free103point9 Top 40 for December 2007

free103point9 Online Radio Top 40 for December 2007

1. Todd Merrell + Aidan Baker + Patrick Jordan, Nagual (ArchivedCD 41)
2. The SB LP, (Qbico 54)
3. Stars Like Fleas, The Ken Burns Effect (Talitres)
4. Radio Ruido, "False Rosetta" 2x7" (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 032)
5. Latitude/Longitude, "Solar Filters/Mother Evening" 7" (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 031)
6. William Basinski, shortwavemusic (Musex International)
7. David Watson, Fingering an Idea (XI Records)
8. Annea Lockwood, Thousand Year Dreaming/Floating World (Pogus)
9. White Rainbow, Prism of Eternal Now (Kranky)
10. David S. Ware Quartet, Renunciation (Aum Fidelity)
11. Jeff Arnal + Dietrich Eichmann, LP (Broken Research)
12. Timeless Pulse Quintet, Timeless Pulse Quintet (Mutable)
13. Tatsuya Nakatani, Primal Communication (H&H)
14. The Peeesseye, Mayhem in the Mansion (Evolving Ear)
15. Charalambides, Likeness (Kranky)
16. Willing, Brotherhood of the Backwards Handshake (Evolving Ear)
17. Manpack, Sticky Wic (digitalis)
18. Cloudland Canyons, Silver Tongued Sisyphus (Kranky)
19. Phantom Limb & Bison, Phantom Limb & Bison (Evolving Ear)
20. Illuminea, Out of Our Mouths (High Two)
21. Scott Smallwood, Desert Winds: Six Windblown Sound Pieces and Other Works (Deep Listening)
22. Temperatures, Ymir (Heat Retention) LP
23. Scott Smallwood, Electrotherapy (Deep Listening)
24. Duane Pitre/Pilotram Ensemble, Organized Pitches Ocurring in Time (Important)
25. William Parker + Hamid Drake, First Communion/Piercing the Veil 2xCD (Aum Fidelity)
26. Mammal, Lonesome Drifter (Animal Disguise)
27. Robert Ashley, Now Eleanor's Idea (Lovely Music)
28. Ting Ting Jahe, 18(16) (Winds Measure Recordings)
29. Cadaver In Drag, Raw Child (Animal Disguise)
30. Various artists, Songs Most Likely to Succeed Class of 2007 (Radio One New Zealand)
31. Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, glass vs grass (jdw/conc)
32. Bruce Eisenbeil Sextet, Inner Constellation (Nemu)
Bruce Eisenbeil + Jean Cook + Nate Wooley + Aaron Ali Shaikh + Tom Abbs + Nasheet Waits.
33. Zavoloka, Viter (Kvitnu)
34. Normal, Love (High Two)
35. The Kevin Frenette 4, Connections (Fuller Street Music)
Kevin Frenette + Andy McWain + Todd Keating + Tatsuya Nakatani.
36. Various artists, Sweet Earth Flower: A tribute to Marion Brown (High Two)
37. Walter & Sabrina, We Sing for the Future (Danny Dark Records)
38. Shelf Life, Ductworks (Public Eyesore)
39. Garrett Phelan, Black Brain Radio (Ninepoint)
40. Basalt Fingers, Basalt Fingers (Three Lobed Recordings)
Ben Chasny, Elisa Ambrogio, and Brian Sullivan.

To submit CDs, LPs, CSs, etc. for consideration of airplay on free103point9 Online Radio, mail to:
free103point9
5622 Route 23
Acra, NY 12405

Uruguay approves Community Broadcasting Bill

Forwarded from George Lessard:

Check out the new Uruguayan Community Radio Bill. This is what all CR regulation should aspire to be.
1. It sets aside one-third of all radio (AM & FM) *and* television frequencies for community-based media.
2. Licenses are granted by a council made up of all the stake-holders.
3. There is no fixed transmitter power or coverage area - the range depends on the size of the audience.

In what the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) calls a "groundbreaking move for freedom of expression in Latin America," the Uruguayan Senate approved a Community Broadcasting Bill that recognises community broadcasting in its own right and says television and radio frequencies should be more equitably distributed.

The bill acknowledges the importance of this "third" broadcasting sector alongside the state and private sectors, and stipulates that one third of the AM and FM radio airwaves and television broadband will be reserved for community-based media outlets, which AMARC says ensures greater diversity of media ownership.

