tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372581982012-01-26T23:58:42.921-08:00Musings, thoughts, advice and practical knowledge about things like running a college radio station, things at public radio/NPR, living in Boston/Santa Barbara, radio engineering, why the weather sucks, audio production, webcasting, the MBTA, the CATS, the RTS and the Red Sox. Maybe commercial &amp; satellite radio will sneak in, too. <br><br><strong> ENGINEER'S CREED: You can have it fast, cheap, or good quality...pick two!</strong>Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comBlogger2101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-71132554532248317292011-12-19T09:00:00.000-08:002011-12-21T00:28:18.625-08:00

I've mentioned before that I'm a big believer in that the only way a "college radio" station can be sure to prevent a sale of its FCC license (by its parent institution) is to be fiscally self-sufficient.   It's hard for an administration to claim they're saving money via a sale when you're not costing them any money in the first place.  And, by definition, if you're bringing money in the

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-87424313746491703622011-12-08T09:00:00.000-08:002012-01-09T21:54:31.547-08:00

The past 18 months have not been kind to college radio. Their budgets battered by the Great Recession, we've seen colleges and universities experiencing a sea change in their attitudes towards their radio licenses.  Instead of being viewed as something that would never be sold, some are electing to sell with little to no public warning to the students or station staff, and sometimes even when a

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-78541450958780884722011-12-04T16:29:00.000-08:002012-01-13T00:21:04.729-08:00

The Beast!   (pic is near Thousand Palms, CA) In August of 2011, my wife and I moved from Canandaigua NY (the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, near Rochester) to Santa Barbara CA.  We loaded everything into a 24-ft long Penske truck, put the Toyota on a trailer towed behind, and set off on a 3,072 mile journey that would entail five days of driving through a 100+ degree heat wave. On

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-77249805259366491582011-12-01T11:02:00.001-08:002011-12-01T14:11:05.408-08:00

"Here & Now" host Robin Young busking in Harvard Square T Stop Public radio is, by and large, considered to be a "very serious" media outlet.  It's an image that most public radio outlets, and NPR et al, work hard to maintain.  It works very well for them; means people trust the content they hear. But it ALSO means that when public radio decides to poke fun at itself, it can work really,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-43643541638120136552011-11-28T13:17:00.001-08:002011-11-28T14:17:56.531-08:00

Today I've got two ways you can engage your audience; get them to be more active participants in your station and, both directly and by example, increase your fundraising totals as engaged listeners are more likely to be donating listeners. On-Air Holiday "Shout Outs" or Greetings. Listener Calendar Contests. More, after the break... First, is timely, simple and easy:  holiday "

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-20188227336371291302011-11-17T15:01:00.001-08:002011-11-17T15:49:29.131-08:00

The timing is undoubtedly due to the publicity given the National EAS Test earlier this month, but now the hacker group Anonymous is claiming that they plan to "take over" radio stations via EAS, by exploiting the lack of security inherent to the system.   The attitude seems to be half showing solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movements, half trying to call attention to a glaring security

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-75179525058755433442011-11-16T16:00:00.000-08:002011-11-17T15:49:46.153-08:00

Just a little reminder to my readers that in my spare time I also serve as "syndication lackey" for the weekly arts-and-culture public radio show: Out of Bounds with Tish Pearlman and if you're interested in carrying the show on your station, it's available for free via the Public Radio Exchange here:  http://www.prx.org/group/oob On a related note, you may also be interested in reading my

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-68637114417847217152011-11-14T20:55:00.001-08:002011-11-17T14:56:14.471-08:00

While I'm specifically talking about radio remote broadcasting options for sports, most of this info can be used for any remote broadcast.  And I do recommend that for most college radio stations: don't stay hiding in the studio - get out and do a weekly live broadcast from the student center for a few hours...it's totally worth it. Note: this is a written version of a presentation I often give

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-75452738288998785992011-11-11T10:19:00.000-08:002011-11-17T15:01:20.008-08:00

Was the November 9th National EAS Test a qualified success or a total failure? Like most things in life, it kinda depends on your point of view. First, the system itself did indeed fail during the test.  The final tally will take weeks, but there are tons of anecdotal reports that most stations did receive the data tones, but did not receive proper audio.   Early reports indicate that a loop of

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-16197519005138217892011-11-08T04:00:00.000-08:002011-11-28T14:10:15.916-08:00

Especially the Lies. Bashir: What I want to know is, out of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't? Garak: My dear doctor...they're all true. Bashir: Even the lies? Garak: Especially the lies. (I admit it, I'm an incurable Trekkie) Much like my hairline, I'm going to go a little bald with this post:  I think it's time that college radio stations stop lying

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-11857700034496917982011-11-01T16:00:00.000-07:002011-11-28T14:12:40.202-08:00

Wow. This article from the Boston Globe really brings it home. We've all known for a few years now that AM Radio, as a medium, was slipping badly. Traditional cornerstones of AM formats...sports and talk...were losing market share, and several major AM signals were electing to simulcast on an FM station and seeing positive results. At the same time, we're also seeing a lot of traditional AM

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-23717905175072674062011-05-08T21:20:00.002-07:002011-11-28T14:17:31.021-08:00

One of the trophies It's amazing how much the littlest things can have such a big impact on student volunteers. Two years now at WHWS I've given our student volunteers...the ones who have done more than "just" been an on-air DJ...little trophies. I've meant to get around to holding real "superlative" contests where all the students can vote on fake titles for each trophy, but never really

