Everybody’s waiting for the United States government to decide whether to approve the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal. The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice have to bless the marriage, and it appears that the FCC is going to do so with some conditions. These include requirements that the new entity make […]
Archive | History
U.S. government admits it sort of blew it around radio
The Federal Communications Commission has released an overview of its decision-making history that concedes that the government could have done a better job regulating radio in the 1920s and 1930s. “Although commercial radio produced a Golden Age of programming in the late 1930s, the question remains whether the [government’s] decision to favor corporate-sponsored networks—rather than […]
HD Radio 2010 vs. FM Radio 1950
One of the explanations bandied about around the internet lately for why HD Radio hasn’t seen much uptake with radio listeners is to compare it with the early days of FM radio. In essence some HD Radio defenders are arguing that consumers are reticent to try a new technology, just like AM radio listeners were […]
Bay Area free form radio legends win honors
The Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame inducted a slew of new worthies into its hallowed halls on Saturday night, including free form pioneers Bonnie Simmons and Dave McQueen. It was a great event at the Double Tree Hotel in Berkeley, which Radio Survivor attended. McQueen was inducted following a great introduction from Bill Schechner—long […]
Radio Obsessive Profile #8: Beloit College Radio Historian Dave De Anguera
The early history of college radio has not been documented sufficiently and much of it is sequestered away in the archives of colleges and universities. Last year I was thrilled to see Hugh Slotten’s book, Radio’s Hidden Voice: The Origins of Public Broadcasting in the United States, as it is one of the first publications […]
Ghost Story with Physics: Radio Drama Explores Wireless Pioneer
Coming up this weekend on the evening of Sunday, July 25th, BBC Radio 3 will be airing a 90 minute radio drama that explores the life of wireless radio pioneer Sir Oliver Lodge. British physicist Sir Oliver Lodge transmitted radio signals in 1894 (before Marconi), studied wireless transmissions and also investigated psychic phenomena such as […]
"Cold Waves" – a must see for radio history fans
Anyone interested in how broadcast radio and international politics merged in the late 20th century should watch Alexandru Solomon’s masterpiece, Cold Waves, a documentary on Radio Free Europe’s role in Romanian society from the 1950s through the Cold War. LinkTV ran it over the weekend here in San Francisco. “I grew up with it,” Solomon […]
Remembering Radio Free Europe's balloon crusade
No doubt many Radio Survivor readers remember and still love Nena’s 80s rock song, Ninety Nine Red Balloons. It’s about a couple of kids who let loose a slew of balloons, and trigger the early warning systems of Europe, unleashing nuclear war. Ninety-nine dreams I have had And every one a red balloon It’s all […]
Did Brecht want radio or the Internet?
I am rereading portions of German composer Bertold Brecht’s famous 1932 essay “The radio as an apparatus of communications,” and I am confused. Is he really talking about radio? The medium, Brecht wrote, “is one-sided when it should be two- . . . ” “It is purely an apparatus for distribution, for mere sharing out. […]
Radio Obsessive Profile #6 and #7: Jonathan Winter and John Jenkins of American Museum of Radio and Electricity
Folks in Bellingham, Washington are lucky to have an amazing resource for radio history right in their backyard. What is now known as The American Museum of Radio and Electricity (AMRE) began in 1985 as the Bellingham Antique Radio Museum as an outgrowth of Jonathan Winter’s personal collection of vintage radios and radio-related objects. As […]