We travel back to the 1980s, when the show, The Famous Computer Cafe, initially launched over the radio in southern California. With a focus on home computers, computer news, and more, the program had a fascinating roster of guests, including Timothy Leary, Donny Osmond, Bill Gates, and so many others. Although it was assumed that […] The post Podcast #342 – The Famous Computer Cafe appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Journalist Marc Masters joins us to discuss his book, High Bias: the Distorted History of the Cassette Tape. We dive into how the oft-maligned cassette influenced the music industry and our culture by inspiring musicians, taking music to the streets and returning power back to listeners. Show Notes High Bias: The Distorted History of the […] The post Podcast #341 – The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Williams College student Josh Picoult arrived on campus with a fascination for both history and radio. Four years later, he’s about to graduate after completing his undergraduate thesis on the history of college radio station WCFM, where he’s also the general manager. On this edition of Radio Survivor, we are joined by Josh, who talks […] The post Podcast #340 – College Radio History at Williams College appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Matthew Lasar talks with Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host of KPFA’s Upfront to commemorate the Birthday of Pacifica Radio. The post Podcast #339- 75 Years of Listener Supported Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In the last few years YouTube has become one of the most popular platforms for consuming podcasts, even though it’s a primarily a video platform, and podcasts have traditionally been an audio-first medium. This fact has raised both questions and concerns with podcasters. Paul has worked on research studies intended to better understand why and […] The post Podcast #338 – YouTube, Video and Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Radio Survivor team returns for a new episode, during which Jennifer, Eric and Paul recap some of the latest radio news. Topics this week including LPFM, college radio history, radio documentaries, expanding and returning radio stations, and a slow radio broadcast for Earth Day. Jennifer talks about her new gig working on a college […] The post Podcast #337 – Catching up on Radio News including LPFM, a College Radio Archive, Documentaries, and More appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this edition of the show, we explore public radio history, specifically the origins of public radio in the United States, including the important role played by college and university-based stations. Josh Shepperd joins to talk about his new book, Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting, which examines the intersections between […] The post Podcast #336 – Educational Radio and the Beginnings of Public Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show, we peek behind the scenes of The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC). A project of the Internet Archive, the DLARC collection includes a range of amateur radio-related materials, including magazines, ham radio newsletters, podcasts and even discussion forums. Within the expansive library are items generally categorized as non-commercial […] The post Podcast #335 – Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications appeared first on Radio Survivor.

World College Radio Day takes place on October 6, 2023 and in honor of that, we dig into the early history of college radio on our latest episode of the show. Jennifer Waits walks us through her research about college radio in the 1920s and earlier, sharing details from a paper that she presented this […] The post Podcast #334 – College Radio’s Hidden Early History appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On our latest episode of Radio Survivor, it’s a very special treat, with all four Radio Survivor hosts at the mic discussing an exciting low power FM opportunity. Another low power FM licensing window for non-commercial radio stations in the United States opens on November 1, 2023. Who is eligible to apply for these licenses? […] The post Podcast #333 – Low Power FM for Dummies appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer, our intrepid radio station tour guide, leads us through some of her recent visits to college radio stations in New York and Rhode Island. This most recent academic year (2022-23) was an active one, with college campuses and radio stations coming back to life as pandemic restrictions have eased. We also discuss a long-running […] The post Podcast #332 – More College Radio Tours & Podcasting Turns 20 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s been nearly three years since the FCC first announced that a new low-power FM (LPFM) application window would be forthcoming. Now we know that November 1 – 8, 2023 will be the third-ever opportunity for qualified non-profits to apply for a license. Jennifer, Eric and Paul review all the pertinent details, explaining why there […] The post Podcast #331 – New Low-Power FM Opportunity Coming this November appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Radio Survivors return with a new podcast episode! On this edition of the show, we discuss soundscapes and the concept of slow radio. Our guests, artists Brady Marks and Mark Timmings are the creators and producers of the 7th annual Wetland Project slow radio broadcast, taking place on Earth Day on April 22, 2023. […] The post Podcast #330: Wetland Project and Slow Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Radio Survivors return with a new podcast episode! Jennifer reports on her visits to four college radio stations in New York state in November, 2022. Part of a longtime project to document radio station field trips, these recent tours are her first since 2019. As COVID-19 restrictions have loosened, stations are largely back to […] The post Podcast #329: New York College Radio Tours appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Radio Survivors return with a new episode! For this edition, recorded in July, 2022, our guest is Lori Emerson, Founding Director of the Media Archaeology Lab (the MAL). She’s also an Associate Professor in the English Department and Director of the Intermedia Arts, Writing, and Performance Program at University of Colorado at Boulder. Lori […] The post Podcast #328: Media Archaeology and Other Networks appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s program, we turn our attention to the history of industrial music – not the noisy music genre – but music played in industrial settings for workers. A variety of services offered (and still offer) background music for workplaces. Muzak and the RCA Plant Broadcasting System are just a few of the products […] The post Podcast #327: Industrial Music Systems and Workplace Broadcasts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The annual Infinite Dial survey from Edison Research was recently released, showing what people in the US are listening to, and where. It even includes social media platforms like TikTok, which Eric observes young people often use like radio, playing in the background as they go about daily activities. We review the stats, and also […] The post Podcast #326: The State of Listening and Broadcast Radio in 2022 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Radio Survivors return to their microphones to review what’s new in radio. Of course, the Russian invasion of Ukraine hangs heavy over our heads, and we review how the international community is leveraging radio to delivery needed communications and information to Ukrainians, as well as how radio is attempting to serve the Ukrainian diaspora. […] The post Podcast #325 – Ukraine Radio, Int’l Women’s Day and Franken FMs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Your host Eric Klein has dug deep into some personal radio archives to produce this week’s episode. The post Podcast #324 – Heartfelt XMAS Filler appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As the year and semester draws to a close, we get real on this week’s episode and talk about work, burnout, volunteer labor, and how podcasting is not immune to the everyday stressors and challenges that we are all feeling right about now! Two of our favorite scholars, Jennifer Lynn Stoever and Hannah McGregor, join us […] The post Podcast #323 – Hope Labor, Burnout, and Balance: Getting Real about Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On the show this week, we explore one of our favorite topics: college radio history. Our guest, Andreas Preuss, just completed a multi-faceted project about student radio station WRAS at Georgia State University in Atlanta for his master’s thesis: Left of the Dial: Right on the Music: 50 Years of Georgia State FM Radio. We […] The post Podcast #322 – College Radio History at WRAS appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Few topics create as much anxiety at college and community radio stations – not to mention many a commercial radio morning show – than broadcast indecency. Since the dawn of broadcast regulation in the US there have been legal restrictions on the kind of speech that may be broadcast on the public airwaves, with a […] The post Podcast #321 – The Long Sordid History of Broadcast Indecency Enforcement appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show, we return to the topic of hip-hop on the radio. While on Radio Survivor, we typically focus on non-commercial radio, like college and community stations; in this episode we look at why certain types of commercial radio stations were important to the growth in popularity of hip-hop music. Our guest, Amy […] The post Podcast # 320 – How Hip-Hop Made it to Top 40 Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Fairness Doctrine – a Federal Communications Commission rule that’s been out of commission since the 20th century – just doesn’t seem to die, at least in the minds of politicians, the press and much of the public. Politicos of many political stripes trot out its specter as a bogeyman any time its convenient, while […] The post Podcast #318: Battling the Zombie of the Fairness Doctrine appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A year-and-a-half ago high school, college and community radio stations shut their studio doors in response to safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID. They quickly scrambled to find ways to stay on air, broadcasting archived programming, allowing DJs to pre-record or even broadcast live from home. We’ve dedicated several episodes to learning how […] The post Podcast #317 – How Radio Survived 18 Months of Pandemic (and Keeps Going) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Musician, DJ and radio artist Don Joyce passed away nearly six years ago, leaving behind a voluminous archive of his unparalelled collage radio program “Over the Edge.” The documentary “How Radio Isn’t Done” sheds light on this member of Negativland, his life and his work in recontextualizing the never-ending flow of media messages that flood […] The post Podcast #316 – How Radio Isn’t Done, According To Negativland’s Don Joyce appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Mitch Jeserich has been working as a host, producer and reporter for Pacifica Radio and KPFA for two decades. His career in radio was just getting started as a volunteer when 9-11-2001 changed everything. Host Eric Klein and guest Mitch Jeserich are friends and former co-workers at Free Speech Radio News in 2003, where Mitch […] The post Podcast #315 – Mitch Jeserich appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On the show this week we explore a pivotal period for radio news in the 1930s and learn why the Lindbergh kidnapping changed everything. Travel back in time with us. It’s March 1932 and a horrible crime has just occurred, the kidnapping of the 20-month-old son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne […] The post Podcast #314 – Radio and the Lindbergh Kidnapping appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show, we revisit a topic that is near and dear to us, the preservation of sound. This time around the emphasis is on podcasts. Our guest Jeremy Morris is the founder of PodcastRE (which is short for Podcast Research), a searchable, researchable archive of podcasting culture. Morris is Associate Professor, Media and […] The post Podcast #313 – PodcastRE’s Archive of Podcasting Culture appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Portrayals of radio in popular culture provide an interesting glimpse at radio’s role in society. At Radio Survivor, we’ve long been fascinated by radio depictions on both the small and large screen; so it is a treat to dive into this topic with Hemrani Vyas, Programming Coordinator at Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Vyas curated an […] The post Podcast #311 – Classic Films about Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Today on the show we rebroadcast one of our favorite episodes from one year ago, which was described this way: On August 27, 2020, nomadic online radio station Radioee.net is presenting a live, translingual 24-hour broadcast, Wireless, featuring 24 radio stations from all over the world. Taking place on the 100th anniversary of the first […] The post Podcast #310 – Radioee.net Celebrates 100 Year History of Wireless Communication (now 101 years) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What do home made short wave radios, flexi discs, and cyanotype photography have in common? Kirk Pearson is a composer and founder of Dogbotic, a full service music and sound studio, a radical multimedia arts workshop, and open source creative technology lab. Kirk joins us today to share the planning and thinking behind their next […] The post Podcast #309 – Ear Retraining with Dogbotic appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Shortly after its 26th birthday, we revisit this interview celebrating a quarter-century of the MP3. On July 14, 1995 the file extension .MP3 was chosen and set in place for an audio format that would go on to change music. Artist, scholar and curator John Kannenberg marks the 25th anniversary of this event with an […] The post Podcast #308 – Marking a Quarter-Century of MP3 (Replay) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show, we take a trip back in time to look at radio in the 1940s and 1950s. During this post-war period, women’s roles were shifting in the workplace and in popular media. Television arrived on the scene, bringing with it some, but not all, of the programming that people knew and loved […] The post Podcast #307 – Battling over Violence, Sex and Women’s Roles on Postwar Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What are the odds that a popular television series would feature your college radio station as a backdrop for two episodes? That’s exactly what Jennifer found, when HBO’s “Mare of Easttown” employed a set that accurately recreates Haverford College’s station as a location for the limited-run drama. Jennifer talked with the show’s production designer to […] The post Podcast #306 – Radio Coincidences, from Easttown to Sutherlin appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Border radio is one of our favorite topics at Radio Survivor and on this week’s episode we dig into the history of radio broadcasting on the northern border of Mexico. Scholar Sonia Robles shares the stories of some of the lesser-known, small broadcasters whose histories are often overshadowed by the wild tales of higher power […] The post Podcast #305 – Radio History on the Northern Border of Mexico appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As we wrap up Pride Month, our podcast discussion turns to queer spaces and queer community on the radio and in podcasting, specifically lesbian broadcasters in Canada. Our guest, Stacey Copeland is a media producer and Ph.D. candidate at Simon Fraser University’s School of Communication in Vancouver, Canada. Stacey has been researching the history of […] The post Podcast #304 – Lesbian Radio History in Canada appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Just when we thought the Franken FM era might be over for good, the FCC grants “Special Temporary Authority” to a LPTV channel 6 in San Jose, California to keep its analog signal – heard on the FM dial – on the air while transitioning its video signal to digital. We review this news, along […] The post Podcast #303 – Radio on TV, Magazines and Tape appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week, we take a close look at the history of an influential Spanish language community radio station: KDNA. Located in Washington State, the station launched in 1979 and serves a rural community which includes farm workers and immigrants. Our guest, Monica De La Torre, is Assistant Professor at the School of Transborder Studies at […] The post Podcast #302 – Feminista Frequencies appeared first on Radio Survivor.