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-88985738698581626132010-04-23T11:52:00.002-07:002010-04-23T11:57:22.147-07:00

Upon seeing this news about the Cactus Club potentially being taken over by KUT, I find myself wondering how could it possibly NOT be an awesome idea to "franchise" the World Cafe Live venue that operates adjacent to, and in conjunction with, WXPN in Philadelphia.I've long hoped that the first "franchise" of WCL would be in Ithaca, NY...even though extensive discussions with WCL manager Hal Real

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-62512107981718411092009-08-30T13:19:00.002-07:002009-08-30T13:29:07.953-07:00

Does anyone really think that Jenna Bush Hager would be getting a job as correspondent for NBC's Today show if she weren't the daughter of a former US President?Anyone? Anyone at all?Yeah, didn't think so.And actually, that could well be a horribly unfair judgment. Having done a little work on both sides of this particular aisle, I know there are lots of young newshounds out there that are

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-68918006707522563272009-08-25T08:55:00.004-07:002009-08-25T09:06:36.662-07:00

Okay, so I will reserve a little judgment on this, since all I know is what the Boston Globe reported. But this story about how McDonald's "tricked" a class of Boston University students into being in a coffee commercial just gets my blood boiling. Here's the money shot, almost literally:After the commercial was taped, students featured in the ad signed a release so that their images could be

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-48110066741710632972009-05-04T09:34:00.004-07:002009-05-09T23:13:40.666-07:00

Okay, I'm intentionally just being a jerk with that title. I admit it. Unfortunately, the residents of Ashley Drive in Brighton are apparently in denial of their jerkiness.So here's the deal: as reported by the Democrat & Chronicle, the residents of Ashley Drive are pissed because people are speeding down the street. The speed limit is 30 MPH. They want to lower it to 25 MPH because they

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-80624021281089385842009-04-16T20:17:00.003-07:002009-04-16T21:18:26.501-07:00

So Jesse Thorn, host of The Sound of Young America, has some uncomfortable truths and he's not afraid to say them pretty bluntly. The "hot tape" in those transcripts? Check this out:My situation is that if I had to choose between losing my (public radio affiliate) stations and losing my direct podcast fundraising, I’d pick the one that would allow me to continue to pay my rent and I would lose

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-68528224420426065582009-04-12T22:03:00.004-07:002009-04-12T22:31:59.053-07:00

Off and on, I've been trying to find the blog post where I first suggested that Boston University ought to buy the Boston Globe, and turn it into a giant mentorship/curriculum. Let the pros stay and do their jobs, but they're all required to take on one or two journalism students as mentors for the semester...maybe for a year (or longer if the student desires).The Globe gets an owner that won't

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-22425626052929125372009-03-30T10:25:00.007-07:002009-04-02T15:55:12.356-07:00

So it was leaked by the Washington Post that NPR hosts Susan Stamberg and Melissa Block are strongly advocating that NPR conduct national-level fund drives. Soon after, NPR President Vivian Schiller downplayed the report...no doubt recognizing the tremendous anger that such a move would cause amongst NPR affiliate stations. Thanks to Current.org for calling attention to the amusingly brief

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-6555630692229304512009-02-18T10:21:00.003-08:002009-02-18T10:28:26.867-08:00

Bruce Theriault writes an excellent commentary today (Feb.18, 2009) about how public radio needs, more than ever, to "fix the problem" of its audience being overwhelming white (82%).Unfortunately, the first solution he cites is Vocalo, the experimental radio project run by WBEZ in Chicago. The same Vocalo that ChicagoBusiness.com wrote an article about on Feb.16th regarding how a lot of WBEZ

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-26187115871224651902009-02-16T11:45:00.005-08:002009-02-16T12:03:38.049-08:00

Okay, Adams isn't really talking about public radio in his excellent blog post today. But the lessons from it can certainly be applied to public radio. Granted, public radio is often far more generous (than commercial media) in "giving time" to shows to let them find an audience and succeed. But I also think that a lot of pubradio shows use that as an excuse to continue bad practices. Think

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-63257425792926292182009-02-15T13:49:00.007-08:002009-04-03T15:47:25.519-07:00

A little while ago I had a rough draft of an article on "how to produce a show for public radio". This wasn't a guide to making good content; it's assumed that your content is interesting and compelling already. If it's not, you're kinda hosed no matter what.Instead, this was a guide for dealing with common...and I mean very common...mistakes that a lot of public radio producers make on a

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-53103512317612056652009-01-19T11:00:00.003-08:002009-01-19T11:08:43.352-08:00

If the service pubcasting provided "was indeed so valuable that we, the American people, could not do without it," writes libertarian blogger J.J. Jackson, "they would not need to beg their government benefactors for a single dime. " God I'm tired of hearing this same, tired, bullcrap argument from the right.First, if "the American people" didn't want their tax dollars...a tiny percentage of

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-11350316321505941192009-01-16T21:20:00.004-08:002009-01-16T21:37:23.832-08:00

Reading Paul Krugman's barely-contained, seething rant that Obama simply must hold inquiries into the (admittedly many) failures and outright abuses by the Bush administration, I had a couple of diametrically-opposed thoughts:Krugman is largely right. If you don't put the smackdown on administrations for pulling this crap, future ones will only get worse. A lot of people forgot that Reagan was

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-38405775419083397692009-01-09T11:17:00.005-08:002009-01-16T18:31:14.719-08:00

