years old, a smaller percentage of them are HD-capable. 

The question AM broadcasters will need to consider is if the gain in fidelity is worth the potential loss of half or more of their audiences. For listeners and radio enthusiasts, the question is what is the toll for communities when more than half of listeners lose access to a station’s signal. Even if the programming is of interest to just a fraction of listeners, many AM stations still serve an important community service function.

The thought experiment is to consider what it would be like if a major top-rated AM news broadcaster like KFI in Los Angeles, WCBS in New York or WLS in Chicago went all-digital. These are the stations that millions depend on during an event like Superstorm Sandy, major blizzards or wildfires, when electric or cell service may go down for hours or days.

Of course, just because they can go all-digital doesn’t mean these stations will. But I also don’t expect millions of people will rush out to buy HD capable radios if their favorite station converts. They’ll just switch over to listening online or stop listening altogether. It won’t be like the 2009 digital television transition, where it was a case of buy a new TV or coverter box, or lose free over-the-air television altogether. 

Also under consideration is removal of the programming duplication rule, which has been around in some form for decades. Since its last modification in 1992, commonly-owned or operated AM and FM station in the same market may only air the same programming for a total of 25% of airtime during a week. The rule already excepts FM translators, which are permitted to full rebroadcast AM station programming under certain conditions.

We’ll take a closer look at both of these full proposals when released. 

The post FCC Opens Proceeding for All-Digital AM Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

When Jim Bolt was in college at Sacramento State University in 1989 college radio was exerting unprecedented cultural influence in the U.S. But this campus no longer had a radio station. Though he had heard stories of an earlier student-run AM station – KERS – he couldn’t get to the bottom of why it no longer existed. In the same period the university transferred its FM license over to Capitol Public Radio.

Convinced that the school and the Sacramento community deserved real college radio, he and a group of fellow students pushed hard for two years to finally get KEDG off the ground and onto the AM airwaves in 1991. Today that station continues to thrive online as KSSU. But the struggle to bring college radio back to Sacramento State is why he says it’s “a startup that shouldn’t exist.”

Jim tells this founding story and explains why he and his fellow co-founders endeavored to keep the founding story alive with words and archival materials. He shares hard won advice for college students looking to build their own stations, and for alums who want to preserve their broadcast legacies.

Show Notes:

• KSSU
• KEDG Online Archive
• New York Times: The Power of Tower Records
• The State Hornet: KSSU radio station celebrates 25 years of giving voice to Sac State community
• Sacramento News & Review: Radio Control
• CollegeRadio.org: Sac State Students Refuse to Be Sacked: A Story of Student Radio Startup and Survival in Sacramento
• Inside Radio: Radio Plays Outsized Role In Small And Mid-Market America

The post Podcast #220 – The College Radio Station ‘That Shouldn’t Exist’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In April 2020 the FCC will open up the next auction for FM radio licenses. This is the next, and only currently scheduled opportunity to build a new radio station in the U.S. Jennifer, Eric and Paul discuss this news, along with celebrating the 60th birthday of KFJC-FM at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, CA. We reflect on how KFJC and other college stations were trailblazers in programming and service, functioning a lot like public radio in the years before National Public Radio was created.

We also dive into the proposal to allow AM radio stations to all-digital, using HD Radio. These stations would be unreceivable on the millions of radios that don’t receive digital HD signals. We survey the supposed benefits of the idea, and the deficits.

Finally, we celebrate another momentous occasion, the 25th anniversary of a terrestrial station simulcasting on the internet. And, wouldn’t you know it – both stations credited with being first are college stations.

Show Notes

• Happy 60th to College Radio Station KFJC
• Can We Save AM Radio by Killing It? Considering All-Digital AM Radio
• Inside Radio: FCC Is Auctioning 130 FM Signals. Here’s What You Need To Know
• Internet Radio Is Older Than You Think

.@DVD points out that today is the 25th anniversary of @wxyc debuting the internet simulcast stream of its broadcast radio signal. This was indeed the birth of modern streaming media as we know it (not just streaming audio, but streaming media, period) 1/4 https://t.co/F4RDHkx5By

— Andrew Bottomley (@abottomley) November 7, 2019

The post Podcast #219 – The Next Chance To Get an FM Station License; a College Station 60th; All-Digital AM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Can you save AM Radio by killing it?

The original broadcast band gets little love as it prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday. Plagued by electromagnetic interference from wi-fi routers, LED lights and all sorts of other modern electronics, and dominated by tired right-wing and sports talk programming targeting a shrinking demographic, there’s not much love for AM radio these days.

While the FCC has talked about revitalizing the AM band for something close to a decade, all that’s resulted is letting AM broadcasters have translator repeater stations on the FM dial. That’s not so much AM revitalization as welfare for AM broadcasters.

Another idea that’s been floating in the ether is taking the band all-digital. Just like the FM band, there are digital HD Radio stations on AM right now. Because AM stations have just a fraction of the bandwidth of FM channels, they don’t feature additional channels, like FM’s HD–2 and HD–3. Instead HD Radio stations on AM just have a digital channel accompanying the analog one which offers audio that is stereo and markedly free of noise and static, provided you have an HD Radio tuner and are in range of the lower-powered digital signal.

The idea behind an all-digital AM band is that stations would drop their analog signals altogether in favor of a digital HD Radio signal. The supposed benefit is that the new digital signals would be higher fidelity, free of noise, and somewhat more resistant to interference. The downside would be that they would be unreceivable by the hundreds of millions of analog AM radios in use around the country. Only HD Radio equipped car radios and the much-rarer home receivers would get the broadcasts.

As of now, approximately 50% of new cars are HD-capable. Taking into account that the average vehicle on the road is nearly 12 years old, a much lower percentage of all vehicles have the capability, meaning the majority of radio listeners still can’t hear HD Radio signals.

Nevertheless, for the first time this month the FCC is officially taking up the idea of letting AM stations go all-digital. The proposal, docket 19–311, wouldn’t force stations to go HD Radio. Instead, if approved, it would allow stations to choose this route.

Arguing All-Digital AM

To understand the motivations for this, we can look to a Radio World editorial, in which the petitioner behind this proposal, radio group GM Ben Downs, argues for the sonic advantages of HD Radio on AM. I admit that on its own the fidelity argument is hard to find fault with. But there are many more significant nits to pic. He takes up several common objections.

To the argument, “there aren’t enough [HD] radios,” he answers: “And if we broadcasters don’t step up, there won’t be any listeners either. Every year more and more HD Radios are hitting the market. Can we say the same about AM listeners?”

I think what he’s saying is that listeners are fleeing AM because of the noise and interference, but a growing segment of them are using HD-capable receivers that would relieve them of the sound constraints. I’m not certain there’s much evidence for this. Fidelity is not much of an issue for listening to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or endless listener calls debating NFL stats. Audiences interested in anything else naturally turn to FM.

Downs anticipates this critique, writing, “There are always people who say poor programming damaged AM. I suppose that’s possible, but those choices were forced on us by radios that had such poor performance we were embarrassed to try to compete against FM music stations with what we had to work with.”

That seems a selective view of the past, at best, and ahistorical at worst. FM music radio became predominant in the early 1980s, way before the AM dial became so noisy. Moreover, I’m not sure when this mythical time of wide-spread high fidelity AM receivers was, but that’s one I wished I’d lived in (and I was a radio listener in the early 80s).

He also takes up the argument that, “I’ll lose listeners when I switch [to all-digital],” answering: “The beauty of the AM revitalization process was that it allowed us to pair our AM stations with FM translators. Your translator can carry the audience load while the audience becomes accustomed to all-digital AM.”