From 1961 to 1976 WRVR-FM broadcast a progressive slate of social justice and jazz programming from the Riverside Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Beginning in 2018 those archives are being digitized and transcribed by the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, and on June 17 they’re asking volunteers to help correct those transcriptions in a […] The post Podcast #301 – Digitizing & Transcribing the Archives of NYC Progressive Church Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission recently announced that November 2, 2021 will mark the opening of the next licensing window for full-power non-commercial / educational (NCE) FM radio stations. The Commission first hinted at this chance back in fall of 2020. Given how often our listeners ask how and when they can get a radio license, […] The post Podcast #300 – How to Get a Noncomm FM License in 2021 (Replay) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It seems like physical media continues to have a hold on humans, even while most of us in the West engage with online, streaming and virtual media for much, if not most, of our time. Audiocassettes are like radio, in that they have been declared dead multiple times in the last three decades, yet continue […] The post Podcast #299 – Cassettes for Art, Radio and Recording TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Colleges and high schools are finishing up their first – and, with hope, last – full academic COVID year, and all indicators are that student radio remained on the air, as students adjusted to online classes and socially distant campuses. Jennifer Waits reports back from the Intercollegiate Broadcast System annual conference, held virtually this year, […] The post Podcast #298 – College Radio at the end of the Academic COVID Year appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Renowned radio scholar Michele Hilmes is Professor Emerita, Media and Cultural Studies in the Department of Communication Arts at University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been a long time proponent of the importance of studying radio and sound, which have often been neglected in the broader field of media studies. She joins us on the show […] The post Podcast #297 – Radio Studies and Soundwork appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Amanda Dawn Christie is an artist enamored with radios and radio waves. The Assistant Professor, Studio Arts at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) joins us on the show to discuss her most recent transmission art project, Ghosts in the Airglow, in which she created work at the HAARP facility in Alaska. Christie also shares with us […] The post Podcast #296: Radio Spectrum and Transmission Art – rebroadcast appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week, we are joined by the hosts of the podcast Rice and Shine. Led by four Seattle-area teenagers, the chat-style program provides a glimpse into the lives of 9th graders beginning high school from a distance during a pandemic. Rice and Shine is an incredible time capsule of the current school year, as hosts […] The post Podcast #295 – High School Podcasting with the Hosts of Rice and Shine appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The PIRATE Act was signed into law more than a year ago, but the rules governing increased fines for unlicensed broadcasting are about to go into effect on April 26. The Act is intended to give the FCC additional tools for tamping down pirate radio activity in hot beds like Boston and Brooklyn, NY, but […] The post Podcast #294 – Reading the PIRATE Act / FCC & the Supremes Pt. 2 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What is radio art? What is transmission art? We discuss the experimental side of radio and artistic uses of radio transmissions on our show this week, looking at historical and contemporary examples. Artist and scholar Anna Friz joins us to chat about these concepts, sharing how her college/community radio past in Canada inspired her to […] The post Podcast #293 – Exploring Radio Art and Transmission Art appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What is sound art? And what do we know about its origin story? We explore this question and more with our guest this week, artist and educator Judy Dunaway. An adjunct professor in the History of Art Department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Dunaway’s recent article, “The Forgotten 1979 MoMA Sound Art Exhibition,” […] The post Podcast #292 – The History of Sound Art appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A super hero comic is at the heart of The New Adventures of Super Indian, a forthcoming audio drama from Native Voices at the Autry. Our guests on the show include Super Indian’s creator, playwright and director, Arigon Starr (an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma) and artistic director DeLanna Studi (an enrolled […] The post Podcast #291 – The New Adventures of Super Indian appeared first on Radio Survivor.

One of the biggest celebrities in Los Angeles in the early part of the 20th century was Aimee Semple McPherson. She inspired scandalous headlines and fictional depictions, including the character Sister Molly on the Showtime series, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels and Sister Alice McKeegan on the 2020 HBO reboot of Perry Mason. Yet the […] The post Podcast #290 – Aimee Semple McPherson and the Early History of Radio Evangelists appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In honor of Women’s History Month, this week’s episode focuses on women in sound. Our guests, Jennifer Hyland Wang and Jenny Stoever, return to the show to discuss sound studies, the cultural politics of listening, the history of women’s voices on the airwaves and on podcasts, as well as broader issues of representation. Jennifer Hyland […] The post Podcast #289 – Celebrating Women in Sound appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week we share more evidence of how broadest radio is an important informational lifeline and human connection for so many people. As most of the country enters year two of the pandemic, we catch up again with Becky Meiers, General Manager of community radio station KCAW-FM in Sitka, Alaska. We last spoke with Becky […] The post Podcast #288 – Eagle vs. Transmitter appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer, Eric and Paul join together to review what’s news as we kick off the month of March. Top of the list is an upcoming FCC radio license auction. Originally planned for April 2020, but delayed by the first coronavirus lockdowns, the auction will see 140 commercial radio construction permits up for bid. We discuss […] The post Podcast #287 – New Station Opportunity, Women’s History Month, and more appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show we take a look at the ways that Native Americans used sound technology during radio’s earliest days and how that inspired and led to the flourishing Native media landscape, including tribal radio stations. Our guest, Josh Garrett-Davis, is Associate Curator at the Autry Museum and author of a recently completed dissertation: […] The post Podcast #286 – Native American Voices on the Air in the Early Days of Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Nathan Moore is the General Manager at WTJU and the Staff Advisor of WXTJ at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He is also the current President of the Board of the NFCB, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. We invited Nathan Moore onto the show to ask about running community and college radio stations […] The post Podcast #285 – Running a Big Community Media Organization in the 2nd Year of the Pandemic appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show we learn about SpokenWeb, a Canadian project focused on the preservation of literary sound recordings. Partly inspired by the energetic poetry scene of the 1960s, SpokenWeb works to preserve recordings of these live events and also describe and share this material. Our guest, Hannah McGregor, leads the SpokenWeb Podcast Task Force […] The post Podcast #284 – SpokenWeb and Literary Sound appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On Radio Survivor we are interested in not only audio, but also its history as well as preservation efforts. Along those lines, we have done numerous episodes about archives. We additionally have a strong passion for student-produced media, like high school and college radio. On this episode, we discuss an interesting intersection of the two, […] The post Podcast #283 – Project STAND is Archiving Student Activism appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What a difference a week makes. President Biden has appointed Jessica Rosenworcel as acting chair of the Federal Communications Commission, only the second time a woman has held the post. This signals the beginning of a new agenda at the Commission – though currently evenly split down party lines – and Prof. Christopher Terry from […] The post Podcast #282 – New FCC, Who Dis? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

There are a few stories we were watching closely at the end of 2020, and we wanted to bring listeners up to date. First up is Section 230, the law that provides a degree of immunity to online platforms – from social media to community radio stations – for consequences resulting from what their users […] The post Podcast #281 – Wrapping Up Section 230 & the VOA appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio history is close to our hearts at Radio Survivor and on this week’s episode we explore the story of student radio in Australia. Our guest, Rafal Alumairy, is working on book about this little-told history. She shares with us details not only about the timeline of student radio in Australia, but also some intriguing […] The post Podcast #280 – Student Radio History in Australia appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Zach Poff put a radio station inside a pond. Poff is a media artist, educator and maker-of-things, and he explains that project and talks about making art with radio technology and listening to sound art. This is a re-broadcast of our episode from April, 2018. Show Notes Zach Poff’s Pond Station is broadcasting live during […] The post Podcast #279 – Zach Poff Built a Radio Station Inside a Pond appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radios in the trees, a transmitter in the pond, and a weather-driven synth. These are just some of what you’ll find on The Wave Farm, a 29-acre property in New York’s Hudson Valley dedicated to radio and transmission arts. It’s anchored by community radio station WGXC, accompanied by a cornucopia of additional tiny terrestrial and […] The post Podcast #278 – The Wave Farm Grows Transmission Arts (rebroadcast) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Even though Trump is leaving the White House on January 19, he’s set up the FCC to carry on his idiosyncratic policy goals well into the Biden administration, especially if a Republican-led Senate resists the new president’s nomination for a new chairman. At the last minute, Trump decided not to renominate FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly […] The post Podcast #277 – How Does the FCC Solve Anything? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Though there are many good reasons why one might not want to look back at the year that was, we still see some aspects worth noting. In particular, radio and podcasting proved to be resilient media, with broadcasters and podcasters rallying to meet the challenges of quarantines and social distancing brought on by the COVID-19 […] The post Podcast #276 – 2020 the Year in Radio and Sound appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Podcasting is increasingly being taken up by people in academia, for myriad reasons. Some professors are looking for ways to share their work, others use it as a research tool, some include it as part of their teaching practice, while others seek to include podcasting as an official part of their scholarly output. We dig […] The post Podcast #275: Making Scholarly Podcasts Count appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Poet Kenneth Goldsmith created UbuWeb in 1996 as an online repository for obscure avant-garde art that, by virtue of having little commercial potential, was hard to find. Audio was an early component of the archive, owing to Kenneth’s interest in sound poetry, an even more obscure art form. Since then he’s served as the chief, […] The post Podcast #274 – UbuWeb is a Hand Coded Archive that Stands the Test of Time appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this most unusual of Thanksgiving weeks, we are honored to speak with Alice Brock, the woman who provided much inspiration for Arlo Guthrie’s inadvertent Thanksgiving Day radio staple, “Alice’s Restaurant.” Brock shares with us not only some insight into the 18-minute anti-war epic; but also stories about her life and holiday traditions. For 2020, […] The post Podcast #273: Thanksgiving and Radio Traditions with Alice Brock of “Alice’s Restaurant” appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Carl Malamud is credited with having one of the very first streaming internet talk radio shows, “Geek of the Week,” beginning in 1993. And because it was available for download, too, it’s considered a proto-podcast. Carl joins us this week to dig into this early history of internet radio, recounting how his efforts quickly snowballed […] The post Podcast #272 – ‘Geek of the Week’ and the Beginning of Internet Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric, Jennifer and Paul reconvene to catch up on all that is news to us in the worlds of radio and sound. The FCC just unanimously approved all-digital operation on the AM band, while commercial radio – born on the AM band – celebrates its centennial. But keep in mind that broadcast radio is older […] The post Podcast #271: AM Radio Goes Digital as It Celebrates a Centennial appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In the last few years a number of large and prominent public media organizations have been forced to confront the effects of sexism, racism and harassment within their own organizations that has been tolerated for too long. One clear cause is a serious lack of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the public media system. Public […] The post Podcast #270: Public Media for All appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will open two filing windows for non-commercial FM radio licenses. First up will be an opportunity to apply for a full-power non-commercial / educational (NCE) license, followed by a low-power FM opportunity. Even though the application window dates have not yet been announced, now is the time […] The post Podcast #269 – How To Get an FM Radio License in 2021 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Over the course of four seasons, the Peabody-nominated podcast “Scene on Radio,” a production of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, has earned a reputation for tackling head-on difficult topics around race, gender, justice and equity. But it didn’t start out that way. It started life as a documentary anthology that host and […] The post Podcast #268 – Scene on Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week, the Radio Survivor crew did its first live broadcast from a virtual conference held over Zoom. As part of the 2020 Grassroots Radio Conference, we presented a live radio show during the event, which aired over host station ARTxFM’s (WXOX-LP) FM signal in Louisville, Kentucky as well as over the internet. The topic […] The post Podcast #267 – Live from the Grassroots Radio Conference: Community Radio and Protests appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Flirt FM at the National University of Ireland at Galway was one of the first “community of interest” stations to go on the air in that nation. Effectively, this means it was a trailblazing college and community station, hitting the air not long after the state broadcast monopoly began to erode in 1988. Andrew Ó […] The post Podcast #266 – Flirt FM Celebrates 25 Years of College & Community Radio in Ireland appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Over the past few months, there’s been a flurry of media attention focused on the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Some reports describe it as a “little-known” agency and, in fact, it may seem mysterious to many in the United States, since it oversees international broadcasting programs all over the world, including Voice […] The post Podcast #265 – Inside the “Little Known” Voice of America and the U.S. Agency for Global Media appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Joe Boyd is best known as a record producer (he worked with Pink Floyd and Nick Drake just to name two artists) and he is the author of the book “White Bicycles, Making Music in the 1960’s.” In 2015 he launched a podcast. Joe Boyd’s A-Z which ran for 52 episodes (that’s one episode for […] The post Podcast # 264 – Joe Boyd appeared first on Radio Survivor.

