A list of links found
while trolling the 'net, the Schnazz is updated when time permits.
Latest update: 19 May 2009.
20 Questions With Prometheus
Radio Project
An In These Times Q&A correspondence between the organization
and the people behind it. (April)
A comeback for Low Power
FM radio?
Ars Technica overviews the legislative and regulatory battlefield.
(Mar. 3)
Avoid the AM IBOC Train
Wreck Ahead
Even Guy Wire can't deny the technology's a dog, but his proposed
solutions for dealing with it aren't very substantive. (Jan. 5)
Bailout for the Media
Moguls?
Dee Dee Halleck isn't the only one shouting into the wind about the
perils of top-down media reform. (Apr. 4)
Battle
stations: The fight for pirate radio
A candid portrait/interview with Rinse FM, one of London's longest-standing
pirate crews, which illustrates the vibrance of the UK pirate scene and
the government's
futility at playing cat-and-mouse with such stations. (Mar. 22)
Bay Area Pirates Set
Sail on Airwaves
"Pirate Cat Radio ventures into pirate TV," with video. (Mar. 16)
BBC's secret war with
pirates
Before they co-opted their talent, they surveilled them prodigiously,
reports the Telegraph. (Feb. 21)
Blast From Yer' Past:
Wash DC 10.05.98
Footage from the pro-pirate, anti-NAB/FCC protest during the early
years of the LPFM saga. (2/14/09)
The Boat That Rocked:
Meet Birmingham women who was a pirate DJ
I'll forgive the headline: this is a nice little tidbit of what is
often seen as a male-dominated scene. (Apr. 19)
Cap-Ex Will Be Taut
in '09
Broadcasters plan to make little to no new investment in their infrastructure,
what with the economy (and the industry) in the toilet. (Dec. 30)
CC's Radio Format Lab
gone?
Radio Business Report that Clear Channel's apparently radically
downsized the pre-programmed HD2 formats available to its stations.
(Nov. 12)
Center for Social Media:
Fair Use & Copyright
A good place for a primer on copyright law and how to stay within
(and hopefully) stretch its creative boundaries.
Clear Channel's New
Game Plan
Company President John Hogan speaks with forked tongue. (May 11)
Clear Channel's Repeater
Radio Sham
While the company touts its renewed commitment to "localism," its
actual operational directives suggest otherwise. (Apr. 16)
Comm. Adelstein: FCC
[to] RUS
Spectrum Talk archives the shift of one of the FCC's most
dynamic officials into a new role overseeing the expansion of broadband
in the U.S. (Mar. 22)
Commission Settles Satellite
Radio Probes
Four makers of pirate satellite-to-FM transceivers for use in vehicles
are collectively fined $80,000. (Feb. 20)
Community radio - a
rare success story
The Guardian reports Ofcom's glowing report of the service,
some five years into its operation. (Mar. 9)
Complete Guide to Building
an FM Broadcast Station
Mega-video tutorial hosted by Free Radio Berkeley's Stephen Dunifer.
(5/8/09)
Copps de-martinizing
the FCC, begins internal reforms
It will be interesting to see how far his quest for honesty and transparency
can get before his temporary chairmanship runs out. (Jan. 28)
DAB: Monopoly
A good compendium of articles on the various problems with proprietary
protocols (U.S.) and centralized transmission systems (rest of
world). (Feb. 1)
DAB Proponents Hail
'Digital Britain' Report
Radio World puts a congratulatory spin on the country's plans
to switch off its analog stations in 2017. (Jan. 29)
DAB radio: now you hear
it (in-store), now you don't (in-home)
Gripes about crappy DAB reception in the UK and the potential for
its construal as customer fraud. (Jan. 21)
Dickey Do & The Dont's
Jerry Del Colliano chronicles the managerial hypocrisy that drove
Citadel/ABC into the ground. (Mar. 6)
Dr. McMeany Set To Amputate
Clear Channel
Jerry Del Colliano scoops the story on the radio giant's first mass-culling
of the year. (Jan. 5)
Editorial: A Tale of
Two Studies
Radio World goes for the diplomatic high-ground when debating
the relative harm of allowing a digital broadcast power increase
on the FM band. (Jan. 5)
The Evil Empire Strikes
Back on Localism
Jerry Del Colliano leaks details of a letter written by Clear Channel's
CEO touting the company's new faux-localism strategy. (Apr. 20)
Expanding community
radio - LPFM bill reintroduced in Congress
With great fanfare and hope, it should be noted. (Feb. 24)
Family Guy - The Freaking
FCC
Clip of the famous little ditty about indecency from the hit FOX
animated series. (2/27/09)
FCC Denies Temporary
Authority for AM Station to Use FM Translator Frequency For Which
No Authority Had Been Granted
Phew, long headline! But an interesting read, and a clever try on
the egregious offender's part. (Feb. 19)
FCC,
Indianapolis Police Department Address Unlicensed Operations
Hand-slapping all around - crime pays, so long as you're the law.
