Archive for the ‘Radio’ Category

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Complete babbling.

Friday, March 21st, 2014

I was planning to steal a lyric from “Radio Free Europe” for this post title. Then I went to look up the actual lyrics, and found this; “complete babbling” seems like it fits just as well here.

By way of Big Jim, I found a rather interesting LA Weekly article on the latest goings-on at Pacifica Radio, about which I’ve written before. Some highlights:

On March 13, after weeks of rumors, Pacifica Radio’s board of directors voted to fire its executive director, Summer Reese, during what was essentially a conference call…
And so it was that Reese marched to the Pacifica national office in Berkeley on March 17, bolt cutters in hand, removed a padlock placed on the front doors over the weekend, and essentially occupied the building. When newly appointed interim executive director Margy Wilkinson showed up, Reese and 12 of her compatriots — including Reese’s mother, a longtime anti-war and civil rights activist — refused to let Wilkinson, her husband and two of her allies pass.

…

Pacifica’s New York station, WBAI, is even worse off, with too few listeners to register on the Arbitron rankings, and is all but bankrupt. Last year, most of the staff was laid off, including the entire news department.
Making matters worse, the federal government, via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, is withholding Pacifica’s grant money, thanks to the network’s “failure to provide documentation” for a 2012 audit.

…

“We’re no longer a radio network, we’re a sad political glee club,” [Ian] Masters [a KPFK host - DB] says. “We desperately need adult supervision.”

…

Reese admits to having no Social Security number, saying she is legally exempt because of a “religious objection.” When asked her religion, she says only that she’s a Christian; when asked whether she pays income taxes, she says only, “I don’t think that’s relevant to the article.”

…

While KCRW holds two nine-day-long fund drives each year, KPFK holds a monthlong fund drive every three months — meaning one out of every three days is a pledge drive, days full of DVDs and nutritional supplements and get-rich-quick schemes such as the “Wealth Propulsion Challenge,” an online course that promotes “how to get rich holistically” — and quickly — via “subconscious reprogramming.”

…

Within a few months, Democracy Now! was privatized. In what may have been a reward for Goodman’s support of the revolution, she was handed complete ownership of the show. For free. In fact, they paid her to take it, handing Goodman a contract worth hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — and gave her an automatic 4 percent raise every year, regardless of the size of her listenership or the money she raised…
Today, Pacifica’s debts amount to roughly $3 million; $2 million of that is owed to Democracy Now!, which is also the name of an independent nonprofit run by Goodman.

Posted in Clippings, Music, Radio | Comments Off

Howard Waldrop, call your office, please.

Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

By way of Popehat on the Twitter, NPR’s counterfactual series, “What If World War I Had Never Happened?”

“Do you think Sarajevo is full of assassins?” I can’t lie; this made me smile, as did “a very Austro-Hungarian problem” and “Is this how you greet visitors, by throwing bombs at them?”

(See also. Also, I have to admit to some curiosity; what kind of sandwich?)

Edited to add: Well. Well well well. Well.

Also, wouldn’t “Gavrilo Princip’s Sandwich” be a great name for a band?

Posted in History, Radio | 1 Comment »

Random notes: January 18, 2014.

Saturday, January 18th, 2014

Obit watch: Larry Monroe, former KUT-FM DJ. Yes, it was radio – worse yet, public radio. But I liked pretty much everything Monroe did for the station. I drove home from South Austin many Thursday nights listening to the “Phil Music” show, back when KUT broadcast city council meetings. (This was a long time ago, in another country. It was called “Phil Music” because it began with Monroe playing music while the council members were in private session and/or there were gaps in the broadcast; in other words, “fill music”.)

I don’t care much for golf. But, by way of Jimbo, one of the more interesting things I’ve read so far this year: Grantland writer discovers a woman who’s invented a revolutionary putter, and starts working on a story about her. Then things get weird.

Edited to add: adding link to MetaFilter discussion of the story above.

Posted in Clippings, Obits, Radio, Sports | Comments Off

You could hear the music on the AM radio…

Friday, January 17th, 2014

When was the last time you listened to the radio?

Actually, I still do, mostly when I’m driving around with Mom and Jeff Ward is on. If I’m alone in my own car, though, radio has become to me something like a buggy whip.