A new council, made up of government, media, university and free expression representatives, will play a part in granting and renewing frequencies and ensuring that the government does not use frequency allocation to indirectly censor broadcasts.

According to AMARC, the bill does not impose limits on the geographical range and signal strength of community media outlets, unlike laws in Brazil and Chile. Instead, the bill says the range of coverage will depend on the outlet's purpose and the audience it is trying to reach.

Community broadcasters will also have the right to secure financing through donations, advertising and government grants.

AMARC and other free expression organisations, including IFEX members ARTICLE 19 and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), have been closely following this development as it sets a crucial precedent for the region. AMARC was also involved in drafting the bill. "This is the first time that transparent and non-discriminatory processes for the allocation of radio and television frequencies have been explicitly laid out in Uruguayan legislation, " says AMARC.

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives to approve some amendments made by the Senate. According to government officials, the law will be passed by the end of the year.

The good FCC

From Matthew Lasar in Laser's Letter on the FCC:

On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission, by a bare majority, voted to lift its over three decade old prohibition against an entity owning a newspaper and a television station in the same market. Most FCC watchers will now shift their visors to Congress and the circuit courts, where media reform activists will doubtless turn in a bid to reverse this ruling.

But the agency also made four important decisions this month and last that deserve a second glance, not only because they could have an impact on broadcasting, but because they illustrate the extent to which the Commission can promote measures that clearly serve the public interest—when it wants to.

Low Power FM

When the FCC created its Low Power FM (LPFM) service in the 1990s, it ruled that these new, locally based non-profit frequencies did not have to protect so-called "third adjacent" full power FM stations. The National Association of Broadcasters moved almost instantly to quash the provision, using its enormous influence to get Congress to pass the "Radio Broadcast Projection Act," which restored the third adjacent rule.

This meant that a full power FM station at 94.1 megahertz could demand that no LPFM station be built anywhere from 93.5 to 94.7 on the dial. A half dozen big FM stations on the lower end of the dial could thus create a prohibitively large no-fly zone for any prospective non-profit broadcaster.

But the FCC's plucky Media Bureau commissioned a study to test the NAB's assertions, and the engineering firm found that the agency's original ruling was solid.

"Based on the measurements and analysis reported herein, existing third-adjacent channel distance restrictions should be waived to allow LPFM operation at locations that meet all other FCC requirements," the MITRE Corporation's engineers concluded in 2003.

It took a while, but on November 27th, the FCC formally recommended that Congress remove the requirement that LPFM stations protect full power stations operating on third adjacent channels. The Commission's Order also tightened up rules for LPFM that will make sure that these stations keep their broadcasting local and non-repetitious.

And only one LPFM to a non-profit customer, the FCC warned. No more. That move means that the megachurches can't crowd out the rest of us.

Diversification of broadcast ownership

Women and minorities own a pathetically small percentage of radio and television stations in the United States. Last year Howard University's Carolyn M. Byerly looked at FCC ownership data circa 2005 and found that of 12,844 radio and TV stations that filed documentation with the FCC in 2005, minorities owned 3.6% and women owned 3.4% of these frequencies.

On the same day that it relaxed its newspaper/TV ownership limits, the FCC passed a series of reforms that will make it easier for women and minorities to buy and retain broadcast media. The provisions smooth the way for financially distressed stations to sell their signal to a female or minority buyer. They allow minority/women owners more time for construction permits.

The provisions make it easier for big media companies to sell off pieces of "grandfathered" combinations of radio, TV stations, and newspapers to minority/women bidders. And they initiate an annual "access to capital" conference to match minority media buyers with media investors.

It's a hodge podge of provisions that won't change anything overnight, but a "first step," as FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate called it.

"Unfortunately, a step that has already taken this Commission too long," she added, "and therefore we need to move forward expeditiously—beginning today."

Cable subscriber caps

The FCC also approved an Order on December 18th that sets at 30 percent the number of subscribers a cable company can serve.

"In so doing, we ensure that a single operator cannot unduly limit the viability of a new independent network in its formative years," declared FCC Chair Kevin Martin in a comment that does not corroborate his public image as the subservient poodle of big media.

Indeed, Martin found his allies on this issue not with his fellow Republicans, but with his traditional adversaries: Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein.

Both Republicans dissented on this decision, and the cable industry is furious at the move. While Martin's reform does not force any company to sell off properties, the Order limits the reach of Comcast, which now controls around 27 percent of pay television subscriber receipts. That is, if the decision survives a court challenge.