(Apr. 6)
FCC leadership honest?
Staffers say "no"
Cites survey and in-house protests as evidence of Martin's damaging
tenure. (Jan. 13)
FCC Morale: A Review
of New Data From OPM
Does not paint a pretty picture. (Jan. 13)
Film
review: The Boat that Rocked
The Scotsman gives it two stars. (Mar. 29)
Finding the Harm in
"Harmful Interference"
A thoughtful look at the policy and science of this sometimes-dubious
phrase. (Jan. 30)
Fla. shuts pirate radio
station over drugs, gangs
A brief AP report notes the charging of two men for running a station
that "included live advertisements for criminal gangs and discussions
of where to buy drugs and find prostitutes." (Mar. 7)
For
Radio Consolidators, No Plan B
There was never a long-term business plan for mega-broadcasters beyond
leveraging economies of scale. That didn't work - what now? (Feb.
6)
German Radio Calls for
DAB+ Allocations
Becoming the first country in Germany to upgrade the centralized-multicast
protocol. (Apr. 6)
Getting Down with Low
Power FM
Gapers Block interviews two members of the Chicago Independent Radio
Project on their trip to D.C. to lobby for an expansion of LPFM into
major markets. (May 14)
Godxiliary: 28 Seconds
Later
A collaborative collage-project to celebrate the month of February.
(2009)
Graffiti Radio
A clever mixture of stencil-art, cell-phone photography and mobile
wireless audio to promote pirates in London. (2008)
He hopes his foot power
can keep radio station on air
The Boston Globe breaks the story of Touch FM's Walk for Power,
which hopes to bring increased awareness of the plight of microradio
stations nationwide. (Feb. 22)
How about pirate radio
in the white spaces?
An interesting dialog between Stephen Dunifer and EDN.com. (Dec.
25)
How
To Make a Radio Station
Step-by-step video guide for wiring up a quick guerrilla boxen.
(12/2/08)
iBiquity Cuts Workforce
Company declines to give hard figures; it's the first real layoff since
the company's founding. (Jan. 19)
I got an HD radio for
Christmas
And it relatively sucked! (Dec. 28)
Illegal Art
A media collective all about exploring and expanding the fringes
of appropriation for the purposes of creativity.
Indianapolis Officers
Must Stop Profane Talk on Illegal Radios
Busted! Indy cops on duty traded foul-mouthed work-related correspondence
on purloined amateur radio frequencies. (Feb. 24)
In Indianapolis the
Radio Pirates Were Cops
Paul the Mediageek notes the irony of the Indianapolis P.D. caught
abusing amateur radio spectrum - and the pittance of a penalty they
paid for it. And just who represents the real danger to public
safety? (Mar. 9)
In Search of Julius
Genachowski
Matthew Lasar provides some primer on the FCC Chairman-to-be. (Dec.
22)
Interview: The End of
Television
Paul the Mediageek questions-by-correspondence Ian F. Page, curator
of the End of Television project. (Mar. 24)
Is 2017 a viable date
for radio's digital switchover?
Conflicting views about on the UK's ambitious plan. (Jan. 13)
Is DAB effectively dead?
A pessimistic outlook for the next decade in Europe. (Apr. 7)
ISPs Join RIAA Strategy
to Combat Illegal File Sharing
Even though copyright law gives them immunity as simple conduits,
corporate interests conspire in their own self-interest anyway. (Mar.
25)
Johnny Walker remembers
Radio Caroline
One of the top voices of the UK pirate heyday brings some reality
to the new movie about the era. (Mar. 15)
Life After Radio - 8
New Ideas
Jerry Del Colliano gives the industry some great ideas on how to
expand its presence beyond the dashboard and as background noise.
