Radio waves don’t obey borders, and stations have been taking advantage of this fact since the dawn of the medium – often despite the rules of government regulators where the signals go. Dr. Kevin Curran of Arizona State University has been studying border radio stations extensively, making it the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Everyone […]
Archive | Radio Bands
Switzerland To End FM Broadcasts in 2024
Radio World reports that Switzerland’s FM radio broadcasts are due to end by the end of 2024, according to a release from the country’s Federal Office of Communications. OFCOM says at the end of July only 17% of people in that country listen to FM exclusively. I am a bit chagrined that this story flew […]
Ireland Can’t Quit Longwave
I’m still playing catch up with a queue of interesting radio stories I’ve yet to post. Although this news dates from May, it didn’t get much play on this side of the Atlantic, and should be of interest to Radio Survivors. Ireland’s longstanding – and oft-threatened – longwave radio station RTÉ 1 on 252 kHz […]
Podcast #190: Radio Spectrum and Transmission Art
Amanda Dawn Christie is an artist enamored with radios and radio waves. The Assistant Professor, Studio Arts at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) joins us on the show to discuss her most recent transmission art project, Ghosts in the Airglow, in which she created work at the HAARP facility in Alaska. Christie also shares with us […]
R.I.P. Radio Adventurer ‘The Professor’
SWLing Post editor Thomas Witherspoon recently notified us of the passing of “radio zealot” Michael Pool, a/k/a The Professor. I was an avid follower of Pool’s travels in AM radio listening and airchecking that he recorded for WFMU’s Beware of the Blog during the 2000s, and later on his own Radio Kitchen blog until about […]
The Shortwave Radio of the Internet: Low Bitrate Streaming
While updating the 2004 podcast entries for my old radio show “mediageek” I was reminded that I used to post the episodes in both a 64kbps mono “broadcast quality” MP3 and a 16kbps. The reason why I posted such a low bitrate file, containing relatively low fidelity, was to make the show accessible to listeners […]
Podcast #170.5 – Bonus: São Paulo FM Bandscan
Paul shares a few more details of his trip to Brazil, and then he and Eric listen to a bandscan of the FM dial recorded on a Sunday night in São Paulo, the country’s largest city. Christian radio? Check. Bad 80s pop music? Yep. One takeaway is that commercial radio everywhere kinda sucks, in general. […]
Podcast #151 – The Wave Farm Grows Transmission Arts
Radios in the trees, a transmitter in the pond, and a weather-driven synth. These are just some of what you’ll find on The Wave Farm, a 29-acre property in New York’s Hudson Valley dedicated to radio and transmission arts. It’s anchored by community radio station WGXC, accompanied by a cornucopia of additional tiny terrestrial and […]
Podcast #150 – Sympathy for Kenny G
What killed smooth jazz radio? Why aren’t there any commercial classical stations any longer? And, why do radio stations have a “format” to begin with? Matthew Lasar joins us to explore these questions about the fundamental organizing principle of most music radio. Matthew is a co-founder of Radio Survivor and the author of three important […]
Podcast #148 – Solving the Mystery of Summer Camp Radio
Did you know that upwards of 350 radio stations were established at summer camps across the United States? Dan Braverman, President of Radio Systems, Inc., joins us to share the history of summer camp radio, including his own experience setting up a camp radio station when he was just nine years old. Still involved with […]