I find this just as paradoxical as the idea of FM signals for AM broadcasters representing any kind of “revitalization” for the band. My question is: if listeners have to hear your station on the FM dial, why would they ever go back to find it on AM? Would they even know to do so?

While much of radio listening has moved to the car, and HD Radio is far more prevalent in vehicle dashboards than in home receivers, my own experience is that most listeners are relatively unaware of HD Radio. Their tuners may bring in the signal, but since it sounds roughly identical to the analog one, it’s all in the background. I don’t think most seek it out. This is evidenced by the fact that there are no HD–2 or HD–3 stations – only receivable with an HD capable receiver – at or towards the top of the ratings for any U.S. market.

Now, I agree that the fidelity difference on AM is more pronounced and noticeable. But I’m still not sure that listeners really notice the difference as their radios shift between analog and digital signals. Any AM listener is accustomed to the signal strengthening and fading as they travel, and the analog to digital shift doesn’t really sound all that different.

Importantly, we’re only talking about listeners in vehicles here. AM stations that switch to all-digital will most certainly lose nearly all their listeners outside of a car. No doubt there are nerds like me who own HD Radio home receivers, or some die-hard fans who will go out to buy one of the handful of HD-capable models when it becomes necessary. But the vast majority will just listen to something else.

I have a hard time seeing how going all-digital will save stations. More likely, it will just alienate listeners, and make those stations even more niche and less viable.

The Problem Isn’t Digital Radio, Per Se

I do want to be clear that, despite my cynicism, I don’t actually wish for stations to fail, nor do I think digital radio is a bad idea. I think it would be good for the U.S. to have a truly viable digital radio service. However, it would be better as an additional service, rather than a replacement for analog radio. Something more like the DAB service prevalent outside the US.

Even with its limitations, there are significant advantages to analog AM radio. It’s a proven technology that has lasted a century, and there are millions upon millions of receivers out there. Heck, it’s so simple that you can build a crystal set receiver that doesn’t even require electricity. Moreover, AM signals can easily travel hundreds to thousands of miles.

All of this means that AM is an efficient want to broadcast to large groups of people over a large area. That is particularly important during emergencies, natural disasters or other times when communications by cellular phone or internet is compromised.

Who Loses When Stations Go All-Digital?

What I’d hate to see during a wildfire, hurricane or earthquake thousands of people resorting to their emergency radios, only to find that where there used to be a reliable source of local information there is only digital hash.

Though I have doubts that all-digital AM broadcasting will be any more successful, nor as sustainable as analog, I certainly prefer it to be optional rather than mandatory. On the one hand I suppose it’s not terrible to let station owners to make their bets and choose their own fates.

On the other hand, these consequences are not borne only by stations alone. Communities continue to depend on broadcasters, and there is still something of a remnant public service obligation in exchange for the monopoly license to use a frequency on the public airwaves. If going all-digital ends up driving a station out of business, what’s the likelihood that another one will take over the license and take its place?

I honestly don’t doubt the sincerity of many all-digital AM proponents, that they honestly would like to see a higher fidelity, “improved” service on the dial. However, they may be naïve.

Is This Even About Radio?

A more suspicious take would be that a drive to all-digital AM has nothing to do with radio as an audio service. Rather it’s an effort to turn the band into a data service, with audio as a justification, but more of an afterthought. That’s not unlike the required, but mostly useless video signal of channel 6 low-power TV stations, that mostly serve as “Franken FM” radio stations sneaking onto the FM dial at 87.7 FM. Think of all-digital AM as a cheap way to send traffic, weather and other commercialized data to in-car receivers without the need for mobile internet.

That said, I also have doubts about how many broadcasters would take advantage of all-digital operation. I have difficulty seeing top rated big-city AMs dump the millions of analog listeners that keep advertisers coming back just to gain a little bit of fidelity for a minority of the in-car audience.

The question becomes: Is all-digital AM Radio actually AM Radio? If we’re being pedantic, no, it isn’t. AM means Amplitude Modulation, which is an inherently analog technology. If all the stations on the AM dial were to go digital, that would in fact mean the death of AM broadcasting in the U.S., along with the death of many of the technology’s advantages.

It’s possible this wouldn’t be as tragic as I predict. Maybe analog FM and more robust internet technologies would pick up the slack. Maybe even such a transition would stimulate the production and sales of more HD Radio receivers.

I’m not committed to being a luddite, and I wouldn’t mind being wrong. I just won’t bet on it.

The post Can We Save AM Radio by Killing It? Considering All-Digital AM Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

One of life’s little pleasures is tuning around the radio dial late at night before drifting off to slumber. I especially enjoy this while traveling, touring foreign radio dials, encountering strange and distant signals.

This means that a small portable radio is my constant traveling companion. I prefer to travel light, so said radio must also be as tiny as practical. In the last couple of years the Tivdio V–115 has been my choice, given its small size, AM, FM and shortwave tuning, reasonable sensitivity and ability to record air checks to a microSD card. I’ll refer you to my YouTube review for more details.

Even so, my ears are always wandering, urging my eyes to admire other receiver suitors. About a month ago the Eton Mini Grundig Edition caught my attention, and at a sale price of less than $25 delivered. Grundig is a venerable name in radios, and the Mini has received decent reviews, so I bit.

Small and Capable

The radio lives up to its name, measuring up to about the same size as an iPhone SE, including a decent speaker and retractable antenna. It comes with a nice nylon case to help protect it in your bag.

Though the Mini includes shortwave, the coverage is more limited than my Tivdio, only covering two bands, from 5 – 10 MHz and 11.65 – 18 MHz. That said, shortwave is more of a “nice to have” than a necessity for my travel radio, so this limitation is fine with me.

Taking it along for an extended trip to New York City and northern New Jersey, I was impressed at how well it pulled in FM stations inside my Midtown Manhattan hotel. It was no problem tuning in public radio WNYC, along with college radio from NYU, Columbia University and Fordham. The same could not be said of the room’s supplied clock radio.

Though small, the Mini’s speaker is adequate for a travel radio, with pleasing sound that’s loud enough for hotel room listening. You’re not going to disturb your neighbors, and that’s probably a good thing. I also appreciate its simple thumbwheel tuning. It’s not quite as convenient as the number direct-dialing keypad on my Tivdio, but the Tivdio’s buttons are stiff and make a loud click, which can annoy others around you if you’re scanning the dial wearing headphones.

For late night listening a sleep timer is a necessity, since I’m likely to drift off, sometimes to the soothing sounds of inter-station static. The Mini comes so equipped. I also appreciate its control lock that prevents it from turning on inside my baggage, draining batteries and annoying fellow passengers.

Patience Pays for DXing

After dark is the time for AM band DXing, and here I found the Mini’s performance curious. When I first spun the dial, I was only picking up the strongest local stations. Then I started clicking through frequencies more slowly, stopping when I heard a faint signal. Leaving the radio tuned, the signal grew in volume and strength – patience paid off. I suspect this is an artifact of the DSP-based tuner, keeping the volume more muted with a weak signal so as not to assault the listener with loud static, then gradually increasing sensitivity as needed.

Moving from noisy Manhattan to the relative quiet – both in terms of noise and RF interference – of upper Passaic County, I enjoyed many fun DX finds. Keeping the gradual technique in mind, I had no problem bringing in signals from Quebec, Michigan, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Upstate New York and Boston. I didn’t formally log the stations because I was already tucked into bed with the lights out.

On Halloween night I dived into the shortwave band a little after dusk, wondering if I might encounter some pirates. I wasn’t hopeful, and so I wasn’t disappointed when none emerged from the ether. I was, however, pleasantly surprised when Radio Havana came blaring through at 6 MHz.

