“Many of the key players in the early days of non-commercial radio were there,” Yurdin notes, “as well as most of the pioneers of commercial FM rock radio.”

The historic gathering of perhaps as many as 1,700 people took place “less than a year after Woodstock,” Yurdin continues, “and a month and a half after the shootings at Kent State.” In fact, Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band described the event as an “elite Woodstock.” Yurdin had been involved with free form radio since its inception in 1963, working with Bob Fass at WBAI-FM in New York, and subsequently at KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco. While teaching a course at Goddard on alternative media, he proposed to his students that they run the conference as a class project.

Out went invitations to alternative newspapers, alternative radio stations, underground comics producers, and video innovators to come to the Vermont campus. Interestingly, individuals from institutions that you wouldn’t think of as “alternative” helped with the planning, among them Augie Bloom, National Program Director for RCA records, Billboard magazine columnist Danny Goldberg, and an FM promotions director for Atlantic Records. This sort of pragmatism paid off. Atlantic donated three thousand dollars and three bands to the event: Cactus, the J. Geils Band, and Dr. John. The Hog Farm ran a campsite for the conference.

Goddard chartered a plane from San Francisco “with the understanding,” Yurdin explains, “that all of the people on board would be charged to completely cover the cost.” But a Berkeley student given the task of collecting the fares “told everyone that the flight was free, and refused to accept any money. Goddard ended up paying for the flight.”

The keynote speech was given out of doors by Ram Dass, who also gave a presentation on stress reduction and conflict resolution. Yurdin credits Ram Dass with “helped to bring the many different often clashing progressive agendas into greater harmony.”

His YouTube account concludes:

“The conference brought together many of the top counter cultural figures in the music, radio, broadcast news, and television industries, most of whom had never met prior to this event. The conference was crucial in establishing business, creative, and personal connections which continue to grow to this day.”

“The meeting brought together a range of alternative radio efforts, turning scattered individual efforts into a free form radio movement. While it was co-opted later in the seventies into progressive rock, then album-oriented rock, then classic rock, the spark that free form ignited helped redefine non-commercial radio and much of today’s web based audio streaming.”

Goddard’s alt media conferences continue to this day.

[www.johan.redstrom.se]

The Erratic Radio is a re-designed radio that ‘listens’ not only to normal radio frequencies but also to those around the 50Hz band – frequencies emitted by active electronic appliances. As a reaction to increasing energy consumption, the functional behavior of the radio becomes erratic and unpredictable, thus conceptually relating to the unpredictable, uncontrollable, and intangible effects of increasing energy consumption.

Morozov thinks out loud about the utility of this strange product: “Imagine hungry radio listeners bringing the radio set into the kitchen to grab some food without missing their favorite show,” he writes. “As they move around the kitchen, the show gets increasingly difficult to hear, as the sound reflects the strength of the electric magnetic field in the the current location.”

Most radios don’t consume that much energy, but the point here is to raise awareness about the costs of the typical array of devices we deploy. As designers Anders Ernevi, Samuel Palm, and Johan Redström elaborate:

As you sit at your office, you switch on the radio and tune in the preferred station. Listening to the music for a while, you realize you need to turn on the light. Starting to turn on a series of desk lamps, the radio gets increasingly noisy as it shifts away from the selected frequency. Only by turning the lights off again, returning to the original state, will the radio work properly again….

The trio posit a whole array of “erratic” gadgets designed to challenge the very “distant” sense most consumers have regarding skyrocketing energy use, including erratic television sets, erratic toasters, and erratic blenders. Yet more on the radio:

In order for the radio to tune out and behave erratically, this center frequency needs to be shifted. The ‘erratic-ness’ of the radio is thus created through hacking into the radio channel selection filter, allowing a microcontroller to slightly alter the frequency chosen. In order for the radio to react to energy usage, a sensor has been devised, measuring the electrical fields around the radio. This provides a sense, not only for the actual consumption, but also for the electricity that surrounds us in our everyday life depending on where the artifact is placed. This kind of sensing does not provide accurate measurements of consumption, but it gives an additional feature of mobile measurements.

“We are suckers for various technologies,” Morozov notes, “but we rarely recognize that their use is only made possible by vast sociotechnological systems, like water supply and now cloud computing. Thus does the author praise the “strangeness” of these gadgets. “The strangeness is deliberate: it seeks to introduce aspects of risk and indeterminacy into the use of such devices.”