Localism

Like their decisions on media diversity, the FCC's December 18th ruling on localism will not shake the media landscape, but it could knock it about in some potentially interesting ways.

Among other suggestions, the Order asks for public comment on its conclusion that "licensees should establish permanent advisory boards (including representatives of underserved community segments) in each station community of license with which to consult periodically on community needs and issues." The document also says that the FCC should adopt guidelines "that will ensure that all broadcasters provide some locally-oriented programming."

At present, the only broadcast stations that must create community advisory boards are those that receive money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). This is an appropriate requirement. But it also turns CPB stations into conduits for public anger with all of media. It's about time that commercial stations had to take some of that heat.

Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein reacted with cynicism to this Order.

"If history is any guide, the odds are that the Commission will either neglect to finalize these proposals," Adelstein said in his partial concurrence to the decision, "or when it comes time to finalize them, they may be so diluted as to render them meaningless."

All the more reason why the public should tell the FCC that it takes them seriously. The FCC should not only require license holders to create advisory boards, it should require those boards to hold at least two annual public meetings that are announced by the station over-the-air, during the day.

The Commission should also make stations submit accurate summaries of those meetings, with explanations of how the broadcaster will implement the suggestions received.

If we want the Federal Communications Commission to serve the public interest, we have make visible what the agency does right, as well as what it does wrong. We have to reinforce the Commission's promises to do good at least as much as we raise the alarm against the its efforts to reward influence and power.

We may be confronted by a very different FCC relatively soon. So let's think positively. They say that it helps your health.

New York Times freelance writer provides no news on Brooklyn microradio

Today's The New York Times has a severely under-reported story about the plethora of microradio activity on the Brooklyn airwaves for the past fifteen years.

Without any sort of news peg (Ditmas Park Blog is taking credit for tipping off the Times), Alex Mindlin quotes folks from WBGO (88.3-FM) and WFUV (90.7-FM), with George Evans, the head engineer of the latter, going so far as advocating the draconian Florida law that allows local police officers who know nothing about Federal broadcasting regulations to arrest so-called pirate radio station personnel. Since the Federal government, and not the states or cities, regulate the broadcast spectrum, this Florida law will surely be thrown out once it is challenged in court.

Mindlin mentions the January 2007 $10,000 fine charged against Elroy Simpson of Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, but fails to mention the Federal Communications Commission's Nov. 2 letter of Notice of Unlicensed Operation to Sean Buckner in Brooklyn for operating on 94.3-FM without a license, or any other recent FCC action.

The FCC is constantly contacting and fining Brooklyn-based microradio stations, and most of the stations remain on the air, operating on the few NYC frequencies that have any breathing room at all between licensed stations. Mindlin correctly mentions the many Haitian-oriented stations, and the several Hasidic operators, and grasps that the Flatbush area is a hotbed of activity. But he fails to mention several prominent hip hop and hipster stations, and fails to address the "why" at all. Mindlin's main news flash: WFUV's web site has received 294 complaints about interference from pirates since August, though they could all be from one person as he doesn't question this number at all.
--Tom Roe

Sawako's crystal radio work

From Sawako's crystal radio page:

My first encounter with crystal radio is in the early 2000 when my friend introduced me Kenji Kobayashi's exhibition. At first, I have no idea what the relationship between a stone and a radio. Then, the fact that the radio without battery and using a stone to get the radio signal fascinates me immediately, and starts to think "I hope I can make the work using the crystal radio system in future. . . "

The chance come to the late 2006 when I got the notice that I am selected for the commission work opportunity by Roulette with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation. It lead to "ishi ~ listening stone", my first crystal radio work, premiered in Roulette in November 2007.

In 2008, the variation of the work will be released from unframed, the label which releases audio recordings and art multiples by sound artists. The work will be with more site specific elements, and we are planning to release as the limited 7-inch vinyl with the letterpress printing jacket and the small radio or radio stone.

The FCC's preordained mistake

From Ryan Blethen in the Seattle Times:

The divergent views of the Republicans and Democrats on the Federal Communications Commission is a startling and yet informative glimpse into how the media cross-ownership ban was obliterated.

The commissioners' opening statements spoke volumes about the deep division at the FCC. The Republicans ­ Kevin Martin, Deborah Tate and Robert McDowell ­ spouted nonsense about multiple platforms providing competition, and how a failing newspaper can be saved by acquiring a broadcast outlet.

