In my free time I like to schedule visits to radio stations in order to get a glimpse into their day-to-day operations. This project started way back in 2008 when I made my first field trip to WECB at Emerson College. Along the way some studios (like KUSF) have sadly been dismantled, others have moved […]
I’ve long admired New Jersey non-commercial freeform station WFMU. It started life as the college station for Upsala College. When the college went bankrupt in 1995 the volunteers formed a nonprofit corporation to buy the license, rather than see it liquidated. Since then WFMU has been a strong voice for true freeform radio and an […]
It was announced today that Principle Broadcasting Network, the owner of San Jose-area commercial radio station KCNL 104.9 FM, has submitted paperwork to the FCC in order to sell the station to University of Southern California (USC) for $7.5 million for use in its network of classical radio stations. Currently KCNL airs a Spanish-language talk […]
Last week rumors emerged that smartphone manufacturer HTC is in talks to buy MOG, which is sort of the also-ran online music service after Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody and Rdio. However, MOG is frequently considered having the highest fidelity of these services. That aspect would appear to be the most attractive to HTC which owns a […]
Interesting jazz radio stuff all around the ‘Net this weekend: First, L.A. Theater Works has a great radio portrait of Dinah Washington. Starts out with Washington famously refusing to leave the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas in 1959 (she didn’t have a white escort), and moves on from there: “Miss Washington, if you choose to […]
Once again it’s that time of year when my social media world is flooded with reports about BBQs, Austin weather reports, band showcases, and panels happening at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. The interactive portion is wrapping up to make way for the start of the music conference today. Some radio-related events have […]
The popular music world suffered two significant tragedies recently, with the untimely death of singer Whitney Houston on Feb. 11, followed by the death of Monkees singer Davy Jones yesterday. In the days before ubiquitous facebook and twitter access, most people probably would have heard the sad news first on their radios, along with tributes […]
I love San Francisco. Today, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Tony Bennett’s recording of the classic love song to the city of San Francisco, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has asked all San Francisco radio stations to play “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” at 12 noon. In addition to that, there […]
East Village Radio is none too happy about a cover story about New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft offered under the titled “Kraftwork.” “A terribly annoying play on the name of German electro-gods, Kraftwerk,” the post notes. But as EVR also points outs, there’s happier news: a BBC6 celebration of the 30th anniversary of Kraftwerk’s […]
This is certainly an indicator of strong growth for internet radio and streaming services. Music royalties agency SoundExchange announced Tuesday that it ended the year collecting $292 million in royalty payments, up 17% from 2010. These royalties are paid by internet, satellite and cable TV music-only services for the right to play sound recordings, and […]