With wildfires raging up and down the west coast of the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, many radio stations are facing different types of challenges than a year ago. Vacaville Christian Schools’ radio station KVCB-LP (aka VCS Radio) is in a community that was hit hard by a wild fire in August 2020. When […] The post Podcast #263 – Broadcasting High School Radio through Wildfires and a Pandemic appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric Nuzum started NPR’s podcasting efforts in 2005. He worked at NPR for over a decade and helped produce hit shows like “TED Radio Hour” and “Invisibila.” He left NPR for Audible, where he led Amazons efforts in short form audio and podcasts until 2018. Eric Nuzum is the author of the book “Make Noise: […] The post Podcast #262 – Eric Nuzum (rebroadcast) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer, Eric and Paul get the gang back together to remember community radio innovator Lorenzo Milam, who passed away on July 19. We reflect on how he helped to propagate a community access model of broadcasting that departed somewhat from the model of the first Pacifica stations, and was reflective of the counter-cultural currents of […] The post Podcast #261 – Remembering Lorenzo Milam appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Border radio is one of our favorite topics at Radio Survivor and on this week’s episode we dig into the history of radio broadcasting on the northern border of Mexico. Scholar Sonia Robles shares the stories of some of the lesser-known, small broadcasters whose histories are often overshadowed by the wild tales of higher power […] The post Podcast #260 – Radio History on the Northern Border of Mexico appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On August 27, 2020, nomadic online radio station Radioee.net is presenting a live, translingual 24-hour broadcast, Wireless, featuring 24 radio stations from all over the world. Taking place on the 100th anniversary of the first radio broadcast in Argentina and the first mass public entertainment broadcast in the world; Wireless launches at midnight Buenos Aires […] The post Podcast #259 – Radioee.net Celebrates 100 Year History of Wireless Communication appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC is testing its luck with the Supreme Court, after years of failure in attempting to revise media ownership regulations using justifications that pass Constitutional scrutiny. Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins us to explain what the Commission argues, and what its odds are. However, a more immediate concern is that […] The post Podcast #258 – Trump Admin Raises the Specter of the Fairness Doctrine appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On July 14, 1995 the file extension .MP3 was chosen and set in place for an audio format that would go on to change music. Artist, scholar and curator John Kannenberg marks the 25th anniversary of this event with an online exhibit, “MP3 @ 25: The Anniversary Exhibition” at his Museum of Portable Sound. John […] The post Podcast #257 – Marking a Quarter-Century of MP3 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Poet Kenneth Goldsmith created UbuWeb in 1996 as an online repository for obscure avant-garde art that, by virtue of having little commercial potential, was hard to find. Audio was an early component of the archive, owing to Kenneth’s interest in sound poetry, an even more obscure art form. Since then he’s served as the chief, […] The post Podcast #256 – The Robin Hood of the Avant-Garde appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Carl Malamud is credited with having one of the very first streaming internet talk radio shows, “Geek of the Week,” beginning in 1993. And because it was available for download, too, it’s considered a proto-podcast. Carl joins us this week to dig into this early history of internet radio, recounting how his efforts quickly snowballed […] The post Podcast #255 – ‘Geek of the Week’ and the Beginning of Internet Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show, we take a trip back to the early 20th century to learn about the recording industry’s intertwined relationship with radio and music culture. Our guest is Kyle Barnett, Associate Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Communication at Bellarmine University. Barnett’s forthcoming book, Record Cultures: The Transformation of the U.S. […] The post Podcast #254 – The Intertwined History of the Radio and Recording Industries appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Internet radio was born more than 25 years ago, yet, according to Edison Research, only in the last month has the medium garnered just 10% of all broadcast listening time in the US. We might lay at least some blame on the commercial radio industry, which didn’t embrace it until well into the 2000s, long […] The post Podcast 253 – Sound Streams: Dissecting the History of Internet Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week, we explore the ancestor of public radio in the United States: educational radio. Our guest, Stephanie Sapienza, helps to bring educational radio archives to life through her work on the multi-institution “Unlocking the Airwaves” project. As Digital Humanities Archivist at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities at University of Maryland, Sapienza […] The post Podcast # 252 – Exploring the Seeds of Public Radio in Educational Radio Archives appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Our guest on Radio Survivor is producing The Global Queer Read-In: A Virtual Pride Event; a 12 hour long webcast to celebrate LGBTQ literature. Brian DeShazor is the brand new CEO of Overnight Productions, which produces the radio show This Way Out. This Way Out has been on the air for 31 years, a weekly […] The post Podcast #251 – The Global Queer Read-In appeared first on Radio Survivor.

One of the biggest celebrities in Los Angeles in the early part of the 20th century was Aimee Semple McPherson. She inspired scandalous headlines and fictional depictions, including the character Sister Molly on the current Showtime series, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. Yet the story that is less frequently told is McPherson’s embrace of radio. […] The post Podcast #250 – Aimee Semple McPherson and the Early History of Radio Evangelists appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Scholar Jocelyn Robinson says about one-third of Historically Black Colleges and Universities have radio stations. Her mission is to survey them and help preserve their histories and recorded legacies through the HBCU Radio Station Archival Survey Project, which she directs. On this episode Robinson tells us about this project, and explains why it’s important to […] The post Podcast #249 – Documenting & Preserving Radio at HBCUs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s episode, scholar Lerone Martin shares with us the fascinating history of African-American preachers who distributed their sermons on 78rpm records during a time when they had limited access to the radio in the 1920s-1940s. Martin, Associate Professor in Religion and Politics at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at […] The post Podcast #248 – African American Preachers on Wax appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Over the course of four seasons, the Peabody-nominated podcast “Scene on Radio,” a production of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, has earned a reputation for tackling head-on difficult topics around race, gender, justice and equity. But it didn’t start out that way. It started life as a documentary anthology that host and […] The post Podcast #247 – Scene on Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Portrayals of radio in popular culture provide an interesting glimpse at radio’s role in society. At Radio Survivor, we’ve long been fascinated by radio depictions on both the small and large screen; so it is a treat to dive into this topic with Hemrani Vyas, Programming Coordinator at Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Vyas curated an […] The post Podcast #246 – Radio in the Movies appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In 2019 we celebrated International Women’s Day by recording a fascinating interview about women’s radio history with University of Louisville Professor of History Christine Ehrick. Author of Radio and the Gendered Soundscape: Women and Broadcasting in Argentina and Uruguay, 1930-1950, Ehrick schools us on the hidden history of a pioneering women’s radio station in Uruguay. […] The post Podcast #245 – Hidden Women’s Radio History in Uruguay appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Some consider the late 1960s through the mid-1990s to be a “golden age” of college radio. History professor Katherine Rye Jewell, from Fitchburg State University, notes that the period begins with college stations taking to the FM dial, and concludes with the rise of the internet. During that time, college radio stations certainly at times […] The post Podcast #244 – Exploring the So-Called ‘Golden Age’ of College Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A common theme on Radio Survivor is that claims of being first should be viewed skeptically. From purported first college radio station to first internet simulcast, we’ve learned that there’s always another challenger to the prize. This time around, however, we can say this is definitively the first ever episode of Radio Survivor broadcast, and […] The post Podcast #243 – A Radio Survivor First appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Did you know that a lot of folks in Europe listen to radio on their televisions? Neither did we, until we talked with James Cridland, editor of the daily Podnews email newsletter and radio futurologist. He explains that outside of North America much of radio is enjoyed on more platforms, from digital DAB to, yes, […] The post Podcast #242 – Radio on the TV with James Cridland appeared first on Radio Survivor.

WBCN in Boston, MA is one of the storied freeform FM stations in American commercial radio history. We’re talking about it because there’s a recent documentary film, entitled “WBCN and the American Revolution,” that dives into its history, and how WBCN’s early days in the late 60s and early 70s are intertwined with the counter […] The post Podcast #241 – WBCN and the American Revolution appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Ken Freedman is the General Manager and the Program Director of WFMU, a free form community radio station in Jersey City, New Jersey that prides itself on it’s live, in studio sound from every one of it’s DJ’s. So this particular crisis, the Pandemic and the Lock Down, is a unique challenge. “This disaster is […] The post Podcast #240 – WFMU is Still On the Air During the Pandemic appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Raven Radio, KCAW-FM, serves Sitka and the remote communities of Southeast Alaska with public radio content, local news and volunteer-produced programming. Like “shelter in place” elsewhere in the lower 48, Sitka is on what they call a “hunker down” advisory. We talk with KCAW General Manager and friend of the show, Becky Meiers about how […] The post Podcast #239 – Hunkering Down with Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The University of Virgina’s WTJU now only permits one person in their studios at one time and has five remote locations ready to take over live broadcasting. That’s a couple of ways that community and college stations are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. Community radio WTJU General Manager Nathan Moore joins this week to explain […] The post Podcast #238 – Social Distancing, Going Remote and Automation during Global Pandemic appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Community and college radio stations are unique in broadcasting because in addition to being important community services, many are also a community crossroads, hosting dozens or hundreds of people in their studios and spaces in any given week. That means the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic poses a specific challenge for these broadcasters. KPFA’s “UpFront” co-host […] The post Podcast #237 – How Community & College Radio Can Deal with COVID-19 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

FCC policy has left media ownership diversity at “obnoxiously low levels,” especially considering that more minority and women ownership is one of the desired objectives. That’s what Prof. Chris Terry from the University of Minnesota tells us on this week’s show. The Commission may be headed to the Supreme Court to defend its diversity policy, […] The post Podcast #236 – FCC and the Supremes appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer, Eric and Paul have some college radio news to review, but first they pull back the curtain to survey the state of affairs in Radio Survivorland. They note some recent attention from The A.V. Club and Podnews along with a nice uptick in podcast audience as they reflect on the importance of sticking with […] The post Podcast #235 – Pulling Back the Curtain appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In New Zealand a dozen partially government-funded radio stations are charged with providing access to under-represented groups and communities. Wellington Access Radio, situated in New Zealand’s capital city, was the first station of its kind in that country, and station manager Kristen Paterson tells us more about its history and mission. Kristen explains the funding […] The post Podcast #234 – Community Access Radio in New Zealand appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio waves don’t obey borders, and stations have been taking advantage of this fact since the dawn of the medium – often despite the rules of government regulators where the signals go. Dr. Kevin Curran of Arizona State University has been studying border radio stations extensively, making it the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Everyone […] The post Podcast #233 – Border Radio in North America (rebroadcast) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Scholar Jocelyn Robinson says about one-third of Historically Black Colleges and Universities have radio stations. Her mission is to survey them and help preserve their histories and recorded legacies through the HBCU Radio Station Archival Survey Project, which she directs. On this episode Robinson tells us about this project, and explains why it’s important to […] The post Podcast #232 – Documenting & Preserving Radio at HBCUs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric Nuzum started NPR’s podcasting efforts in 2005 where he worked for over a decade and helped produce hit shows like “TED Radio Hour” and “Invisibila” – he left NPR for Audible, where he led Amazons efforts in the realm of short form audio and podcasts until 2018. Eric Nuzum is currently a consultant and […] The post Podcast #231 – Eric Nuzum appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s episode we learn about a brand new project at the Library of Congress that is focused entirely on archiving podcasts. Ted Westervelt, Manager of the Podcast Preservation Project at Library of Congress, joins us to share early details from this new initiative. He explains that the hope is that a wide variety […] The post Podcast #230 – The Library of Congress Launches Podcast Preservation Project appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The PIRATE Act, recently passed by Congress, is intended to stem the tide of unlicensed radio broadcasting by providing the Federal Communications Commission with new tools. Chief amongst them are new maximum fines, and a shortcut to issuing them. But will this really work? Author and radio scholar John Anderson says that a lot of […] The post Podcast #229 – Reading the PIRATE Act appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Last week we declared that the 2010s were a banner decade for community radio. As Jennifer notes, though college radio had a tough start to the last decade, with the loss of prominent stations like KUSF, KTRU and WRVU, the service seriously bounced back, aided by factors like the low-power FM boom, internet radio, HD […] The post Podcast #228 – College Radio’s Biggest Decade appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We begin part one of our review of the last decade in radio with the observation that it saw the greatest expansion of community radio in history. Though the second US LPFM licensing window that happened in 2013 is a significant driver, the growth happened all over the world. The 2010s were also a growth […] The post Podcast #227 – A Banner Decade for Community Radio and FrankenFMs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Here at the close of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 we’re celebrating the 31st anniversary of the end of one of the most fascinating periods in radio broadcast history, when pirate radio ruled the Irish airwaves. We enjoyed this interview – recorded at the beginning of 2019 – and we think you will, too. […] The post Podcast #226 – Irish Pirate Radio Encore appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Matthew Lasar starts off this episode by declaring that this was the year that his undergraduate students stopped listening to broadcast AM/FM radio. Then he admits, he’s nearly stopped, too. Find out why in this lively rundown of what was significant to radio in 2019. On the other hand, our resident college radio expert Jennifer […] The post Podcast #225 – A Review of 2019 in Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

All nine judges on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently denied the FCC’s request for a rehearing on its many-times rejected media ownership rules. Prof. Christopher Terry calls this the Commission’s “Legacy of Failure.” But it begs the question, what does success look like? Prof. Terry, who teaches media law at the University of […] The post Podcast #224: How the FCC Could Support Diversity, Localism & Competition in Radio & TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission is all about radio at the end of 2019, and we catch you up on what you need to know. We all have questions about the possibility of AM stations going all-digital, including the FCC. The regulatory body released the things it wants to know about how digital stations would work, […] The post Podcast #223: Will CMJ Return, Will AM Go Digital and Will FrankenFMs Disappear? Plus Other Big Questions appeared first on Radio Survivor.