I suppose that it would be simpler just to set up some kind of energy overuse alert system in one’s house—a flashing red button or something similar. But I wonder how many people would soon shrug their shoulders and experience the alert as part of the background auto-flow of life.

A radio, on the other hand, that suddenly gave me Rush Limbaugh rather than my local classical station . . . now that would get my attention.

The Commission has already received and granted one waiver for tornado relief. Waivers may be granted for specific fundraising programs, or for “limited station appeals which generally do not exceed several days.”

Last year the FCC proposed letting non-comms dedicate up to 88 hours a year without having to request a waiver. In comments submitted to this proceeding organizations like National Public Radio and the University Station Alliance urged the Commission not to lift the ban, arguing that it might jeopardize listener relationships or cause stations to be deluged with airtime requests from charities. Religious broadcasters, on the other hand, were more supportive of the idea.

Radio stations that want to request a waiver should email Peter Doyle
(peter.doyle@fcc.gov) and Michael Wagner (michael.wagner@fcc.gov) and provide the details of the fundraising activity, including:

a. the nature of the fundraising effort;

b. the proposed duration of the fundraising effort;

c. the organization(s) to which funds will be donated; and

d. whether the fundraiser will be part of the licensee’s regularly scheduled
pledge drive or fundraising effort.

Previously:

Is Radio Shirking its Public Service Duty During Disasters?

Truck in Family Radio Parking Lot in May, 2011 (Photo: J. Waits)

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of Family Radio‘s failed Judgment Day/Rapture. It was a surreal few weeks leading up to May 21, 2011, with the Christian radio network’s founder Harold Camping doing daily call-in talk radio shows in order to spread the word about the impending rapture.

After the non-events on May 21 (Camping had predicted rolling earthquakes beginning at 6pm local time all over the world), Camping eventually retreated from the business of predicting the end of the world. He suffered a stroke in summer 2011 and has had far less of a presence over the network’s radio waves. Since that time, Family Radio has sold off some valuable radio properties (including WKDN near Philadelphia, WFME in Newark, WFTI in Florida, and WFSI in Maryland) and according to an article written by investigative reporter Matthias Gafni, there are signs that the network is struggling financially.

In his piece for the Contra Costa Times last week, Gafni reveals some interesting details about the massive Christian radio network. According to the article, Family Radio’s net assets and cash on hand have dropped and the network “took out a $30 million bridge loan to keep operating…” while waiting for proceeds from station sales. Gafni writes:

“Former and current insiders allege the situation may be even worse than it appears, claiming donations have dropped almost 70 percent since the Rapture prediction proved incorrect, leading to numerous layoffs of longtime Family Radio staff members. Those insiders say the nonprofit mishandled the sales of the stations, reaping far less than they were worth, and is on the hook for millions of dollars to devotees who have loaned them money over the years.”

The article includes other juicy tidbits, including details about a plan to have skywriters post Judgment Day messages over major cities in May, 2011. Apparently the planes were cancelled at the last minute as a cost-saving measure (surprising for a company that thought the world was ending anyway).

Can you rely on your local radio station during a disaster

The horrific devastation in Oklahoma following yesterday’s tornado reminds me once again about the importance of terrestrial radio during disasters. Today, as I read through tornado preparedness literature, it was clear that radio communication is vital during and after severe weather events. A safety publication (PDF) from University of Oklahoma not only recommends that everyone own a battery-powered AM/FM radio in order to not only monitor weather warnings, but to also receive updates following a tornado.

I’m sure there have been some radio heroes during the storms of the past few weeks, but, sadly, there are probably instances of radio stations that were unable to provide local updates because they did not have live DJs or because they were simply unwilling or unable to handle disasters. As we’ve discussed before, fewer and fewer radio stations have a truly local presence, with many opting to air syndicated programs or automated music. Radio Survivor reader and radio veteran Bill Lundun recently wrote in to express his sadness over this state of affairs.  His comment, posted to my story about Jon Bernhardt’s 8-hour shift during the lock-down following the Boston marathon bombing, is timely in light of the events of the past 24-hours in Oklahoma. Lundun writes:

Do your local radio stations provide your community with important information in times of crisis? Can you think of instances where local DJs have presented breaking news and safety information over the air? I was pleasantly surprised last September when I heard live news coverage about wild fires on Ft. Bragg, California commercial radio station KOZT The Coast. Is this a rare occurrence or can you think of other examples? And if you are in Oklahoma this week, who were your radio heroes?