But there are some people who still need buggy whips, such as the Amish. And there are some people who still need radios. Like Federal prisoners.

The pocket analog radio, known by the bland model number SRF-39FP, is a Sony “ultralight” model manufactured for prisons. Its clear housing is meant to prevent inmates from using it to smuggle contraband, and, at under thirty dollars, it is the most affordable Sony radio on the prison market.

But what makes this New Yorker piece more interesting to me is…the SRF-39FP is actually a pretty good radio. It uses one AA battery, will run for 40 hours, and:

Others in the online DXing community argue that the SRF-39FP is superior to virtually every other pocket analog radio, praising it for its large tuning thumbwheel, over-all sensitivity and audio quality, and, above all, its reputed indestructibility. Electronics and radio collectors also marvel at features that are normally associated with professional equipment rather than consumer goods: in particular, an exceptional single-integrated-circuit receiver that insures reception in remote locations—or deep within heavy prison walls. In fact, the SRF-39FP was one of the first radios to use the breakthrough CXA1129N integrated-circuit chip, considered by DeBock to be the primary innovation among Sony pocket radios; it helped make the SRF-39FP the smallest and most sophisticated in a line of pocket radios that had launched two decades earlier, in the late nineteen-seventies.

I almost want to pick one up. (I checked; there aren’t any listed on eBay right now.)

(By way of the newsycombinator Twitter feed.)

Posted in Amish, Clippings, Geek, Law, Radio | 1 Comment »

More obits people sent me.

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013

Harold Camping. I’m really kind of curious what’s going to happen to Family Radio now; does it survive with a new leader? Do the stations get sold off? I think most of them are non-commercial licenses; is there another religious group that would want to buy them?

Janet Dailey, noted romance author.

“I kept saying to Bill that this is the kind of book I’d like to write,” she said once in an interview, adding, “He got tired of hearing that in a hurry.” He told her to start writing or stop talking about it. She said she modeled many of her male protagonists on her husband. He died in 2005.

You know, “Start writing or stop talking about it” is actually pretty good writing advice.

For the historical record: Ray Price. AV Club.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Music, Obits, Radio | Comments Off

Shoes for radio!

Friday, December 6th, 2013

The other one has dropped. (Previously.)

(I know, this is really inside Austin, and even more, inside Austin radio. But it was the subject of some discussion among my family. Also, there’s just really not a lot going on.)

(Edited to add: my brother forwarded a Statesman blog entry that you don’t have to pay to read. Some quotes:

“JB and Sandy have been part of Mix for 18 years, which is a lifetime in radio,” vice president of programming Cat Thomas said. “JB and Sandy made an indelible impact on our station, their audience and the city of Austin. But unfortunately, the declining performance of the show and the expense of the show no longer made economic sense, and we were unable to come to terms. We thank them for their work and wish them the best in the future.”

…

Figures from Nielsen (formerly Arbitron) show “The JB and Sandy Morning Show” placed eighth among listeners ages 25-54 and seventh among the key demographic of women ages 18-49 in November.

Thank you for giving actual ratings figures.

The decision to discontinue the Mix 94.7 morning show comes during the station’s annual Bikes for Kids campaign, which raises money each year to buy bikes for hundreds of needy Central Texas children.
Bikes for Kids will go on without Hager and McIlree, Entercom officials said.
“Bikes for Kids remains a part of the fabric of our station,” Thomas said. “It will absolutely continue.”

)

(I haven’t linked to Mandela obits because I figure, at this point, they’ve crossed over into “you can’t avoid them” territory.)

(Edited to add: if you’re really craving something swell to read, try the thoughtful comment by lelnet on this week’s “TMQ Watch”.)

Posted in Clippings, Radio | Comments Off

Just some random krep.

Monday, November 25th, 2013

The FDA has told 23andMe to stop selling their DNA interpretation service.