My wife and I flew out to Oakland to visit my sister inlaw for Christmas this year. Like any good geek who visits the Bay Area, I made a quick pilgrimage to M5 Industries, Inc...home to the Discovery channel show "Mythbusters". It was 12/26 and a Friday, so unsurprisingly the place was closed. But as the sign on the front door shows, they're not set up for tours anyway.Originally I was thinking

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-38268598385171261242008-12-03T14:25:00.001-08:002008-12-03T14:43:08.203-08:00

(originally published in July 2007)After this Thursday's taping of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me at Millennium Park, I got word from a reliable source that the unofficial estimate for attendance came close to filling the 11,000 person capacity of Pritzker Pavilion (4000 seats, 7000 lawn). Based on what I saw, I'd agree...the seats were completely filled, and the lawn was pretty full...at least 5000

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-23051120216946490682008-11-11T16:57:00.004-08:002011-11-13T23:55:16.052-08:00

Ed.Update Dec.2008: Quinnipiac has backed down. How the heck did I miss this? Apparently the administration at Quinnipiac University either has a real thing for smacking down student media, or they're not the swiftest taco in the value pack when managing them. Either way, it appears that it took national embarrassment heaped on them by the New York Times to get them to back down on a

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-13535061468445537782008-11-02T16:12:00.002-08:002008-11-02T16:27:07.695-08:00

I hope y'all had as much fun as I did out there this weekend!If you're looking for my slides for these sessions:HD Radio: Practical Operational ConcernsHD Radio: Engineering IssuesChange is Coming: FEMA plus EAS & CAPHow NPR+ISDN=Free Money for Your StationRadio Automation / Playback ControlPlay Ball! Sports Remote Gear Options for Radio Stations.Check out this site: www.friedbagels.com/cbi/

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-27286636213830725442008-10-28T09:14:00.002-07:002008-10-28T09:26:03.259-07:00

You see this bullcrap with Game 5 of the World Series last night? Not the horrendous calls the umps were making, not the lousy plays many players were making. No - I'm talking about this bullcrap about suspending the game until the weather gets better."I don't want to speculate now," Selig said when asked when the game would be restarted. "We'll see what happens. But we're not going to resume

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-8428864480125548462008-10-28T09:02:00.003-07:002008-10-28T09:14:39.361-07:00

Well, the long-embattled Massachusetts state senator Dianne Wilkerson was arrested as part of an FBI sting operation that caught her taking over $23,000 in bribes.Admittedly, this news isn't as big as deal as it nearly was, since Wilkerson lost the primary to Sonya Chang-Diaz in early October...so Wilkerson's only hope to continue her decade-long stint as Roxbury's senator was a long-shot

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-85392389960407295472008-10-24T09:30:00.002-07:002008-10-24T09:33:39.417-07:00

Next Wednesday night, myself and two HWS students will be heading west to Kansas City, where the annual College Broadcaster's Inc conference will be held in conjunction with the College Media Advisor's conference.Yours truly will be presenting in six - count 'em, six! - sessions. What da hell was I thinking!?!? :-)Details on the CBI website: www.askcbi.org

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-80307380319254395572008-10-13T16:34:00.004-07:002008-11-11T08:48:12.290-08:00

(below is an expanded version of my September 24, 2008 Radio World article: ISDN Can Help Generate Studio Rentals)If you’re a commercial radio station, or a college campus, and you’ve never thought about ISDN, I have two words for you: public radio.The generic term for content creators National Public Radio, American Public Media and Public Radio International (among many others), and their

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-10778219945120858392008-09-30T07:03:00.003-07:002008-09-30T07:13:34.482-07:00

Crap like this is why, generally speaking, I really dislike unions. It's why most of my friends dislike - or even outright hate - unions, too. We're not exactly a statistical sample, but the universality is remarkable. Apparently, the spawn of Satan Carmen's Union has decided that, even though the MBTA is fiscally on the verge of bankruptcy, they want their back wages and they want them right

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-49057084605983387762008-09-28T21:32:00.002-07:002008-09-28T21:56:54.690-07:00

It's late so I don't have time to really flesh this out properly, but I was reading the esteemed Dan Kennedy's MediaNation media-criticism blog, specifically a post about how the town of Nantucket in Massachusetts somewhat inexplicably wanted to suppress details about a severance package a court granted a terminated employee. I'd already commented over there and someone else responded as well,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-3298182176851493562008-09-25T18:12:00.003-07:002008-09-25T19:00:20.612-07:00

Okay, okay, I know that this entire post is completely being unfair to Kinsey Wilson, the new SVP/GM of Digital Media of NPR. But dammit, this is something I've blogged about before (or commented about it...although I can't seem to find 'em at the moment) so I'll blog about it now.I'm getting mighty annoyed with this vast influx of non-radio journalists into the radio business. Especially

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-6711552317958671152008-09-21T11:16:00.001-07:002008-09-21T11:18:12.392-07:00

Sorry for no posts lately...my wife and I moved to new digs last weekend and we don't have internet yet at the new condo. Not much time to blog at the job, either...too much sports going on.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-87905486489197205552008-09-08T08:19:00.003-07:002008-09-08T08:42:40.825-07:00

So despite the apparent dismal failure that is the Car Talk TV show, it appears CBS is going to make a TV show out of Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me.http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/radio/wait_wait_to_become_tv_show_93640.aspWWDTM is a top earner and top listener-getter. And with good reason, the show is consistently funny, consistently intelligent and - perhaps surprising for a comedy program