At home in Portland, Oregon, I’ve found shortwave reception inside my house to be very hit and miss, and mostly miss. I do think geography is partly to blame. New Jersey is simply closer to many more shortwave stations than Oregon. Nevertheless I was impressed with how good the Eton Mini’s indoor shortwave reception is.

On the whole, the Eton Mini Grundig Edition proved itself a capable and pleasant traveling companion. The one thing I miss is the easy ability to record airchecks direct to a memory card like my Tivdio can. However, I think the Mini outclassed it with AM sensitivity and selectivity, provided you’re patient and allow maybe a half-minute for a station to slowly come into focus through the static. Also, the Tivdio’s recording circuit can be a source of interference, which means it can thwart recordings of weak signals which will just disappear when you hit record. Moreover, if I’m listening to the Mini through the speaker I can make quick-and-dirty aircheck recordings using my smartphone or a portable voice recorder (yeah, I often travel with one of those, too).

There are better performing portable radios, and ones with more features or frequency coverage. But I don’t think I’ve encountered one this small and also this good. Carry on and tune in.

The post The Eton Mini Grundig Edition Is My New Travel Companion appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio waves don’t obey borders, and stations have been taking advantage of this fact since the dawn of the medium – often despite the rules of government regulators where the signals go.

Dr. Kevin Curran of Arizona State University has been studying border radio stations extensively, making it the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Everyone has a ton of radio nerd fun as he takes us back to the 1920s, when Canadian and U.S. regulators struck a treaty to split up the AM dial and limit maximum broadcast power, but left out Mexico. That opened up an opportunity for stations in that country to cover the continent with hundreds of kilowatts, attracting broadcasters from north of the border wanting to take advantage.

Many infamous and colorful personalities were amongst this group, from Dr. John Brinkley, who promoted goat glands to cure male potency problems, all the way to man named Bob Smith – later known as Wolfman Jack – who blasted rock and roll that most American stations wouldn’t touch.

Dr. Curran explains why stations along the Mexican border remained popular with U.S. broadcasters even after that country lowered maximum power levels, in treaty with its northern neighbor. He also explores the relationship of U.S. stations to Canadian markets, where stations are more highly regulated. If you’ve ever wondered why radio is different along the border, you’re curiosity will be satisfied.

Show Notes:

• Radio World: Goat Gland Man Has Enduring Appeal; Though His Remains Are Safely Entombed in Memphis, Dr. Brinkley’s Legend Lives on
• Wide Open Country: How Border Radio Helped Popularize Country Music
• Texas State Historical Association: Border Radio
• SpectacularOptical: Clap for the Wolfman
• The Classic CKLW Page
• Wolfman Jack biography
• Wikipedia: XEROK-AM

The post Podcast #212 – Border Radio in North America appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio World reports that Switzerland’s FM radio broadcasts are due to end by the end of 2024, according to a release from the country’s Federal Office of Communications. OFCOM says at the end of July only 17% of people in that country listen to FM exclusively.

I am a bit chagrined that this story flew under my radar until now. Back in December 2014 the Digital Migration working group formulated a plan to switch entirely over to digital DAB+ broadcasting, and in 2015 “more than 80 percent of private radio stations agreed to this decision,” according to OFCOM. So this has been in the works for several years.

DAB+ is a digital radio standard used through much of Europe, including the U.K. and Norway, the latter of which turned off national FM broadcasts in 2017 – many local FM stations are still on the air. OFCOM reports that 65% of Swiss listen to the service, while only 35% use analog FM.

In addition to commercial and state-supported public broadcasters, Switzerland has about 15 community radio stations. According to a 2018 article in Swiss Review, OFCOM will subsidize 80% of DAB+ broadcast costs for non-commercial stations, and is offering financial support for the installation of digital studios. Presumably, community stations would qualify for these grants. Searching around some stations’ websites indicates that quite a few already simulcast on DAB+.

Subsidizing a station’s DAB+ transmission is not quite the same as building it a brand new transmitter, as it would be with FM or HD Radio. A single DAB+ transmitter can accommodate multiple stations’ signals as a multiplex. Thus, in most countries with DAB+, like the U.K., Norway and Switzerland, each station actually leases space, rather than owning its own transmitter. In that way DAB+ is more efficient than FM.

One trade-off of DAB+ is that a centralized infrastructure makes the system inherently more vulnerable in times of natural disaster, or just run-of-the-mill calamity, like a power outage. It also leaves stations less independent. In Switzerland the DAB+ infrastructure is owned and operated by the for-profit company Digris.

While Digris is investing to grow its infrastructure – like building transmitters in mountainous roadway tunnels – DAB+ listening is still mostly in motor vehicles, rather than homes. This is not unlike HD Radio in the U.S., where it’s difficult to even find a digital-capable home tuner.

What this means is that most home listening in Switzerland may simply move to internet radio in 2024. No doubt it’s likely much home and office listening already is online, and those who want to hear DAB+ outside the car have plenty of receivers to choose from, though reception might be challenging outside of urban areas.

From what I can see now, the path to an FM turnoff in Switzerland seems even clearer than it was in Norway, where public opinion hasn’t been altogether favorable, and many stations remain analog. In part this is likely due to relative consensus amongst Swiss broadcasters in general, not just major national broadcasters. A significant government subsidy, combined with overall strong support for public broadcasting also help.

Because of these factors, magnified by the country’s small geographic size and high per capita income, Switzerland is an outlier – just like Norway before it. Although the idea of a full digital transition has been floated in other European countries that have DAB+ broadcasting, both large and small, it hasn’t gained traction, often owing to the cost and complexity of sunsetting an established, proven and reliable technology that exhibits few downsides. Moreover, it’s easier to transition a relatively affluent population of 8.4 million to digital radio, than the larger, more economically diverse 66 million of the U.K. or 82 million of Germany.

No, this is not a bellwether of analog radio’s demise, nor an indicator of a digital transition here in the U.S. I suspect as 2024 draws closer we may hear more critical voices in Switzerland, when Swiss citizens realize that millions of their radios will become obsolete – at least for listening to radio from their native land.

Folks in Geneva and other cities and towns along the border will still be able to tune in stations from France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Liechtenstein. That’s something less accessible to Norwegians, who are much more geographically distant from other FM broadcasting countries.

In the meantime, keep an enormous grain of salt on hand for when you see the torrent of clickbaity “Is this the end of FM radio” stories, if and when this news hits the feed of a tech writer on a quota.

The post Switzerland To End FM Broadcasts in 2024 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

I’m still playing catch up with a queue of interesting radio stories I’ve yet to post. Although this news dates from May, it didn’t get much play on this side of the Atlantic, and should be of interest to Radio Survivors.

Ireland’s longstanding – and oft-threatened – longwave radio station RTÉ 1 on 252 kHz is staying on the air. With the ability to serve listeners over a longer distance than AM (mediumwave), though covering less area than shortwave, listeners in the Irish diaspora across the UK have relied upon this station to keep in touch with news and culture back home.

However, the cost of maintaining aging equipment and the availability of RTÉ 1 on the internet caused the state broadcaster to plan its shutdown five years ago. That’s when the station first appeared on my radar. Immediately listeners across Ireland and the UK registered their protests, noting that many older people who rely upon the broadcasts aren’t able to use internet radio easily, and that in-car listening isn’t so easily replaced by the internet, either.

In 2016 the RTÉ put the closure on hold. It was finally cancelled this May, when the broadcaster announced that it would perform necessary repairs and maintenance in order to keep the 252 signal on air for at least another two years. That will require a two month interruption in service.

