Aric Allen has a compelling YouTube documentary about the impact of radio on Woody Guthrie’s life and career (although I’m not sure Guthrie would approve of the c-word). “California turned Woody into a radical but in 1937 Los Angeles turned him into a radio star,” Allen contends. “He was just a 24 year old sign […]
NPR reports that one of its most beloved and distinguished correspondents, Margot Adler, has died at age 68 after a struggle with cancer. The NPR remembrance observes that Adler shaped “what we would call the NPR sound today: human, curious, conversational.” It should be noted that prior to her joining NPR, she was a mainstay at […]
Last week I reported on the impending sale of the Colby-Sawyer College radio station WSCS-FM to the Vinikoor Foundation. After corresponding with representatives from the college and from Vinikoor, I have a few more details about the sale. According to Ambrose Metzegen, the Chief Operating Officer and Faculty Advisor for WSCS, “The decision to sell […]
The California Historical Radio Society (CHRS) is hosting Radio Day by the Bay this Saturday, July 26 from 8am to 3pm in Alameda. Radio fans will get the chance to take a look at the new home for CHRS and for the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, as some of the events will be […]
Filmmaker Spike Lee has revived his iconic cinematic radio figure “Radio Raheem” in protest of the death of Eric Garner. The Staten Island, New York resident perished last Thursday after three police surrounded and locked him in a choke hold. Garner, 43, had five children. Lee took the section of his movie “Do the Right […]
Czech Radio has one of the world’s largest repositories of archived radio sound. Radio Prague’s David Vaughan brings this library to our attention in a recent post. The archive goes all the back to the 1920s and includes a variety of recordings in English. Earlier this year Vaughan deployed a team of undergraduates to explore […]
Late as usual, I thought I’d still write up my own recollection of the legendary radio hit-meister Casey Kasem. Paul Riismandel has a great reminiscence of him posted last week. As for me, I always experienced Kasem’s Top 40 Countdown as a dreary auto-pilot affair, served up with a canned voice and a canned smile. Then, […]
Just for kicks the other day I decided to go to the Internet Archive’s Wayback browser and check out Shoutcast as it was getting hot. This screenshot is from April 27, 1999 and displays the “top ten Shoutcasts,” which seem to have been overwhelmingly Techno music oriented channels (with pop and rock thrown in). The […]
I am reading through the Federal Communications Commission’s comment proceeding on net neutrality, and am struck by how many posts make references to radio and other older technologies. Here is one: “I am sick of corporations being in charge of how I get information. You have already ruined radio and television. Do your job and […]
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana has filed paperwork with the FCC in order to assign the 1400 watt FM license for student-run college radio station WMHD 90.7 FM to Indiana State University. According to the asset purchase agreement, the purchase price is $16,465. Based on a recent notice to the FCC regarding […]
