It’s been too long since we’ve checked in with Free Speech Radio News. First things first: since returning to regular production a year ago, FSRN now creates daily news segments that are posted online and aired by community radio affiliate stations, and added a half-hour weekly edition last May. This is a good thing for […]
Channel surfing on cable or over-the-air TV you may have come across Bewitched, Columbo or other “classic” re-runs on a station that calls itself MeTV. This successful Chicago-based upstart network that airs its nostalgic programming on digital television subchannels across the country is dipping its toes into the radio pool. Today MeTV parent company Weigel […]
The Presidents’ Day holiday and another snow storm on the East Coast slowed down low-power FM approvals significantly this last week. In fact, only one LPFM construction permit was issued, to Church in Jackson, Inc. in Jackson, MS. The other LPFM news this week is not so happy. The Washingtonian reports that the urban-oriented broadcaster […]
HD Radio is back on my mind after reading a recent article in Current about how public stations are using the technology. iBiquity, the company behind HD Radio, has hired the former director of NPR Labs to survey stations on the technology, obviously with the hope of encouraging more use. Writer Scott Fybush talks to […]
Today is the third annual World Radio Day as declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The focus for this year’s recognition and celebration is youth and innovation in radio. In a World Radio Day message UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, “As the international community shapes new sustainable development goals […]
A number of prominent musicians have complained loudly about the royalties they receive from streaming music services like Spotify and Pandora, from indie rock veteran David Lowery to pop star Taylor Swift, who pulled all of her music from Spotify. Mike Masnick at TechDirt decided to look closer at the numbers and determined that “Yes, […]
Welcome to our new Wednesday feature, Digital Watch. Each week I’ll be tackling news and analysis about radio’s intersection with the digital world, online and off. This takes the place of Podcast Survivor, but it doesn’t mean podcasting coverage is going away. I’ll explain further at the end of this post. The week’s biggest news […]
At last month’s Consumer Electronics Show FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the agency would reclassify internet service as a utility, which should qualify it for stronger network neutrality protections. Wheeler promised the new rules would circulate to fellow commissioners by February 5, and news reports on Monday indicate that he will make good on […]
The FCC’s Media Bureau has been busy since our last update, granting fifty-six new construction permits for low-power FM stations. That’s the biggest one-week total in a year! The deluge is mostly due to the Commission beginning to pick winners in groups competing for frequencies in the third MX window states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, […]
Edison Research released some early results from its updated fall 2014 Share of Ear survey of American listening habits. The big news is that podcast listeners now listen to more podcasts than any other kind of audio, which represents a significant change just from the spring report. The average podcast listener spends six hours and […]