As a contingency, RTÉ has explored simulcasts on digital DAB+ radio in the UK, but regulations that require broadcasters to be UK-based have been a stumbling block.

Longwave radio, which sits below the AM band between 148 and 283 kHz, was never implemented as a broadcast service in North America. It primarily travels via groundwaves for distances up to about 1200 miles, whereas shortwave travels by skywaves for even longer distances. Longwave’s advantages are that it has fidelity and reliability that are more like AM radio, while covering a larger area.

Though longwave has been in service about as long as AM mediumwave, RTÉ 252 has only been going since 1989. As contributor Paul Bailey explained, the broadcaster acquired the operation from Radio Luxembourg as its rock music programming was losing ground to native stations in the UK.

30 years is still a decent tenure, and the decision to keep the 252 signal going is a testament to the power of radio, and the notion that obsolescence is in the ear of the beholder. The point of radio is to reach listeners, and if the new technology won’t reach those who benefit most, then is it really better?

The post Ireland Can’t Quit Longwave appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Amanda Dawn Christie is an artist enamored with radios and radio waves. The Assistant Professor, Studio Arts at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) joins us on the show to discuss her most recent transmission art project, Ghosts in the Airglow, in which she created work at the HAARP facility in Alaska.

Christie also shares with us the backstory of how she starting working with radio and radio waves, describing her fascination with radio towers and shortwave and recounting her numerous radio-related art projects.

Show Notes:

• Amanda Dawn Christie’s website
• Faculty page for Amanda Dawn Christie at Concordia University
• Spectres of Shortwave
• Spectres of Shortwave Installations
• This New Brunswick Town Was Literally Haunted by the Radio (CBC Arts)
• Podcast #92: Conspiracy Theory & Community Radio
• Podcast #168: A Time Machine for All the Radio plus Shortwave
• Spies Still Using Radio
• The Secret Machine Behind Soviet Numbers Stations
• Podcast #86: Radio Resistance from an Alternate Universe
• Resistance Radio: Mesmerizing Dystopian Pirate Radio
• Genetrix Program
• Mystery Solved: ‘Thing in the Woods’ Revealed As… (CBC News)
• Ghosts in the Air Glow
• Concordia Transmission Artist Launches a High-Frequency Project – in Alaska (Concordia University)
• Audio from Ghosts in the Air Glow

The post Podcast #190: Radio Spectrum and Transmission Art appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Nearly a decade ago I reflected on The Professor’s quest to find a decent way to record airchecks, especially from the interference-prone AM and shortwave bands. As a side note, in the intervening 10 years that wish has been granted, with the proliferation of small portable radios with MP3 recording features, like the Tivdio V–115, which I reviewed last year.

I also identified with his adventures in taming all sorts of electromagnetic and RF interference mucking up radio reception in his apartment. In the hands of a lesser scribe this could be a tedious tale. But as he relayed in his entertaining last Radio Kitchen post, after much troubleshooting, he discovered an overlooked source only when they took their leave.

While I was a fan of The Professor’s writing – and pined away for his blog to return for the last seven years – Thomas actually knew him, calling him his “radio arts mentor” in a touching eulogy.

Thomas also reminds me that The Professor had his own show on WFMU, “The Audio Kitchen,” in which he “[served] up an hour of homemade recordings freshly liberated from thrift stores and junk shops, as well as some amateur audio spirited away from the closets and computers of their creators.” Archives are still available at the station’s website.

First reading The Professor’s “Adventures in Amplitude Modulation” posts some 14 years ago (and four years before Radio Survivor began) I knew I’d found a kindred spirit, the likes of whom I likely would never have encountered offline. Such was the rush of connecting to people with shared niche interests in those earlyish internet days, before social media and always-online smartphones, and before we took such niches for granted. It’s a testament to his spirit that my memories are so strong all these years later, despite never having met him. I’m sad to learn he’s gone, but glad to know that The SWLing post intends to keep some of his legacy alive.

The post R.I.P. Radio Adventurer ‘The Professor’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

While updating the 2004 podcast entries for my old radio show “mediageek” I was reminded that I used to post the episodes in both a 64kbps mono “broadcast quality” MP3 and a 16kbps.

The reason why I posted such a low bitrate file, containing relatively low fidelity, was to make the show accessible to listeners who did not have access to broadband internet, or whose access was limited. You see, in 2004 broadband penetration in the United States was just barely approaching 50%, meaning that half of households with internet were still using dial-up modems.

In the best case scenario, it would take a 56kbps modem user about 35 to 40 minutes to download the weekly half-hour “broadcast quality” MP3. That’s longer than real-time, and assumes a very quiet phone line, good connection and no internet multi-tasking, like checking email or surfing the web while downloading. Though I actually had DSL broadband when I launched the show in 2002 and began posting shows online, listeners from around the world had emailed me asking for smaller files.

I first settled on 16kbps because the typical show was about 3.5 MB, or about a fifth the size of the “broadcast quality version.” That file could be downloaded in nine or ten minutes by a modem user.

As I alluded, the sound quality of that 16kbps file isn’t great. But, it’s also perfectly intelligible. Fidelity-wise I’d compare it to shortwave radio, and utterly adequate for a talk program, which is what “mediageek” was.

Hear 16kbps for yourself:

I quit posting those low bitrate files in the middle of 2005, in part because of the extra effort it required, and in part because I assumed that listeners’ internet connections were improving. Turns out, I was mistaken on the latter point. I received several emails telling me that only having bigger 64kbps files was making the show inaccessible, with one listener suggesting that 24kbps files would be an acceptable compromise between file size and fidelity. The sound was more like AM radio than shortwave. So I resumed creating smaller files at this bitrate.

Here’s what one of those 24kbps files sounds like:

The Magic of Shortwave, Online

As I mentioned in my post about the history of internet radio, this is the kind of sound quality I was accustomed to when streaming audio from around the world in the mid- and late–90s over my home dial-up connection. The experience then was very much like the first time I used a shortwave radio as a child. It was pure magic to hear live radio from thousands of miles away, or on-demand recorded shows that I’d never otherwise have the opportunity to hear before.

Though the fidelity was shortwave-quality, the listening experience was more rock-solid. No signal fades, static or lightning strikes intruded on those early internet broadcasts, provided nobody else picked up the phone. I happened to live alone in a one-bedroom grad student apartment, and so was lucky not to have to compete for the line.

Since that time most people with internet access are now accustomed to getting better bandwidth oner 4G mobile connections than we did with modems or even early 2000s cable and DSL home broadband. It’s no problem to stream high quality stereo music from Spotify or Pandora on the go. Certainly makes those 16kbps MP3s seem obsolete.

Or are they?

Low Bitrate Streaming Today

Internet bandwidth is not unlimited, especially over mobile connections. Many folks either pay by the gigabyte or have firm bandwidth limits every month with stiff charges for going over limit. Until this past October my own mobile plan limited my wife and me to 2 GB combined, which required me to limit the podcasts and music I streamed or downloaded over mobile broadband. Podcast files clocking in at 50 MB or more really do add up quickly.

I wonder how many listeners would gladly trade in some loss in fidelity in order to moderate their bandwidth usage? Moreover, many rural communities across the U.S. are still considered “broadband deserts” where home and mobile speeds are very slow, or where dial-up is still the only option. Bitrate and file size can still be a matter of accessibility.