I note this for a couple of reasons:

  1. Earlier this year, they were advertising all over many of the podcasts I listen to.
  2. I’ve flirted with the idea of getting a 23andMe kit as a Christmas or birthday present. (Hey, you get one for a family member, you get many of the benefits of purchasing your own, plus you’ve got that whole gift thing taken care of.)
  3. I did not complete the purchase process, but as far as I can tell, 23andMe is still selling their product.
  4. “This product is a device within the meaning of section 201(h) of the FD&C Act, 21 U.S.C. 321(h), because it is intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or is intended to affect the structure or function of the body.” Nope. Not seeing it. At best, it tells you that you have some genetic markers that may indicate a predisposition towards a condition. I have serious questions about the way the FDA is interpreting the regulations here.
  5. What business is it of the federal government how people get their genetic information and what they do with it? “But what if they’re wrong?” Seems to me you have the same recourse as you would with any other consumer product; complain to the maker and ask for a refund or a do-over. But that’s apparently not good enough for our government, which feels like it has to do something about the scourge of non-goverment-approved genetic testing labs.

The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is dumping the pirate show. I can remember seeing it (more or less) twice: once in the “original” version, which was more of a straight-forward pirate battle, and once in the “Sirens of TI” incarnation, where the “pirates” included scantily clad young women. Treasure Island is dumping the pirates in favor of more retail space. Sigh.

Questions. So many questions.

  • Isn’t it kind of crappy to let one of your most popular personalities go right in the middle of the annual “Bicycles For the Crippled Orphans Left Behind By the Widow of the Unknown Soldier for Christmas” campaign? Yes, his contract was apparently up (“at the end of the year”, which, to me, implies December 31st), and yes, it isn’t unprecedented to let people go around this time of year (Not that I’m bitter or anything) but couldn’t they have worked out something to at least let him stay and finish out this year’s charity campaign? I think it makes the station look bad.
  • Why does a morning radio show need four on-air people?
  • “In the most recent Nielsen (formerly Arbitron) ratings period, Mix 94.7 placed 12th. Its morning ratings, however, are much higher.” How much higher, you jackass? You’re the one with the AllAccess account! (According to a post from the same blogger back in October, JB and Sandy didn’t crack the top five.)
  • Dudley and Bob are still on? Wow.

Posted in Clippings, Geek, Law, Radio | Comments Off

Two for your consideration.

Wednesday, October 30th, 2013

PetaPixel reprints a post (from the LensRentals blog) about a WWII story I’ve never heard before.

Jay Zeamer was a pilot. But he wasn’t a great one. He had problems passing his check tests, especially when it came to the “landing” part. He managed to get into B-17s and started flying as a “fill-in” pilot and on photoreconnaissance runs.

But nobody wanted to fly with him. So he created his own crew by gathering up every…

… misfit and ne’er-do-well in the 43rd Air Group. As another pilot, Walt Krell, recalled, “He recruited a crew of renegades and screwoffs. They were the worst — men nobody else wanted. But they gravitated toward one another and made a hell of a team.”

But they didn’t have a plane. So they grabbed onto a dilapidated B-17 that had been flown in for spare parts and somehow rebuilt it into flying condition. The base commander thought this was a pretty good thing, and intended to assign the plane to another crew.

Not surprisingly, Zeamer and his crew took exception to this idea, and according Walt Krell the crew slept in their airplane, having loudly announced that the 50 caliber machine guns were kept loaded in case anyone came around to ‘borrow’ it. There was a severe shortage of planes, so the base commander ignored the mutiny and let the crew fly – but generally expected them to take on missions that no one else wanted.

Zeamer and crew called the plane “Old 666″. And yes, they took on the missions no one else wanted.

Even among the men of a combat air station, the Eager Beavers became known as gun nuts. They replaced all of the light 30 caliber machine guns in the plane with heavier 50 caliber weapons. Then the 50 caliber machine guns were replaced with double 50 caliber guns. Zeamer had another pair of machine guns mounted to the front of the plane so he could remotely fire them like a fighter pilot. And the crew kept extra machine guns stored in the plane, just in case one of their other guns jammed or malfunctioned.

My kind of guys.

Having a plane with an apparently nutty crew who volunteered for every awful mission not surprisingly made the commanding officers look the other way.

This would make for one heck of a movie. Especially in light of what eventually happened to “Old 666″ and her crew. But for that you should go read the rest of the story at PetaPixel or LensRentals.

Meanwhile, by way of Insta (who draws a different conclusion than I do): W. Joseph Campbell, author of Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism, writes about Orson Welles, “War of the Worlds”, and the question of whether there really was a mass panic.

Posted in Clippings, History, Radio | Comments Off

Random notes: September 10, 2013.