November 30 was the 20th anniversary of the “Battle of Seattle” protests against the World Trade Organization ministerial meetings in that Pacific Northwest city. The broad array of groups and 80,000 people who assembled understood they would not receive a fair hearing in the mainstream press, so they built their own internet-based platform to instantly […] The post Podcast #222 – Marking the 20th Anniversary of Indymedia appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show, we take a trip back to the early 20th century to learn about the recording industry’s intertwined relationship with radio and music culture. Our guest is Kyle Barnett, Associate Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Communication at Bellarmine University. Barnett’s forthcoming book, Record Cultures: The Transformation of the U.S. […] The post Podcast #221 – The Intertwined History of the Radio and Recording Industries appeared first on Radio Survivor.

When Jim Bolt was in college at Sacramento State University in 1989 college radio was exerting unprecedented cultural influence in the U.S. But this campus no longer had a radio station. Though he had heard stories of an earlier student-run AM station – KERS – he couldn’t get to the bottom of why it no […] The post Podcast #220 – The College Radio Station ‘That Shouldn’t Exist’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In April 2020 the FCC will open up the next auction for FM radio licenses. This is the next, and only currently scheduled opportunity to build a new radio station in the U.S. Jennifer, Eric and Paul discuss this news, along with celebrating the 60th birthday of KFJC-FM at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, […] The post Podcast #219 – The Next Chance To Get an FM Station License; a College Station 60th; All-Digital AM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s episode, Karen Cariani, the David O. Ives Executive Director of the WGBH Media Library and Archives, joins us to talk about the work of the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB). A collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH, the AAPB not only archives public radio and television; but it also […] The post Podcast # 218: Archiving Public Media appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Amanda Dawn Christie is an artist enamored with radios and radio waves. The Assistant Professor, Studio Arts at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) joins us on the show to discuss her most recent transmission art project, Ghosts in the Airglow, in which she created work at the HAARP facility in Alaska. Christie also shares with us […] The post Podcast #217: Radio Spectrum and Transmission Art appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Our guest is Brian DeShazor, an independent radio researcher and founder of the Queer Radio Research Project. Formerly the Director of the Pacifica Radio Archives, DeShazor has taken a special interest in uncovering and highlighting the LGBTQ voices that have aired on community radio in decades past. On the episode, we discuss the history of […] The post Podcast #216 – Archiving LGBTQ Radio History (Rebroadcast) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Today our online networks are largely owned and operated by corporations that spy on us for profit, but 20 years ago leftist activists built a very different kind of online network. It was called Indymedia. It was one of the first online spaces where people could self publish photos and text as well as audio […] The post Podcast #215 – Lessons Indymedia Has for Us Today appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Net neutrality received a very mixed ruling from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals last week. The Court largely upheld the significantly looser rules passed by the FCC in 2017 under the leadership of Republican Chairman Ajit Pai. But at the same time the Court said the Commission overstepped its bounds in attempting to forbid […] The post Podcast #214 – Net Neutrality Is a Local Issue Now appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC lost in court for the fourth time on September 23, in what’s become a really bad habit in the case known as Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals keeps sending the Commission back to do homework to justify with evidence the changes it wants to make in loosening […] The post Podcast #213: Four Strikes for the FCC’s Media Ownership Policy appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio waves don’t obey borders, and stations have been taking advantage of this fact since the dawn of the medium – often despite the rules of government regulators where the signals go. Dr. Kevin Curran of Arizona State University has been studying border radio stations extensively, making it the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Everyone […] The post Podcast #212 – Border Radio in North America appeared first on Radio Survivor.

More than 600 community radio recordings from 1965 – 1986 are archived at the University of Maryland. These tapes were shared through a program exchange operated by the National Federation of Community broadcasters. The breadth of programming contained in these programs is remarkable, and underscores the still-active mission of the NFCB to support and promote […] The post Podcast #211 – Surveying Community Radio’s Deep Archives appeared first on Radio Survivor.

RadiOpio Program Director Laura Civitello has the enviable job of running a youth radio station on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. From an upstairs perch at the beach side Pa’ ia Youth and Cultural Center, Civitello manages KOPO-LP, whose on-air hosts range in age from 9 to 19 years old. On this week’s show, Civitello […] The post Podcast #210 – Youth Radio by the Beach appeared first on Radio Survivor.

From the “Classical Radio Era” to today’s hottest podcasts, we’re here for the love of radio drama and fictional sound-art. Our guest is Neil Verma, author of a book and teacher of classes on the subject, although as he tells us on today’s episode, the class became a lot more popular with students after he […] The post Podcast #209 – Audio Fiction’s very long history of innovation appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer is back from travels, that included Hawaiian community radio, to join Eric and Paul. First up, a question: is “pathfinder” a good replacement for the word “pioneer,” the latter of which has an unfortunate colonial heritage? Listener Pat Flanagan suggested it to us after we asked for input a couple of episodes, so we […] The post Podcast #208 – Radio and Podcast Pathfinding in San Francisco and Podcast Movement appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Nathan Moore is the General Manager of WTJU at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Hear how and why he has lead the way to build a podcasting studio for the community to use, as well as a student run LPFM college radio station and a concert series and a summer camp. Show Notes: […] The post Podcast #207 – Building More Communities Around Your Station appeared first on Radio Survivor.

With mergers, acquisitions and millions of dollars changing hands, podcasts continue to be in the news. But just when it seems like well-funded networks are edging out the indies, Paul and Eric are here to assure community and college broadcasters and independent podcasters that there is growing opportunity for them, too. Show Notes: Paul on […] The post Podcast #206 – Podcasts Are Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Hello, Eric Klein here. This week’s episode of the radio show features wall to wall music selected by Matthew Lasar to demonstrate his passion for the radio format he would like to hear more of in the world, Hybrid Highbrow. All that music would be against the rules in a podcast, so this web-only version […] The post Podcast #205 – A Brief Update appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week we explore the role of radio as a tool for resistance with two of the eight organizers of the “Resistance Radio ‘The People’s Airwaves'” exhibit in Brooklyn, New York. Interference Archive volunteers Celia Easton Koehler and Elena Levi join us on the podcast to discuss the scope of the exhibit, which investigates a […] The post Podcast #204 – Resistance Radio ‘The People’s Airwaves’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC is one step closer to a rule change that threatens to de-fund community media and technology, by undermining a long-established principle that cable and internet companies owe rent to municipalities for use of the public right-of-way. Sabrina Roach, board member of the Alliance for Community Media Foundation, joins to help us understand what’s […] The post Podcast #203 – FCC One Step Closer to Defunding Community Media appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC just proposed a series of changes to help make it easier for low-power FM stations to move their transmitters and to fill in weak signal areas. We review this proposal along with a suggestion from the Commission to whittle away at protections for the few dozen remaining analog low-power TV channel 6 stations, […] The post Podcast #202 – Small Boosts Proposed for LPFM & Why Aren’t There College Stations on the Dial in San Diego? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A different media world is possible. What if the FCC truly regulated in the public interest, creating policies and services that promoted community voices and civic values? It does happen occasionally, but not often enough. It’s easy to assume our media system turned out this way because it was inevitable, but in truth it was […] The post Podcast #201 – A Fantasy FCC Serves the Public Interest appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Survivor celebrates 10 years on the internet and four years podcasting with our 200th episode. Matthew Lasar joins Jennifer Waits, Eric Klein and Paul Riismandel for this review of the last decade in radio that matters. Matthew tells the Radio Survivor origin story that sprang forth from his I.F. Stone inspired research deep into […] The post Podcast #200 – How We Survived a Decade of Independent Publishing appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC was back in front of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals again, defending its failure to address declines in minority- and women-owned broadcast stations, amongst other failures. In fact, as our guest, University of Minnesota Prof. Christopher Terry, explains, the Commission claims it’s too hard to assess the change in ownership between 1996 […] The post Podcast #199 – The FCC Is ‘Flunking Statistics 101’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In June 2009 a coup d’etat overthrew Honduras’ democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya. Since the coup, human rights conditions in that country have deteriorated. Radio has become a vital organizing tool for defending the rights of indigenous people and fighting environmental destruction, while providing needed information and education to people in rural areas. In April […] The post Podcast #198 – Defending Human Rights with Radio in Honduras appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Alaska’s unique geography and way-of-life leads to unique radio. Raven Radio is a public and community station serving the city of Sitka, along with seven other small towns in Southeast Alaska. The station is not just a source of news, music and culture, but also a lifeline for people living in remote communities where there […] The post Podcast #197 – Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Can US radio survive even more consolidation? The National Association of Broadcasters is asking the FCC to raise local radio ownership caps in the 75 biggest radio markets, and to get rid of limits entirely in the remaining 194. The prospect of even less diversity on the airwaves has motivated a broad coalition of music […] The post Podcast #196 – The Campaign To Keep Local Radio Local appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Pamela Klassen, Professor of the Study of Religion, Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto joins us on the podcast to chat about her book The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land. She shares the tale of Anglican Archbishop Frederick Du Vernet, who claims to have invented “radio mind,” in […] The post Podcast #195: Telepathy and Radio Mind appeared first on Radio Survivor.

First conceived in the 1930s, there is a type of tiny radio station that anyone can operate legally, without a license. Bill DeFelice of HobbyBroadcaster.net joins the show to tell us about how you can get on the air today, to broadcast around your house, or even your neighborhood with a so-called ‘Part 15’ radio […] The post Podcast #194: Build Your Own Tiny Radio Station appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Wave Farm Executive Director Galen Joseph-Hunter joins us to talk about transmission arts at Wave Farm and beyond. We discuss Wave Farm’s recently co-presented Reveil, SoundCamp’s live 24-hour broadcast of the sounds of daybreak, sourced from open microphones from around the world. Additionally, Joseph-Hunter gives us the scoop on the new Radio Artist Fellowship at […] The post Podcast #193: Wavefarm, Reveil and Transmission Arts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Preservation Task Force’s Director Josh Shepperd and Conference Director Neil Verma are our guests for a discussion about the work of the Library of Congress initiative. They explain the significance of 2020 for radio history, share some of the accomplishments of the Task Force, and preview the next Radio Preservation Conference Task Force Conference, […] The post Podcast #192: Saving Radio History with The Radio Preservation Task Force appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Every weekday an all-volunteer reporting staff produces an hour of original, hyper-local news for WOOC-LP’s “Hudson Mohawk Magazine,” serving the Troy, NY area. A focus on mission and a concentration of resources on journalism helps the station accomplish this daily feat. Steve Pierce is the Executive Director of Media Alliance, which operates WOOC inside the […] The post Podcast #191: How an LPFM Produces an Hour of Hyper-Local News Every Weekday appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Amanda Dawn Christie is an artist enamored with radios and radio waves. The Assistant Professor, Studio Arts at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) joins us on the show to discuss her most recent transmission art project, Ghosts in the Airglow, in which she created work at the HAARP facility in Alaska. Christie also shares with us […] The post Podcast #190: Radio Spectrum and Transmission Art appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer, Eric and Paul sit down to review the latest research on podcasts from the Infinite Dial and Podcast Consumer reports, which leads to consideration of the transition between analog and digital media, inspired by Vinylthon. From 78s to CDs, and music memories to smooth jazz, just how great is this episode? Ask Dr. Science. […] The post Podcast #189: No Locked Grooves for Podcasts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Hip-Hop Radio Archive aims to digitize, preserve, share, and contextualize recordings of hip-hop radio from the 1980s and 1990s from commercial, college, community, and pirate stations of all sizes, telling the stories of the shows and the people that made them. Our guest is founder of the archive, Ryan MacMichael. This is a rebroadcast […] The post Podcast #188 – Hip-Hop Radio Archive (rebroadcast) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week our guest is Brian DeShazor, an independent radio researcher and founder of the Queer Radio Research Project. Formerly the Director of the Pacifica Radio Archives, DeShazor has taken a special interest in uncovering and highlighting the LGBTQ voices that have graced the community radio airwaves. On the episode, we discuss the history of […] The post Podcast #187 – Archiving LGBTQ Radio History appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s episode, scholar Lerone Martin shares with us the fascinating history of African-American preachers who distributed their sermons on 78rpm records during a time when they had limited access to the radio in the 1920s-1940s. Martin, Associate Professor in Religion and Politics at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at […] The post Podcast #186 – African-American Preachers on Wax appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A change in Ontario university funding rules threatens more than a dozen campus community stations in Canada. Barry Rooke, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association is our guest to help explain the situation. He explains how the structure of Canadian community and college radio stations differs from those in the U.S. […] The post Podcast #185 – Funding Change Threatens Canadian Community Radio Stations appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We celebrated International Women’s Day by recording a fascinating interview about women’s radio history with University of Louisville Professor of History Christine Ehrick. Author of Radio and the Gendered Soundscape: Women and Broadcasting in Argentina and Uruguay, 1930-1950, Ehrick schools us on the hidden history of a pioneering women’s radio station in Uruguay. Founded in […] The post Podcast #184 – Hidden Women’s Radio History in Uruguay appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the “Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act,” but does it actually have a chance at putting a dent in unlicensed broadcasting? We review the provisions of the the bill – called the PIRATE Act for short – and wonder if an uptick in the war on pirates […] The post Podcast #183 – Can Congress Stop Pirate Radio? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Inspired by an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, we travel all the way to Antarctica to learn about mysterious community radio station, Ice Radio. Sadly, we learned of Anthony Bourdain’s death on the day that we recorded this episode. Ice Radio is the latest iteration of a radio station that began more than 50 […] The post Podcast #182 – Volunteer Radio in Antarctica (rebroadcast) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Julia Thomas visited over a dozen community radio stations over the course of a year. Stations in Nepal, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ecuador “Often times by talking to community media makers,” Julia Thomas told Radio Survivor, “you’re meeting some of the most passionate, involved community members who have seen so much, who are so […] The post Podcast #181 – Visiting Community Radio Stations Around the World appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission was back in court on Feb. 1, called on to defend its decision to overturn the 2015 Open Internet Order in December 2017. It seems like the FCC lawyers didn’t have the best day in front of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of […] The post Podcast #180 – Net Neutrality Back in Court Again appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This episode is dedicated to the compact disc. Paul recently published an article outlining 10 reasons why CDs are awesome, and it seems to have hit a nerve, turning out to be one of our most popular. So we dive into these reasons, and even talk to a Millennial, Jacob Choplin, who also loves CDs […] The post Podcast #179 – Don’t Throw Your CDs Away in 2019 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