Offering lower bitrates is less of a sonic compromise today than it was 15 years ago, due to advances in codec technologies. MP3 is relatively ancient compared to the more modern AAC, which has many variants, including a “high efficiency” (HE) version designed specifically for low bandwidth applications. This is great for streaming, but still not so hot for podcasting. That’s because MP3 is pretty much the de facto standard for the medium – for a variety of reasons – and while most modern podcast players can play other file types, MP3 guarantees the broadest compatibility.

But sticking with MP3 significantly limits low bandwidth sound quality, which is why I’m reluctant to reduce the bitrate for the Radio Survivor podcast in order to get smaller file sizes (right now the show averages around 26 MB).

However, I recently noticed that Mixcloud, which streams DJ mixes, radio shows and podcasts, uses AAC-HE, likely for the purpose of conserving bandwidth costs. A recent episode of Radio Survivor hosted there is actually re-encoded to 49kbps variable bitrate mono AAC-HE file; our normal MP3 podcast file is 64kbps mono. It sounds just fine to my ears:

I don’t know if the platform adjusts bitrates for lower bandwidth users – I tend to doubt it. However that 49kbps bitrate is just low enough that you can probably stream it over a modem or 2G mobile connection, perhaps with some initial buffering. (That’s not something I can test, since I don’t have a modem or landline.)

Where Are the Low Bitrate Stations?

To see if there appears to be any demand for low bitrate internet radio I checked out the directory at Shoutcast, which is one of the only directories where you can easily sort stations by bitrate. Just looking at the top stations list I can see more than three dozen stations streaming at under 64kbps, with 32kbps seeming to be the most popular low bitrate, using both MP3 and AAC. Looking only at talk radio stations, there are even more low bitrate streams.

It’s not just about accessibility. It also helps to control bandwidth costs for the station. But seeing the wide availability of these streams tells me there are still people listening to them. They may not be specifically looking for low bitrates. They might just be selecting particular streams based upon whether or not they play readily and easily over their connection.

True to my analogy, many international shortwave broadcasters offer low bitrate streams. For instance, the BBC World Service offers streams as low as 48kbps.

In any event, while low bitrate streaming may not be much needed by many of us with always-on broadband connections, there still seems to be a need, even if the format flies mostly under the radar. The ability to squeeze down an audio signal into a tiny stream means we can still get internet radio broadcast from far away places or receive it in places where internet is still a limited commodity.

In that way, the spirit of shortwave radio is still alive on the internet today.

The post The Shortwave Radio of the Internet: Low Bitrate Streaming appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Paul shares a few more details of his trip to Brazil, and then he and Eric listen to a bandscan of the FM dial recorded on a Sunday night in São Paulo, the country’s largest city.

Christian radio? Check. Bad 80s pop music? Yep. One takeaway is that commercial radio everywhere kinda sucks, in general. But there are also some more interesting sounds to be heard, too.

Show Notes:

Some of the stations heard include:

• Gazeta FM 88.1
• Novo Brasil FM
• KISS FM
• Cultura FM
• Eldorado FM
• Mix 106.3

The post Podcast #170.5 – Bonus: São Paulo FM Bandscan appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radios in the trees, a transmitter in the pond, and a weather-driven synth. These are just some of what you’ll find on The Wave Farm, a 29-acre property in New York’s Hudson Valley dedicated to radio and transmission arts. It’s anchored by community radio station WGXC, accompanied by a cornucopia of additional tiny terrestrial and internet stations.

Jennifer Waits takes us on an auditory tour of the farm, along with a visit to the station’s Hudson, NY studio, where station manager and managing news editor Lynn Sloneker lays out all these audio feeds. Then in the Wave Farm studio, artistic director Tom Roe details the organization’s history, which has its roots in the unlicensed micropower radio movement of the 1990s.

Every year Wave Farm hosts artists in residence, who create unique works and installations exploring the many aspects of electromagnetic transmission. One was the musical artist Quintron, who created the Weather Warlock, a weather-controlled synthesizer. Eric Klein gave him a call to learn more about this project and his work.

Show Notes:

• WGXC
• Jennifer’s tour of WGXC
• Jennifer’s tour of Wave Farm
• Artist-in-residence Dan Tapper at Wave Farm
• Dan Tapper’s website
• Podcast #137 – Zach Poff Built a Radio Station Inside a Pond
• Podcast #148 – Solving the Mystery of Summer Camp Radio
• Wave Farm Celebrates 20 Years of Transmission Art
• Quintron and Miss Pussycat
• Weather for the Blind
• Weather Warlock at Wave Farm
• Radio Survivor Podcast #133 – Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio
• The Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map is Now Online
• Brooklyn Pirate Radio Sound Map
• Radio Survivor Podcast #150 – Sympathy for Kenny G
• Every Community Radio Programmer Must be a Publicist

The post Podcast #151 – The Wave Farm Grows Transmission Arts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What killed smooth jazz radio? Why aren’t there any commercial classical stations any longer? And, why do radio stations have a “format” to begin with? Matthew Lasar joins us to explore these questions about the fundamental organizing principle of most music radio.

Matthew is a co-founder of Radio Survivor and the author of three important books on radio, including Pacifica Radio: The Rise of an Alternative Network and Radio 2.0.

Show Notes:

• Top 40 Democracy: The Rival Mainstreams of American Music, by Eric Weisbard
• Matthew likes: KKUP, KZSC, Second Inversion Radio, WQXR New Sounds (formerly Q2)
• Hybrid Highbrow: New music for Paddle to the Sea + nobody told me that smooth jazz died
• Hybrid Highbrow: Somebody stop killing jazz radio please
• OMG a radio station actually keeps its classical format after protests

The post Podcast #150 – Sympathy for Kenny G appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Did you know that upwards of 350 radio stations were established at summer camps across the United States? Dan Braverman, President of Radio Systems, Inc., joins us to share the history of summer camp radio, including his own experience setting up a camp radio station when he was just nine years old. Still involved with his youthful camp, Radio Free Ramah (WCRP) at Camp Ramah in the Poconos, Braverman chats about the power of hyper-local radio and how he built a radio business by initially setting up AM carrier current radio stations at summer camps.

Show Notes

• The End of Carrier Current? (Radio World)
• College Radio Watch: Uncertainty at KUCR, New Stations, and Carrier Current History
• Radio Systems, Inc.
• Camp Ramah in the Poconos
• Radio Survivor Podcast #146: Volunteer Radio from Antarctica
• Radio Survivor Podcast #147: Prison Radio and a High School Station in a Band Room
• Radio Station Visit #144: KVCB-LP at Vacaville Christian Schools
• Wet Hot American Summer (IMDB)
• The Voice of Peace (YouTube)
• Information Station Specialists
• Radio Survivor Podcast #51: Carrier Current is Cool
• Radio Survivor Podcast #145: Hip Hop Radio Archive
• Radio Survivor Podcast #133: Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio
• Unlicensed Low-Power Transmitters Fuel SXSW Dance Party

The post Podcast #148 – Solving the Mystery of Summer Camp Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Back in March I released a video review of the Tivdio V-115 portable digital radio. I praised it for being very nice sounding – especially for being so small – having decent reception, and for being able to record airchecks to a microSD card.

After using the radio during some travels I decided to record a follow-up review based on its performance. While it’s been a good travel companion for listening to strong local stations, I wasn’t able to tune in some of the smaller, funkier little local stations that I hoped to record air checks of. Earlier I had heard some of these stations with an analog receiver, the Kaito WRX-911.

That isn’t a deal killer; I still use this radio nearly every day. But I thought it was worth a follow-up. I’ve also purchased another little radio with similar features, the Kaito KA29, which I will test out on my next trip to see if it performs any better. Already I’ve heard some results that make me optimistic.

