The FCC’s Legacy of Failure: Failure Then Gives Us More Failure Now
This Thursday, November 16, the Federal Communications Commission is scheduled to vote on an order on reconsideration that will radically alter the media ownership regulations that are enforced by the agency. The changes are substantial and include: The elimination of the Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule The elimination of the Radio/Television Cross-Ownership Rule A revision to the […]
Podcast #116 – Community Podcasting in Community Radio
We’ve talked about community podcasting on the show, now we want to connect the dots to community radio. The apparent ubiquity of public radio podcasts makes it seem like a podcast of a radio show is just automatic. But, in fact, turning terrestrial shows into consistent podcasts requires work and thoughtful planning behind the scenes. […]
College Radio Watch: College Radio on TV, Radio Theater, and a Parade
After an enjoyable trip to Washington, D.C. for the Radio Preservation Task Force Conference, I’m back with my college radio news round-up. In addition to station profiles, college radio awards, and news of expansions (in studios and radio programs); it’s also radio drama season, with several schools doing new radio theater productions. Read on for […]
Glimpse Behind the Scenes at Shortwave Pirate Radio in 1990
As I continue to mine the deeply embedded treasures of YouTube, I’ve dug up another diamond in the rough, a 27 year-old documentary on unlicensed shortwave broadcasting radio. Titled “Inside Pirate Radio,” this hour-long video visits the studio of Radio Wolf International during one broadcast, interspersed with an interview with Andrew Yoder, one of the […]
Podcast #115 – The Federal Consolidation Commission
The Federal Communications Commission just proposed new ownership rules that would drastically loosen restrictions on broadcast station ownership limits. Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins us again to help understand this proposal, and the threat to local journalism and broadcasting. He argues that it has be viewed in an historical context, with […]
Tackling Creative Inertia with Broadcasting: Radio Cinéola
I just listened to the latest episode of The Quietus Hour featuring an interview with Matt Johnson, the principal behind the English post-punk band The The. Although Johnson largely put the band on hiatus—save some film soundtrack work—since its last formal release in 2000, I learned from the interview that on UK election day in […]
The Spirit of Cassette Culture Lives on ‘No Pigeonholes Radio’
Decades before the invention of the MP3, the audiocassette, along with the home dubbing deck and four-track tape recorders, put the power to create and distribute recordings into the hands of anyone with the will to record. No longer reliant on record labels or the capital investment needed to rent studio time and press records, […]
Podcast #114 – A Common Sense Approach to Unlicensed Broadcasting
Journalism professor John Anderson has been tracking the FCC’s enforcement of unlicensed radio for 20 years, and has seen the agency have little success, despite the periodic uptick in policing the airwaves, such as we’re seeing now. He suggests there are common sense approaches to managing the FM broadcast spectrum that would address the underlying […]
Public Access TV Archive Documents 1970s Portland Pirate Radio
I just discovered this fascinating piece of video tape on YouTube, likely dating from the 1970s, documenting a pirate radio and television station operating in my neighborhood, Sunnyside, in Portland, OR. It’s part of an archive of tapes from an archive of The Video Access Project, digitized by the Oregon Historical Society. It’s truly a […]
KUCR: The Movie
I am so looking forward to the completion of this documentary about KUCR-FM: the radio station of the University of California at Riverside. I have all kinds of fond memories of my stint as a Visiting Assistant Professor at UCR back in 2000. The best thing about that gig was getting to know and becoming […]