For about a decade, ending in 1988, pirate stations dominated the Irish radio bands, exploiting a loophole in the law that made punishments for unlicensed broadcasting on par with a speeding ticket. Now the sounds and artifacts of this cultural movement are being preserved online in the Irish Pirate Radio Archive. Archive co-founders Brian Greene […] The post Podcast #178 – Irish Pirate Radio Archive appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In addition to co-hosting the show, Eric Klein edits most episodes, and is a professional freelance audio editor. He put some of his philosophies of editing radio and podcasts in writing for last year’s Grassroots Radio Conference, and for a recent post at Radio Survivor. On this episode Eric elaborates on his advice to “know […] The post Podcast #177 – Philosophies of Podcast & Radio Editing; Seattle’s Rich High School Radio Scene appeared first on Radio Survivor.

From the “Classical Radio Era” to today’s hottest podcasts, we’re here for the love of radio drama and fictional sound-art. Our guest is Neil Verma, author of a book and teacher of classes on the subject, although as he tells us on today’s episode, the class became a lot more popular with students after he […] The post Podcast #176 – Audio Fiction’s very long history of innovation appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What can a careful study of sound teach us about our listening? Listening to the media we choose as well as listening to the place where we live and the people who’s voices we encounter? Prof. Jennifer Stoever thinks about these questions, a lot. And so do a growing number of scholars working in a […] The post Podcast #175 – Awakening to Sound plus a tour of KDVS appeared first on Radio Survivor.

There are more unlicensed pirate radio stations in New York City than licensed stations. The borough of Brooklyn is a particular hotspot. Producer and journalist David Goren has been researching and recording these stations so that their ephemeral nature isn’t lost to history. To help preserve this legacy and make it accessible to a wider […] The post Podcast #174 – Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Zach Poff put a radio station inside a pond. Poff is a media artist, educator and maker-of-things, and he explains that project and talks about making art with radio technology and listening to sound art. This is a re-broadcast of our episode from April, 2018. Show Notes Zach Poff’s Pond Station is broadcasting live during […] The post Podcast #137 – Zach Poff Built a Radio Station Inside a Pond appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As 2018 draws to a close the FCC is poised to throw another death blow at radio, proposing to allow complete ownership monopolies in hundreds of radio markets. At the same time the Commission has to defend its decimation of network neutrality in court, even after the DC Court of Appeals ruled the earlier open […] The post Podcast #172 – The FCC at the End of 2018, with Prof. Christopher Terry appeared first on Radio Survivor.

At the end of 2018 all indicators are that radio is thriving. From community radio to podcasting, internet radio to college radio, we’re seeing new stations, new listeners and new ideas. It’s all more evidence that we’re in the post-‘radio is dead’ era. All four Radio Survivors join together to dig deeply into the year […] The post Podcast #171 – It’s the End of 2018 and Radio Is Thriving appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Paul shares a few more details of his trip to Brazil, and then he and Eric listen to a bandscan of the FM dial recorded on a Sunday night in São Paulo, the country’s largest city. Christian radio? Check. Bad 80s pop music? Yep. One takeaway is that commercial radio everywhere kinda sucks, in general. […] The post Podcast #170.5 – Bonus: São Paulo FM Bandscan appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Álvaro Burns is a community radio broadcaster in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, where he hosts a local sports show on Rádio Paraty FM and he produces the podcast “A Hora do Cafezinho.” Álvaro is a long-time friend of the show, and Paul recently traveled to Brazil and was able to meet up with him […] The post Podcast #170 – Community Radio in Brazil appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Free Music Archive is shutting down. A website attached to the listener-sponsored radio station WFMU, the FMA expanded the role community radio played in the online space. It was a library of a huge and always growing amount of free mp3’s that spanned every genre of music. Cheyenne Hohman is our guest. Radio Survivor […] The post Podcast #169 – The Free Music Archive is Dead, Long Live the Free Music Archive appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Perhaps you are like me and you have wished that you could go back in time and spin a radio dial and just listen to and browse the full radio spectrum from another time and place. Our guest on the show, Radio Anthropologist Thomas Witherspoon, is building a website for just such a thing. It’s […] The post Podcast #168 – A Time Machine for All the Radio plus Shortwave appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Do you remember audioblogging? Prof. Andrew Bottomley does, and he’s here to tell some alternative histories of podcasting. From “Geek of the Week” to Odeo, he illuminates many more bygone shows and platforms from the 1990s and early 2000s that gave rise to what we’ve now settled on calling “podcasts,” for better or worse. Bottomley […] The post Podcast #167 – Alternative Histories of Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC has proposed to de-fund community media through an arcane rule that determines how contributions from cable companies to public-access, educational and government (PEG) stations are counted. Because it’s arcane, the effort is flying under the radar. But we have two community media advocates to help explain what’s at stake. Martin Jones is the […] The post Podcast #166 – The FCC’s Effort To Decimate Community Media appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Live from the College Broadcasters, Inc. Convention in Seattle we take on college radio’s place in the contemporary media landscape. After deciding not to sell its radio station 13 years ago, the University of Evansville administration said, “we are once again examining the relevancy of the medium and exploring opportunities to enhance our curriculum through […] The post Podcast #165 – College Radio Is Truly Local Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

When Tipper Gore and the PMRC called rock and rap stars to testify in front of Congress about explicit lyrics, did this affect college radio? How could it not? Prof. Kate Jewell is examining the relationship between college stations and the culture wars as part of a new book project. Jewell is Associate Professor of […] The post Podcast #164 – College Radio and the Culture Wars appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Survivor co-founder Matthew Lasar declares we’re in the post-“Radio Is Dead” era, during a time when audio media has survived and thrived, whether you listen over the broadcast airwaves, podcast, satellite or internet stream. Jennifer Waits and Paul Riismandel join Matthew live in San Francisco for a discussion about radio’s recent evolution, including the […] The post Podcast #163 – The Post-‘Radio Is Dead’ Era appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What will community radio sound like in 2023? Will the death of net neutrality make radio even important? Will analog FM radio even exist anymore? Two active and insightful community media activists joins us to tackle these questions and more, live from 2018 Grassroots Radio Conference held in the Native American Student & Community Center […] The post Podcast #162 – The Future of Community Radio, Live from Grassroots Radio Conference appeared first on Radio Survivor.

College Radio Day is October 5, and on this episode we reflect on the value of this special brand of radio, and Jennifer shares her tour of Vassar College’s station, WVKR. Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast. You can support us two ways: Make a monthly contribution through our Patreon campaign. Make a one-time or […] The post Podcast #161 – Happy College Radio Day 2018 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Internet radio is older than you think. In fact, it’s at least a quarter-century old… and maybe even a little older. That’s the history Dom Robinson uncovered, and he joins to tell the story. He’s the co-founder of online video company id3as and a contributing editor to Streaming Media, and he reveals how he discovered […] The post Podcast #160 – Marking a Quarter-Century of Internet Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Programming changes draw attention at one college station, while another might be close to the auction block, and a new San Francisco LPFM steps in to the spiritual space left behind by a beloved departed station. Team that with some big changes in the podcasting industry, and we’ve got a full episode. After hearing from […] The post Podcast #159 – Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes, in College Radio and Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

More than 600 community radio recordings from 1965 – 1986 are archived at the University of Maryland. These tapes were shared through a program exchange operated by the National Federation of Community broadcasters. The breadth of programming contained in these programs is remarkable, and underscores the still-active mission of the NFCB to support and promote […] The post Podcast #158 – Surveying Community Radio’s Deep Archives appeared first on Radio Survivor.

California is on the cusp of restoring net neutrality. The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Katharine Trendacosta explains how this will happens, and what the implications are for the rest of the nation. Then Jennifer, Eric and Paul run down our slate of live podcast recordings coming up at this year’s Grassroots Radio Conference in Portland, OR […] The post Podcast #157 – Restoring Net Neutrality, One State at a Time appeared first on Radio Survivor.

In the U.S. the copyright situation for music and sound recordings made before 1972 is a mess of different and conflicting state laws. That’s because there is no overarching federal law. The unintended consequence is that archivists, librarians and artists are often afraid to duplicate, distribute or repurpose very old recordings that – if they […] The post Podcast #156 – Can We Strengthen Audio’s Public Domain? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week Paul reflects on insights gained at this year’s Podcast Movement conference, focusing on the opportunity for more people to be served by community podcasting. Jennifer reports back from Radio Day by the Bay, which included a live radio drama performance that connects up to the present-day explosion in scripted fictional podcasts. And then […] The post Podcast #155 – Connecting Podcasting’s Future to Radio’s Past appeared first on Radio Survivor.

There are undiscovered musical treasures potentially fading away in closets, basements and storage units around the world. Seattle radio station KEXP teamed up with local universities and media organizations to help save a little of this cultural history with the Pop-Up Music Memory Digitization Lab. For one day members of the public were invited to […] The post Podcast #154 – One Tape at a Time: Preserving Music Memories appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Two interviews that cover the state of low power radio in the United States. Stations that are on the air without a license – also known as Pirate Radio – and the low power stations that have FCC permission to broadcast due in part to the hard work of the former pirates. This episode is […] The post Podcast #153 Licensed and Unlicensed Low Power Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Eclipse Show on community radio station KGNU in Boulder CO is celebrating 40 years on the air, making it quite possibly the longest running hip hop radio show in the world. Radio Survivor has been examining the role that community and college radio has played in the development of hip hop culture, especially in […] The post Podcast #152 – The Longest Running Hip-Hop Radio Show in The World? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radios in the trees, a transmitter in the pond, and a weather-driven synth. These are just some of what you’ll find on The Wave Farm, a 29-acre property in New York’s Hudson Valley dedicated to radio and transmission arts. It’s anchored by community radio station WGXC, accompanied by a cornucopia of additional tiny terrestrial and […] The post Podcast #151 – The Wave Farm Grows Transmission Arts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What killed smooth jazz radio? Why aren’t there any commercial classical stations any longer? And, why do radio stations have a “format” to begin with? Matthew Lasar joins us to explore these questions about the fundamental organizing principle of most music radio. Matthew is a co-founder of Radio Survivor and the author of three important […] The post Podcast #150 – Sympathy for Kenny G appeared first on Radio Survivor.