Learn all about it in this video follow-up review:

The post Radio Review Follow-Up: The Tivdio V-115 – Still Great, But Not a DX Champ 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.

When Norway completed the shutdown of its national FM radio signals the tech sites and blogs were all breathless in reporting the news. But, despite the strong currents of digital triumphalism, the way of Norway is not a sign of things to come for analog radio.

As Norway paved the way for the wholesale move to digital radio, other European states have been watching from the sidelines. The UK, in particular, has a well developed DAB digital radio infrastructure, with plenty of stations and decent penetration of receivers–now around 36%. So eyes and ears have been on that much larger nation, where some politicians and regulators have floated the idea of a digital radio transition.

However, just recently the BBC weighed in on the issue, voting soundly in favor of keeping analog FM radio alive “for the foreseeable future.” As the 900 pound gorilla in British broadcasting, it’s unlikely that government regulators would strongly oppose the Beeb’s desire to keep transmitting in glorious analog.

Speaking at a radio conference in Vienna, BBC director of radio Bob Shannon said, “Great progress has been made,” in digital broadcasting, “but switchover now would be premature.” He emphasized that audiences want a choice of broadcast systems, and one of those choices is good old FM.

Though widely reported in the British press, nary a peep of Shannon’s pro-FM comments appeared Stateside. Sure, the internet is global, making these UK stories just a search away. But how many average American readers are trolling the papers across the pond? It’s sort of telling that the U.S. tech press took almost zero note, especially after getting so hot and bothered when an advanced industrialized–but also tiny–country forcibly shut down most of its analog radio signals.

Given that the UK was the next big hope for digital radio to succeed analog, don’t expect that many other countries will be sunsetting FM any time soon. Least of which will be the U.S., where by comparison we barely have digital radio broadcasting.

While HD Radio is digital, it coexists and hangs off of analog FM signals. Moreover, home or portable HD Radio receivers are rare, whereas in the UK you can walk into just about any retailer and buy a digital radio receiver right off the shelf. Such ubiquity is just a pipe dream in the U.S., where the only reason the average listener knows about HD Radio is because of the ads that get run perpetually on commercial radio. Yet if you ask that average listener if they know how, or why, they would listen to HD Radio, you’d likely just get a shrug in response.

More than 90% of the American population still listens to AM/FM radio every month. And while plenty of other options, from satellite radio to podcasting, compete and provide alternatives to radio, the old analog broadcast medium persists. That’s because it works, works well, and reliably.

If there’s any reason to turn off radio, that has more to do with the abysmal programming brought on by the nation’s largest commercial station owners, who are more interested in treating stations like real estate on a Monopoly board than being broadcasters. Turns out, that was a bad bet, but that has nothing to do with radio, and everything to do with reductionist profiteering that saw a cheap buck in consolidation and disinvestment.

Broadcasting in digital doesn’t make crappy programming any better.

So don’t worry. You’ll probably break your FM radio before it becomes obsolete.

The post FM Radio Is Here To Stay in the UK appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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

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

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

Pros:

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

Cons:

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

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

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

“Franken FM” is the name writer Ernie Smith of Tedium.co calls TV broadcasters who use analog Channel 6 to be heard at 87.7 on the FM dial. Paul talks with Ernie about their mutual fascination with these stations, which Paul has written about extensively on Radio Survivor.

Also included in the interview, Ernie Smith explains how he approaches writing about things for the internet. Tedium.co covers topics as diverse (and uniquely inconsequential) as FrankenFM and the inventor of the mouse pad.

This interview is an encore presentation from episode #58.

Show Notes:

• A Brief History of Backdoor ‘FrankenFM’ Radio Stations
• Ernie Smith on FrankenFMs: “Waaaaay Left of the Dial”

The post Podcast #127 – Franken-FMs Are Low-Power TV Stations Masquerading as Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

How do I get a broadcast radio license? How can I find all the LPFM or college radio stations? Will you visit and write about my favorite station?

Every week the editors of Radio Survivor receive, and answer, queries like these from readers and listeners. While we enjoy corresponding with people, we thought we shouldn’t reserve our replies to just individual interlocutors. So here we have our very first mailbag episode, responding to the most frequently asked questions we receive.

Maybe we tackle your most pressing questions about radio and community media. If not, drop us a line: podcast@radiosurvivor.com.

Be sure to subscribe to Radio Survivor in your favorite podcast app or platform so that you never miss an episode.

The show is available in Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, Overcast, Radio Public, and any player that supports RSS.

Need help subscribing? Click here for more info.

Show Notes:

• Mailbag: We Get our First Transmitter Kit from a Fan
• The Education of a Radio Pirate
• Podcast #120: Have Your Own Tiny Radio Station
• Part 15 legal unlicensed broadcasting coverage on Radio Survivor
• Metro State University’s WCAS and its Part 15 Plans
• College Radio in the 1970s: Industry Notes Influence of Carrier Current Radio
  Hobby Broadcaster: Part 15 AM & FM transmitters

• Prometheus Radio Project: Q and A About Pirate Radio
• Podcast #114 – A Common Sense Approach to Unlicensed Broadcasting
• About Low Power FM
• What about Low-Power AM (LPAM)?
• Podcast #125 – Radio Free America is an Online Hub for Noncomm Radio
• LPFM Database
• College Radio Watch: 1980s Syndicated Radio Show
• Spinning Indie Radio Station Field Trips
• Spinning Indie 50 State Tour

The post Podcast #126 – We Answer Your Frequently Asked Questions appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Norway’s FM radio won’t go away that easily.

Two years ago the world press reported, often breathlessly, on the Scandinavian country’s plans to end its national radio services on the FM dial, switching them over to digital broadcasting. Lost in most of the reportage was the fact 200 local FM stations would remain on the air, while 65% of Norwegians opposed the shutdown. But, who lets facts get in the way of a sensational triumphalist headline declaring the first nail in radio’s coffin?

Last week more staid articles reported that the national FM shutdown has completed, with the last national FM stations in the northern Arctic reaches going silent. But the public won’t necessarily tolerate the silence.

According to a variety of sources, unlicensed FM broadcasts have popped up in cities around the country, including Bergen, Tønsberg, Ålesund, Fredrikstad and Førde. In Oslo, Norway’s largest city, the CBC’s “As It Happens” talked with one FM broadcaster—the CEO of a radio company and the chairman of the Norwegian Local Radio Federation—who refused to turn off his transmitter. He says that his station enjoys “great support” from listeners and is facing fines of more than $10,000 a day.

He goes on to tell the CBC,

But the main question is, why do you switch off a system in Norway where we have 10 to 15 million radio receivers? And you just say to the public, you’re not going to use this anymore because you need to buy new ones.

What sort of logic is that for media companies to operate that way?

I mean, you operate on behalf of the listener. Here, the big players are saying to the listeners: “No. You need to go out and buy new radio receivers.”

Note that with a population of 5.25 million people, a count of 15 million FM radio receivers is quite significant.

Five days after that CBC interview published Radio Metro gave into government pressure and finally shut down. However, the company is still broadcasting in 10 other cities.

Even with the national FM switch-off complete, the digital transition still remains unpopular with the Norwegian public. A recent Dagbladet newspaper survey found 56% of Norwegians are “dissatisfied” with the conversion to DAB. Another national news survey says 50% of people who don’t have a DAB capable radio in the car have no plans to upgrade, in part because they’re willing to rely on the local broadcasters that remain on FM.

To me, this situation seems a lot like Network Neutrality here in the U.S. In Norway you have millions of people—a true majority—who were perfectly happy with FM radio and had no wish to trade it in for a digital model with difficult-to-perceive benefits, aside from being digital. In America, 52% of registered voters in a Morning Consult/Politico poll said they support Net Neutrality, while a record number of people submitted comments to the FCC in support of the policy.

