College Radio Watch: WSOU Burrito, Praise for College Radio from Social Distortion Founder and More News
On the podcast this week, we talked about the uncertainty at CMJ and pontificated on why charts can be useful to radio stations and the music industry, including record labels, promoters and bands. I was thinking about those connections as I read musician Mike Ness’ statements about the importance of college radio in a Boulder […]
Radio Station Visit #120 – KABF in Little Rock, Arkansas
When I arrived at community radio station KABF in Little Rock, Arkansas on the afternoon of October 7, 2016, I was embarking on my fifth radio station visit in a 24-hour period. A bit delirious from my cross-country and cross-state travels, I became immediately re-energized after spotting a trio of friends waiting for me outside […]
Podcast #82 – Busting Myths & Counting Charts
Conventional wisdom says young people don’t listen to the radio. Jennifer Waits talks to two college broadcasters from KUOZ-LP at the University of the Ozarks who bust that myth. She also takes us on a tour of a new community LPFM, KPSQ-LP, located in a hotel in Fayetteville, AR. But first, Paul and Jennifer discuss […]
The ‘Right’ Voices
I recently rediscovered a National Public Radio (NPR) article that addressed a 2014 study by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on ‘Public Attitudes and Understanding’ of ‘Science and Technology’ in which only 74% of those surveyed thought that the Earth orbits the Sun. To rephrase and reframe that statement, that’s approximately 26% of the population of the United […]
College Radio Watch: What’s up with CMJ Charts and More News
For at least the past year there have been more regular grumblings about the status of CMJ and this week Pitchfork is reporting that, “For the second week in a row, CMJ has not published its weekly college radio charts, calling into question the fate of an institution that has tracked the music played by college stations around […]
Podcast #81 – To Thrive in 2017 Put the Community in Community Radio
Sally Kane, the CEO of The National Federation of Community Broadcasters, joins the podcast to discuss the threats and opportunities for community radio in the current political environment. In the months, since the election of Trump, the NFCB has received a lot of questions from community radio stations about how to respond and what comes […]
Exploring Radio Garden on World Radio Day
Happy World Radio Day! In honor of this annual celebration, I’m exploring Radio.Garden and listening to stations from all over the world. Launched just two months ago on December 13, 2016, Radio Garden is a website where one can navigate to streams from different stations by mousing over a globe. It reminds me a bit […]
audio: DJ “Gary Indiana” on WQAX-FM (“Quacks”), February 1981
Continuing my excavation of digitally archived college/community radio programs, I have found this nugget on the Internet Archives: a recording of WQAX-FM DJ “Gary Indiana” hosting a music show, circa February 1981. WQAX (aka, “Quacks” 100.3 FM) broadcast to Bloomington, Indiana as a cable station for two decades, from 1973 through 1993. The signal offered a […]
College Radio Watch: Pitchfork asks “Does College Radio Even Matter Anymore?” and More News
Earlier this week, Pitchfork published a long-form piece with the provocative title, Does College Radio Even Matter Anymore? The sub-head continues the theme, adding, “How left-of-the-dial stalwarts are fighting to stay alive.” Click-bait for college radio fans and practitioners, the article is actually more nuanced than its alarmist descriptors suggest. (more…)
Happy (?) 21st Birthday to the Telecom Act of 1996
Today the Telecommunications Act of 1996 turns 21. As some have remarked, the law is now old enough to drink, even while others note that it’s driven many to drink in the last two decades. Happy Birthday 1996 Telecom Act. You’re old enough to drink now, which is fair since that’s what you’ve made the […]