mediageek

Month: December 2005

  • No Surprise, NPR Smears Florida Pirates

    In the 1970s NPR lobbied the FCC to get rid of low-power FM radio, and in 1978, the Commission did. Then in 2000 NPR lobbied Congress to hem in the new low-power FM service, and Congress did that. Now it’s 2005 and it should be no surprise that the public radio network would air a…

  • Making DXing Fun

    WFMU‘s the Professor has been writing a series of posts about his late night AM and shortwave radio listening, documenting both his approach and his finds in a breezy, fun style that stands in stark opposition to the typical DXing logs you find. He also includes MP3s of his finds, so that you can DX…

  • House OKs End Date for Analog TV, Poorest Households Set To Get Screwed

    This is a story I’ve been following on the radioshow, though not so much on the blog. Monday the House passed a bill that sets Feb. 17 , 2009 as the date when your analog TV officially becomes obsolete, and all stations must broadcast exclusively in digital. One of the big controversies, besides the transition…

  • Tracking the Biggest Godcaster

    This month’s edition of Mother Jones magazine is focused on the religious right and its political machinations, and a lot of it is kinda frightening. There’s a good article on Salem Communications, the largest commercial chain of Christian stations in the country. Like its secular brethren, such as Clear Channel, Salem has actively lobbied for…

  • Modern Copyright Law Is Destroying our Cultural Heritage

    The Council on Library and Information Resources has just released a report evaluating “Copyright Issues Relevant to Digital Preservation and Dissemination of Pre-1972 Commercial Sound Recordings by Libraries and Archives.” As one might expect, because of copyright law’s restrictions on copying recordings to modern formats, even when no commercially produced version exists, it is often…

  • FCC One Step Closer to Full?

    Will poor FCC Chairman Kevin Martin get another Republican commissioner for Christmas? According to the National Journal’s Insider Update there are two new names being floated to replace Kathleen Abernathy. They’re both telecomm industry insiders with plenty of industry connections, so we can rest assured that the public interest will not be a primary concern…

  • Welcome New Station to Mediageek Network: WRFA-LP, Jamestown, NY

    I received word by email on Monday that WRFA-LP, 107.9 FM in Jamestown, New York is now airing the mediageek radioshow on Wednesdays at 3:00 PM. That bring the total to 7 radio stations that air mediageek, including host station WEFT in Champaign, IL. In fact, WEFT is the only full-power station in the lineup…

  • News Headlines from the Dec. 2 Radioshow: Indecency Day at the Senate Commerce Committe; Parents and Televangelists Not So Happy With Gov’t Indecency Regs; Giant Alternative Weekly Merger

    These are the media news headlines as read on the Dec. 2 edition of the mediageek radioshow. Indecency Day at the Senate Commerce Committee These days, indecency is never gone too long, or, at least, Congress’ love affair with indecency. On Tuesday, Nov. 29 the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on broadcast indecency, and…

  • Grateful Dead Archive Resurrection

    According to Relix.com and a post at Archive.org the Grateful Dead show archive is being mostly restored. Per Relix: According to Grateful Dead spokesman Dennis McNally, the removal on November 22 of all downloadable Dead recordings from archive.org was the result of “a great communication snafu.” “It is my understanding that by the end of…