Letter Writing Campaign to Protest Sale of KTRU Begins while New Details about Secret Dealings Emerge
As we reported earlier this month, paperwork has been submitted to the FCC in reference to the sale of Rice University radio station KTRU to University of Houston. Fans of the student radio station have expressed concern and outrage ever since rumors of the sale first came to light and have mounted an impressive effort […]
Arlene Engelhardt: welcome to Pacifica radio
It was a classic Pacifica radio moment over at the network’s flagship station, KPFA in Berkeley, on Tuesday. Having laid off the Morning Show staff, new Pacifica Executive Director Arlene Engelhardt thought she had it all figured out. She was going to pipe in programming from KPFK, KPFA’s sister station in Los Angeles. The dumped […]
Seattle Radio Theatre’s Next Live Radio Drama: “Green & White Christmas”
Last year I featured Seattle Radio Theatre founder Feliks Banel in our Radio Obsessives series. Since that time Feliks has been busy crafting more radio dramas, a recent Halloween show in which they did a live radio drama and broadcast (listen to the audio here) of the 1938 Mercury Theater version of “Dracula.” According to […]
Listening to FM radio on the HTC EVO smartphone
I very reluctantly just retired my Palm Pre smartphone due to abysmal battery life and a series of hardware issues. In its place is now a HTC EVO, which sports faster 4G connectivity on Sprint and the Android OS instead of Palm’s WebOS. So far I like WebOS better, though there are more apps for […]
Radio Obituaries: Farewell to WTJU DJ, KZGM Founder, and KFJC DJ
Non-commercial radio DJs and staff members rarely get the public recognition that they should. When it comes time to nominate people for Radio Halls of Fame, their names don’t always come up and when they die they don’t necessarily make it on the evening news. But, often these committed radio fans have put in more […]
Big radio vows no Performance Rights Act in lame duck Congress
Last month’s attempted rapprochement with the music labels and performers seems to be behind the National Association of Broadcasters. The trade association warns that any attempt to revive the Performance Rights Act in the impending lame duck Congressional session (Nov. 15 through mid-December) will not be tolerated. “NAB is unalterably opposed to this legislation, and […]
Tuning in great interesting radio in LA
I made my first ever trip to the home of the nation’s entertainment industry, Los Angeles, last week. It’s fair to say my expectations were muted given stories I’d heard of LA’s endless sprawl, over-emphasis on surface and glitter, and general vapidity. However, I was pleasantly surprised with my experience, from the great food, truly […]
World Series Highlighted Challenges of Listening to Radio While Watching TV
I can’t overstate the excitement in San Francisco this week as the Giants wrapped up their season by winning the World Series. As they headed into the playoffs, I started hearing more and more discussion about the relative merits of local commentators vs. national commentators. Many people told me that they preferred listening to baseball […]
KPFA staffers protest proposed layoffs at station
Bay Area Radio Hall of Famer Bonnie Simmons and other KPFA staff took some time on Thursday to protest the big layoffs KPFA’s owner, the Pacifica Foundation, has planned for the station. The Berkleyside news service has a summary of the event and the issues, but basically Pacifica’s plan appears to be to pretty much […]
Pandora starts to sound like a radio station (everywhere but on the radio)
The celebrated Austin City Limits music festival has come and gone, and Pandora streaming radio was there “soaking in the sounds and talking with the artists,” as Pandora blogger Kevin Seal put it. The online service did a lot of interesting, chatty interviews with various ACL artists. They’re fun conversations, conducted by Pandora staffer Ryan […]