Albuquerque’s Alibi hazily reports on “at least one station operating without a license” in Northern New Mexico. That station’s twist is that it broadcasts a room on turntable.fm, where any user can take a turn playing DJ on the station, no matter where she is located.

Long before the advent of turntable.fm or SoundCloud unlicensed stations have been experimenting with programming supplied by listeners. Pre-internet stations would accept messages recorded anonymously to a voicemail system or even snail mailed on tape to post office boxes. In the early 2000s–before the term “user-generated content” crossed the lips of marketers–Seattle’s Black Ball Radio and Minneapolis’ 2000 Flushes broadcast MP3s uploaded to their websites. Services like turntable.fm make it even easier to do this, although such sites exclude recordings made by listeners, since they feature only commercially released music.

ArtSlant Los Angeles recently published a brief overview of recent transmission art and unlicensed radio projects, inspired by the Miami-based Electric Lunch operated by art Patricia Margarita Hernandez. Even though Hernandez’s storefront station is online-only, writer Amanda Sanfilippo draws an explicit connection to Miami’s rich pirate radio scene.

Speaking of Miami, in the last few weeks the FCC has touted fines issues to unlicensed operators in that particular hotbed, in addition to Princeville, Oregon.

The Oregon fine followed up on a notice of apparent liability issued in July, 2012, to a man who apparently (and foolishly) let in an FCC agent, who was accompanied by a local police officer, to inspect his station inside his residence. It only took the Commission 10 months to take the next step with this low-hanging fruit.

The FCC moved a little more quickly on the two Florida cases. Last notice to both operators occurred in February of this year, following up on visits made in 2012. In one case the broadcaster also let FCC agents inspect his station. In the other case the station–being fed a stream from a laptop over the internet–was located in a commercial property where the owner gave agents access. With this latter instance the FCC was acting on complaints from the FAA alleging interference with aircraft bands.

There’s no mention of warrants to obtain entry or confiscate equipment in any of these cases, even in Oregon where a local cop tagged along. Things would have been more complicated for the FCC if their knock at the door simply had been ignored.

An interesting side note is that the Commission’s press releases for these actions all used the term “pirate broadcaster,” as in, “Pirate Broadcaster Bozo T. Clown (Miami, Florida); Fined $15,000.” I don’t recall the FCC using the term “pirate” much in the past, so I searched through the Enforcement Bureau’s press releases for the last 13 years and found that the word was used just once in a 2001 press release, and then didn’t reenter the Commission’s everyday vernacular again until May, 2011. Now it appears to be the preferred nomenclature.

I don’t know if this change in terminology if meaningful or reflects an attempt by the FCC to differentiate unlicensed broadcasters from other unlicensed radio activity in other services. Certainly, using the term “pirate” is more comprehensible to the general public, which may aid the Commission’s ability to get a little more press for its enforcement efforts. It just seems a little less officious and bureaucratic to me.

“The Driving Boom is over,” proclaims US Pirg Senior Analyst Phineas Baxandall. “The constant increases we saw in driving up until 2005 show no sign of returning. As more and more Millennials become adults, and their tendency to drive less becomes the norm, the reduction in driving will be even larger.”

“Millennials” means 16 to 34 year olds. They drove “a whopping” 23 percent less miles in 2009 than they did eight years earlier. “In addition, Millennials are more likely to want to live in urban and walkable neighborhoods and are more open to non-driving forms of transportation than the older generation of Americans,” the report notes.

Baby boomers, now retiring in droves, are driving less as well. The study challenges government statistics that suggest that driving rates will continue to grow. If US Pirg is correct, that means, of course, that we will be listening to radio in our cars less. And on top of that, those of us who will still use automobiles may not even be driving. We may find ourselves in self-driving cars, watching TV or reading newspapers along the way.

Here are journalism and media professors Austin E. Grant and Jeffrey S. Wilkinson commenting on that prospect at the recent What is Radio Conference in Oregon:

Interviewer: “I know that where I hear radio the most is when I get in the car I turn it on. That’s almost the only time I will listen to radio. How much do you guys predict that [self-driving cars] will affect radio in the future?”

Wilkinson: “Well, it’s going to affect it a lot, unless the people involved in radio stations and radio production, they have to change.”

Grant: “There’s another way to think about it. Radio is typically seen as a secondary activity. You listen to radio while you drive in the car. You listen to radio while you are making dinner. You listen to radio while you are working. There will always be room for a service that provides secondary activity. So even when people are in the car, they might be reading the newspaper, they’ll want the radio. Or it might be TV, but as long as people consume multiple media simultaneously, I think radio will be one of those mediums.”