(May 18)
Limbaugh's Dirty Little
Secret of Radio "Success"
Long story short: his program was given away for free to get his
now-massive girth first rolling. It certainly wasn't the talent behind
the golden mic. (Apr. 12)
The Looming Danger of
Digital Host Interference
One of the consulting engineers behind the CPB/NPR study into increasing
FM-HD sidebands predicts bad things to happen within your
channel, not just beyond it, if the increase goes forward. (Mar.
3)
Low
Power Radio: Lost Opportunity or Success on the Dial?
A report from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights questions
the viability of the LPFM service, eight years on. (April 2009)
Mediageek: 2008 Year
in Review
Paul do our yearly wrap-up on pirate enforcement and other interesting
miscellany. (1/1/09)
Mediageek: Charting
the Economic Decline of Radio
Paul and I discuss the industry's apparent nose-dive for 2009. (2/19/09)
Mediageek: The Court
Rules Narrowly on Indecency
Paul and I discuss the implications of the Supreme' ruling on the
implications of using "fleeting expletives" on broadcast radio and
television, among other subjects. (4/20/09)
Mediageek: More on Radio's
Downfall
Paul and I go behind the headlines to explore why the industry is
in such dire straits. (2/19/09)
Media Lobbying: The
New Era
Broadcasting & Cable breaks down who's spending the most
to manipulate whom for favorable media policy in D.C. (Feb. 28)
Mo' Power for Low Power
In These Times waxes optimistic about the Local Community Radio
Act, as seen through the hopes of the Chicago Independent Radio Project.
(Jan. 20)
More IBOC FM Elevated
Power Level Test Details Emerge
Radio World gets a glimpse-size scoop at the minutiae the
CPB/NPR study will examine. (Apr. 9)
My stormy life aboard
the boat that rocked Britain
Former Radio Caroline DJ Tom Edwards brings a personal perspective
about a new feature film that romanticizes the European pirate radio
scene of the 1960s. (Feb. 28)
NDS Optimistic About
Conditional Access Uses for Radio
Getting people to pay for programming in this economy? Good luck.
(Jan. 29)
New FCC nominee brings
ray of hope for low-power radio
Will the FCC move on the issue in 2009? I'm skeptical. (Mar. 12)
The Next Radio Firings
Jerry Del Colliano predicts a second round of culling at Clear Channel.
(Apr. 28)
Norwich DJ's memories
of the heyday of pirate radio
Another old-timer comes out of the woodwork to assess the authenticity
of The
Boat That Rocked. (Mar. 9)
NPR Labs Launches CPB-Funded
Study on Power Increase for HD Radio
How to fit a square peg into a round hole? CPB/NPR will spend $325,000
to find out.... (Apr. 2)
Orlando Underground
Radio Station Promoted Drugs, FCC Says
Yeah, but can we really take them at their word? (Mar. 7)
Pirate radio proliferates
despite enforcement attempts
The Associated Press cites the Enforcement Action Database as proof.
(Sept. 24, 2006)
Pirates of the Airwaves:
The Story of Radio Free London
As originally published in Metal Hammer magazine, including
supplementary materials. (Aug. 28, 1990)
Pirate radio station
shut down in Winter Haven
One man is arrested in the bust of "One Love Radio." (Feb. 12)
Pirates ride the airwaves
from Mission redoubt
Pirate Cat Radio resurfaces, this time boasting more than a kilowatt
of power! (Jan. 5)
Police Bust Alleged
Gang-Promoting Radio Station
And the key word here is "alleged." (Mar. 8)
Prometheus
Radio Project: Let's Cheer For...the FCC!
A page containing resources to the ongoing legal battle to substantiate
the LPFM service.
The Prospect of Even
More Radio Cutbacks
The newest invention "stayoffs," or forced-taking of vacation time.
(Apr 30).
Radio 10 saga in Brooklyn
Free103point9 gives a good breakdown of what's going on in the borough,
featuring the exploits of a Hasidic Jewish station. (Feb. 9)
Radio, ad company Clear
Channel cutting 1500 jobs: report
So says Reuters: a 7% workforce reduction. (Jan. 16)
Radio: Live Transmission?
The Brooklyn Rail has a Q&A with the producers of Pirate
Radio USA. (February)
Radio Posts Worst Revenue
Year in Decades
Down double-digits (ad revenue-wise) in 2008. (Feb. 20)
Reboot the FCC
Lawrence Lessig throws out a fairly radical, yet unpractical, policy
suggestion via Newsweek. (Dec. 23)
Report: Future of U.K.