The new rule permits a company to own a newspaper and broadcast station in any of the nation's top 20 media markets as long as there are at least eight media outlets in the market. If the combination includes a television station, that station cannot be among the top four in that market. The FCC can grant a waiver to companies that
don't meet the criteria.

The FCC also made permanent 42 waivers, and made it possible for companies outside the top 20 markets to gain cross-ownership waivers. The Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein eloquently spoke about the need to preserve a diversity of voices in a democracy. "Central to our American democracy is a rich and varied supply of
news and information," Adelstein said.

Copps and Adelstein also explained the FCC's horrid process used to review media-ownership rules, which ignored the public's overwhelming support of the cross-ownership ban.

Copps: "Everywhere we go, the questions are the same: Why are we rushing to encourage more media-merger frenzy when we haven't addressed the demonstrated harms caused by previous media-merger frenzy?"

The question begs for an answer. Martin, McDowell and Tate all bragged about the deliberative, thorough and open process the commission embarked upon 18 months ago.

"I believe that the process we have engaged in over the past year and a half has been open, transparent, and thorough ­ a true example of our vibrant democracy at work," said Tate.

Life must be magical in Tate's sunshiny world. How she and McDowell rolled over as Martin continually abused the trust of his colleagues and the public is beyond explanation.

Anybody who pays attention to the FCC or covers it witnessed how Martin sprung proposals and hearings on the commission at the last minute, ignored Congress and the public's shouts to halt media consolidation, and ignored studies he commissioned that did not agree with a preordained outcome.

Adelstein and Copps highlighted in their statements how Martin continued with his cloaked process to the end. Copps said that at 9:44 p.m. Monday he received a revised draft of the proposal. Then at 1:57 a.m. Tuesday, the day of the vote, he was told of more revisions, then at 11:12 a.m. another bunch of changes were e-mailed as he was leaving his office for the vote.

"This is not the way to do rational, fact-based and public interest-minded policymaking," Copps said. "It's actually a great illustration of why administrative agencies are required to operate under the constraints of administrative process ­ and the problems that occur when they ignore that duty. At the end of the day, process matters."

The Republican's insistence that newspapers can only be saved by owning a broadcast outlet added to the unbridgeable gulf between the camps.

McDowell said, "The evidence in the record tells us that if you are under 30, you are probably not reading a traditional newspaper or tuning in to your local broadcasters."

He did not elaborate how a company owning a newspaper and a television station in the same market would convince the under-30 set that they should subscribe to the newspaper or watch television newscasts.

It is encouraging that the FCC is concerned about newspapers. But it's unfortunate it does not realize media consolidation has damaged the industry by making it beholden to the aggressive demands of Wall Street. The rule approved Tuesday will only further drive the press toward corporate journalism.

"Newly merged entities will attempt to increase their profit margins by raising advertising rates and relentless cost-cutting," Copps said. "Herein is the real economic justification for media consolidation within a single market."

At best, the FCC majority was confused by the data, which clearly show the damage done by consolidation. This probably is not the case. I fear that they do understand.

Bill seeking broadcast performance royalty introduced In Congress

From David Oxenford in Broadcast Law Blog:

In a pre-Christmas surprise that most broadcasters could do without, identical bills were introduced in Congress on Tuesday proposing to impose a performance royalty on the use of sound recordings by terrestrial radio stations. Currently, broadcasters pay only for the right to use the composition (to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC) and do not pay for the use of sound recordings in their over-the-air operations of the actual recording. This long-expected bill (see our coverage of the Congressional hearing this summer where the bill was discussed) will no doubt fuel new debate over the need and justification for this new fee, 50 percent of which would go to the copyright holder of the sound recording (usually the record label) and 50 percent to the artists (45 percent to the featured artist and 5 percent to background musicians). The proponents of the bill have contended that it is necessary to achieve fairness, as digital music services pay such a fee. To ease the shock of the transition, the bill proposes flat fees for small and noncommercial broadcasters - fees which themselves undercut the notion of fairness, as they are far lower than fees for comparable digital services.

While, at the time that this post was written, a complete text of the decision does not seem to be online, a summary can be found on the website of Senator Leahy, one of the bills cosponsors. The summary states that commercial radio stations with revenues of less than $1.25 million (supposedly over 70 percent of all radio stations) would pay a flat $5000 per station fee. Noncommercial stations would pay a flat $1000 annual fee. The bill also suggests that the fee not affect the amount paid to composers under current rules - so it would be one that would be absorbed by the broadcaster. Read more here.

