As the decade draws to a close, economic woes are a resounding theme in the radio world, especially in the non-profit realm of college radio. Universities are as strapped for cash as anyone else and are on the lookout for ways to cut costs. Increasingly these budget-cutting eyes are fixated on college radio, which has […]
Everybody knows the fate of over-the-air radio over the last ten years. “On Demand Killed the Radio Star,” as Boston Globe Media put it in 2005, going so far as to ask whether terrestrial radio is on the way out. Consolidation led to poor broadcasting choices like over-advertising and de-localization, the story goes. MP3 players […]
#14 in our series on crucial radio trends of the decade.
A couple of weeks ago I reported on Chicago Public Radio taking a glancing swipe against LPTV channel 6 stations that are effectively functioning like radio stations, taking advantage of their audio channel’s proximity to 87.7 FM. Now the owner of the Chicago smooth-jazz LPTV “radio” station WLFM-LP is striking back at CPR in both […]
NPR met with the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to chat about subjects dear to the hearts of developers and policy wonks alike: local programming and mobile radio standards.
NPR tells the FCC that its “revenue model, while not immune to the economic and technological challenges of the day, is diversified and relatively secure.” Glad to hear it.
Alas, my favorite listener supported radio station is not immune to this awful economic slump. KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California has announced across-the-board staff cuts. Looks like everything’s getting sliced. Even the General Manager, Lemlem Rijio, has taken a pay hit. “These cuts to KPFA staff have been the most difficult thing I have had to […]
Android users will now be able to access the full range of National Public Radio programming thanks to a new app – “NPR News.” The feature for the open source smart phone was built for NPR by Google developer and public radio fan Michael Fredrick. In addition, NPR has launched a new site for mobile […]
Far outside the view of the general public, the virtual cratediggers of the FCC’s electronic recesses like Matthew and myself are sometimes privy to the little slap-fights that go on between broadcasters. In this case things are getting a little heated over the far left end of the FM dial, with a prominent public radio […]
It was a hard thing for me to learn today that Andrea Lewis, long time public affairs programmer at KPFA-FM in Berkeley, is dead. The statement from KPFA’s Amelia Gonzalez (see below) says that it may have been a heart attack. Whatever did her in, it’s a huge tragedy. She was 52 years young. Andrea […]