How do I start podcasting? That’s one of the questions we field most frequently. So we answer it, in this second installment of our “Frequently Asked Questions” series. But first we do some follow-up about phone phreaker ‘Captain Crunch’ Draper (#147) and the nearly 1,000 challenges filed against applications for FM translator repeater stations (#144). […] The post Podcast #149 – How To Get Started Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Did you know that upwards of 350 radio stations were established at summer camps across the United States? Dan Braverman, President of Radio Systems, Inc., joins us to share the history of summer camp radio, including his own experience setting up a camp radio station when he was just nine years old. Still involved with […] The post Podcast #148 – Solving the Mystery of Summer Camp Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s episode we venture to prison and to a very unusual high school radio station. Members of the artist collective Provisional Island (Heidi Ratanavanich, Eileen Shumate, and Michael McCanne) speak with us about their prison-radio-themed exhibit, An Electric Kite, which is on view at the historic site/museum Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia through […] The post Podcast #147 – Prison Radio Exhibit and a High School Station in a Band Room appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Inspired by an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, we travel all the way to Antarctica to learn about mysterious community radio station, Ice Radio. Sadly, we learned of Anthony Bourdain’s death on the day that we recorded this episode. Ice Radio is the latest iteration of a radio station that began more than 50 […] The post Podcast #146 – Volunteer Radio from Antarctica appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Hip-Hop Radio Archive aims to digitize, preserve, share, and contextualize recordings of hip-hop radio from the 1980s and 1990s from commercial, college, community, and pirate stations of all sizes, telling the stories of the shows and the people that made them. Our guest is founder of the archive, Ryan MacMichael. Radio Survivor is a […] The post Podcast #145 – Hip-Hop Radio Archive appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Applications for 1,000 translator radio stations may pose a threat to low-power FM stations, say three community radio groups. So the groups filed informal objections against all of them, slowing down the FCC’s processing of these applications. This move has sparked controversy within the radio industry. The Center for International Media Action, Common Frequency, Inc. […] The post Podcast #144 – Standing Up for LPFM’s Slice of the Pie appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The future of all communications is at stake, explains Tim Karr, Senior Director of Strategy and Communications for Free Press. On May 15 the Senate voted to restore Net Neutrality by overturning the FCC’s decision to undo the 2015 Open Internet order. Now the fight turns to the House. While victory is uncertain, Karr says […] The post Podcast #143 – The Fight for an Open Internet Advances on Many Fronts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Kanye West and Common had an epic freestyle rap battle on WHPK. That’s just one reason why the University of Chicago’s station is interesting and historic. Jennifer Waits takes us on a virtual tour of the studios, located in an actual working bell tower. Jennifer, Eric and Paul also discuss how college radio has played […] The post Podcast #142 – Touring WHPK’s Bell Tower & YouTube’s ‘Pirate Radio’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Musician, DJ and radio artist Don Joyce passed away nearly three years ago, leaving behind a voluminous archive of his unparalelled collage radio program “Over the Edge.” The documentary “How Radio Isn’t Done” sheds light on this member of Negativland, his life and his work in recontextualizing the never-ending flow of media messages that flood […] The post Podcast #141 – How Radio Isn’t Done, According To Negativland’s Don Joyce appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Our first live episode might just blow your mind. Recorded at the Alliance for Community Media Northwest Summit, it’s time to break down barriers between media platforms. That’s we’re tackling podcasting and virtual reality, and how they relate to social justice and equity. Our guests are writer, artist, teacher and activist Reagan Jackson and Sandy […] The post Podcast #140 – From Podcasting to Virtual Reality, with Reagan Jackson and Sandy Cioffi appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Sinclair Group is already the largest TV owner by far in the U.S. and its editorial content makes it essentially a propaganda arm of the Trump Administration. Will the F.C.C. under Trump succeed in bending media ownership rules to allow Sinclair to grow to twice its current size? Under President Obama, the F.C.C allowed […] The post Podcast #139 – Sinclair and the FCC: Opening the Door to Local Media Oligopoly appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We visit the “On The Radio” exhibit on radio history at the San Francisco Airport Museum, where travelers can feast their eyes on 27 cases full of historical items related to radio’s past, ranging from 1920s crystal radios to 1970s novelty radios. Jennifer chats with exhibit curator Daniel Calderon and California Historical Radio Society President […] The post Podcast #138 – Radio History on Display at the San Francisco Airport appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Zach Poff put a radio station inside a pond. Poff is a media artist, educator and maker-of-things, and he explains that project and talks about making art with radio technology and listening to sound art. Show Notes Zach Poff’s Pond Station is broadcasting live during the day-light hours from just below the surface of a […] The post Podcast #137 – Zach Poff Built a Radio Station Inside a Pond appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer Waits takes us on tours of two storied college stations, with deep roots in their communities. WIIT-FM is the student station at the Illinois Institute of Technology, housed in the modern Rem Koolhaas designed McCormick Tribune Campus Center situated at the intersection of Chicago’s Bronzeville and Bridgeport neighborhoods. WKCR is Columbia University’s station, with […] The post Podcast #136 – Storied College Stations WIIT & WKCR appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Women made significant contributions to the initial development of podcasting that have been forgotten. Historian Jennifer Hyland-Wang has been resurfacing these contributions, and drawing parallels with women’s contributions to the formative years of radio. She joins us on this episode to share this history and examine the ways in which the structural biases of the […] The post Podcast #135 – Resurfacing Women’s Contributions in Podcasting History appeared first on Radio Survivor.

KRAB was the fourth-ever community radio station in the U.S., serving Seattle, WA from 1962 to 1984. Like any community station, it broadcast thousands of hours of original and important programming during that time, documenting important social movements and voices not heard, or not heard clearly, in mainstream media. Former volunteer and board member Chuck […] The post Podcast #134 – The KRAB-FM Archives appeared first on Radio Survivor.

There are more unlicensed pirate radio stations in New York City than licensed stations. The borough of Brooklyn is a particular hotspot. Producer and journalist David Goren has been researching and recording these stations so that their ephemeral nature isn’t lost to history. To help preserve this legacy and make it accessible to a wider […] The post Podcast #133 – Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

How often do you think about how you listen? What assumptions do you make about a person’s voice, their pitch or accent? What sound is desirable, and what’s rejected as noise? Prof. Jennifer Stoever thinks about these questions, a lot. And so do a growing number of scholars working in a field called Sound Studies. […] The post Podcast #132 – Sounding Out on the Cultural Politics of Sound & Listening appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What if you could record your podcast at your local library, for free? In British Columbia, the Vancouver Public Library and West Vancouver Memorial let you do just that. And much more. Both libraries provide studio space, tools and instruction for creating podcasts, radio, videos and other forms of community media. But there’s more to it […] The post Podcast #131 – Libraries and Community Media appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Portland community radio station KBOO-FM celebrates its 50th year on air in 2018, and to commemorate the anniversary the station is hosting an exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society Museum. While an exhibit seems simple enough on the surface, in fact a lot of time, thought and work goes into curating the artifacts and narrative […] The post Podcast #130 – How To Preserve 50 Years of Community Radio History appeared first on Radio Survivor.

If you’re a hearing person, you might not expect that podcasts would be popular with people who are deaf or are hard of hearing. But you’d be wrong. Miri Josephs is a podcaster who also considers herself part of the deaf community. She joins this episode to explain why it’s important to make podcasts, and […] The post Podcast #129 – Deaf Accessibility for Podcasts & Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The nation’s largest TV station owner is about to get even bigger, threatening to create the equivalent of Clear Channel for local television. New ownership rules passed by the FCC’s Republican majority in November are set to take effect Feb. 7, paving the way for Sinclair Broadcast Group to acquire Tribune television stations. Prof. Christopher […] The post Podcast #128 – The FCC Is Creating the Clear Channel of TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“Franken FM” is the name writer Ernie Smith of Tedium.co calls TV broadcasters who use analog Channel 6 to be heard at 87.7 on the FM dial. Paul talks with Ernie about their mutual fascination with these stations, which Paul has written about extensively on Radio Survivor. Also included in the interview, Ernie Smith explains […] The post Podcast #127 – Franken-FMs Are Low-Power TV Stations Masquerading as Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

How do I get a broadcast radio license? How can I find all the LPFM or college radio stations? Will you visit and write about my favorite station? Every week the editors of Radio Survivor receive, and answer, queries like these from readers and listeners. While we enjoy corresponding with people, we thought we shouldn’t […] The post Podcast #126 – We Answer Your Frequently Asked Questions appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Free America is an online hub for community, college and public radio streams, serving up two weeks of archived programming, on demand. Founded by CEO Kenneth Pushkin in 2013, the platform now hosts more than 125 noncommercial stations free of charge. Pushkin and RFA’s station relations manager Jeff Abrams join to explain more about […] The post Podcast #125 – Radio Free America Is an Online Hub for Noncomm Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric and Paul met young enthusiastic podcasters and podcast fans when they attended Podcon in Seattle at the beginning of December. It’s almost an understatement to say they were impressed by diversity of the attendees, and their love of radio drama style shows. Your hosts learned a lot (there’s a library with free public podcast […] The post Podcast #124 – Seattle Hosts Young Podcasters & a New LPFM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

2017 was a year of ups and downs, from the continued growth of LPFM to the loss of net neutrality. All four Radio Survivors gather to review the year that was, assessing what happened in college radio, community radio and podcasting, with stops along the way in Istanbul, conspiracy theories and classical music. Jennifer, Matthew, […] The post Podcast #123 – 2017 in Review: The Good, the Bad & the Conspiracy Theories appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Anita Pouchard Serra traveled across Argentina helping to set up new community radio stations with the DTL! collective. A photojournalist, she also documented the building of these stations, that are officially unlicensed, but operate in the spirit of a communications law that passed, but never went into effect. Anita joins to tell us about this […] The post Podcast #122 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Why didn’t the internet just stop working the day after the FCC voted to end network neutrality? Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins to answer that question, and explain what happens next. He also lays out where is the fight over internet freedom going next, and what the real threat is for […] The post Podcast #121 – What Happens After Net Neutrality; Open Signal Public Access TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.

First conceived in the 1930s, there is a type of tiny little radio station that anyone can operate legally, without a license. Bill DeFelice of HobbyBroadcaster.net joins the show to tell us about so-called ‘Part 15’ radio stations, and how you can get on the air today, to broadcast around your house, or even your […] The post Podcast #120 – Have Your Own Tiny Radio Station appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Chicago Independent Radio Project launched as an internet radio station nearly a decade ago, with a mission of bringing a truly independent music- and arts-focused community radio station to Chicago. Thanks to the Local Community Radio Act, which allowed the growth of low-power FM stations in the nation’s biggest cities—and a lot of hard […] The post Podcast #119 – Chicago Independent Radio Project appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC is about to vote on rules that would reverse network neutrality protections that the Commission put in place just two years ago. The terms of this rollback were released right before Thanksgiving, and represent the FCC effectively abdicating its role in guaranteeing the free flow of information on the internet. Prof. Christoper Terry […] The post Podcast #118 – Making Sense of the FCC’s Effort to Kill Net Neutrality appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“Podcasts are luring people into listening,” Jennifer Waits reports, quoting the esteemed radio scholar Susan Douglas, from her keynote address at the recent Radio Preservation Task Force conference in Washington DC. Jennifer also relays some important reasons for studying radio history shared at the conference, especially to help understand the present and plan for the […] The post Podcast #117 – Soundwork: Preserving the Legacy of Radio, Podcasts (& Alice’s Restaurant) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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. […] The post Podcast #116 – Community Podcasting in Community Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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 […] The post Podcast #115 – The Federal Consolidation Commission appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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 […] The post Podcast #114 – A Common Sense Approach to Unlicensed Broadcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

