Month: January 2007
-
Good News: Army Subpoena of Journalist Dropped
Just saw this email from the National Radio Project that came in yesterday: UPDATE! Journalist Subpoenas Dismissed! Army prosecutors of Lt. Watada drop two charges for speaking to the press January 29, 2007 Two charges of “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman” have been dropped by the Army-each of which carried a one year…
-
Headlines from the 1-26-07 radioshow: The FCC to Face up the Senate Commerce Committee
From the January 26, 2007 edition of the mediageek radioshow [listen now]: On February 1st, the Republican dominated Federal communications Commission will have its first hearing in front of a Democratic-controlled Senate Commerce Committee. Commissioners are certain to hear about the current media ownership rules review, in addition to network neutrality. In particular, network neutrality…
-
Really Free Video Editing
For the independent video/movie maker, Linux-based video editing apps are a holy grail of sorts. That’s because the truly pro-level apps like Premiere, Final Cut and Vegas all cost a good few hundred bucks to start, and even the “free” apps like iMovie and Windows Movie Maker require that you first buy a brand-name computer…
-
News Headlines from the Jan. 19, 2007 Radioshow: Community Radio Reports WSF 2007; Bills Introduced to Use Fallow Spectrum
Community Radio Reports WSF 2007 From January 20 through the 25th the 7th annual World Social Forum will be meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together activists, social movements, networks, coalitions and other progressive forces for five days of cultural resistance and celebration. Community radio broadcasters from around the world will be stepping up to bring…
-
Lame Retro-Geek Mash Note
Tonight I’m watching a laserdisc. Despite what many people think, even though it uses a laser to read the video information on the massive 12-inch disc, laserdisc isn’t digital. It’s analog, like a vinyl LP record. But, I’m afraid, not nearly as cool. Laserdisc was the videogeek aficionado’s format of choice through the 1980s and…
-
Bipartisan Hostility Towards Your Rights To Record and Enjoy Satellite & Net Radio
Sure, it looked like a new day in Congress with the Democrats taking over. This past weekend’s National Conference on Media Reform definitely reinforced that notion as it pertains to media ownership and internet freedom. But the entertainment industry and copyright cartel are a whole different she-bang. Too many entertainment industry liberals are way to…
-
NCMR: The Dicey Future of Public Broadcasting
When I first walked in I’d just been in the hip-hop panel, and actually started to giggle. The audience for this panel was like the polar opposite of the hiphop audience, I thought maybe there was a nice baroque music concert or a showing of a Jane Austen film — mostly older, even elderly, middle-class…
-
NCMR Panel: Make Music with Your Mouth, Kid: Hip-Hop Activism
This panel was certainly the most fun and the most thought-provoking of all the panels I’ve been to at the NCMR. It’s nearly impossible for me to summarize because each presenter brought a unique perspective and set of facts to lay on the audience. But, as the title of the panel suggests, all the presenters…
-
Uncommon Candor
I’m sitting in a session on the FCC featuring current Democratic commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, with former commissioner Gloria Tristani as moderator. I’m very impressed with the degree of candor that Commissioners Copps and Adelstein have expressed at this conference in mulitple sessions, on topics ranging from payola to the BellSouth/AT&T merger. These…
-
Radioshow Experiment a Partial Success
Last night I attempted to broadcast the radioshow live from Memphis using Skype to connect us with the WEFT studio. Here in Memphis at the Cook Convention Center we got a wired (rather than wireless) connection to the internet, which I understood was shared by very few people. I don’t know how many people were…