The Radio Survivors return with a new episode! For this edition, recorded in July, 2022, our guest is Lori Emerson, Founding Director of the Media Archaeology Lab (the MAL). She’s also an Associate Professor in the English Department and Director of the Intermedia Arts, Writing, and Performance Program at University of Colorado at Boulder. Lori joins us to chat about her current research into “other networks” and her work at the Media Archaeology Lab, which she started in 2009. Full of media from the past (computers, phones, radios, recording devices, books and more), the MAL “is a place for cross-disciplinary, experimental research, teaching, and creative practice using one of the largest collections in the world of still functioning media.” In our discussion, we also explore technology history, talk about Lori’s recent broadcasting experiments, and learn about the ways that experimental poetry is connected with vintage computers. Show Notes: * Lori Emerson‘s website* Other Networks exploration on Lori’s website* Media Archaeology Lab website* Lori Emerson’s Twitter* Sarah Grant, “Plant Nodes”* Danja Vasiliev, “Netless“* Emulated versions of bpNichol’s“First Screening” (1982-83, written in Apple Basic for Apple IIe)* One Laptop Per Child Mesh Network Wiki* libi striegl and Lori Emerson article “Anarchive as technique in the Media Archaeology Lab | building a one Laptop Per Child mesh network” (PDF download, requires Academia.edu registration) Show Credits: * This episode was produced by Jennifer Waits* Hosted by Jennifer Waits and Paul Riismandel* Edited by Eric Klein
On this week’s program, we turn our attention to the history of industrial music – not the noisy music genre – but music played in industrial settings for workers. A variety of services offered (and still offer) background music for workplaces. Muzak and the RCA Plant Broadcasting System are just a few of the products that were sold to companies in the hopes of increasing morale and/or efficiency. Our guest, Alix Hui is associate professor of History at Mississippi State University and has been studying the history of industrial music systems, as well as background music generally. Show Notes: * Alexandra Hui profile at Mississippi State University website* Alix’s paper at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference: “Laboring Sound: Industrial Music Systems, Worker Morale, and Pan-Aural Listening”* Walter Van Dyke Bingham, industrial psychologist (Wikipedia)* Muzak history (Wikipedia)* Mood Media website* Attention K-Mart Shoppers: K-Mart radio/audio collection on Arc...
The annual Infinite Dial survey from Edison Research was recently released, showing what people in the US are listening to, and where. It even includes social media platforms like TikTok, which Eric observes young people often use like radio, playing in the background as they go about daily activities. We review the stats, and also get into the FCC’s latest count of radio stations. Spoiler alert: there are more than ever. Jennifer shares her recent visit to the Pyrite Radio art installation, featuring radios using fool’s gold as their crystal. Show Notes: * Edison Research Infinite Dial 2022* FCC Broadcast Stations Totals for Q1 2022* For comparison, Radio Station Totals for Q1 2012* Jennifer’s dispatch on Pyrite Radio for Hii Magazine
The Radio Survivors return to their microphones to review what’s new in radio. Of course, the Russian invasion of Ukraine hangs heavy over our heads, and we review how the international community is leveraging radio to delivery needed communications and information to Ukrainians, as well as how radio is attempting to serve the Ukrainian diaspora. Unfortunately, independent voices inside Russia are also being repressed. March is Women’s History Month, and the 8th is International Women’s Day. Jennifer participated in a special panel on “Gender Dynamics and Industry Barriers in Podcasting, Broadcasting, and Beyond,” airing on affiliate station XRAY.fm in Portland, Oregon. We also touch on the Franken FMs that refuse to die, the anticipated LPFM application window, and SPIN magazine’s coverage of ICE FM at Antarctica’s McMurdo Station. Show Notes * XRAY’s 5th Annual Amplify Women Teach-In* Polish Radio 1 is serving news to Ukraine witha Ukrainian-language news broadcaston longw...
Your host Eric Klein has dug deep into some personal radio archives to produce this week’s episode.