But like FM supporters in Norway, open internet supporters in the U.S. were screaming at deaf ears in Washington.

That’s why in Norway unlicensed broadcasters are filling the enormous void left behind by the country’s national broadcast industry and regulator. Which begs the question: what is the pirate radio equivalent of internet that we can build when our formerly open internet tubes get closed down to a trickle?

The post Is FM Radio Norway’s Network Neutrality? Majority Still Opposes Shutdown appeared first on Radio Survivor.

First conceived in the 1930s, there is a type of tiny little radio station that anyone can operate legally, without a license. Bill DeFelice of HobbyBroadcaster.net joins the show to tell us about so-called ‘Part 15’ radio stations, and how you can get on the air today, to broadcast around your house, or even your neighborhood.

Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast. We dedicate hours of time and effort for each weekly episode.

Help us sustain and grow this show by contributing as little as $1 every month. With four episodes every month, that’s just 25 cents for each one.

Make your monthly pledge of support at http://pateron.com/radiosurvivor.

Show Notes:

• HobbyBroadcaster.net
• HobbyBroadcaster.net – History of Low-Power AM Transmitters & Phono Oscillators
• HobbyBroadcaster.net – Directory of Part 15 stations in the U.S.
• Found in the Attic: LPB Carrier Current AM Transmitter
• The End of Carrier Current?
• A hands-on review of a vintage Radio Shack electronics kit for children

The post Podcast #120 – Have Your Own Tiny Radio Station appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio shows about the medium itself have a long and storied history, from the early days of radio when the ability to receive distant audio signals over the air was a wonder in itself, to the contemporary shortwave scene, wherein atmospheric conditions and technical tips are subjects of interest. Of course, this year our own radio show joined this tradition, but in no way do I mean to imply that shows about radio are a thing of the past.

The International Radio Report Turns 30

I wrote about some of these shows six years ago in a post about podcasts (or radio shows available as podcasts) that cover radio. But I was again reminded of this category when the SWLing Post published a press release for the upcoming 30th anniversary broadcast of the “International Radio Report,” originating at CKUT in Montreal. With the occasional turnover of hosts, the IRR has kept over-the-air and internet listeners apprised of relevant radio news on the AM, FM, LW and shortwave dials.

From the release:

The program, originally hosted and produced by Sheldon Harvey and William Westenhaver, initially dealt exclusively with the world of international radio broadcasting, or shortwave radio, featuring information on radio broadcasts from around the world that could be listened to on shortwave radio. Over the years the scope of the program evolved and expanded to also include information and developments in local and national radio broadcasting, campus/community radio, pirate and clandestine radio and, eventually, Internet and digital radio. The program also covers developments in radio equipment, radio technology, and more.

Though this may seem a fringe interest to non-radio-nerds, radio broadcasters exert powerful influence on the politics and culture of nearly every nation. Here in the U.S., just imagine what our current politics would be like without right-wing talk radio. Elsewhere, government repression results in the censorship or shut-down of broadcasts, or even the jamming of signals coming from abroad. In Zimbabwe, for example, clandestine broadcasts from neighboring countries continue to be a thorn in the side of its autocratic leadership. This is the stuff IRR has covered for three decades.

I’m pretty sure I first heard IRR about a decade into its existence, catching archived RealAudio streams at the CKUT website. At the time–circa 1996–I had started my own bi-weekly community radio show tackling radio and media democracy on WEFT-FM in Champaign, IL, called “Radio Free Conscience.” I turned to the IRR to help keep me informed, and provide knowledgable analysis. I largely stopped listening several years ago when I found it difficult to find online archives or get regular updates to the show’s podcast feed.

These days the IRR archive on the CKUT website is up to date, which means I can resume listening. I’m particularly interested in tuning in live to the special 1-hour 30th anniversary broadcast on Sunday, November 19 from 10:30 to 11:30 AM EST on CKUT-FM 90.3 in Montreal and online at www.ckut.ca. The broadcast also will be archived at the station’s website.

World of Radio

An even longer lasting show is “Glenn Hauser’s World of Radio,” which launched in 1980. Over the course of some 37 years Hauser has delivered weekly 30-minute updates about the global radio scene, with more emphasis on shortwave and listener reception reports, all delivered in his trademark Stentorian, matter-of-fact style.

Launched in the days before a public internet or practical audio streaming, WoR has been carried on AM, FM and shortwave affiliates across the continents. I think it’s fair to say that because WoR has been such a constant and reliable resource, the show is one of the ties binding together the international shortwave listening community.

The radio show is complimented by print digests that summarize the week’s stories and reports.

Wavescan

Adventist World Radio produces Wavescan, primarily covering distance shortwave listening (DXing). The show also sometimes presents stories from broadcasting history, such as the Oct. 22 feature on the first broadcasts of U.S. presidential voting results 100 years ago.

The show is heard on Miami-based commercial shortwave station WRMI, which leases time to interested programmers. A number of other DX-focused shows in Spanish and Italian are also on the station.

DXing News from Havana

“DXers Unlimited” is perhaps the longest-running show in this round-up, having launched in 1961. This English-language show on Radio Havana, Cuba is hosted and produced by Arnie Coro.

En Español (y Ingles)

The shortwave service R.A.E Argentina al Mundo broadcasts Actualidad DX weekly in Spanish and English, focusing on DXing, ham radio and other issues in communication. The Spanish version is available as a podcast.

The website Programas DX features a directory of other DX shows in Spanish on a number of different shortwave services, collecting recordings into a single podcast feed.

The Shortwave Report

Finally, I want to mention “The Shortwave Report.” It’s not a show about radio, but rather a weekly compilation of news stories broadcast by international shortwave stations, intended to expose the audience—primarily in the US—to a wider spectrum of views and events than heard on domestic media.

Produced by Dan Roberts, “The Shortwave Report” has been going strong for about 20 years, and is carried on community radio stations like WFHB, KXCR and WGXC. Back in 2006 I interviewed Roberts for my “Mediageek” radio show and podcast, and he explained that part of his mission is to educate listeners about shortwave radio.

Glenn Hauser has a list of radio-related shows, mostly on shortwave and online, though many are noted as defunct.

These are all the shows I know about. What shows about radio am I missing, that are actually broadcast on the airwaves, be it AM, FM or shortwave? Let us know in the comments.

Feature image credit: Splitshire at Pexels

The post Meta-Radio: Radio Shows About the Medium appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As I continue to mine the deeply embedded treasures of YouTube, I’ve dug up another diamond in the rough, a 27 year-old documentary on unlicensed shortwave broadcasting radio. Titled “Inside Pirate Radio,” this hour-long video visits the studio of Radio Wolf International during one broadcast, interspersed with an interview with Andrew Yoder, one of the foremost authorities on shortwave pirates, and the author of several books on the topic, including Pirate Radio Stations: Tuning in to Underground Broadcasts and Pirate Radio Operations.

Credited to the Franklin Video Group of Franklin, Indiana, this low-budget DIY video is less a documentary than a slice-of-life document. What’s most fascinating is that it’s a snapshot of the scene from the pre-internet days, when communication between broadcasters and listeners was mediated through magazine columns, printed newsletters and mail correspondence.

The appeal of shortwave pirate broadcasting is that the signals travel long distances, across continents and oceans. To understand the power of this medium one has to recognize that in 1990 few people outside the military or research universities had internet access. Long distance or international communication via phone was very expensive, and via mail it was slow.

