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 has a ton of radio nerd fun as he takes us back to the 1920s, when Canadian and U.S. regulators struck a treaty to split up the AM dial and limit maximum broadcast power, but left out Mexico. That opened up an opportunity for stations in that country to cover the continent with hundreds of kilowatts, attracting broadcasters from north of the border wanting to take advantage.

Many infamous and colorful personalities were amongst this group, from Dr. John Brinkley, who promoted goat glands to cure male potency problems, all the way to man named Bob Smith – later known as Wolfman Jack – who blasted rock and roll that most American stations wouldn’t touch.

Dr. Curran explains why stations along the Mexican border remained popular with U.S. broadcasters even after that country lowered maximum power levels, in treaty with its northern neighbor. He also explores the relationship of U.S. stations to Canadian markets, where stations are more highly regulated. If you’ve ever wondered why radio is different along the border, you’re curiosity will be satisfied.

This episode was originally recorded and aired in September of 2019 as episode #212

• Radio World: Goat Gland Man Has Enduring Appeal; Though His Remains Are Safely Entombed in Memphis, Dr. Brinkley’s Legend Lives on
• Wide Open Country: How Border Radio Helped Popularize Country Music
• Texas State Historical Association: Border Radio
• SpectacularOptical: Clap for the Wolfman
• The Classic CKLW Page
• Wolfman Jack biography
• Wikipedia: XEROK-AM

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 preserve this heritage. Her interest in radio was sparked at WYSO-FM in Yellow Springs, Ohio, a station founded by college students which won a grant to digitize and protect its archives which were maintained for decades almost by benign neglect. Robinson created a radio show for WYSO, pulling from this rich store of historical recordings, called “Rediscovered Radio.” The experience prompted her to widen the search to HBCUs.

In this we explore the reasons why relatively few college and university stations have active archival and preservation programs, how station licenses are “an institutional asset” and the cultural shift that has turned us all into documentarians.

• WYSO’s Rediscovered Radio
• The Chronicle of Higher Education: Saving History at College Radio Stations, One Tape at a Time
• National Recording Preservation Foundation: National Recording Preservation Foundation Distributes $50,000 in 4 Grants for Audio Preservation
• Union College: Making waves: Race, radio and the legacy of Wendell King ‘24
• Black Perspectives: The Race to Preserve African American Radio

Feature image integrates image by @ingoshulz from Unsplash

The post Podcast #232 – Documenting & Preserving Radio at HBCUs appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric Nuzum started NPR’s podcasting

Eric Nuzum is currently a consultant

On Radio Survivor today we talk to Eric Nuzum about how he began his career in radio at a college station – his advice for community radio stations when it comes to podcasting and where to begin when you plan to start a new podcast project to give you the best chance to reach the audience you are seeking.

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 of all types of podcasts will be part of the collection, including the Radio Survivor Podcast.

• Library of Congress
• Artist in the Archive: Be the Bit (Library of Congress)
• Podcast #167 – Alternative Histories of Podcasting
• Podcast #186 – African-American Preachers on Wax
• Podcast #221 – The Intertwined History of Radio and the Recording Industry
• Preserve this Podcast

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 Act’s provisions amount to “unfunded mandates,” requiring the FCC to make semi-annual sweeps in pirate radio hotspots, but without any additional budget. John joins the show to details all of the PIRATE Act’s provisions, and assess what effect they may have.

We also analyze the role of unlicensed radio stations in their communities –recently recognized by even the Boston Globe – and what effect, if any, the Act might have on Part 15, legal unlicensed broadcasters.

• Boston Globe: Give Radio Pirates a Chance to Go Legit
• The PIRATE Act text
• The PIRATE Act was sponsored by former New York Rep. Chris Collins who was just sentenced to prison for insider trading
• Part 15 Lab: A Look Back at KENC 1620 AM, Stayton, OR
• Internet Archive Wayback Machine: Allston-Brighton Free Radio
• Internet Archive Wayback Machine: Boston Globe article on Allston-Brighton Free Radio’s Part 15 network

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 Radio and support from the new College Radio Foundation. That all adds up to the defensible declaration that it was also the biggest growth decade for college radio, too. We unpack all that happened.

Digging further into our second “Decade in Review” episode, Jennifer also looks at how efforts to preserve radio programming and materials stepped up, seen most prominently with the founding of the Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force. On that subject, we’re pleased to report that this show has been selected for collection by the Library of Congress as part of a new podcast program. We’ll talk to the manager of the Podcast Preservation Project on next week’s show.

Finally, we also dig into how video, and YouTube specifically, has become radio, in many ways. A picture may be required, but what does it matter if it’s the audio that’s most important?

But, wait, there’s more! Find out how Jerry Lee Lewis fuels a discussion of border blasters, the tempestuous relationship between radio and the record industry through times of both war and peace in some bonus content that didn’t fit into this episode. Our Patreon supporters can hear this bonus episode, and so can you for a gift of just $1 a month.