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-18527949328875526532008-09-06T19:00:00.002-07:002008-09-06T19:28:59.543-07:00

Baby talk floods 'RKO A funny thing happened when WRKO conservative talk host Reese Hopkins (inset) told listeners 17-year-old Bristol Palin's pregnancy makes him question VP hopeful Sarah Palin's parenting skills. Angry Republican listeners blew up his e-mail box, claiming Bristol's condition is family business. And Hopkins, who talked extensively on-air about the suspicious Gloucester teen

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-80342390578454594492008-09-01T19:54:00.003-07:002008-09-01T20:02:08.196-07:00

From the New York TimesAt a reception for educators at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Sandra Ross, a special-needs high school teacher from Orlando, Fla, said, “She’s going to be a good role model for the country.” Of Bristol’s pregnancy, Ms. Ross added, “Everybody makes mistakes.”I know this is a cheap shot, and I'm sure that's why the Times put the quote in there, but dammit...

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-32555390204867464172008-08-29T16:45:00.000-07:002008-08-29T16:40:53.031-07:00

Welcome any readers from my review of the VR3 car HD Radio in Radio World. There was an error in my review that couldn't be corrected before the issue went to print. In reality, the radio CAN be forced to automatically re-tune to a multicast channel after a power loss.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-13016029533161096162008-08-29T16:26:00.004-07:002008-08-29T16:42:03.110-07:00

Not long ago, I learned that WSKG is revamping their schedule to add Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and one of WEOS's shows, Out of Bounds with Tish Pearlman. The latter will be Sundays at 11:30am, by the way...I encourage you all to tune in, just do it Thursdays at 7pm to WEOS instead. :-) (actually, during the Democratic and Republican Conventions, OOB is on at 6:30pm)Anyways, this weekend,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-41582840462589685742008-08-27T09:14:00.001-07:002008-08-27T09:17:11.659-07:00

I clicked 203 times in 30 seconds, which just surpasses "Delusions of Godlike Power" and approaches "Near Death". And all I've had today is a Diet Coke...didn't have time to hit the Dunkin Donuts on the way to work.LIVE FOR THE MOLECULE!Created by OnePlusYou - Online Dating Service

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-71983826596680759202008-08-26T19:53:00.005-07:002008-08-26T20:16:28.999-07:00

All this week on WEOS is Democratic National Convention coverage, and next week is the Republican National Convention. It's meant a lot of changes...temporary changes...to our air schedule: most notably that we've pretty much blown out all music programming (World Cafe and Echoes) in favor of special NPR coverage at night, a little more BBC World Service, a big extra hour of Democracy Now, and

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-40586135125295813122008-08-19T05:05:00.008-07:002008-08-26T19:53:46.022-07:00

When Americans were asked in a 2007 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press to name the journalist they most admired, Mr. Stewart, the fake news anchor, came in at No. 4, tied with the real news anchors Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw of NBC, Dan Rather of CBS and Anderson Cooper of CNN. And a study this year from the center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism concluded that

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-15454680217131947792008-08-18T09:47:00.002-07:002008-08-18T10:00:44.397-07:00

Word from Current is that Pandora, the "Internet radio service that allows listeners to customize musical selections to their own tastes", is about to die, fiscally. The article says it's chiefly because of incredibly unreasonable licensing fee structures the music labels have set up, and refuse to back down from.The tone of the article is that, while it'd be sad to see Pandora go away, it might

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-19048646631992074402008-08-17T20:06:00.002-07:002008-08-17T20:23:58.227-07:00

"If you've got nothing to say, then don't say anything."Beats me who that quote is attributable to, but it's certainly true enough in my case. Not that I've run out of things to say, mind you. Just that I don't have much lately that's relevant for the blog. So I'll give y'all a little rundown of what's coming up over the next several weeks that ought to explain a certain lack of posts...My

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-15631119133790731632008-08-11T19:49:00.002-07:002008-08-11T20:18:23.775-07:00

In my review of the VR3 add-on HD Radio auto tuner, I erroneously reported that the radio could not be forced to return to an HD-n multicast channel after power off.Thanks to alert reader Tom Wilson, who said his VR3 would indeed return to a multicast channel after power off, I tried some of the other VR3's that I grabbed at the discounted price of $38, and they all would indeed return to a

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-84988017731566448942008-08-10T15:18:00.006-07:002008-08-10T15:53:47.026-07:00

I read this article about managing pedestrian street crossing in the Boston Globe today. It's a pretty good article. I like that people are finally starting to realize that it's a losing game to try and make a city be as efficient as possible for cars to the exclusion of pedestrians, buses, bikes, etc.But there's a gigantic element missing from this article: namely, the elements. Can we stop

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-58839856363491489802008-08-08T10:31:00.006-07:002008-08-08T10:37:52.876-07:00

The other day I was driving home, and in Canandaigua I got behind this drag-racing funnycar on Rt.5&20. It was loud as hell and belched smelly exhaust, but it looked really cool. I managed to snap a few covert photos with my cameraphone, including the last one that came out really distorted but in a nifty way. Check out the ultra-wide rear tires in the first pic.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-36850146839448650502008-07-29T19:18:00.002-07:002008-07-29T19:23:24.494-07:00