Tuesday, September 10th, 2013

You could hear the music on the AM radio…

(If you have to put this much effort into “saving” commercial radio, is it really worth saving?)

I’m not a huge NASCAR fan: if I’m home and a race is televised, I’ll put it on as background noise, and I’d happily go to a race if someone invited me. But my life doesn’t revolve around it. With that said, this is interesting:

Ryan Newman replaced Martin Truex Jr. in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship on Monday night when NASCAR penalized Michael Waltrip Racing for manipulating the outcome of last weekend’s race.
Michael Waltrip Racing was fined $300,000, and general manager Ty Norris received an indefinite suspension. Truex, Bowyer and Vickers were docked 50 points apiece — but Bowyer’s deduction does not affect his position in the Chase, which begins Sunday at Chicago.

Isn’t “manipulating the outcome” of a race pretty much what every racing team tries to do? Is this example just particularly egregious? (And I find it surprising that there’s been no FARK thread on this yet.)

(Edited to add: Thanks to Ben for his thoughtful and enlightening comments, which you should really go read now. Also, FARK did put up a thread after I posted this.)

Posted in Cars, Clippings, Radio, Sports | 3 Comments »

Random notes: August 21, 2013.

Wednesday, August 21st, 2013

I’ve written before about Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, and the efforts by the State University of New York (SUNY) to close it, since it is bleeding money like a severed aorta.

…a judge on Tuesday ordered the hospital to be returned to its previous owners, nullifying a 2011 transfer to the State University of New York.

The hospital was previously owned by Continuum Health Partners. Why did they transfer it to SUNY? They say it was either that, or shut the place down. You see the punchline coming, don’t you?

“Upon due consideration, Continuum respectfully concludes that we cannot reassume management of LICH and is unable to take responsibility for the hospital’s operations,” Stanley Brezenoff, the president and chief executive, said in a statement.

New York’s WBAI is in trouble. Normally, I don’t care that much about NYC radio stations. But:

…huge debt and a dwindling membership have left both WBAI and Pacifica starved for cash. The station, one of five owned by the foundation, has operated in the red each year since 2004, accumulating more than $3 million in net losses, according to Pacifica financial statements. In addition to WBAI, Pacifica has stations in Los Angeles, Washington, Houston and Berkeley, Calif., and feeds content to more than 150 affiliates.
Among Pacifica’s debts are more than $2 million in broadcast fees owed to Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now!,” the network’s most popular show. To cover Pacifica’s operating costs, the network has drained most of its accounts, hobbling the organization and raising the doomsday scenario in which it would have to sell WBAI’s broadcast license.

Lord, you know I don’t ask for much. But if WBAI’s broadcast license does go up for sale, please let the Koch brothers purchase it. Thank you.

Posted in Clippings, Radio | 1 Comment »

TMQ Watch: August 13, 2013.

Friday, August 16th, 2013

We were trying to come up with a clever introduction to the return of Tuesday Morning Quarterback (and, thus, the TMQ Watch) but we couldn’t. On the other hand, we were also suffering from a bad case of 70s nostalgia (brought about by many things, but exacerbated by the death of Bert Lance). So we thought we’d throw some vintage music your way before cracking open this week’s TMQ after the jump. Oddly enough, it turns out to be fitting for reasons we’ll see later on…

(more…)

Posted in Android, Apple, Books, Camels, Clippings, Gatsby, GPS, Mammals, Music, NFL, Radio, Sports, TMQ watch, TV | Comments Off

Bookity bookity bookity.

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

Two more things that I wanted to bookmark:

Peteris Krumins’ “A Unix Utility You Should Know About: Netcat“. Actually, I want to bookmark his entire site, as there’s a lot of good stuff there, including “Low Level Bit Hacks You Absolutely Must Know“.

Also: Michael Ossmann’s HackRF Kickstarter, which is fully funded and has 29 days to go. This is a project I’m really excited about and will probably end up backing. Short version: HackRF is a project to build a software defined radio that is about the size of a USB hard drive, runs off of USB bus power…and if you back the project (and if it ships, this being Kickstarter and all), the cost is around $300, which puts it into “Shut up and take my money” territory.

Posted in Bookmarks, linux, Radio | Comments Off

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