• More College Radio than Ever in the 2010s as it Takes New Forms
• Preservation is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• Podcast #207 – Building More Communities Around Your Station
• Is YouTube the Home of the New Radio Pirates?

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 period for a lesser-known type of radio station, that isn’t officially even radio. We’re talking about FrankenFM TV stations that can be heard on the FM dial. Not remotely as numerous as low-power FMs, they nevertheless increased in number.

We also note the cataclysmic shifts in independent internet radio that went largely unnoticed outside specialist press (and Radio Survivor). Though indie stations, and platforms supporting those stations, still exist, an unknown number were effectively forced to shut down.

Still, at the end of the decade, there are substantially more radio stations on the air than ten years ago. Not bad for a dying medium, eh? Next week, in part two, we dig into the decade in college radio, and dig deeper into the convergence of radio and video.

• The Greatest Flowering of Community Radio in History Happened in the 2010s
• Podcast #67 – New Community Radio in Borneo
• Podcast #103 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina
• Podcast #198 – Defending Human Rights with Radio in Honduras
• Podcast #170 – Community Radio in Brazil
• The Near-Death of Independent Internet Radio Is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• The Rise and Possible Fall of FrankenFMs Is One of the Most Important Radio Trends of the Decade
• Understanding Radio in the Popular Zeitgeist – An Analysis of Radio Survivor’s Most Popular Posts of the Decade 2010 – 2019

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.

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 and John Walsh tell us about this rich history, in which some of the biggest stations broadcast with multi kilowatts of power, with listeners as far away as London and Wales. Stations ran the gamut, from these high-powered “super pirates” which often emulated American commercial radio to hobbyist broadcasters and community radio. Some of the Irish pirate radio stations were extremely political, focusing on the Irish language, or political prisoners. One station was a feminist pirate where only women’s voices were broadcast. While the scene came to an official end when the Irish government passed a new law with more severe penalties, these pirate stations helped to force open the country’s airwaves to non-governmental radio, which had a monopoly for more than fifty years.

Little known outside of Ireland, this hidden history is a must-listen for radio historians, enthusiasts and nerds of all stripes.

We went down several pirate radio wormholes that we couldn’t fit into this episode. Supporters of Radio Survivor can hear that extra material in Bonus Episode #178.5 right now on Patreon.

Not a patron? Sign up now for as little as a $1 a month and you can get access to this episode and even more great bonus content.

• Irish Pirate Radio Archive
• Flirt FM
• Wireless on Flirt FM
• Wireless of Flirt FM #26: Highlights of the Pirate Radio Archive to date
• Radio.ie
• Radio Station Field Trip 18 – Flirt FM in Galway, Ireland
• “The 1988 closedown: How a legal loophole led to an explosion in Irish pirate radio“

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 Waits reports that she’s listening to more terrestrial radio than ever, even as she notes that college broadcasters are making more podcasts, often focused on increasing the diversity of voices in audio media.

Paul Riismandel notes that the comeback of physical audio media is reaching a kind of apotheosis, as he’s received word of a new Minidisc Day coming our way in 2020, inspired by the likes of Record Store Day and Cassette Store Day. It seems all audio and radio tech is good as we close out the second decade of the 21st century.

• Beloved paranoid community: the meaning of Welcome to Night Vale
• KSQD-FM Santa Cruz, CA – The Squid
• Technician: MargRock highlights underrepresented local artists
• Podcast #221 – The Intertwined History of the Radio and Recording Industries
• Reddit: International Minidisc Day – March 7th 2020

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 Minnesota, joins us to discuss what another broadcast world might look like. Going back to fundamentals, he explains that media ownership rules are expected to serve the objectives of furthering diversity, localism and competition, and that is the standard against which they are judged. The Third Circuit has ruled again and again that the Commission has failed to provide evidence that rules changes – in the face of 23 years of increased consolidation, reduced localism and a dwindling number of women and minority station owners – would stem this tide.

While these seem like difficult trends to reverse, Prof. Terry thinks that a recent FCC policy initiative might actually work, with just a few modifications. He tells us how this could happen. He also fills us in on the status of Network Neutrality as public interest petitioners file their appeals in the appeals court case that upheld the Commission’s reversal of the 2015 Open Internet rules.

• “Localism as a Solution to Market Failure: Helping the FCC Comply with the Telecommunications Act” by Christopher Terry
• The FCC’s Score in Media Ownership Policy is 0 – 4
• Podcast #199 – The FCC Is ‘Flunking Statistics 101’
• Podcast #214 – Net Neutrality Is a Local Issue Now
• Wikipedia: National Cable & Telecommunications Ass’n v. Brand X Internet Services
• Ars Technica: FCC’s “illogical” claim that broadband isn’t telecommunications faces appeal

The post Podcast #224: How the FCC Could Support Diversity, Localism & Competition in Radio & TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.