You don’t hear a great deal about Last.fm these days, in large part because it has been eclipsed by a myriad of new streaming music services. But on Wednesday the company announced that it had forged a deal with Spotify to bring the latter’s whole catalogue to Last.fm users. “Whether it be your own profile […]
Archive | Rough Notes
WTF podcast is platform for comedian’s coming out, marks a milestone in podcasting
It used to be when a politician, celebrity or someone in the entertainment business had a big announcement to make that person would make an appearance with the likes of Barbara Walters or Larry King. A comedian or someone a little less famous in the mainstream might take it to Howard Stern or another syndicated […]
Michael Savage: Ron Paul supporters are hysterical, dyed-in-wool liberals
Earlier this week we explored how left wing listener supported radio station KPFA in Berkeley is debating Republican libertarian candidate Ron Paul. Just to be bi-partisan, now let’s see how conservative talk radio guy Michael Savage is handling the Texas Congressional representative. Keep in mind that several months ago, Savage offered Newt Gingrich a million […]
Racist or empire foe (or both?); KPFA vets the Ron Paul question
Berkeley, California based listener supported station KPFA did an interesting and informative program on the candidacy of libertarian Republican Ron Paul on Tuesday. KFPA talk show host, Mitch Jeserich, hosted the discussion on his Letters and Politics show as Republicans (including Paul) compete for favor in the Iowa Caucuses. [UPDATE 10:41 PM CST: Paul comes […]
Marc Maron’s do or die holiday girlfriend gift advice
The mediageek’s advice for college stations, part 1: Be true to your school
Having followed Jennifer’s first-rate coverage of the unfortunate sales of college stations KTRU, WRVU[apologies for the error, WRVU has not been sold, but it is under threat] and KUSF I’ve been giving a lot of thought as to how college stations solidify themselves. As some readers may be aware, in addition to fourteen years of […]
NPR draws listener fire over ‘kimchee Kleenex’ comment
A couple of weeks ago I was listening to Fresh Air broadcast Maureen Corrigan’s decidedly negative review of Kyung-sook Shin’s hot new novel Please Look After Mom. The commentary finished by recommending that readers check out Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids instead. “Smith will get your book club on its feet and pumping its collective […]
Ottawa pirate teen convicted for harassment and unlicensed broadcasting
So that kid I posted about on Monday, who was running a pirate station in Ottawa, Ontario and accused of threatening to kill another local radio personality? He was convicted Thursday of criminal harassment of both the DJ and the officer from Industry Canada who was investigating the station. He was also convicted of violating […]
Suze Rotolo, Bob Dylan, and the Woman Question: The Virtues of Thinking Twice
Susie Rotolo, Bob Dylan’s lover in the early sixties, died last month, and NPR recently played an excerpt from a 2008 interview with her. I was very moved by the interview, and felt that it gave me a startling and fresh perspective on an important part of Dylan’s early work—his love (and hate) songs, and […]
Rush Limbaugh erases then restores FDR to economic history
One of the nation’s most prominent self-appointed Presidential scholars gave his audience a history lesson today, minus a fairly important detail. Radio rantmeister Rush Limbaugh was musing on the latest economic statistics, which are disappointing. The unemployment rate has dropped to the still high rate of nine percent, indicating that the tepid recovery will continue […]