In March we told you about the SHIELD Act which was introduced into Congress to help reform patent laws, particularly targeting patent owners who are “non-practicing,” meaning that they aren’t actually making use of their patents. One such “non-practicing” patent owner is Jim Logan, whose company Personal Audio is suing podcasters like Adam Corolla, claiming […]
Here we are in the middle of the Holiday season, and here’s some of the stuff coming through my RSS reader: WFMU Manager Ken Freedman has released his favorite gifs of the year image map. Looks like you have to go to his blog to access the image linking dots. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas from the […]
Next October future community broadcasters will be able to apply for more new low-power stations than ever before. On Tuesday the FCC released the text of its 6th report and order on the implementation of the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA) that was passed last Friday. As Matthew noted last Friday, the decision contains mostly […]
Emily Hellwell over at the Inside NPR blog has a piece titled “How Public Radio Scotch-Taped Its Way Into [the] Public Broadcasting Act.” I thought of titling this response post “How NPR took a scissors to public broadcasting history.” The essay acknowledges the most famous part of the story—that the 1969 law almost went through […]
On Friday the FCC announced that it will take up the final implementation of the Local Community Radio Act at its November 30 open meeting. The commissioners will also consider final procedures to deal with more than 6000 pending applications for FM translator repeater stations. These issues overlap because translators compete for the same spots […]
Halloween approaches, and the more creative among radio folk are preparing for the occasion. Turntable.fm has once again broken out the Halloween avatars. Here are some samples: “They’ll only be here for a limited amount of time,” tt.fm warns, “so enjoy them while they last! Halloween avatars, like lives, are fleeting.” Meanwhile, Goddess bless NPR, […]
There’s controversy at NPR over the service’s latest 100 best-ever teen novels list. 75,220 NPR listeners voted for their favorite young adult novels. The list quickly drew fire for its lack of diversity. “Only two—yes, two—books on the list are written about main characters of color,” noted reading and English teacher Shaker Laurie in a […]
An NPR review of The Expendables 2 that described the sequel as “190 years of ass whoop on the silver screen” has got some listeners pretty riled up. “I am a long time listener and I have noticed a trend lately where NPR has allowed inappropriate language over the air,” one wrote. “I am not a Puritan, […]
Opinions are coming in on the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to let public broadcasters spend a little more on air time running fundraising campaigns for charities and related nonprofits. One divide is obvious. Religious broadcasters love this idea. NPR hates it. “Removing the prohibition on third-party fundraising would create the potential for stations to be […]
This American Life creator Ira Glass, has gone on public record in the public broadcasting journal Current declaring that stations should drop Car Talk when hosts Click and Clack retire this fall and the show goes into reruns. Or, at the very least, Glass thinks stations should push the show into late night, moving out […]