That’s why Yoder dispels the notion that pirate shortwave broadcasting is all that exciting, explaining that there’s “no immediate thrill” in hearing from your audience. Unlike a DJ in the studio of licensed station, shortwave pirates didn’t give out phone numbers for fear of leading the FCC to their doorstep.

Instead, shortwave pirates received reception reports from listeners through the mail. But this process could take weeks, because most stations got their letters via mail drops, third parties who would forward mail back-and-forth on behalf of broadcasters in order to keep their locations secret.

In exchange for sending a reception report, listeners could expect to receive a QSL card. It’s a postcard specifically designed by the station confirming that the listener heard an actual broadcast. Shortwave pirate listeners collect and covet these cards, and Yoder shows off his album of them in this film.

Mail drops and QSL cards still exist today, just as shortwave pirate broadcasters continue to seize the international airwaves. Message boards and social media help some broadcasters more quickly publicize their broadcasts, and some also accept email reception reports, accelerating the exchange.

Although I’ve been aware of pirate shortwave culture since the mid 1990s, watching this video I was reminded of how community and social exchange forms the backbone of the broadcasting and listening aspects of the hobby. I see parallels to cassette culture—as I wrote about a week ago—in which the exchange of home-recorded and reproduced tapes was facilitated by ads and reviews in ’zines and magazines, alongside shows on college and community radio stations. Listeners had to send away for tapes, for which they paid a small amount of money, or sent their own home recordings in trade.

As long-time DJ and musician Don Campau explained, through the exchange of letters and cassettes, “[t]ape culture also offered a way to create relationships with people, too.”

Andrew Yoder is still active as a shortwave pirate listener, documenting stations he finds at his Hobby Broadcasting Blog.

The post Glimpse Behind the Scenes at Shortwave Pirate Radio in 1990 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We catch up on news that’s important to podcasters and broadcasters. Soundcloud received emergency investment to keep running, but is it still a sustainable host for podcasts? The podcast patent troll is totally dead, finally. And, responding to reader and listener questions, Paul reviews the history of proposals to create a low-power AM radio service in the U.S.

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

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Show Notes:

• Podcast #103 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina
• Groucho Marx and Truman Capote on the Dick Cavett Show
• SoundCloud saved by emergency funding as CEO steps aside
• “Podcasting patent” is totally dead, appeals court rules
• What about Low-Power AM (LPAM)?

The post Podcast #104 – Soundcloud, Patent Troll & the Legacy of Talk appeared first on Radio Survivor.

With the last group of low-power FM stations approved in the 2013 licensing window now going on the air—and no new LPFM windows scheduled—many folks are wondering what other licensed low-powered broadcasting opportunities might exist. So far this year we at Radio Survivor have fielded quite a few inquiries from people who would like to start a station, or who are simply curious about the subject.

A handful of them asked about the possibility for a low-power AM radio service. It’s a reasonable question, especially since in the last decade the FCC has made so-called “AM revitalization” one of its broadcast priorities, and the Netherlands approved its own low-power AM service last year (machine translation from Dutch).

As it turns out, several proposals to create a LPAM service have been submitted to the FCC, with the first coming in 1997. However, it’s obvious that none have become reality.

The proposal that received the most serious consideration came from a coalition of groups led by Don Schellhardt and Nick Leggett—the latter responsible for the first 1997 proposal—two members of the Amherst Alliance which also contributed to the proposal that kicked off the eventual creation of LPFM. Filed in August, 2005, this petition suggested a commercial low-power service. Commercial, because petitioners contended that stations would need advertising revenue to be economically viable, in addition to providing advertising opportunities for small businesses unable to afford time on full-power stations.

I interviewed Schellhardt about it back in 2004 for my old radio show and podcast, “Mediageek.” The archive audio is still available.

That proposal was itself a follow-up to one filed two years earlier by broadcast engineer Fred Baumbartner, which was never taken up by the FCC. This time around the Commission did open up a proceeding, RM–11287, in which about 75 comments were filed. The filing didn’t escape the attention of commercial broadcast industry groups, which generally opposed the idea. The National Association of Broadcasters wrote, “the LPAM Petition threatens to undermine the Commission’s efforts to clean up and improve the AM band,” presaging the current AM Revitalization effort.

A year later the original petitioners, joined by REC Networks, submitted a “streamlined proposal” to use technical specifications inspired by 10-watt Travelers’ Information Stations. Those are the stations which you’ll see advertised on the highway offering road condition updates and tourist information.

Ultimately the LPAM proposal received no additional action from the FCC, and the proceeding was closed formally on January 30, 2015.

Gone, perhaps, but not forgotten. Only seven months later Radio World published a commentary by independent broadcaster Jim Potter advocating for LPAM in order to revive “live and local” radio.

Making no reference to the earlier Schellhardt/Leggett or Baumgartner petitions, Potter called for stations to be licensed at 250 to 500 watts of power (Schellhardt/Leggett originally proposed just 100 watts, the same as LPFM), but did not specify commercial or non-commercial service. “ He argued that high-powered AM stations, “are doomed to wither because large mass-appeal stations cannot serve the ever-increasing diversity of large urban populations.” The solution would be low-powered AM stations for communities to,

“satisfy their own local needs, including radio swap shop; city council and school board meetings; ask the mayor call-in shows; high school ballgame remotes; community calendar, school lunch menus, local news and views and inexpensive spots read live by the local announcer. In other words, live and local content, reasons for folks to dust off their kitchen AM radios and find the new station in town. Fancy that!”

(The tenor of this argument ought to sound pretty worn in to anyone familiar to community radio and LPFM.)

Though the FCC decided not to carry low-power AM forward, that doesn’t mean the idea doesn’t have merit and isn’t technically feasibly. Rather, as it is with communications policy, the barrier is political. Not political as in Republican or Democratic, but political with respect to the power of numbers.

Looking over the comments to the Schellhardt/Leggett proposal it’s clear there just wasn’t a groundswell of support. By comparison, the push for LPFM in the late 90s joined together a broad coalition that even included the United Church of Christ, alongside a multitude of broadcast professionals, public interest groups, musicians, artists and individuals, with tens of thousands of filings submitted to the FCC.

I don’t fault the original LPAM petitioners for the outcome. Building the needed coalition and overwhelming grassroots support is hard, hard work, and only a tiny fraction of proposals to the FCC are ever granted any kind of consideration, never mind actually becoming policy. My sense is that AM radio simply isn’t that attractive to enough groups and people. Moreover, many of the advocacy groups one might expect to back a new low-powered radio service are likely preoccupied (if not overwhelmed) with supporting existing and new LPFM stations, or focused on other enormous public interest battles, like net neutrality and media ownership.

So, I have to conclude that a new low-power AM broadcast service in the U.S. is very unlikely. That said, anyone can submit a fresh proposal and dig in. However, it would be wise to learn from the previous proposals and the success of LPFM and think about how to build a movement—especially one that can meet or beat the expected resistance from the established broadcast industry, which has consistently opposed all low-powered radio efforts of the last twenty years.

That said, if you’re interested in getting on the air I’d strongly recommend researching to see if there’s an existing community radio station or new LPFM in your area. To aid in your search, Wikipedia has a reasonably accurate list of community stations (though unhelpfully listed alphabetically, rather than geographically), and REC Networks maintains a list of low-power FM construction permits that have been granted since 2013. Odds are there’s a station somewhere that could use some help and some new programmers. It may not be as exciting as starting your own station, but it’s also not nearly as expensive or labor-intensive. In any event, any opportunity to broadcast is valuable, and shouldn’t be dismissed.

The post What about Low-Power AM (LPAM)? appeared first on Radio Survivor.