The long-running independent community radio news program Free Speech Radio News announced this week that its last edition will be broadcast on April 28. In a press release, the collective cites a decline in distribution and inability to find a “firm financial footing,” as causes for the closure. Born from the labor of freelance reporters […]
Radio Survivor co-founder Matthew Lasar joins us this week to examine recent events at Pacifica Network’s Los Angeles station KPFK, where it’s been reported that all staff have been cut to half-time across the board. Matthew helps to put this action into perspective–especially as it regards the Pacifica Foundation’s unwieldy governance structure–and explains why Pacifica, […]
Pacifica radio station KPFT-FM in Houston, Texas needs a new transmitter and has launched a $20k Indiegogo fund drive to get it. “The existing transmitter is reaching the end of its useful life,” the station’s Indiegogo statement warns. “Its impending failure is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’.” This crisis more or less began […]
The Pacifica Foundation has found a new executive director, more than a year after the organization’s national board fired former ED Summer Reese, who then occupied the foundation’s national offices for nearly two months until a judge issued a restraining order forcing her to leave. The new ED is John Proffitt, who served twenty-five years […]
It’s been too long since we’ve checked in with Free Speech Radio News. First things first: since returning to regular production a year ago, FSRN now creates daily news segments that are posted online and aired by community radio affiliate stations, and added a half-hour weekly edition last May. This is a good thing for […]
The New York Times has a graceful obituary for Steve Post, talk radio host at WNYC-FM and before that for Pacifica station WBAI in New York City. I listened to Post endlessly on ‘BAI in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and like many others I read his book Playing in the FM Band: A […]
Unfortunately, just because the occupation of Pacifica Radio’s national office in Berkeley is over doesn’t mean that there aren’t troubles elsewhere in the network. Pacifica’s WBAI-FM in New York City is facing “imminent eviction” of its transmitter from the Empire State Building. That’s according to a recently surfaced report to the Pacifica National Board from […]
The Grassroots Radio Conference has been held almost annually since 1996, hosted by community radio stations whose staff and volunteers invite broadcasters from across the continent and around the world for a few days of skill-sharing, discussion and cooperation. After a year off, the GRC is back for 2014 thanks to the great folks at […]
Every week in our Radio Survivor Bulletin email newsletter we count down the top 5 stories of the week, along with alerting readers to other important radio stories. Now, here are our top 10 stories in radio news for March, as ranked by unique hits: 50th Anniversary Celebration for Radio Caroline, the UK’s 1st Pirate […]
Summer Reese, along with her mother and supporters, has been occupying the Pacifica Foundation’s offices in Berkeley, CA for almost ten days. Recall that Reese was abruptly fired from her position as Executive Director by the Pacifica National Board two weeks ago, without any public statements justifying the action. She and many others contest the […]