OPEN CALL: Organised Sound

Call for submissions
Volume 14, Number 1
Issue thematic title: Sound Art
Date of Publication: April 2009
Publishers: Cambridge University Press
Issue co-ordinator: Jøran Rudi (joranru@notam.uio.no).

This issue of “Organised Sound” will focus on sound art, a genre of acoustic expression that has a long history in both music and the visual arts. Currently, sound art is becoming a highly dynamic focus for new cross-disciplinary activity. Partially this has to do with young composers' eagerness to search out for new forms of public performance as well as new arenas. This has also led to a new way of looking at the relationship work/audience/performer/ composer.

These conceptually new approaches to music and art can be traced to developments in technology and society in general. It is interesting to note the extent to which this interest has developed outside the established networks and hierarchies of, for example, electroacoustic music.

Themes of interest include:
- conceptually oriented investigations of sound as material
- site- and context-specific art
– the use of soundscape within sound artworks
- process-oriented rather than entity-oriented definition of artworks
- use of audio and music technology whilst departing from the approaches to listening and analysis that are predominant in traditional forms of electroacoustic music.
- new technological means allow artists to pursue new arenas
- convergence in tools -> dissolving lines of distinction

Some questions that are related to the challenges posed by sound art:
How do these changes affect the relationship between concept and craft; what are the implications in terms of critical listening and our ideas of emergent qualities?
What are the implications of the use of different artistic spaces?
Is this a new way of tying art again into society, and if so, which groups in society will benefit? In other words does this represent a renaissance of social art?
Or is this yet another village in society, possessing more or less transparent demarcation lines?
With regard to the established field of electroacoustics: how do we describe the changes in aesthetics?
How can sound art and process-music (for lack of a better term) benefit us in reassessing our field, aesthetically and functionally?

We invite submissions from composers, performers, artists and researchers working in the realm of digital media and sound. Submissions related to the theme are encouraged; however, those that fall outside the scope of this theme are always welcome.

Deadline for submissions is 15 July 2008. Submissions may consist of papers, with optional supporting short compositions or excerpts, audio-visual documentation of performances and/or other aspects related to your submission that can be placed onto a DVD and the CUP website for “Organised Sound”. Supporting audio and audio-visual material will be presented as part of the journal's annual DVD-ROM which will appear with issue 14/3. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 July 2008.

Notes for Contributors and further details can be obtained from the inside back cover of published issues of Organised Sound or from: http://www.journals.cambridge.org/oso

OPEN CALL: Mobile Music Workshop 08

The Mobile Music Workshop 2008 is the 5th in a series of annual international gatherings that explore the creative, critical and commercial potential of mobile music. They are inspired by the ever-changing social, geographic, ecological, emotional context of using mobile technology for creative ends. We are looking for new ideas and ground-breaking projects on sound in mobile contexts. What new forms of interaction with music and audio lie ahead as locative media, ubiquitous networks, and music access merge into new forms of experiences that shape the everyday? Can they change the way we think about our mobile devices and about walking through the city?

The emerging field of Mobile Music sits at the intersection of ubiquitous computing, portable audio technology and New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME). It goes beyond today's personal music players to include creative practices of mobile music making, sharing and mixing. The mobile setting challenges existing notions of interfaces and interaction, stretching music to new creative limits. The workshop has been at the forefront of this innovative area since 2004. Past editions of the event have taken place in Amsterdam, Brighton, Vancouver and Göteborg in collaboration with the Viktoria Institute, STEIM, Waag Society, Futuresonic, NIME and others.

The 2008 edition of the workshop will be held in Vienna, one of the hotspots in the European for laptop, glitch, and electronic music. Hosted by the University of Applied Arts, it will feature three evenings of performances and installations, an exhibition in the heart of the city, invited speakers, paper presentations, posters and demo sessions as well as hands-on tutorials. Besides the workshop proceedings, we will publish a catalogue that will gather key contributions from the last 5 years. We invite artists, designers, academic researchers, hackers, industry professionals and practitioners from all areas, including music, technology development, new media, sound-art, music distribution, cultural/media studies and locative media and more to present and discuss projects, prototypes, applications, devices, performances, installations, theoretical and historical considerations.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

Submission deadline: 10 February 2008
Notification of acceptance: 14 March 2008
Submission deadline for final papers: 14 April 2008
Registration deadline: 14 April 2008

PARTICIPATE

Please upload your submission in any of the three following categories at http://ocs.waag.org/. Submissions will be peer-reviewed by a committee of international specialists in the field.