That’s good to hear, but it seems like every day the prospects for radio get more complicated. Here is the US Pirg infographic on the report below:

“It would be challenging for the Commission to set a date certain to convert AM stations to all digital broadcasts,” Littlejohn replied, “given the investments necessary for such a transition by broadcasters, and on the reception side, the large percentage of analog radios in the market.”

The idea of transitioning AM to digital has been in the air, so to speak, particularly since a CBS Radio veep pushed the idea at a recent National Association of Broadcasters conference. This proposal has plenty of skeptics since a likely digital standard would be HD Radio, thus far unpopular with consumers.

I asked HD Radio critic John Anderson for a response to the comments. ”Clear Channel’s really backed away from HD in general, in part (I think) due to the company’s over-leveraged debt position,” Anderson noted.

Pai brought other AM related matters up. What about “across-the-board power increases for AM stations”?

Littlejohn explained Clear Channel’s opposition: “when the Commission implemented such a power increase for Class IV stations in the past, it resulted in a sea of interference surrounding islands of service,” he explained, then offered some other suggestions:

Mr. Littlejohn noted that other spectrum, such as the Channel 5 and 6 bands, could be an eventual location for AM, LPFM and educational stations, with an engineering solution for incumbent TV stations in those bands. In the interim, FM translators would serve as a bridge until the transition to new spectrum and/or the transition to all digital AM broadcasts.

Looks like this digital conversion business has Pai’s full attention. Here’s the full summary of that portion of their talk:

Other Topics Discussed. In response to a question from Commissioner Pai, Mr. Littlejohn stated that it would be challenging for the Commission to set a date certain to convert AM stations to all digital broadcasts, given the investments necessary for such a transition by broadcasters, and on the reception side, the large percentage of analog radios in the market. Mr. Littlejohn answered Commissioner Pai’s question regarding the feasibility of across-the-board power increases for AM stations, by noting Clear Channel’s opposition, explaining that when the Commission implemented such a power increase for Class IV stations in the past, it resulted in a sea of interference surrounding islands of service. In response to Mr. Berry’s inquiry regarding the proposal of replacing the AM minimum efficiency standard with a minimum radiation standard, Mr. Littlejohn noted that any such change would need to be carefully designed to prevent additional signal from entering into the skywave, which would create more interference. In response to a query as to anti-skywave antennas, Mr. Littlejohn stated that international testing to date had not proven their effectiveness. Mr. Littlejohn responded to an inquiry regarding potential alterations in the timing of AM daily power reductions, noting that such requirements are based in physics and should not be altered without considering the impact on interference. Mr. Littlejohn noted that other spectrum, such as the Channel 5 and 6 bands, could be an eventual location for AM, LPFM and educational stations, with an engineering solution for incumbent TV stations in those bands. In the interim, FM translators would serve as a bridge until the transition to new spectrum and/or the transition to all digital AM broadcasts.

KFJC Record Library Legend Sign (photo: J. Waits)

Wrapping up the radio station scavenger hunt for this week, I’m sharing one more music genre color code sign. This “library legend” sign comes from KFJC, where I’m a DJ. In my travels, I’ve seen incredibly complex systems for categorizing music libraries. There are often many sub-genres and different colors of tape are sometimes affixed to an album or CD to indicate that it is industrial or folk or IDM.

KFJC embraces a much simpler genre classification system, with all of the music filed into a small number of categories: A library, B library, soul, jazz, blues, soundtracks, comedy, country, hip hop, reggae, classical, international, and new age (really!).

Come back, next week the radio station scavenger hunt will resume with another item.

WEFT CD color code sign (photo: J. Waits)

Mid-way through my week of radio station genre charts, I started to realize that “charts” isn’t really the most accurate way to describe the music genre signage that I’ve spotted at various radio stations. I guess it’s more appropriately a music genre categorization schematic or a legend or a key. Genre “charts” are more likely to be the top 10 lists that stations submit to CMJ or other publications.

In any event, I’ve seen many similar-looking genre category signs in my travels. Here’s another one. This “CD color code” sign is from community radio station WEFT-FM in Champaign, Illinois. I visited the station last summer during my trip to the Grassroots Radio Conference. Tomorrow I will feature one more music genre sign and then next week the radio station scavenger hunt will continue with a new item.