Radio Survivor Podcast

Inspired by an episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, we travel all the way to Antarctica to learn about mysterious community radio station, Ice Radio. Sadly, we learned of Anthony Bourdain’s death on the day that we recorded this episode. Ice Radio is the latest iteration of a radio station that began more than 50 […] The post Podcast #146 – Volunteer Radio from Antarctica appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Hip-Hop Radio Archive aims to digitize, preserve, share, and contextualize recordings of hip-hop radio from the 1980s and 1990s from commercial, college, community, and pirate stations of all sizes, telling the stories of the shows and the people that made them. Our guest is founder of the archive, Ryan MacMichael. Radio Survivor is a […] The post Podcast #145 – Hip-Hop Radio Archive appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Applications for 1,000 translator radio stations may pose a threat to low-power FM stations, say three community radio groups. So the groups filed informal objections against all of them, slowing down the FCC’s processing of these applications. This move has sparked controversy within the radio industry. The Center for International Media Action, Common Frequency, Inc. […] The post Podcast #144 – Standing Up for LPFM’s Slice of the Pie appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The future of all communications is at stake, explains Tim Karr, Senior Director of Strategy and Communications for Free Press. On May 15 the Senate voted to restore Net Neutrality by overturning the FCC’s decision to undo the 2015 Open Internet order. Now the fight turns to the House. While victory is uncertain, Karr says […] The post Podcast #143 – The Fight for an Open Internet Advances on Many Fronts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Kanye West and Common had an epic freestyle rap battle on WHPK. That’s just one reason why the University of Chicago’s station is interesting and historic. Jennifer Waits takes us on a virtual tour of the studios, located in an actual working bell tower. Jennifer, Eric and Paul also discuss how college radio has played […] The post Podcast #142 – Touring WHPK’s Bell Tower & YouTube’s ‘Pirate Radio’ appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Musician, DJ and radio artist Don Joyce passed away nearly three years ago, leaving behind a voluminous archive of his unparalelled collage radio program “Over the Edge.” The documentary “How Radio Isn’t Done” sheds light on this member of Negativland, his life and his work in recontextualizing the never-ending flow of media messages that flood […] The post Podcast #141 – How Radio Isn’t Done, According To Negativland’s Don Joyce appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Our first live episode might just blow your mind. Recorded at the Alliance for Community Media Northwest Summit, it’s time to break down barriers between media platforms. That’s we’re tackling podcasting and virtual reality, and how they relate to social justice and equity. Our guests are writer, artist, teacher and activist Reagan Jackson and Sandy […] The post Podcast #140 – From Podcasting to Virtual Reality, with Reagan Jackson and Sandy Cioffi appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Sinclair Group is already the largest TV owner by far in the U.S. and its editorial content makes it essentially a propaganda arm of the Trump Administration. Will the F.C.C. under Trump succeed in bending media ownership rules to allow Sinclair to grow to twice its current size? Under President Obama, the F.C.C allowed […] The post Podcast #139 – Sinclair and the FCC: Opening the Door to Local Media Oligopoly appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We visit the “On The Radio” exhibit on radio history at the San Francisco Airport Museum, where travelers can feast their eyes on 27 cases full of historical items related to radio’s past, ranging from 1920s crystal radios to 1970s novelty radios. Jennifer chats with exhibit curator Daniel Calderon and California Historical Radio Society President […] The post Podcast #138 – Radio History on Display at the San Francisco Airport appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Zach Poff put a radio station inside a pond. Poff is a media artist, educator and maker-of-things, and he explains that project and talks about making art with radio technology and listening to sound art. Show Notes Zach Poff’s Pond Station is broadcasting live during the day-light hours from just below the surface of a […] The post Podcast #137 – Zach Poff Built a Radio Station Inside a Pond appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Jennifer Waits takes us on tours of two storied college stations, with deep roots in their communities. WIIT-FM is the student station at the Illinois Institute of Technology, housed in the modern Rem Koolhaas designed McCormick Tribune Campus Center situated at the intersection of Chicago’s Bronzeville and Bridgeport neighborhoods. WKCR is Columbia University’s station, with […] The post Podcast #136 – Storied College Stations WIIT & WKCR appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Women made significant contributions to the initial development of podcasting that have been forgotten. Historian Jennifer Hyland-Wang has been resurfacing these contributions, and drawing parallels with women’s contributions to the formative years of radio. She joins us on this episode to share this history and examine the ways in which the structural biases of the […] The post Podcast #135 – Resurfacing Women’s Contributions in Podcasting History appeared first on Radio Survivor.

