The Radio Survivor podcast is a weekly show that explores the future of community media, with a focus on community radio, college radio, low-power FM and public access TV, along with podcasting and internet radio. Hosts Paul Riismandel, Eric Klein and Jennifer Waits highlight the best and most innovative audio programming and keep you updated on the news that affects our ability to make, create, hear and see great community media.
Radio Survivor co-founder Matthew Lasar joins us this week to examine recent events at Pacifica Network’s Los Angeles station KPFK, where it’s been reported that all staff have been cut to half-time across the board. Matthew helps to put this action into perspective–especially as it regards the Pacifica Foundation’s unwieldy governance structure–and explains why Pacifica, […]
With this episode we have officially been producing the show for one calendar quarter. Since this is such a new endeavor, we thought it would be useful to reflect on how the show is going, looking at the possibility of turning Radio Survivor into a syndicated radio show, and examining how well we’re getting at […]
This year a diverse coalition of non-commercial radio stations are joining together to step up celebrations of National Radio Day this week on August 20. We look at the history of the holiday and reasons to celebrate this most longstanding electronic medium, and listen to some ‘Sonic IDs’ produced in its honor. Paul talks with […]
Pioneering community radio station WFMU wants to better empower community media on the internet. That’s why the station created Audience Engine, providing tools for publishing, community building and fundraising that don’t surrender control to third-party platforms like Facebook. WFMU station manager Ken Freedman joins to explain how the platform will help make stations sustainable when […]
This week Jennifer Waits joins us live in studio as we remember Don Joyce, a pioneering sound artist and member of the culture jamming musical group Negativland, who passed away on July 22. We also discuss AT&T’s plan to activate the FM radio’s on the carrier’s Android phones, and KEXP’s recent 12-hour marathon broadcast exploring […]
After doing the math the founders of Bainbridge Community Broadcasting in Washington State decided that podcasting was a better route to serve their community than low-power FM. Barry and Channie Peters join us to discuss why they made this decision and how they’re using radio to inform and educate the community of Bainbridge Island. In […]
On this episode Dr. Christopher Terry from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee tells us how the FCC has fumbled its updates of media ownership regulation for a dozen years, and why that’s important. We also learn why community radio and independent musicians should care that NPR has left the MIC coalition, a lobbying group targeting music […]
The Portland Radio Project is Portland, Oregon’s newest low-power FM station. However, it started as an online station, with no plans for a terrestrial broadcast. On this episode we learn why PRP made this pivot, and the philosophy behind its public service approach to broadcasting. Paul and Eric run down the top radio news stories, […]
We examine digital radio in Norway, where the biggest FM stations will go away in 2017, and in the US, where the adoption of HD Radio has been slow. We also assess Apple’s new, and underwhelming, Beats 1 Radio. In college radio news Jennifer reviews the upcoming CBI conference and podcasts at WMSE in Milwaukee, […]
Can public and community radio find ways to innovate with podcasting, and reach new audiences, rather than mostly repackage what’s on air? Ernesto Aguilar, program director of Pacifica station KPFT-FM in Houston, joins to tackle that question. Our college radio correspondent Jennifer Waits joins as third co-host to run down our radio news headlines, and […]
