NPR listeners irate over clipped circumcision interview
The prize for discussion of an issue with a straight face goes to Alicia Shepard, Ombudsman for National Public Radio. Shepard’s latest blog post concedes that a recent Weekend Edition story mishandled the controversial question of male circumcision by (sorry, I can’t help it) cutting an interview with an expert in the field short. The […]
App store streaming audio rule: 5MB max over 5 min
As everybody in Apple-land already knows, Apple has published its new guidelines for Apple Store app developers. James Gralian, one of our regular Radio Survivor readers, was kind enough to point out the parameters for media applications, which include the following guidelines relevant to radio app developers (note section 9.3, to which we added italics): […]
KTRU Alumni Continue to Fight for Their Station
It’s been about 3 weeks since word came out that Rice University was planning to sell of the transmitter and broadcast license for its college radio station KTRU. Ever since that time there’s been an active campaign by KTRU staff members, Rice alumni, fans of the radio station, and students to convince both Rice University […]
Can Al Jazeera save Pacifica radio?
The Washington Post reports what everybody involved in the Pacifica radio network has known for years, that the foundation’s staff are in conversation with Al Jazeera to broadcast the service over its five listener supported stations. I don’t know whether the discussions are going anyplace, but it’s obviously a great idea, so of course it […]
Radio Obsessive Profile #9: Engineering Radio’s Paul Thurst
Back in the olden days radio was owned by the geek crowd, with every science-savvy kid worth her salt crafting a home-made radio out of wires and household objects while sitting at the kitchen table. The earliest radio stations were created and run by physicists and engineers who had the skills to build transmission equipment […]
Radio industry journal acknowledges problems with AM HD
Following on the heels of my unimpressive AM HD radio listening test last week, industry stalwart Radio World magazine published a report that comes to terms with the fact that “AM HD radio has stalled.” In fact, I’d say that characterizing AM HD as “stalled” is very optimistic. Instead, reading the same article I come […]
Performance Rights Act? the winner is . . . Lady Gaga!
“Bad Romance,” by Lady Gaga, would bring in over $446,000 a year if the Performance Rights Act was enacted by Congress, according to a new assessment by the Government Accountability Office. The proposed legislation would require broadcast radio stations to pay a royalties to performers as well as copyright holders. “As the primary musician on […]
WFMU on the “catch 22” of Internet streaming
John Bergmayer of Public Knowledge has a great interview with Ken Freedman, station manager of WFMU-FM in Jersey City, New Jersey. WFMU is a trailblazing radio station which was in the forefront of both the free form and dot.com eras. The dialogue is a terrific read, because it encapsulates all the dilemmas facing Internet radio […]
Could smartphone data cap plans hurt Internet radio?
The National Association of Broadcasters is sending around an interesting think piece about Internet/mobile radio. The report was published by the Station Resource Group, a consortium of public media services. It’s titled “The Mobile Internet: A Replacement for Radio?” and is pretty circumspect about the question—pondering the various differences between broadcast and Internet audio streams. This paragraph […]
Music on AM: Rebel Radio
I’ve known about this station for well over a decade now. As a metalhead living in Central Illinois I’d occasionally travel north to the Chicago area or Milwaukee to see concerts and encounter banners and fliers for an all heavy metal station on the AM band called Rebel Radio. However, I can only recall hearing […]