KRAB was the fourth-ever community radio station in the U.S., serving Seattle, WA from 1962 to 1984. Like any community station, it broadcast thousands of hours of original and important programming during that time, documenting important social movements and voices not heard, or not heard clearly, in mainstream media. Former volunteer and board member Chuck […] The post Podcast #134 – The KRAB-FM Archives appeared first on Radio Survivor.

There are more unlicensed pirate radio stations in New York City than licensed stations. The borough of Brooklyn is a particular hotspot. Producer and journalist David Goren has been researching and recording these stations so that their ephemeral nature isn’t lost to history. To help preserve this legacy and make it accessible to a wider […] The post Podcast #133 – Preserving Brooklyn Pirate Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

How often do you think about how you listen? What assumptions do you make about a person’s voice, their pitch or accent? What sound is desirable, and what’s rejected as noise? Prof. Jennifer Stoever thinks about these questions, a lot. And so do a growing number of scholars working in a field called Sound Studies. […] The post Podcast #132 – Sounding Out on the Cultural Politics of Sound & Listening appeared first on Radio Survivor.

What if you could record your podcast at your local library, for free? In British Columbia, the Vancouver Public Library and West Vancouver Memorial let you do just that. And much more. Both libraries provide studio space, tools and instruction for creating podcasts, radio, videos and other forms of community media. But there’s more to it […] The post Podcast #131 – Libraries and Community Media appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Portland community radio station KBOO-FM celebrates its 50th year on air in 2018, and to commemorate the anniversary the station is hosting an exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society Museum. While an exhibit seems simple enough on the surface, in fact a lot of time, thought and work goes into curating the artifacts and narrative […] The post Podcast #130 – How To Preserve 50 Years of Community Radio History appeared first on Radio Survivor.

If you’re a hearing person, you might not expect that podcasts would be popular with people who are deaf or are hard of hearing. But you’d be wrong. Miri Josephs is a podcaster who also considers herself part of the deaf community. She joins this episode to explain why it’s important to make podcasts, and […] The post Podcast #129 – Deaf Accessibility for Podcasts & Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The nation’s largest TV station owner is about to get even bigger, threatening to create the equivalent of Clear Channel for local television. New ownership rules passed by the FCC’s Republican majority in November are set to take effect Feb. 7, paving the way for Sinclair Broadcast Group to acquire Tribune television stations. Prof. Christopher […] The post Podcast #128 – The FCC Is Creating the Clear Channel of TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“Franken FM” is the name writer Ernie Smith of Tedium.co calls TV broadcasters who use analog Channel 6 to be heard at 87.7 on the FM dial. Paul talks with Ernie about their mutual fascination with these stations, which Paul has written about extensively on Radio Survivor. Also included in the interview, Ernie Smith explains […] The post Podcast #127 – Franken-FMs Are Low-Power TV Stations Masquerading as Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

How do I get a broadcast radio license? How can I find all the LPFM or college radio stations? Will you visit and write about my favorite station? Every week the editors of Radio Survivor receive, and answer, queries like these from readers and listeners. While we enjoy corresponding with people, we thought we shouldn’t […] The post Podcast #126 – We Answer Your Frequently Asked Questions appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Radio Free America is an online hub for community, college and public radio streams, serving up two weeks of archived programming, on demand. Founded by CEO Kenneth Pushkin in 2013, the platform now hosts more than 125 noncommercial stations free of charge. Pushkin and RFA’s station relations manager Jeff Abrams join to explain more about […] The post Podcast #125 – Radio Free America Is an Online Hub for Noncomm Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Eric and Paul met young enthusiastic podcasters and podcast fans when they attended Podcon in Seattle at the beginning of December. It’s almost an understatement to say they were impressed by diversity of the attendees, and their love of radio drama style shows. Your hosts learned a lot (there’s a library with free public podcast […] The post Podcast #124 – Seattle Hosts Young Podcasters & a New LPFM appeared first on Radio Survivor.

2017 was a year of ups and downs, from the continued growth of LPFM to the loss of net neutrality. All four Radio Survivors gather to review the year that was, assessing what happened in college radio, community radio and podcasting, with stops along the way in Istanbul, conspiracy theories and classical music. Jennifer, Matthew, […] The post Podcast #123 – 2017 in Review: The Good, the Bad & the Conspiracy Theories appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Anita Pouchard Serra traveled across Argentina helping to set up new community radio stations with the DTL! collective. A photojournalist, she also documented the building of these stations, that are officially unlicensed, but operate in the spirit of a communications law that passed, but never went into effect. Anita joins to tell us about this […] The post Podcast #122 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Why didn’t the internet just stop working the day after the FCC voted to end network neutrality? Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins to answer that question, and explain what happens next. He also lays out where is the fight over internet freedom going next, and what the real threat is for […] The post Podcast #121 – What Happens After Net Neutrality; Open Signal Public Access TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.