I've been seeing this ad for Reebok a lot lately, and considering that it's got 20 NFL players in it (and how much these guys get paid to appear in an ad) I'm sure I'll be seeing it a lot more. The first time I saw it I was just completely stunned. Not in a bad way, not at all. It was just such a giant non-sequitur, and yet...it was just weird enough that it works. Actually, it works really

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-81600818671542816152008-07-29T09:26:00.005-07:002008-07-29T09:41:09.498-07:00

Recently I accused FCC commissioner Jonathan Edelstein of "selling out" his normally-left-leaning values, in that he was willing to approve the XM-Sirius merger if various conditions were met. Conditions that were stricter than what had been originally proposed, but frankly, were ultimately meaningless in the face of a government-sanctioned monopoly...which is what XM/Sirius are.I personally

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-36901903156919562782008-07-27T13:49:00.004-07:002008-12-12T14:47:14.352-08:00

I recently wrote a review of the VR3 add-on auto HD Radio tuner. It wasn't very kind; the radio isn't bad but it's not all that great, either. Between when I first bought it and when I finished writing the review, the price dropped from $150 to just over $100. That lowered price helped make the radio a lot more attractive.Well, that was two weeks ago (July 13). Today at Target (July 27, 2008

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-22711892809888731732008-07-18T11:05:00.003-07:002008-07-18T11:15:49.565-07:00

I guess we know where Jonathan Adelstein's bread is really buttered. Adelstein, a Democrat appointee to the five-member FCC board of commissioners, is usually known for being a rather "liberal" member, often taking any stance that opposes "big media" from getting any bigger.Well today he sold out. Oh sure, he's trying to extract a bunch of conditions of the deal...and I give him props for one

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-19730786137902132002008-07-16T09:25:00.005-07:002008-07-21T13:35:07.158-07:00

Good grief. The number of public radio shows that either are rumored to be ending, or have confirmed their ending, is getting ridiculous! Let's do the list, shall we?Radio Open Source (already well gone, albeit "reborn" as a podcast-only)Justice Talking (confirmed)Fair Game with Faith Salie (already gone)Word for Word (confirmed)The Bryant Park Project (confirmed)The Infinite Mind (rumored at

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-68195060310832271782008-07-14T08:32:00.002-07:002008-07-14T08:51:05.037-07:00

Well, I sort-of-called it back in January, when Luke Burbank bailed on BPP for greener pastures in Seattle's powerhouse AM talker: KIRO. But today NPR officially announced the end of the Bryant Park Project.I would imagine the biggest reason for the euthanasia was that NPR is not in good financial shape right now. I wouldn't call it a crisis, but the extended Democratic primary battle...while

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-54581295312395734132008-07-12T16:40:00.015-07:002008-12-12T14:47:15.595-08:00

Wandering through Target recently I spotted a big “HD Radio” logo on a box in the auto section. This was the first I’d seen of HD Radio in Target, a store that’s known for attracting shoppers that are younger and have higher median household incomes...qualities many stations like in listeners, too! Perhaps the VR3 VRHDUA100 could be a real boon. Sadly, while I found it to be a decent tuner,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-3574470658282914832008-07-09T12:07:00.003-07:002011-09-21T15:49:45.097-07:00

Ted Koppel is guest-hosting NPR's Talk of the Nation today. Wednesdays means TOTN is in the Newseum in front of a live audience.Generally speaking I really like Koppel. He brings the gravitas, which can make him all the funnier when he wants to be. He can do really silly stuff with an amazingly "heavy" deadpan voice.But today, he's sometimes taking it one notch too far...I suspect that the

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-71487222823974064172008-07-02T14:28:00.003-07:002008-12-12T14:47:15.773-08:00

Sen. Hillary Clinton was in Geneva today, making something of a whirlwind tour from Syracuse down the Thruway into Buffalo. She gave a quick speech at the Red Jacket Orchards store after touring some farms in Wayne county that got hammered by hailstones in thunderstorms recently.WEOS broadcast the speech live and I got to shake her hand afterwards. Sweet. We posted a recording here,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-56242819331457259432008-07-01T20:18:00.002-07:002008-07-01T20:26:04.288-07:00

Well, we already had Bush elected President (number three), and the tanking economy (number eight). But this is just nuts. If you told me in March that by July 1st the frickin' Tampa Bay Devil Rays...the $*^#@ DEVIL RAYS!!!!...would not only be first in the AL East, but also have the best record in baseball I'd slap you silly and call you Manny.If your name was Manny, I'd still slap you (and

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-38412434080873266742008-06-30T20:50:00.002-07:002008-12-12T14:47:16.085-08:00

My wife spotted an ad on TV tonight for Midol that has the tagline...I kid you not..."Reverse the Curse". Thank god for TiVo - I only had my cameraphone to get a screenshot but it's enough.Nevermind the general cheesiness of the tagline, but I can't imagine they'd be dumb enough to run this ad in Boston. It hasn't been THAT long since my beloved Sox eliminated the "Curse of the Bambino" and

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-62469351038602138942008-06-25T20:39:00.003-07:002008-12-12T14:47:16.307-08:00

I was driving just north of Albany this morning, and stopped by Dunkin' Dounts for a fix of heroin cup of coffee, and whilst waiting, I saw this in the "condiment tray" (sugar, straws, etc).Apparently, either Dunkin' Donuts is run by people really into chemistry or they've got a sense of humor about their salt.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-80589206319315206042008-06-23T09:33:00.004-07:002008-12-12T14:47:16.476-08:00