Papers

We invite submissions of workshop papers presenting new projects, approaches or reflections exploring the topic of mobile music. Potential submissions could include but are not limited to mobile music systems or enabling technologies, interface design, legal issues, user studies, ethnographic fieldwork, social implications, art pieces and other areas relevant to mobile music. Accepted paper authors will be given a time slot during the workshop for presentation and discussion of their work. They are encouraged to bring a demo of their work if possible.

Format: 4 pages in ACM SIG publications format (for templates, see http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html). More artistic submissions are free to pay less attention to the academic or technical detail of the format, and to include more media instead.

Posters and Demos

We also invite the contribution of posters and demos that document work-in-progress projects or ideas in similar areas of mobile music technology as the papers. There will be a poster and demo presentation session where attendees will be able to discuss work with the authors. The most robust of the demos will be offered the opportunity to exhibit to the general public during the open sessions (although this is not mandatory). Posters will be on display for the duration of the conference.

Format: 2 pages in ACM SIG publications format (for templates, see http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html). More artistic submissions are free to pay less attention to the academic or technical detail of the format, and to include more media instead.

Installations and Performances

We invite mobile art installations and performances in the genres of mobile music and locative audio. There will be an exhibition space in central Vienna, and the possibility to show work in the city. There will also be a series of evening performances/concerts/parties.

Format: Please follow loosely the ACM SIG publications format (for templates, see http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html) without too much academic or technical detail and include more media instead. Please indicate if your project would be suitable for indoor or outdoor, installation or performance.

NAB responds to FCC LPFM announcement

From Friday Morning Quarteback:

The National Association of Broadcasters has responded to the FCC's announcement of a number of rules and policies relating to Low Power FM (LPFM), which took place late Tuesday. NAB EVP Dennis Wharton said in a statement, "We look forward to reviewing the final text of the Commission's action, which will provide broadcasters with a better understanding of the rules going forward. However, in general, NAB is pleased the Commission clarified that LPFM stations must indeed be locally-owned with locally-originated programming, and limits ownership to one station per licensee."

In reference to the FCC considering giving LPFM stations "enhanced stature," Wharton said, "We share the concerns expressed by Commissioners Tate and McDowell about the Commission's decision to adopt interim processing guidelines without full notice and opportunity for comment, but we look forward to working with the Commission to find a solution that works for all."

And speaking about the recommendation by the FCC to Congress to eliminate third adjacent channel protections, Wharton said, "Though this is a recommendation identical to one made several years ago by the FCC, NAB continues to believe that statutory third-adjacent channel protections are critically important to protect listeners against interference. The idea that hundreds, if not thousands, of
additional LPFM stations can be shoe-horned into an overcrowded radio dial without causing considerable interference simply defies the laws of physics."

Of course, that last quote is ridiculous. When LPFM was first approved, the NAB made a fake CD for Congress of what they said that interference would sound like if LPFM stations were allowed on third-adjacent frequencies. Congress bought their nonsense, but mandated a study to see if the interference existed. The eventual MITRE study proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that tiny LPFM stations would not interfere with giant full-power stations (but you didn't need a study to figure that out, did you?). The third part of the MITRE study was to find out the cost of this suppossed interference. They said, in effect, we can't study the cost of nothing, because we have found no interference. "Our principal finding is that LPFM stations can safely operate three channels away from existing FPFM [full-power] stations," the MITRE study said.
--Tom Roe

OPEN CALL: Differentiated Bodies

Call for Submissions: Subliminal Statements 3: Differentiated Bodies in Newsletter of the Society for a Subliminal State. Due December 31, 2007. Please email info@subliminalstate.org if you have a question regarding an article you'd like to write. For our third issue, Subliminal Statements asks you to help us grapple with phenomena in the solar system. Differentiated Bodies will examine the objects in our solar system with differentiated composition: from planets like earth, to the legions of asteroids with rocky surfaces and a crystalline once-molten cores.

We want your writings about all manner of celestial objects and subjects:
Planets and Moons; The bands of habitability inside planets further from the Sun than Earth; Comets; Objects in the Asteroid and Kuiper Belts; The Oort Cloud; The Sun, and its swirling combustive surface. Differentiated bodies here on Earth (made of rock, flesh, or anything else) Tell us your story about any of these objects or phenomena. Describe it, uncover it, recount its implications. Tell us how these things effect us. What do we see when we look at the sky, and how does the differentiation of celestial bodies impact our own differentiated bodies and minds. What changes does it enact in us?