First conceived in the 1930s, there is a type of tiny little radio station that anyone can operate legally, without a license. Bill DeFelice of HobbyBroadcaster.net joins the show to tell us about so-called ‘Part 15’ radio stations, and how you can get on the air today, to broadcast around your house, or even your […] The post Podcast #120 – Have Your Own Tiny Radio Station appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Chicago Independent Radio Project launched as an internet radio station nearly a decade ago, with a mission of bringing a truly independent music- and arts-focused community radio station to Chicago. Thanks to the Local Community Radio Act, which allowed the growth of low-power FM stations in the nation’s biggest cities—and a lot of hard […] The post Podcast #119 – Chicago Independent Radio Project appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The FCC is about to vote on rules that would reverse network neutrality protections that the Commission put in place just two years ago. The terms of this rollback were released right before Thanksgiving, and represent the FCC effectively abdicating its role in guaranteeing the free flow of information on the internet. Prof. Christoper Terry […] The post Podcast #118 – Making Sense of the FCC’s Effort to Kill Net Neutrality appeared first on Radio Survivor.

“Podcasts are luring people into listening,” Jennifer Waits reports, quoting the esteemed radio scholar Susan Douglas, from her keynote address at the recent Radio Preservation Task Force conference in Washington DC. Jennifer also relays some important reasons for studying radio history shared at the conference, especially to help understand the present and plan for the […] The post Podcast #117 – Soundwork: Preserving the Legacy of Radio, Podcasts (& Alice’s Restaurant) appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We’ve talked about community podcasting on the show, now we want to connect the dots to community radio. The apparent ubiquity of public radio podcasts makes it seem like a podcast of a radio show is just automatic. But, in fact, turning terrestrial shows into consistent podcasts requires work and thoughtful planning behind the scenes. […] The post Podcast #116 – Community Podcasting in Community Radio appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Federal Communications Commission just proposed new ownership rules that would drastically loosen restrictions on broadcast station ownership limits. Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins us again to help understand this proposal, and the threat to local journalism and broadcasting. He argues that it has be viewed in an historical context, with […] The post Podcast #115 – The Federal Consolidation Commission appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Journalism professor John Anderson has been tracking the FCC’s enforcement of unlicensed radio for 20 years, and has seen the agency have little success, despite the periodic uptick in policing the airwaves, such as we’re seeing now. He suggests there are common sense approaches to managing the FM broadcast spectrum that would address the underlying […] The post Podcast #114 – A Common Sense Approach to Unlicensed Broadcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

At the end of 2015, it looked like the University of Nevada-Las Vegas might hand over the keys to its radio station, KUNV-FM, to Nevada Public Radio. More than a year later the situation reversed course, with the university deciding to keep the station and increase student involvement. Our college radio watcher Jennifer Waits learned […] The post Podcast #113 – Mutual Aid Saves College Radio Station appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Ajit Pai was just renominated and confirmed as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and there are a number of pivotal policy items ahead on his agenda. Our resident FCC watcher, Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota, joins to help us understand what’s in store and what the stakes are. First, he […] The post Podcast #112 – Sinclair Could Become the Wal-Mart of TV appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Rob Quicke founded College Radio Day in order to celebrate this unique medium and service. This year’s College Radio Day happens Oct. 6. Now in its seventh year, the celebration has spread globally with hundreds of stations participating. Quicke, who is also the GM of WPSC-FM at William Paterson University, joins to share the story […] The post Podcast #111 – Celebrating College Radio Day 2017 appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Grassroots Radio Conference is an annual meeting of community, college and other non-commercial radio stations for the purpose of skill-sharing, training and strengthening ties. We talk with Caitlin Reading, a LPFM station startup specialist who is helping to organize this year’s GRC, happening Oct. 6 – 9 at WCAA-LP in Albany, NY, to learn […] The post Podcast #110 – Grassroots Radio Conference Preview appeared first on Radio Survivor.