Talk about a lousy way to begin the week, as I awoke to the news that George Carlin died last night, at the age of 71. NPR's Fresh Air has a great interview with him from several years back, that I highly recommend listening to.I don't generally like surprises, but last July my wife treated me to a wonderful surprise for my birthday: we saw Carlin live at the South Shore Music Circus. I am a

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-50881529352959091242008-06-19T08:17:00.003-07:002008-06-19T08:49:22.488-07:00

God, I don't know what I'd do for blogging material without Current. Today there's a story about how Lee Abrams, former XM satellite radio programmer, now chief innovation officer for the Tribune Company, is gracing us with 15 ideas for growing newspapers. Current focuses on how Abrams sort-of disses NPR, and everything that needs to be said either already is or will be said by others.I'd

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-35357520236586162382008-06-18T14:17:00.002-07:002008-06-18T14:33:31.090-07:00

Now this is some truly clever marketing on behalf of a show's producer.From Current.orgA subversive plan to influence pubradio programmersJesse Thorn of The Sound of Young America has a subversive new strategy to win airtime on public radio stations: he's offering free t-shirts to anyone who works at a station and likes his show. The catch: all recipients must agree to wear their t-shirts to work

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-67156152382873353722008-06-18T08:44:00.003-07:002008-06-18T09:07:23.612-07:00

I stumbled across the Get An Edit service today, by way of RadioSutton, and at first I was quite intrigued. Certainly there is a large and growing need for greater "editing" in general out there. By which I mean there's a ton of media...mostly thanks to blogs and blog-like services...available for consumption, but the vast majority of it faces no vetting by an outside source whatsoever. Never

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-45607058630673273782008-06-09T20:21:00.003-07:002008-06-09T20:33:55.401-07:00

Lemme get this straight...if I bought an iPhone about a year ago, I would've paid at least $400 and gotten an iPod that only has 4GB of space and a pathetically slow data rate for email and web surfing. Oh, and it wouldn't have worked with my office email account because my job uses Outlook, and it only would work with AT&T (which means annoying dit-dit-duh, dit-dit-duh noises on every speaker

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-82828278914032721102008-06-02T07:33:00.004-07:002008-06-02T07:56:17.589-07:00

So I just heard that Fair Game with Faith Salie has been canceled; the last episode aired May 30th. Primo bummer - one of, if not the, only pubradio shows geared specifically for the twenty/thirtysomething audience and apparently it just never caught on: a stated reason for the cancellation is low carriage. Apparently after 17 months only 25 stations were airing it.I'll grant ya, that was a

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-66559918190243659202008-05-28T17:29:00.003-07:002008-05-28T18:29:46.264-07:00

Recently I wrote a post about how to engineer a show for public radio, and thus make your show more "friendly" to pubradio stations, and thus make it more likely that your show gets carriage by said stations.Here I'll write a bit about what I know for producing a show for public radio, with an eye towards the same goal: getting more carriage on more stations. I admit, I don't know nearly as much

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-20551039587135070702008-05-22T19:32:00.008-07:002008-06-03T14:26:53.199-07:00

I was thinking about this on my commute home today. It feels like an awful lot of public radio shows aren't really engineered all that well. And in some cases I mean the big, long-running shows, too...not just the little/new ones. Being someone who's been Technical Director and who now runs a radio station, I thought I'd pass on a few nuggets of truth. These are things that I personally

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-44021584378816164382008-05-20T20:59:00.003-07:002008-05-22T19:32:54.807-07:00

You'd never know it by the weather...but the calendar doesn't lie. Commencement was this past Sunday so it's "officially" summer on the HWS campus. For many of us in academia, that means something of a breather.Not for WEOS, no sir.We've got the daunting task of getting WITH 90.1FM Ithaca on the air, basically from scratch. I meet on Thursday with my engineer to get a handle on what, exactly,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-4548631683906798822008-04-27T12:05:00.004-07:002008-04-27T12:07:50.321-07:00

Is it just me, or does the concept of operating a service station...say, a brake & muffler repair show...dictate that you actually be available for service when people need it???Let's see, when do people have the most free time to take their car in for repair? That's right - it'd be the weekend. So why the hell are NONE of the car repair places open for business on the weekends?!?!?!?Seriously,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-55219352735709832022008-04-26T19:32:00.005-07:002008-04-26T19:52:36.200-07:00

So I'm encountering some drama at my campus. It's elections season, include election of the student rep to the Board of Trustees at Hobart & William Smith Colleges, and the Hobart side of the vote has experienced some irregularities. I won't go into more details, they're not really necessary. But one of my student DJ's interviewed one of the student candidates on the air about it, and I

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-57385836723575442682008-04-18T16:46:00.003-07:002008-04-26T19:25:50.080-07:00

I have returned to the land down under...eight feet of snow. Heh, it DID actually snow in Geneva last Sunday, but it's a pleasant 75 degrees and sunny today.To put a bit of a wrap on the NAB trip, I would say that there were really only three things that were interesting and "additive":Nautel's impressively small - yet high-powered - transmitters. They had a 44kW TPO FM that was perhaps the

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-36109455540758210092008-04-16T10:24:00.000-07:002008-12-12T14:47:17.088-08:00

A big thing I came to NAB looking for was frequency shifting (heterodyning) FM translators that will pass HD radio carriers. I badly want one for WEOS's translator: W212BA.So far I'm coming up empty. Vendors shall remain nameless to protect the guilty...awful lot of vaporware, some of which is pretty outrageously overpriced...but I will mention that Larcan (see above pic) is promising to take