FORMAT

Subliminal Statements is published in a newspaper format. Accordingly we will accept articles and essays written in a style befitting a newspaper: written as though reported, brief editorials, etc. Due to the scientific nature of the issue's theme, we are also accepting submissions in the form of scientific papers, charts, or other data-heavy examinations of the theme.

Photos, drawings, illustrations, or other images should accompany text submissions only, and must be able to be printed in black and white. Suggestions for accompanying illustrations are also welcome.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Text submissions should be a maximum of 500 words, though we will accept excerpts of longer documents. There is no minimum length. In fact, the shorter, the better. Submit your text as .rtf, .txt, or .doc files, your data as .xls, or .csv files, and your images as .png, .tiff, .jpeg, or .gif (8 MB max). E-mail your submissions to jesse@subliminalstate.org with the subject line: Subliminal Statements 3 Submission.

The Hypersonic Soundbeam

From Marcus Estes in WFMU Beware of the Blog:

After years of reading puff pieces about the coming of the "Hypersonic Soundbeam," a device designed to send targeted blasts of sound waves that can be heard only be selected recipients in an audio environment, it has apparently made its debut in the public sphere, right here in New York. As part of a billboard marketing campaign for a television show.

A&E has placed a billboard (on Prince St. between Mulberry and Mott) that shoots sound waves designed to resonate against your head, giving the passerby a distinct feeling that the advertisement is arising from within their skull. The television show is is about ghosts, so that means this is a witty kind of progressive marketing stunt and not just totally fucking creepy, right?

IRI Technologies, one of the many companies vending this device to the industry, highlights the invention's utility like so: "The Hypersonic Sound Waves travel silently through space, up to 300 feet away, then convert into an instant sound source whatever surface they impact. Amazingly, if you aim this magical device at a person, their head will become a speaker, and they will hear your message "inside" their head."

The patent owner of this little baby is an American Solo Maverick Inventor in the old model - he cooked this idea up and built a prototype without the help of a corporate research team. Woody Norris is, as an interview posted to his website will have you know, "no techno nerd." And he's humble about the source of his inspirations, observing that, "I didn't invent that [medical sonar imaging device]. It happens and I observed it. And so I claimed it. You know what inventing is -- I heard this from somebody else -- 'It's an accident observed."

So once you have "accidentally" invented this mind-sound-beam patent, what do you do with it? The advertising market seems to have been on his mind long before he brought this market. "To Norris's way of thinking, however, a shop with 100 confined spheres of sound is preferable to one where 12 speakers are blaring over each other." I guess that's the logic of the needle exchange as well: If they're going to be doing it anyway, we might as well keep it neat. Well, this new mind-wave billboard sure is neat, huh? Fuck, could we work on a way to just beam the whole TV show right into my skull as I'm walking past?

Radio Ruido's "False Rosetta" 2x7" release show

Who needs LPFM? - Why not just expand the FM dial?

From David Oxenford in Broadcast Law Blog:

At last Tuesday's FCC meeting, the Commission adopted a controversial order, over the objection of two Commissioners, that could limit the processing of some applications for improvements by some full power FM stations, and would restrict translator applications, all in the name of encouraging Low Power FM (LPFM) stations to provide outlets for expression by groups that cannot get access to full-power radio stations (see our summary of that action here). In recent weeks, two ideas have received some publicity providing an alternative outlet for these prospective local broadcasters - and both provide a simple solution (one more immediate and ad hoc than that other), but both leading to the same result - why not just extend the FM band by using TV channel 6?

The current FM band begins at 88.1 MHz, a channel that is actually immediately adjacent to TV Channel 6. The FCC has for years restricted operations of noncommercial FM stations (which operate from 88.1 to 91.9 on the FM dial) in areas where there are Channel 6 TV stations in order to prevent the radio stations from creating interference to the reception of the TV stations. That's while you will often find fewer noncommercial stations, or ones with weaker coverage, in communities that have TV Channel 6 licensees. TV stations use an FM transmission system for their audio. Thus, you will also find that most FM receivers (especially ones without digital tuners) will pick up the audio from TV channel 6 if tuned all the way to the left of the dial. The short-term solution to expanding the FM band came from one broadcaster who noted that fact.