As autumn kicks off in the northern hemisphere Jennifer, Eric and Paul circle back to share responses to last week’s episode, all about community podcasting, and look forward to what’s in store for community media this fall. Jennifer lets us know about two international festivals being broadcast by her home station KFJC, and reports on […] The post Podcast #109 – News From Bainbridge Island to Reykjavík appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Zahra Noorbakhsh and Tanzila ‘Taz’ Ahmed started using the #GoodMuslimBadMuslim hashtag as a joke on twitter. When they started a podcast using the same name it became an instant hit. They were getting positive press coverage before they had even recorded their first episode. Zahra joins to discuss the show, and the things she has […] The post Podcast #108 – Advice for Launching a Hit Podcast appeared first on Radio Survivor.

On this episode we revisit our features on Bainbridge Community Broadcasting, and our interviews with founders Barry and Channie Peters. BCB started out as a low-power community radio initiative, but pivoting into podcasting when the group discovered that would better serve their community. We’ll listen to our first conversation with them from July 2015, and […] The post Podcast #107 – Exploring Community Podcasting appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Paul reports back from the Podcast Movement 2017 conference with some fresh facts about this growing medium, along with observations and advice from speakers and keynotes. There are definitely nuggets of information that will be useful to community and college podcasters and podcasters. Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast. You can support us two ways: Make […] The post Podcast #106 – Not Yet Big Enough to Fail appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The Princeton Review’s annual list of top college radio stations is out, and college radio expert Jennifer Waits joins to deconstruct the list, its methodology, and the notion of “best” college radio stations in the first place. Then Paul talks with Ed Hadley, who has been producing the overnight radio show “Incoming Wounded” on community […] The post Podcast #105 – From the Princeton Review to Incoming Wounded appeared first on Radio Survivor.

We catch up on news that’s important to podcasters and broadcasters. Soundcloud received emergency investment to keep running, but is it still a sustainable host for podcasts? The podcast patent troll is totally dead, finally. And, responding to reader and listener questions, Paul reviews the history of proposals to create a low-power AM radio service […] The post Podcast #104 – Soundcloud, Patent Troll & the Legacy of Talk appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Anita Pouchard Serra traveled across Argentina helping to set up new community radio stations with the DTL! collective. A photojournalist, she also documented the building of these stations, that are officially unlicensed, but operate in the spirit of a communications law that passed, but never went into effect. Anita joins to tell us about this […] The post Podcast #103 – The Popular Community Radio Movement in Argentina appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Sally Kane, CEO of the National Federation Community Broadcasters, has a question for community media: How inclusive are we, really? That’s the jumping off point for our conversation with Sally and her colleague Ernesto Aguilar, as they report back from the NFCB 2017 Conference, held in Denver, CO July 17 – 19. We discuss the […] The post Podcast #102 – How Inclusive Is Community Media, Really? appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Racist Sandwich is a Portland, Oregon based podcast that tackles the intersection of food, race, class and gender. Started by journalist Zahir Janmohamed and chef Soleil Ho, both with no prior podcasting experience, the show has received recommendations from outlets like the CBC and The New York Times. Zahir joins us to talk about learning […] The post Podcast #101 – Racist Sandwich appeared first on Radio Survivor.

The four Radio Survivors—Jennifer Waits, Matthew Lasar, Eric Klein and Paul Riismandel—come together to reflect on 100 episodes of the podcast, and 8 years of Radio Survivor, sharing some favorite moments, and some thoughts about the future of community media. Importantly, Matthew observes that “radio is dead” articles and think-pieces have subsided as of late, […] The post Podcast #100 – It’s All Radio Now appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Brazil is embarking on a grand experiment with the radio dial. AM stations have the opportunity to relocate to FM, and plans are afoot to expand the size of the FM dial. However, don’t be surprised that you haven’t heard about it. We hadn’t either until listener Álvaro Burns brought it to our attention. Álvaro […] The post Podcast #99: The Beginning Of The End For AM Radio In Brazil appeared first on Radio Survivor.

With so much of the online discussion in podcasting seeming to focus on growing audiences and getting big, we thought it necessary to explore and celebrate “small” podcasting, shows that don’t break onto the charts, but have dedicated audiences. If we celebrate small business and small craft breweries, why not celebrate small podcasts? Eric talks […] The post Podcast #98 – Celebrating ‘Small’ Podcasts appeared first on Radio Survivor.

Intrepid radio tourist Jennifer Waits reports back from her journey to PhillyCAM radio in the City of Brotherly Love, adding a low-power FM station, WPPM-LP, to an established public access TV operation. Following up on episode #96 we catch up on the latest smart speaker research and Jennifer shares news about two college stations sold […] The post Podcast #97: PhillyCAM’s LPFM in the City of Brotherly Love appeared first on Radio Survivor.