At the end of 2015, it looked like the University of Nevada-Las Vegas might hand over the keys to its radio station, KUNV-FM, to Nevada Public Radio. More than a year later the situation reversed course, with the university deciding to keep the station and increase student involvement. Our college radio watcher Jennifer Waits learned […] The post Podcast #113 – Mutual Aid Saves College Radio Station appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Ajit Pai was just renominated and confirmed as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and there are a number of pivotal policy items ahead on his agenda. Our resident FCC watcher, Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota, joins to help us understand what’s in store and what the stakes are. First, he […] The post Podcast #112 – Sinclair Could Become the Wal-Mart of TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Rob Quicke founded College Radio Day in order to celebrate this unique medium and service. This year’s College Radio Day happens Oct. 6. Now in its seventh year, the celebration has spread globally with hundreds of stations participating. Quicke, who is also the GM of WPSC-FM at William Paterson University, joins to share the story […] The post Podcast #111 – Celebrating College Radio Day 2017 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Grassroots Radio Conference is an annual meeting of community, college and other non-commercial radio stations for the purpose of skill-sharing, training and strengthening ties. We talk with Caitlin Reading, a LPFM station startup specialist who is helping to organize this year’s GRC, happening Oct. 6 – 9 at WCAA-LP in Albany, NY, to learn […] The post Podcast #110 – Grassroots Radio Conference Preview appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As autumn kicks off in the northern hemisphere Jennifer, Eric and Paul circle back to share responses to last week’s episode, all about community podcasting, and look forward to what’s in store for community media this fall. Jennifer lets us know about two international festivals being broadcast by her home station KFJC, and reports on […] The post Podcast #109 – News From Bainbridge Island to Reykjavík appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Zahra Noorbakhsh and Tanzila ‘Taz’ Ahmed started using the #GoodMuslimBadMuslim hashtag as a joke on twitter. When they started a podcast using the same name it became an instant hit. They were getting positive press coverage before they had even recorded their first episode. Zahra joins to discuss the show, and the things she has […] The post Podcast #108 – Advice for Launching a Hit Podcast appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this episode we revisit our features on Bainbridge Community Broadcasting, and our interviews with founders Barry and Channie Peters. BCB started out as a low-power community radio initiative, but pivoting into podcasting when the group discovered that would better serve their community. We’ll listen to our first conversation with them from July 2015, and […] The post Podcast #107 – Exploring Community Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Paul reports back from the Podcast Movement 2017 conference with some fresh facts about this growing medium, along with observations and advice from speakers and keynotes. There are definitely nuggets of information that will be useful to community and college podcasters and podcasters. Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast. You can support us two ways: Make […] The post Podcast #106 – Not Yet Big Enough to Fail appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Princeton Review’s annual list of top college radio stations is out, and college radio expert Jennifer Waits joins to deconstruct the list, its methodology, and the notion of “best” college radio stations in the first place. Then Paul talks with Ed Hadley, who has been producing the overnight radio show “Incoming Wounded” on community […] The post Podcast #105 – From the Princeton Review to Incoming Wounded appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We catch up on news that’s important to podcasters and broadcasters. Soundcloud received emergency investment to keep running, but is it still a sustainable host for podcasts? The podcast patent troll is totally dead, finally. And, responding to reader and listener questions, Paul reviews the history of proposals to create a low-power AM radio service […] The post Podcast #104 – Soundcloud, Patent Troll & the Legacy of Talk appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Anita Pouchard Serra traveled across Argentina helping to set up new community radio stations with the DTL! collective. A photojournalist, she also documented the building of these stations, that are officially unlicensed, but operate in the spirit of a communications law that passed, but never went into effect. Anita joins to tell us about this […] The post Podcast #103 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Sally Kane, CEO of the National Federation Community Broadcasters, has a question for community media: How inclusive are we, really? That’s the jumping off point for our conversation with Sally and her colleague Ernesto Aguilar, as they report back from the NFCB 2017 Conference, held in Denver, CO July 17 – 19. We discuss the […] The post Podcast #102 – How Inclusive Is Community Media, Really? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Racist Sandwich is a Portland, Oregon based podcast that tackles the intersection of food, race, class and gender. Started by journalist Zahir Janmohamed and chef Soleil Ho, both with no prior podcasting experience, the show has received recommendations from outlets like the CBC and The New York Times. Zahir joins us to talk about learning […] The post Podcast #101 – Racist Sandwich appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The four Radio Survivors—Jennifer Waits, Matthew Lasar, Eric Klein and Paul Riismandel—come together to reflect on 100 episodes of the podcast, and 8 years of Radio Survivor, sharing some favorite moments, and some thoughts about the future of community media. Importantly, Matthew observes that “radio is dead” articles and think-pieces have subsided as of late, […] The post Podcast #100 – It’s All Radio Now appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Brazil is embarking on a grand experiment with the radio dial. AM stations have the opportunity to relocate to FM, and plans are afoot to expand the size of the FM dial. However, don’t be surprised that you haven’t heard about it. We hadn’t either until listener Álvaro Burns brought it to our attention. Álvaro […] The post Podcast #99: The Beginning Of The End For AM Radio In Brazil appeared first on Radio Survivor.

With so much of the online discussion in podcasting seeming to focus on growing audiences and getting big, we thought it necessary to explore and celebrate “small” podcasting, shows that don’t break onto the charts, but have dedicated audiences. If we celebrate small business and small craft breweries, why not celebrate small podcasts? Eric talks […] The post Podcast #98 – Celebrating ‘Small’ Podcasts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Intrepid radio tourist Jennifer Waits reports back from her journey to PhillyCAM radio in the City of Brotherly Love, adding a low-power FM station, WPPM-LP, to an established public access TV operation. Following up on episode #96 we catch up on the latest smart speaker research and Jennifer shares news about two college stations sold […] The post Podcast #97: PhillyCAM’s LPFM in the City of Brotherly Love appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Amazon Echo. Google Home. And soon, Apple’s HomePod. Smart speakers are quickly taking up residence in homes. Taking voice commands to deliver news, weather, music and more, they play a very radio-like role in people’s daily routine. Radio journalist Brian Edwards-Tiekert joins to explain what these speakers can do, what they can’t, and what the […] The post Podcast #96 – Are Smart Speakers Smart for Community Radio? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

After covering the comeback of the live streaming radio platform Live365 two episodes ago, listeners asked us to check out MixCloud, which offers free streaming of music radio shows, DJ sets, mixtapes and podcasts for anyone, including radio stations and independent producers. So this week we talk with Xanthe Fuller, Head of Community for Mixcloud. […] The post Podcast #95 – Mixcloud Can Be Community Radio, Too appeared first on Radio Survivor.

If you’ve heard of HD Radio it was probably in a spot on a major commercial station, not a high school station. KVCB-LP is the exception to that rule, a high school radio station that is likely the first and only low-power FM station to start broadcasting in digital HD Radio. Ralph Martin is the […] The post Podcast #94 – The High School Station that Went HD appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Independent internet radio was devastated in January 2016 when music royalty rates shot up and long-time webcasting company Live365 went out of business. Now Live365 is back under new ownership, and CEO Jon Stephenson joins the show to tell us how the company is ready to help small webcasters get back to broadcasting online affordably, […] The post Podcast #93 – The Return of Live365 Boosts Indie Internet Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Mae Brussell hosted radio shows focused on the JFK Assassination, fascism and other conspiracies on community radio stations KLRB an KAZU in the 1970s and 1980s. Brussell’s brand of broadcasting represents a strain of community radio show thatcontinues to be found, often to the chagrin of program directors and boards of directors. Matthew Lasar joins […] The post Podcast #92 – Conspiracy Theory & Community Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This one is for the podcasters, and for the radio producers. Eric is set to teach a class on podcasting, so he asks Paul for advice on what to include. Instead of focusing on microphones and recording gear, they tackle the hard questions that every podcaster should consider. Before heading into the course design, Paul […] The post Podcast #91 – Designing a Course in Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is serving up a big cup of you-know-what for net neutrality, declaring his intent to decimate the 2 year-old Open Internet Order and the Title II protections it bestows on the internet. Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins to help us understand what Chairman Pai intends to do, […] The post Podcast #90 – FCC Chair Declares War on the Open Internet appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Laura Schnitker is an archivist and curator at the University of Maryland who has been active in preserving the legacy of college station WMUC, along with co-chairing the Library of Congress Radio Preservation Task Force (with Radio Survivor Jennifer Waits). Laura recently gave a talk about her radio preservation and archiving work at the “College […] The post Podcast #89 – How To Preserve Radio History appeared first on Radio Survivor.

WRIR is a community radio station born from the first wave of low-power FM in the early 2000s. Yet the station has roots in the rich history of independent media in Richmond, VA. Intrepid radio tourist Jennifer Waits shares her tour of the station, uncovering obscure cable radio history along with some unexpected facts about […] The post Podcast #88 – From Color Bar Radio to WRIR appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Community radio stations are not just transmitters and studios. Similarly, public access TV stations aren’t just cable channels with studios. They are community media platforms, with a privileged place and sense of permanence that comes from their FCC license or franchise agreement, respectively. This week we explore how community radio and public access TV can […] The post Podcast #87 – Crossing Platforms, from Radio to TV and Beyond appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“Hijacking airwaves, a secret network of DJs broadcast messages of hope to keep the memory of a former America alive,” reads the press release for a marketing campaign that has captured our imagination here at Radio Survivor. “Resistance Radio” was created to promote the Amazon television series “The Man in The High Castle.” Steve Coulson […] The post Podcast #86 – Radio Resistance from an Alternate Universe appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The president’s proposed budget would eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by 2018. Radio Survivor’s own Matthew Lasar joins to help us put this attack on public broadcasting in historical perspective. He analyzes the inherent weakness in the design of the CPB and proposes ways in which the system could be both stronger […] The post Podcast #85 – Dreaming of a Better CPB appeared first on Radio Survivor.

LPFM, college and community stations are great, but because of low power many of them are also hard to hear, especially inside your house or office. Based on an inquiry from one of our Patreon supporters, we dedicate this episode to helping you improve your reception. Broadcaster and radio reviewer extraordinaire Jay Allen, the man […] The post Podcast #84 – Improving Your Radio Reception appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Advice for LPFM stations and podcasters this week. A recent rule change at the FCC allows more AM stations to get repeaters on the FM dial, but may put unnecessary pressure on existing low-power FM stations. Paul and Eric discuss this situation and what LPFM stations may need to do in response, along with the […] The post Podcast #83 – How AM Revitalization Pressures LPFM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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 post Podcast #82 – Busting Myths & Counting Charts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

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 […] The post Podcast #81 – To Thrive in 2017 Put the Community in Community Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio stations hacked to play “F— Donald Trump” over and over. Concerns that Trump declaring himself a candidate for 2020 already might limit non-comms’ ability to criticize him. And with an Entercom / CBS Radio merger on the horizon, what does this all mean for community radio and podcasting? John Anderson, Assistant Professor of Television […] The post Podcast #80 – Radio & Resistance in the Time of Trump appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric and Paul have been thinking a lot about the value of community radio and podcasting, especially wondering if these media we love make a difference and are worth doing, even when audiences seem small by comparison. Ahead of Eric leading a roundtable on community podcasting and Paul giving a guest lecture to a class […] The post Podcast #79 – Community Radio & Podcasting: Are They Worth It? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On Monday the Trump administration announced the appointment of Ajit Pai as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Last week when we talked to Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota he predicted that Pai would be the pick, and now that it’s happened we call him back to help us understand […] The post Podcast #78 – Pai is Trump’s FCC Guy appeared first on Radio Survivor.

FCC watcher, Christopher Terry joins us to talk about what may be in store for media policy under President Donald Trump and the Republican controlled Congress. Is there a specific looming threat to Community Radio, Public Radio, or Low Power FM? Paul corrects the record on why headlines that scream “Norway Is Shutting Down FM […] The post Podcast #77 – Trump’s FCC, Norway’s FM, UNLV’s KUNV & Live 365’s Comeback appeared first on Radio Survivor.

All hands are on deck for our first show of 2017. First up, Jennifer Waits reports on the planned sale of U Mass-Dartmouth’s WUMD to Rhode Island Public Radio. Then Paul Riismandel shares radio discoveries from his trip to New Zealand, including legal but unlicensed low-power FM stations. Matthew Lasar wraps things up by sharing […] The post Podcast #76 – UMass Station Sale, Unlicensed LPFM in NZ & Archive Nuggets appeared first on Radio Survivor.