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-91991192656745908132008-04-15T15:31:00.000-07:002008-12-12T14:47:17.464-08:00

God save us from engineer humor.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-39827353285659473952008-04-15T14:04:00.000-07:002008-12-12T14:47:17.970-08:00

This is REALLY cool. For $5k, I am seriously thinking about buying one. EVERY npr station should stop by the iZotope booth and listen to their ANR-B. It's perfect for noisy phone calls and othr noisy audio.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-55866659637675463252008-04-15T12:59:00.000-07:002008-12-12T14:47:18.095-08:00

Well, well, well...it appears there's a new player in the HD transmitter game. RVR is not exactly known for high quality gear...they're more known for "pretty good" considering it's pretty cheap. That, and for manuals written in BADLY translated Italian.Should be interesting. The guy said sales would begin in a few months, which with anything HD typically means it's vaporware that won't be

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-39567012872307321742008-04-14T21:50:00.001-07:002008-12-12T14:47:18.265-08:00

Here's a nifty little battery powered PA speaker on a stick. Wired version is about $160, wireless mic is about twice that. This looks REALLY handy, I might pick up a few for WEOS events.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-60045214600196354192008-04-14T21:46:00.001-07:002008-12-12T14:47:18.583-08:00

HD Radio (iBiquity) has a fairly large booth in the north hall this year. In it they have two dozen HD tuners set up (nice!).Unfortunately the only "portable" tuner isn't very good. It's not a walkman-style tuner, but more a fairly easy to carry battery powered little box. However, I fiddled with it for about three solid minutes and couldn't figure out how just to TUNE the damn thing.That's

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-83326444237785537812008-04-14T14:39:00.001-07:002008-04-14T14:39:44.347-07:00

I've noticed in recent NAB's that the north hall...traditionally the "radio" hall...was getting kinda sparsely populated. This year it's fuller...but about a fifth of it appears to be non-radio vendors.How depressing.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-77008657260137919012008-04-13T13:29:00.001-07:002008-04-13T13:29:15.455-07:00

I'm about to join the Logitek users forum in a minute, but wanted to give a quick recap of the Public Radio Engineering Conference.My biggest impression was that this year it feels like I didn't learn as much. I think that's partly because I've been in position to learn a LOT in the past two years since my last PREC...so there's less to surprise me with...and MOSTLY due to the fact that this year

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-66664460388089442082008-04-07T07:56:00.003-07:002008-04-07T08:10:00.448-07:00

Ugh. Y'know, I thought I had the perfect setup for a lovely weekend. The BoSox are playing in Toronto, an easy three hour drive from my digs in Rochester. Tickets are a mere $9 each...granted that's in the nosebleed section, but hey - for nosebleed section the seats were pretty good: almost in a straight line behind home plate. We could see all the infield action nicely. And the weather was

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-50326223949479407942008-04-04T11:55:00.003-07:002008-04-04T11:58:41.860-07:00

Not much to say as of late...lots of late evenings at WEOS engineering live events and not much to talk about otherwise. Well, not on anything I feel I can add something useful to, anyways.Two items of note: this Saturday I'm making a run for the border; seeing my beloved Red Sox play at Toronto. Next Wednesday I head out for Vegas to attend the Public Radio Engineering Conference and Nat'l

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-88817665017012236132008-03-30T09:30:00.002-07:002008-03-30T09:51:22.901-07:00

I spotted this article about Zipcar in today's Boston Globe. Apparently the old staid behemoths of car rental have noticed that, surprise, surprise, Zipcar is actually doing exceedingly well in the car rental market.Ed. Note: In the interest of disclosure, my wife and I were members of Zipcar for a little over a year in 2006 and 2007. I thought it was an excellent alternative to the hassle of

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-549450419794416062008-03-25T08:42:00.002-07:002008-03-25T08:59:10.539-07:00

It's all over the news, but Current gets the link for having a collection of links themselves. :-)So yesterday the Dep't of Justice approved the XM/Sirius satellite radio merger. It still has to be approved by the FCC but don't expect them to deny it, not with Kevin Martin in charge. And expect Martin to ramrod it through before the election and his almost certain ouster (it's just a hunch,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-90585133217760082002008-03-24T08:43:00.005-07:002008-12-12T14:47:18.953-08:00

A friend of mine alerted me to this little bit on page 22 of the Feb.2008 edition of Boston Magazine. Click the image to read it, but the short version is that the Daily Free Press (the independent student newspaper at BU) is in deep doo-doo financially and is considering money from the king of "truthiness": Bill O'Reilly.Bill O'Reilly?Bailing out the Freep??BILL O'REILLY BAILING OUT THE FREEP?