Digital Radio May Be Bleak
So says Radio Ink, citing a private-analyst report published
overseas. (Jan. 30)
RIAA Replaces Mass Lawsuits
With Potentially Dumber Ideas
Some of which have just taken root in France, of all places.... (Dec.
19)
Rulers of the airwaves
The Financial Times looks favorably on British pirate radio's
debut on the silver screen. (Mar. 20)
Scotland's pirate radio
DJs look back on the original Radio Scotland
A reminiscence inspired by the new movie, The Boat That Rocked.
(Mar. 14)
Sirius XM's Fate at
Stake in a Radio Cliffhanger
The New York Times goes deep behind Mel Karmazin's desperate
machinations to keep his job - and his company still in orbit. (Feb.
17)
Steven A. Skalecki fined
$10,000
For "operating radio transmitting equipment and providing services
and facilities incidental to the operation of an unlicensed radio
transmitter" in Milwaukee. (3/17/09)
The Story of Bootleg
Radio 1610
An old-timer relives the good-old days of tinkering one's way into
piracy. (Dec. 30)
Stupid Consolidation
Tricks
Jerry Del Colliano decries the seemingly terminal condition of localism
in radio. (Mar. 23)
The Boat That Rocked
Official website for the Richard Curtis' cinematic send-up of 60's
offshore pirate radio. (Apr. 1)
There's Something Happening
Here
Radio World columnist Skip Pizzi finally discovers streaming
audio and its attendant threat to terrestrial broadcasting. (Feb.
24)
They're turning off
HD in Washington, D.C.
So claims in a brief bit from the Radio Business Report, which
speculates it's due to licensing fees. (Dec. 25)
Third-Adjacent Protection
From LPFM's On The Chopping Block
Broadcast-industry lawyers are less than thrilled with the Local
Community Radio Act. (Feb. 27)
This is Radio Free Brazil
Metafilter post compiles links to coverage of a nationwide pirate-bust
in Brazil. (Apr. 22)
THROUGH YOU
"Kutiman mixes Youtube"; amateur musicians are assembled into virtual
video-orchestras in mashup-fashion. (2009)
Tuning in to his mission
A Boston Globe profile of Charles Clemons, founder of Touch
FM and the Walker for Power. (Feb. 27)
Turn up the volume of
low-power stations
Guest commentator and former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani implores
for the passage of the Local Community Radio Act. (Mar. 24)
What
Next for Low-Power FM?
The Prometheus Radio Project's Pete Tridish gets a guest commentary
spotlight in Radio World, where he lays out a cogent argument
for meaningful LPFM expansion. (Mar. 24)
When Britain ruled the
radio waves
The Sun gives a mini-history of the 1960s offshore radio era
and previews the new film loosely based around the period. (Mar.
14)
Where Is Radio's Captain
Sully?
Clear Channel's staff-culling is larger than anticipated; will this
set a trend in the industry? (Jan. 21)
Why Local Radio Is No
Longer Local
A good critique of the state of the dial from the San Diego Reader.
(Dec. 30)
Your Radio Cutbacks
At Work
Missed tornado warnings? Yeah, that's already happening.... (May
8)
YouTube's January Fair
Use Massacre
The Electronic Frontier Foundation gives the skinny on Google's arbitrary
diminution of what constitutes "fair use." (Feb. 3)
Recently updated
resources and links directory sections:
Linkbacks
American
Roots & Branches
Keeping amusing and beautiful vinyl fresh since 2006.
BradleyStuart.net
"This site encourages resisting corporate globalization."
Dialogic
Blog of Thivai Abhor.
funferal
"engraved and retouched and edgewiped and pudden-padded observing the world
from the midwest."
Hannah Sassaman
"Banned from the National Association of Broadcasters Since 2002"
High
Masculine Tones
Blog of Brian Lamb.
Indyblogs
Blog-aggregation of Indymedia activists from around the world.
Jeri Smith-Ready
Science fiction, environmental issues, and a love of animals.
Lying
Media Bastards
"Take a good look at the man behind the curtain. Now go kick his ass."
The
Media Drop
"Swarming and informing since 2004."
Mediageek
Blog/radioshow/zine indy-syndication empire de Paul Riismandel.
Miller's Crossing
"So it has come to this."
papercuts
Blog of A.j. Michel.
The
Perpetual Three-Dot Column
Blog of Jesse Walker.
The
World According to Peter Brinson
Sociological ruminations of a friendly zombie.
