A remarkable moment in the annals of cats brought me to an excellent episode of Radiolab this week. First the cat story. US News and World Report says that Sugar the Cat, a resident of a high rise apartment in Boston, decided to trip the light fantastic on Wednesday. The fluffy white feline stumbled from […]
Archive | Fun Stuff
Unlicensed low-power transmitters fuel SXSW Decentralized Dance Party
The great thing about radio technology is that it’s one of the most efficient ways to broadcast a message. Less than a watt of power can send a signal to hundreds of people over an area the size of a city block or two with ease. By comparison, if you tried to text a few […]
McDonald’s Pit Bull radio snafu takes on life of its own
Hell hath no fury like 12,277 Pit Bull owners on Facebook scorned. Despite McDonald’s apologies for running a radio advertisement calling petting a stray Pit Bull “risky,” pro-Pit Bull activists are still pushing for further amends. They’ve even got a demonstration in the works. Here’s the petition being circulated by the Pit Bulls Against McDonald’s […]
Retro-Fi iPhone app makes Wall of Voodoo actually sound like Mexican Radio
I’m not sure exactly why, but the recently released Retro-Fi app by Romanian company Onyx Apps makes music on your iPhone sound like it’s on an old AM radio. Don’t get me wrong, I have a soft spot in my heart for music on AM radio, at least partly fueled by memories of listening to […]
Public radio station KCRW to roast Henry Rollins
Henry Rollins is a Gen X renaissance man, starting out as the former lead singer of the seminal hardcore punk band Black Flag, in addition to being an author, actor, spoken word artist and perhaps the man with the most independent music documentary appearances on earth. On top of all that, Mr. Rollins is also […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage Recap – Match the Station with Its Sign
Happy Impending New Year! Now that I’ve wrapped up my 12 Days of Radio Station Signage series, here’s an opportunity for you to match each sign with its corresponding station. Some of them are obvious if you look closely at the pictures, others may be a bit more challenging. Ready, set, go! Day 1: Do […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 12 – Don’t Go Back Here or Touch Anything
Leave it to DJs to fiddle with things that they are not supposed to. Signs at KFJC warn against adjusting turntable weights (since people always seem to mess them up) and other stations have posted notices about leaving computers and equipment alone. My favorite in this genre is this catch-all sign that commands DJs to […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 11 – When this Light is on…Shut Up!
Most radio stations have an “on-air” sign that lights up automatically when the microphone is turned on so that people wandering about the studio have a visual cue that it’s not the best time to carry on loud conversations. In addition to “on-air” lights, some stations go a step further by posting instructions reminding radio […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 10 – CD and LP Library Alphabetization
Many of the signs posted in radio stations are similar to signs that you might see in any other workplace. Often they issue directives to staff/employees about undesirable behaviors. However, some of the more interesting signs that I’ve seen at radio stations are radio-specific, often to the point of being somewhat arcane to everyday folks. […]
12 Days of Radio Station Signage: Day 9 – Seven Deadly Words
I’ve been to a few radio stations that have posted handy lists of all of the forbidden naughty words which can never be uttered over the air. I’m sure that program directors get a vicarious thrill out of putting these nasty words up on the wall. On this sign, posted in a station’s music review […]