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-30052680765029193992008-03-20T21:06:00.008-07:002008-12-12T14:47:20.593-08:00

Our beloved hamster Molly took a noticeable turn for the worse yesterday; her edema was very pronounced, she could barely walk, wasn't eating right...and she had stopped grooming herself at all. Plus she was breathing and shaking in a tell-tale way that indicated she was often in pain.Yesterday I called the nice folks at Cats & Critters here in Rochester and made an appointment. Tonight at

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-22820934165607960632008-03-13T17:37:00.006-07:002008-03-13T17:52:01.138-07:00

So Boston finally decided to do something about slumlord converting 2 bedroom apartments into six bed places by changing every single room into a bedroom, shoving as many students in there as possible, and jacking up the rent. New rule is: no more than four non-family members to a place. Slumlords are, not surprisingly, frantically shoveling the bulls**t trying to fight the measure. Fortunately

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-80743143715092903252008-03-10T22:09:00.003-07:002008-12-12T14:47:20.840-08:00

It has not been a good week. And it's only Tuesday.As I had to boldly proclaim on the www.weos.org website, there was a major power outage in Geneva on Saturday thanks to the ice storm/blizzard. Triggered by that was a rash of major equipment failures: our automation system (Enco), our satellite downlinks (Pacifica demod) and our mix board system (Logitek). The first one seems to be mostly up

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-16115933138217375022008-03-06T07:39:00.006-08:002008-03-18T19:20:31.566-07:00

UPDATE 03/01/08: Current has additional details about the move, including a link to the Washington Post that reveals the new HQ will be property-tax-free for 20 years (that's a HUGE cost savings) and also a link to a FAQ provided by NPR CEO Ken Burns, who - in other news - also left/was-forced-out-of NPR today. The timing kinda stinks on this one, but the reasons percolating out about Ken's

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-57863093514117378622008-03-04T07:46:00.004-08:002008-03-06T19:45:42.726-08:00

Caught this story in Current about "Community Wireless" (public radio) in Park City, Utah.I don't have much to say about the situation in general, but I did want to point out something the article didn't touch on much. Let me set the scene...The overall story is about how Community Wireless shrewdly sold a transmitter/facility they had in Coalville for a significant profit, and used the

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-26516305683654273982008-03-02T09:47:00.003-08:002008-03-02T10:02:19.585-08:00

Now I'm not saying we need the Boston Globe to become another Boston Herald. One tabloid rag is just right...no more, no less. But this week's Starts & Stops in the Globe could use a dash of bloodlust the tabloidish Herald is known for. I'll explain:This week, Starts & Stops author Noah Bierman (with assistance from Sarah M. Gantz) writes:Route 66 woes Bruce Blake gets no kicks on Route 66.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-46877653441174309252008-02-26T07:11:00.003-08:002008-12-12T14:47:21.069-08:00

Today on my regular blog trawling I checked out Christopher Lydon's Radio Open Source site and got a bit of a surprise: an ad for John McCain For President. Click the image to the right to see a full size version.I'm hardly a bosum buddy of Chris, but I have worked with him a bit here and there. I wouldn't have pegged him as a McCain supporter, but neither would I guess that he wouldn't be,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-45797260500556874122008-02-19T14:31:00.003-08:002008-02-26T07:26:05.607-08:00

By way of Current.org, I learned today that KMBH down in Brownsville, TX (the very southern tip, along the Mexican border and the Gulf) canceled one of their four annual fund drives after only receiving six pledge calls over three days.D'oh!So far they're eight months into their fiscal year and have only raised 15% of their annual budget.D'OH!!!If you believe the reports in the local newspaper,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-78387488385690436382008-02-18T13:45:00.003-08:002008-02-18T14:10:28.600-08:00

Returning to my Boston roots a bit...so there's proof of what many MBTA commuters have known for years: the T routinely and secretly cancels runs of various bus routes because they don't have the resources to actually make all the runs their schedule claims they do. What's worse, they've been doing it for years, no doubt many more than the two years that current MBTA GM Dan Grabauskas admits

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-15921850192370764642008-02-13T21:25:00.002-08:002008-02-13T21:54:39.252-08:00

By way of this week's North East Radio Watch I learned that the Bennington Banner is reporting that Southern Vermont College is looking to get rid of WBTN 1370AM. Apparently the station has cost SVC $450,000 since it was donated to them in 2002 by Robert Howe, and the trustees voted last week to "end its losses" by the end of the Spring term. That probably will mean a sale, but technically it

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-39583776370766338392008-02-11T08:01:00.001-08:002008-02-11T08:02:31.895-08:00

A bit more news has been added to my recent post on Bryant Park Project's host Luke Burbank leaving the show...thanks to Current.org for noticing the link. Check it out!

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-69282107362506044992008-02-06T20:42:00.000-08:002008-02-06T20:56:41.331-08:00

I have no knowledge of the whole Steiner firing from WYPR beyond what I read in the papers, but I wanted to present two items as food for thought.First, this is almost certainly tied with WYPR's efforts to secure a new 50,000 watt station out in the Delmarva region; a move like that reflects a certain philosophy and vision in management, and while it's entirely possible Steiner was 100% in favor

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-45623953293556731942008-01-30T09:46:00.000-08:002008-12-12T14:47:21.257-08:00

My best friend Gabe works for NPR's Only a Game. They're sending him to cover the Superbowl.Lucky bastard.Even worse, he's a %!^!@#% 49'ers fan. He doesn't even like the Patriots. I have been a die-hard Patriots fan for over twenty years. I was screaming at the TV in 1986 as the Bears demolished the Groanin' Grogan Boys. I was in the streets of Boston after the glorious Super Bowl

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-18098204563015295202008-01-30T09:20:00.000-08:002008-01-30T09:46:28.326-08:00

I've been following the latest KOOP fire on Current.org for a few days now. The most recent newsblog post has inspired me to post as well.I want to begin by saying that I'm basing my opinions on what's been reported, and it's important to remember that there's a big difference between something being reported and something actually being true. (WMD's in Iraq, anyone?) Or at least there's a

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com1