In recent weeks, a new FM station has surfaced in New York City - one which is not really an FM station at all, but instead a TV channel 6 operation being programmed like a radio station to emphasize the audio that can be picked up on FM radio dials. Any FM station in New York would have easily cost many tens of millions of dollars to buy - so instead a new radio outlet was created by taking this low power television station, previously targeted to a narrow ethnic audience, to reach a much broader radio audience in the City. A unique solution to the search for a spot on the crowded radio dial - and one that will not disappear in 2009 at the end of the digital conversion, as LPTV stations currently have no mandatory digital transition deadline.

As a longer term solution, why not just take all of channel 6 and use it for FM operations? That proposal was one that was advanced by consulting engineer Jack Mullaney in Comments recently filed in the digital television proceeding. In his comments, Mullaney advocates the use of channel 6 (which has not been used by the FCC for digital operations of television stations to avoid interference to noncommercial FM stations, except in a few isolated cases where no alternative digital channel was available,) for FM operations after the digital television transition has been complete. As set out in Mullaney's comments, this could increase the FM band by 30 channels (there currently are 100 FM channels), which could create enough spectrum to allow for channels set aside for specific uses like LPFM, without having to worry about interference to full power stations. Or channels could be set aside just for FM translators. A section of the band could even be reserved for "pirate" radio - allowing anyone to start a radio station without an FCC license, provided that they stay on-channel and observe specific power limitations.

These innovative solutions to the current perceived scarcity of FM channels would be more advantageous than the Commission's current attempt to repeal the laws of physics by cramming LPFM stations into the existing band without displacing or otherwise interfering with other authorized users - a seemingly impossible proposition. The proposal has been made - how will the FCC react to Mr. Mullaney's suggestion?

R.I.P. Karlheinz Stockhausen

The composer Karlheinz Stockhausen died Wednesday, December 5 at his home in Germany at age 79. He composed 362 individually performable works, including his 1966 "Telemusik," an early influential transmission art work.

Composed in Tokyo in the electronic studio of Japanese Radio NHK. Stockhausen used shortwave radio transmissions to compose a work with which he wanted, "to take a step further in the direction of composing not ‘my’ music but a music of the whole Earth, of all countries and races." While Telemusik incorporates sounds from many countries including Japan, Sahara, Bali, Vietnam, China, the Amazons, Spain, and Hungary, Stockhausen does not consider this work to be a collage, but "Rather—through the process of intermodulation between old ‘found’ objects and new sound events which I made using modern electronic means—a higher unity is reached: a universality of past, present and future, of distant places and spaces: TELE-MUSIK." Telemusik consists of 32 structures (moments) incorporating shortwave radio transmissions. Additional equipment used for the realization of the electronic music was two beat frequency oscillators, three sine-wave generators, one delta generator, one function generator, one transposing tape recorder with a pilot frequency generator, two tape recorders, one amplitude modulator, two ring modulators, three high-pass and low-pass filters, one third-octave filter, one six-track tape recorder.

Microwave beam stops cars dead

From Tracy Staedter in Discovery News:

The same microwave radiation that reheats pizza can be used to fry the electrical systems in cars, stopping them dead in their tracks. Emitted from a rooftop device, the radiation could be used by law enforcement officers to put an end to dangerous car chases or by military personnel as a non-lethal way of disabling vehicles that get too close for comfort.

"The idea is to warn an automobile some distance away from a high-value target like a military barrack or a communication center. If they don't comply, you just zap them and it prevents them from coming closer," said James Tatoian, CEO of Eureka Aerospace in Pasadena, Calif.

Tatoian and his team have been working on the device since 2003. The current prototype is about 5 feet long, 3 feet wide, a foot thick, and weighs just under 200 pounds. The technology uses the same kind of energy used in microwave ovens, but at a different frequency. Ovens typically operate at 2.45 Ghz, whereas the high-power car-stopping system is at 300 megahertz. In both cases, the radiation is above common radio frequencies and is not harmful to humans.

"There are no biological effects," said Tatoian. "We comply with every standard in the literature as far as biological impact." To disable cars, the device first generates energy that is amplified using a generator. The energy is converted to microwave radiation and then directed, by way of a specially designed antenna, at the offender in a narrow beam. The higher the frequency of the radiation, the more directed the beam, which allows the user to aim the energy at vulnerable car parts, such as light bulb filaments, lug nuts, frame bolts, or windshield antenna.

Barbed-wire tree

From Matt Bua's stay last spring creating "Sing Sun Room" at free103point9's Wave Farm.