From the unprecedented build-out of LPFM community stations and the indie internet radio implosion to 100+ radio tours and a recent tragedy, Jennifer, Eric and Paul run down some of the most significant stories in radio for 2016 in our last podcast of the year. But first, they discuss the now-changed title of last week’s […] The post Podcast #75 – The Most Significant Radio Stories of 2016 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer Waits brings us the voices of three programmers at a mysterious and chaotic community station with deep connections to the Los Angeles art scene. KCHUNG is an unlicensed part 15 AM radio station with about 40 station managers and extremely eclectic programming. Paul Riismandel wrote a series of articles, offering strongly worded advice for […] The post Podcast #74 – Station or Static? KCHUNG Is L.A.’s Underground Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week we follow up with the subject of one our first episodes, Bainbridge Community Broadcasting. Paul took a day trip on a ferry from Seattle to visit Bainbridge Island and drop in on BCB. Co-founder Barry Peters took a few minutes to give a tour of the BCB studios and provide an update on […] The post Podcast #73 – Catching Up with Bainbridge Island’s Community Podcasting Experiment appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Pete Tridish works as a radio engineer, building low power and full power community radio stations. He initially did this work with Prometheus Radio Project and now with International Media Action. “Back when I was working with Prometheus Radio Project, which was a group that worked to expand the low power radio service and create […] The post Podcast #72 – Pete Tridish Celebrates an LPFM Success Story appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Sylvia Thomas spent a year touring and researching community radio stations in South America, Asia and Africa. She learned community radio history that might be surprising to many in the United States, and witnessed first-hand different ways of organizing stations and creating radio that are instructive to stations everywhere. Sylvia explains how growing up listening […] The post Podcast #71 – Bolivia Is the Birthplace of Community Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer, Eric and Paul are back together for a show that spans several continents, from Anaheim to Arkansas, and Ireland to Israel, touching on podcasts, college radio, social media, and more. First Paul has a report from the Now Hear This podcast festival which he worked (and enjoyed) the last weekend of October in Anaheim, […] The post Podcast #70 – From Anaheim to Arkansas, and Beyond appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A great college radio station can be both a megaphone as well as a portal for the creative campus and college-town community. “It’s more than just playing music,” Lucas Coberly, station manager at KXUA told Jennifer Waits on this episode. “It’s definitely not just for people who want to be on the radio. It’s for […] The post Podcast #69 – The Eclectic Voice of The Ozarks appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“Grass Roots Radio Conference has been a giant jump start in my learning process,” said Julia Rose of KPSQ lp in Fayetteville Arkansas. Radio Survivor’s Jennifer Waits attended the GRC and she reports back for us with her own observations as well as with the voices of the people she met there at this year’s […] The post Podcast #68 – Report Back from the Grass Roots Radio Conference 2016 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jim Ellinger of Austin Airwaves joins us on the program to share a preview of his talk “Community Radio, A Global View,” which he is giving at this year’s Grass Roots Radio Conference. Jim is recently back from the highlands of Borneo, where he helped with the launch of a new community radio station that […] The post Podcast #67 – New Community Radio in Borneo appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The stereotypical college radio station plays a free-form music format and functions as an extra-curricular student club. But the diversity in community and college radio is what we at Radio Survivor are here to celebrate. On this week’s show, Jennifer Waits reports back on two tours of college stations that function as learning labs for […] The post Podcast #66 – College Radio as Academic Learning Labs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Our intrepid radio tourist Jennifer Waits will be attending two big radio conferences this fall, the 2016 Grassroots Radio Conference and CBI’s National Student Electronic Media Convention. She gives us a preview of what’s in store, what she’s presenting, and let’s us in on some of the stations she’s planning to visit along the way. […] The post Podcast #65 – Fall Radio Tours Preview appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“The best way to cultivate a sensibility of what makes for a good [radio] interview is to pre-tape your interviews and set aside large amounts of time to edit them down to half the length they start at. Because it makes you think really critically about where the wasted language is in that interview, when […] The post Podcast #64 How to do News and Public Affairs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Two stations: KVCU Radio 1190 at University of Coloradio, Boulder and The SOCC, The Sounds of Colorado College. One has a professional general manager, the other a student general manager. One is terrestrial, the other is online. They both have very active participation among their student community and a wide variety of programming. Plus, each […] The post Podcast 63 – A Tale of Two College Radio Station Tours appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC just released its long-awaited revision to media ownership rules. After years of back-and-forth with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals there are very few changes. Prof. Christopher Terry, of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism, argues this represents a monumental failure that places all media ownership rules at grave risk. He joins […] The post Podcast 62 – The FCC’s Legacy of Failure & CMJ’s Uncertain Future appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Becky Meiers is our guest to help us better understand some best practices for fundraising in community radio. She’s the development director for KBOO in Portland, OR. Becky has tips for planning on-air pledge drives and more fundraising advice for stations of all sizes. We also talk about how and why KBOO is building partnerships […] The post Podcast #61 – Focus on Fundraising and Collaboration appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We celebrate National Radio Day, August 20, with this special episode. Jennifer Waits shares her tour of the Chicago Independent Radio Project. Then Paul Riismandel and Eric Klein join her in reflecting on some of their favorite moments as radio listeners and producers. We wrap things up with Radio Survivor’s Sonic ID in honor of […] The post Podcast #60 – Happy National Radio Day! appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Survivor’s Matthew Lasar is fascinated by the news of what is going on at community stations in places outside of the U.S. like India, South East Asia, Mexico, and Africa. He is especially interested in the dramatic and sometimes extreme nature of the “normal” experiences of stations like these. “Community radio in those places […] The post Podcast # 59 – Community Radio Africa appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this episode of Radio Survivor, Paul Riismandel talks with the editor and founder of Tedium.co, Ernie Smith about their mutual fascination with back-door, Franken FM stations, the TV broadcasters who use analog Channel 6 to be heard at 87.7 on the FM dial. Also included in the interview, Ernie Smith explains how he approaches […] The post Podcast #58 – We Love Tedious Radio Facts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s time to get ready for National Radio Day on August 20. Paul Riismandel has the details at the top of the show, followed by an interview with Ernesto Aguilar, the incoming Membership Program Director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. He shares some highlights of the NFCB’s annual conference this past June, as […] The post Podcast #57 – Celebrating the Mosaic of Community Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer Waits brings us a tour of Met Radio at Metropolitan State University of Denver, CO, where the students are trying to embrace the experimental spirit of college radio. Co-host Paul Riismandel delivers a report from friend of the show, Alvaro Burns, in São Bernardo, Brazil, where community radio stations are working together to respond […] The post Podcast #56 – From College Radio to Podcasting, Experimenting with the Form appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Not all amateur radio enthusiasts are old guys. This is obviously a statement of fact, but it took a listener to the podcast to write in and remind us. Co-host, Eric Klein apologizes for error. Paul Riismandel attended a local marketing conference as part of his day job and was reminded just how small the […] The post Podcast #55 – Not All Radio Amateurs + Podcasting is Still Small appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric and Paul do some “dusting up,” by reviewing some reader emails about carrier current radio. Paul brings the good news about KPLU in Tacoma, WA, which was purchased from its university owner by a community group in order to preserve its local ownership. Then Eric wants to share his experience with the NPR One […] The post Podcast #54 – Dusting Up: From Carrier Current to NPR One appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Even when a station goes off the air — like Hastings College’s KFKX — more go on the air every day. Jennifer Waits joins to share the sad news about KFKX, but also has positive news to report about a new LPFM community station in the heart of San Francisco. That station promises to continue […] The post Podcast #53 – There’s More Radio Than Ever appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Low Power FM radio stations can be a great addition to the media landscape in the big city, but on this episode we focus on rural LPFM. Eric Klein takes listeners on a tour of KFSL, the low power FM station that is the sole broadcaster in Fossil,Oregon (population 454). The station is staffed by […] The post Podcast #52 – Small Town LPFM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld the FCC’s open internet rules, also known as net neutrality. Co-Host of the podcast Eric Klein admits that he still finds it hard to believe that the big telecom companies can lose so Paul Riismandel explains it’s not such a surprise that Big Telecom didn’t get it’s […] The post Podcast #51 – Carrier Current is Cool appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC has made nearly zero progress in its Congressionally mandated review and revision of media ownership rules for more than a decade. Instead the Commission has been dragging its feet for 13 years by failing to comply adequately to the ruling of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Prometheus v. FCC, which challenges […] The post Podcast #50 – Prometheus v FCC and a Generation of Gridlock appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Community radio is about access and social justice. In a digital world, this includes digital equity: access and training to use the tools of the internet and digital media. Sabrina Roach joins to explain why community radio stations should make digital equity programs and outreach part of the program. Sabrina is a doer with Brown […] The post Podcast #49 – Digital Equity and Community Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for. College radio correspondent Jennifer Waits shares her 100th radio station tour, and reflects on what she’s learned about radio in the process of reaching this rare milestone. What station is number 100? You’ll have to listen to find out. Hours and hours of labor and effort go into […] The post Podcast #48 – 100 Radio Station Tours appeared first on Radio Survivor.

College radio correspondent Jennifer Waits shares her 99th radio station tour. This time, her guide at Hunter College’s WHCS was prepared with historical artifacts for Jennifer’s perusal. Then Eric and Paul dive into more adult territory, as they dig up the so-called “lost episode.” Six months ago Eric interviewed three podcasters with shows that probably […] The post Podcast #47 – 99 Radio Station Tours & the Lost Episode appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Like community radio, podcasts can serve communities of many different types. Getting involved with the local improv comedy scene reminded Eric of his experience in community radio. He and Paul discuss the podcast Eric is producing that’s intended to support and highlight this community’s work, and how that fits in with the paradigm and values […] The post Podcast #46 – Community Comedy Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

College radio correspondent Jennifer Waits joins for a discussion on the difficulty of claiming “firsts” in radio. Sparked by claims that WTBU in Boston was the first college station to stream online in 1999, Jennifer, Eric and Paul examine these kinds of proclamations. Then Paul shares some low-power FM news from Los Angeles where the […] The post Podcast #45 – The Controversy of Firsts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Survivor co-founder Matthew Lasar has just released a new book. Radio 2.0 explores the development of radio into its current form as both analog and digital, terrestrial and internet. Matthew joins to discuss his ideas, suggesting that the primary question now is to consider what we want radio to become. In College Radio Watch […] The post Podcast #44 – From Prince To The New Deal, Radio Brings Us Together appeared first on Radio Survivor.

A recent Slate article about the podcast challenge to NPR added fuel to the debate about how the public broadcaster should respond to this disruption. Paul jumps into the fray to posit that superserving affiliates and local listeners is key to NPR’s future, while Eric argues that calls for a shift in how coverage is […] The post Podcast #43 – NPR: When Disrupted, Go Local appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Cumulus Media’s long-standing San Francisco radio news station KGO recently laid off its news staff, at the same time the company’s rock station KFOG also fired most of its on-air staff. We discuss what this means for Bay Area listeners and what it indicates for the future of radio journalism. Jennifer Waits joins to bring […] The post Podcast #42 – Hug Your Local Radio Journalist Today appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric attended the volunteer effort to raise the antenna for new low-power FM station Freeform Portland. Interviewing some of the participants, he discovered a shared history in college radio and a common dedication to freeform musical expression. By popular demand we want to turn the Radio Survivor Podcast into a weekly radio program for any […] The post Podcast #41 – Raising the Antenna appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This week we’re on the hunt for radio treasure. Prof. John Anderson of Brooklyn College joins us to talk about his quest to find and preserve the legacy of labor radio with his role in the Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force. Then our resident radio scholar Brain Fauteux interviews radio artist Magz Hall. […] The post Podcast #40: Radio Treasure Hunt appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Is college radio too small for its own good? Or is its smallness a hidden asset? Those are the questions we take up this week with guest Ken Mills. He’s a radio consultant who works with non-commercial, commercial and college stations. Ken explains why he thinks college radio is hampered by its smallness in a […] The post Podcast #39 – Is College Radio Too Small for Its Own Good? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The annual Infinite Dial survey of American listening habits is out. Paul and Eric analyze the results and what they indicate for community and college radio and podcasting. In particular, Paul argues that declining radio ownership and young people’s affinity for YouTube mean stations absolutely must broadcast online and should use video. He asks: Are […] The post Podcast #38 – Survey Says: Stations Must Be on the Internet & YouTube appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this week’s show we hear about efforts to preserve radio’s past, and the FCC’s letter writing campaign intended to undermine pirate operators. Jennifer Waits joins to talk about the Library of Congress’ recent Radio Preservation Task Force conference. She explains why preservation efforts provide not just an important record of radio’s past, but also […] The post Podcast #37 – Preservation, Pirates, and Radionomy appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We have some follow-up on our coverage of the 20th anniversary of Telecommunications Act of 1996. We share a listener email that challenges our FCC history by pointing out how radio deregulation got its foothold at the commission before Ronald Reagan even took office. We discuss how radio went from serving audiences to becoming more […] The post Podcast #36 – Why Radio Is Like a 1980s Mall & Podcasters Are the Punk Rockers appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We dig into the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision on new royalty payments for internet radio, looking for clues about the future of small and medium-sized webcasters. In our final review of the 20th anniversary of the Telecom Act of 1996, Matthew Lasar explains how the Act and the political environment of the time affected community […] The post Podcast #35 – Digging for Clues About Internet Radio’s Future appeared first on Radio Survivor.

This is our second episode examining the history and legacy of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in recognition of the law’s 20th anniversary. This time around Prof. John Anderson from Brooklyn College explains how Reagan-era deregulation, culminating in the Telecom Act, triggered civil disobedience on the airwaves along with citizen action that continues to push […] The post Podcast #34 – How the Telecom Act of ’96 Triggered Popular Resistance appeared first on Radio Survivor.

February 13 is World Radio Day, a day set aside to celebrate radio as a medium, sponsored by UNESCO. This year’s theme is “Radio in Times of Emergency and Disaster.” Though celebrated globally, World Radio Day is less well known in the United States. To help better connect us with global community radio, Eric talked […] The post Podcast #33 1/3 – World Radio Day with Francesco Diasio, AMARC Secretary General appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Twenty years ago a piece of legislation was passed that would change radio forever–and not for the better. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 lifted ownership restrictions on stations, unleashing an onslaught of acquisitions, consolidation and the ultimate devastation of local radio in communities across the country. Dr. Christopher Terry from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee joins […] The post Podcast #33 – 20 Years Ago Local Radio Was Crushed appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC just ruled that radio stations will have to upload their public files into an online database, making certain records much more accessible. We discuss what this means for both stations and listeners, and why, even though it seems like an extra burden, this can be a good thing for college and community radio. […] The post Podcast #32 – FBI Files, Public Files, and Winter Storms appeared first on Radio Survivor.

It’s the 13th hour for small webcasters, as broadcasters and supporters scramble to find a solution to new performance royalty rates that threaten to put hundreds, or even thousands of stations out of business. If that many small community or commercial broadcasters were about to go under, there most certainly would be a loud public […] The post Podcast #31 – It’s the 13th Hour for Small Webcasters appeared first on Radio Survivor.