As the year and semester draws to a close, we get real on this week’s episode and talk about work, burnout, volunteer labor, and how podcasting is not immune to the everyday stressors and challenges that we are all feeling right about now! Two of our favorite scholars, Jennifer Lynn Stoever and Hannah McGregor,join us to lend their perspectives on the work of podcasting and sound studies. We touch on the often-under acknowledged labor behind this work, discuss ways to create personal boundaries around work expectations, and learn about the concept of “hope labor.” Jennifer Lynn Stoever is an Associate Professor of English at Binghamton University, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sounding Out!: The Sound Studies Blog, and the author of The Sonic Color Line. Hannah McGregor is Assistant Professor of Publishing at Simon Fraser University as well as co-director of the Amplify Podcast Network and co-creator of Witch, Please, a feminist podcast on the world of Harry Potter. Show Note...
On the show this week, we explore one of our favorite topics: college radio history. Our guest, Andreas Preuss, just completed a multi-faceted project about student radio station WRAS at Georgia State University in Atlanta for his master’s thesis: Left of the Dial: Right on the Music: 50 Years of Georgia State FM Radio. We dig into various aspects of the station’s past, as well as Preuss’ interesting path to this project, having worked in college radio in the past as well as in commercial media for decades. Show Notes: * College radio station WRAS-FM at Georgia State University* Left of the Dial: Right on the Music: 50 Years of Georgia State FM Radio (MA thesis)* From R.E.M. to GPB, A Student Documents the Bittersweet History of College Radio Powerhouse WRAS (Saporta Report) * Radio Survivor coverage of WRAS/GPB programming takeover and protests circa 2014-2015* Tulane University radio station WTUL-FM in New Orleans* Shortwave radio station WRNO (Wikipedia)* WRNO Worldwide websit...
Few topics create as much anxiety at college and community radio stations – not to mention many a commercial radio morning show – than broadcast indecency. Since the dawn of broadcast regulation in the US there have been legal restrictions on the kind of speech that may be broadcast on the public airwaves, with a particular focus on the topics of sexual and excretory functions. Yet, for all the worrying and fretting, for much of history there hasn’t been much action by the FCC. And even when there were more fines and actions, the actual number was still relatively small. Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins us to help unravel this history and set the record straight. First we have to define what “indecency” is, because the specific definition used for broadcast enforcement is not necessarily aligned with the common sense definition, nor is it the same as “obscenity,” which has it’s own particular legal definition. Just because some might call a word...
On this week’s show, we return to the topic of hip-hop on the radio. While on Radio Survivor, we typically focus on non-commercial radio, like college and community stations; in this episode we look at why certain types of commercial radio stations were important to the growth in popularity of hip-hop music. Our guest, Amy Coddington, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Music at Amherst College and is writing a book about the history of hip-hop on commercial radio. Show Notes: * Amy Coddington’s website* Podcast #145: Hip-Hop Radio Archive with guest Ryan MacMichael* Podcast #152: The Longest Running Hip-Hop Radio Show in the World? with guest DJ A-L* Community radio station KGNU is home to The Eclipse Show* Racial Formation in the United States by Michael Omi and Howard Winant* Backstory on “Walk this Way” from the Atlantic: “How Aerosmith and Run-DMC Begrudgingly Made a Masterpiece”* Power 106 Los Angeles radio station * Jason Tanz wrote the book: Other People’s Pro...
The Fairness Doctrine – a Federal Communications Commission rule that’s been out of commission since the 20th century – just doesn’t seem to die, at least in the minds of politicians, the press and much of the public. Politicos of many political stripes trot out its specter as a bogeyman any time its convenient, while efforts to regulate online speech draw inevitable comparisons. According to Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota, that’s because people fundamentally misunderstand what the Fairness Doctrine was, why it existed, and what it did. Often assumed to be a mandate for “equal time” for opposing positions, it was both more nuanced and less prescriptive. Moreover, the FCC’s interpretation and enforcement evolved over the years, from its first formulation in 1949, until its death in the 1980s. Prof. Terry is here to set the record straight, explaining the rationale, history and actual life of the Fairness Doctrine. He also details why it was, and woul...