Podcast #269 – How To Get an FM Radio License in 2021
The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will open two filing windows for non-commercial FM radio licenses. First up will be an opportunity to apply for a full-power non-commercial / educational (NCE) license, followed by a low-power FM opportunity. Even though the application window dates have not yet been announced, now is the time […]
Podcast #268 – Scene on Radio
Over the course of four seasons, the Peabody-nominated podcast “Scene on Radio,” a production of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, has earned a reputation for tackling head-on difficult topics around race, gender, justice and equity. But it didn’t start out that way. It started life as a documentary anthology that host and […]
Podcast #267 – Live from the Grassroots Radio Conference: Community Radio and Protests
This week, the Radio Survivor crew did its first live broadcast from a virtual conference held over Zoom. As part of the 2020 Grassroots Radio Conference, we presented a live radio show during the event, which aired over host station ARTxFM’s (WXOX-LP) FM signal in Louisville, Kentucky as well as over the internet. The topic […]
FCC’s All-Digital AM Plan Likely Will Be Weak Sauce
Eleven months after opening a proceeding to consider allowing AM stations to go all-digital, the FCC appears ready to render its verdict later this month. According to Radio World’s Paul McLane, “[B]ased on anecdotal evidence, the commission will likely approve it.” To recap, the Commission is considering proposals to allow AM stations to voluntary convert […]
Podcast #266 – Flirt FM Celebrates 25 Years of College & Community Radio in Ireland
Flirt FM at the National University of Ireland at Galway was one of the first “community of interest” stations to go on the air in that nation. Effectively, this means it was a trailblazing college and community station, hitting the air not long after the state broadcast monopoly began to erode in 1988. Andrew Ó […]
Virtual Grassroots Radio Conference Kicks off Friday, Oct. 9
Though I’m disappointed I won’t be traveling to Louisville this year, host station ARTxFM has assembled a really impressive online Grassroots Radio Conference for 2020. None other than Public Enemy’s inimitable MC Chuck D will deliver the first keynote on Friday night, titled “And You Don’t Stop Radio.” WFMU’s stalwart station manager and streaming radio […]
Podcast #265 – Inside the “Little Known” Voice of America and the U.S. Agency for Global Media
Over the past few months, there’s been a flurry of media attention focused on the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Some reports describe it as a “little-known” agency and, in fact, it may seem mysterious to many in the United States, since it oversees international broadcasting programs all over the world, including Voice […]
Podcast # 264 – Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd is best known as a record producer (he worked with Pink Floyd and Nick Drake just to name two artists) and he is the author of the book “White Bicycles, Making Music in the 1960’s.” In 2015 he launched a podcast. Joe Boyd’s A-Z which ran for 52 episodes (that’s one episode for […]
Social Distancing Sparks Interest in Part 15 Unlicensed Broadcasting, but Caveat Emptor
It seems that social distancing has made unlicensed Part 15 radio a bit more popular. “Part 15” refers to the part of the US broadcast regulations that cover unintended transmissions and radio frequency interference. Essentially, this means tiny radio signals whose transmission can’t be avoided or are negligible. It also covers tiny radio transmitters, like […]
Podcast #263 – Broadcasting High School Radio through Wildfires and a Pandemic
With wildfires raging up and down the west coast of the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, many radio stations are facing different types of challenges than a year ago. Vacaville Christian Schools’ radio station KVCB-LP (aka VCS Radio) is in a community that was hit hard by a wild fire in August 2020. When […]