A year ago I was growing increasingly fascinated with Family Radio as they became the center of a media frenzy over their President Harold Camping’s predictions of global catastrophe on May 21, 2011. Billboards promoting their Judgment Day pronouncements were present all over the world and Camping’s live call-in talk program, “Open Forum,” ratcheted up […]
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In New Statement, Harold Camping Admits Family Radio was Wrong to Predict Rapture
I first became obsessed with Harold Camping and Family Radio nearly a year ago when I heard Camping’s bold statements about the impending rapture and end of the world. Part of what made his radio broadcasts so compelling was that he expressed his beliefs with absolute certainty. When callers to his “Open Forum” talk show […]
Even Randy Michaels admits his Chicago FM news experiment is not quite a success
Here’s some news that should be absolutely no surprise to Radio Survivor listeners: Randy Michaels’ new FM news station in Chicago WWWN-FM is tanking in the ratings. In fact, the former Tribune chief‘s station sits at number 48, a mere 45 spots below its main competitor, the news-talk stalwart WBBM, which not coincidentally has added […]
10 months after Tribune Randy Michaels is back with FM news stations in Chicago and NYC
When last we heard from Randy Michaels he was exiting the Tribune Tower in Chicago, resigning after news broke that he turned the company’s broadcast division into Animal House. While the architect of Clear Channel’s buy, consolidate and gut approach to broadcasting was busy allegedly throwing poker parties, he shuffled beloved hosts and drove down […]
A Few More Franken FMs Stay on the Radio
Last Tuesday, July 13, was the last day for analog low-power TV in the US, also marking the last broadcasts of most Franken FMs – legacy channel 6 stations’ whose audio is heard at the low end of the FM dial at 87.7 FM. As I noted then, two stations have retained their FM signals […]
In Chicago Smooth Jazz Radio Moves Again
Some of our perennially most popular posts are about smooth jazz radio in Chicago (and there’s a lot of different kinds of jazz on Chicago radio). After being bumped around the dial for the last five years, the format has emerged on a new station once again, this time broadcasting from a new translator station […]
Podcast Survivor: The top podcasts of 2013
We don’t get too personal here at Radio Survivor, but what I’m about to share is pertinent to the task at hand. This summer I left my day job, moved to Portland, Oregon, and started focusing much more time on Radio Survivor. One result of this is our weekly podcast coverage with the Podcast Survivor […]
Podcast Survivor: The business of podcasting is the future of podcasting
Podcasting is a fertile new landscape in radio and audio media, which is why we’ve covered it here at Radio Survivor. Starting with this post we’re stepping up our coverage. I’ll be writing about podcasting every Wednesday for our new Podcast Survivor feature. Lucky for me, this first week the web has already been pretty […]
Delving into Family Radio’s Finances Two Years after Judgment Day
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 […]
Podcast Survivor: Back to Work #88 – So Many Reasons To Cry
Podcast review: Back to Work #88 – So Many Reasons To Cry Rating: 3 / 5 Back to Work can be a frustrating podcast. Featuring productivity guru Merlin Mann and interlocutor Dan Benjamin, the podcast is ostensibly about strategies for getting good work done, and dealing with the challenges and barriers that can impede. The […]