free103point9 Newsroom has moved to http://free103point9.wordpress.com/

free103point9 Newsroom has moved to http://free103point9.wordpress.com/as of March 18, 2010 A blog for radio artists with transmission art news, open calls, microradio news, and discussion of issues about radio art, creative use of radio, and radio technologies. free103point9 announcements are also included here.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

R23 Information Services #95

Web Radio Hits the Road
washington post

Pandora Founder Tim Westergren Sits With Billboard For An Extended Q&A

billboard

Microsoft makes Zune HD Official
slipperybrick

Music Labels Cut Friendlier Deals With Start-Ups
nytimes

Pandora Cries Foul on PRS
digital music news

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Radio art in Situ

Anna Friz moderated this panel with Kristen Roos, Emmanual Madan, and Hank Bull, about radio work in a sited experience. Madan spoke first about "radioland," that magical place radio DJs are always speaking to or at. Bull looked for radio emanating from the body, and told stories about The Western Front's pirate radio history. Madan and Friz explained their project, "The Joy Channel," that explored radio in the future when emotions are transmitted.

Deep Wireless Day Two: Gregory Whitehead


Gregory Whitehead gave the keynote presentation to kick off day two of the "Radio Without Boundaries" conference, and excrement was the theme. After warming up the crowd with a few vocal exercises, his, uh, disembodied voice exposed the current excremental culture through Laura Vitale's hilarious Mariah Carey rendering, with a spy numbers station as the main metaphor for the cultural toilet, or William S. Burroughs talking orifice. As always, Whitehead provides fascinating radio art for thought. The discussion afterwards, though slow to percolate, got going with a lively discussion of what part, if any, of the self is transmitted, with Anna Friz and Whitehead disagreeing slightly, and Brandon LaBelle and Christophe Migone adding much to the discussion.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Soundscapes of the imagination

The final panel of this afternoon at "Radio Without Boundaries" conference was "Soundscapes of the imagination: the grey area between fact and fiction" moderated by Andra McCartney with Gregory Whitehead, Helene Prevost, and Alessandro Bosetti. This turned into the most lively session, actually argumentative, with Whitehead playing his usual contrarian role, challenging the status quo. At first the panel equated Orson Welles with George Bush as hoax-mongers (I reminded them that Welles' repeatedly announced that "The War of the Worlds" was a radio play during the broadcast). Whitehead then asked, "Where is the protest art," and some in the audience argued back that it was out there. We were all way off topic at this point (Whitehead's Twitter rant was hilarious). But it was engaging radio. Soundscapes haven't been mentioned in 30 minutes. Authenticity became the topic. "The master narratives are still unfolding," Whitehead said. "I am very interested in the productive role of dead air in that scenario," Anna Friz said, in a response of sorts.

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Radio that reflects community

free103point9 Transmission Artist Anna Friz led the next panel at "Radio Without Boundaries, "Radio that reflects community." Since free103point9 is in the process of launching WGXC, a community radio station for Greene and Columbia counties in New York, this panel is of particular interest here. Victoria Fenner, Marian van der Zon, and Kevin Matthews were also on the panel. The panel, though, just trotted out tried and true-isms. Yes, it is important to build community for a community radio station. That seems part of the term "community radio station." Sure, some community radio stations forget that mission. Only Matthews made the good point that these community radio stations need to become multi-media groups that provide not just audio, but video, blogging, photography, and other media. Otherwise, this panel was preaching to the converted. Yes, a very dissapointing panel, that shed little new light on community radio.

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Chris Brookes on the need (or not) for narration

Chris Brookes Skyped in his workshop, "Oh, Shut Up! Who needs a narrator anyway?" Chris Brookes' radio features have have been broadcast around the world. He has directed and produced documentaries for Canadian network television, is a published author and playwright, and has taught radio storytelling at festivals and workshops across North America and Europe. Brookes, and the group, seemed to think that there always is a narrator (even when it is not the voice of God), and that the narrator should stand out of the way of the "action" as much as possible. He battled some Skype skipping, but was an engaging, uh, narrator. "Author" might be a better term, one audience member said. And the amount of narration depends on the context, whether it is a news report, or an artistic work.

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Andra McCartney on soundscapes

Andra McCartney is a multimedia soundscape artist, composer, performer and poet. Currently she is working on 'Soundwalking Home', a series of soundwalks through neighborhoods in which she has lived, and a soundscape documenting the Lachine Canal region, near Montreal. McCartney's installations have been shown at Maid in Cyberspace Encore (Montreal), KAAI Modern Fuel Gallery (Kingston, Ontario), miXing Women In Sound Art Festival (Chicago), The Kitchen ... Her writings have been published in Leonardo Music Journal, MusicWorks ... She has collaborated with visual artist P.S. Moore, championed the work of soundscape composer Hildegard Westerkamp, and she is actively involved with the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. She lives in Montreal and is teaches at Concordia University, Montreal.

McCartney talked about her work with soundscapes, with lots of recordings of bells, trains, boats. She prefers in-ear binaural mics, although occasionally uses a hand-held stereo mic when she wants to make it clear to folks she is recording.

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Live from Deep Wireless


free103point9 is live in Toronto today and tomorrow from Deep Wireless' "Radio Without Boundaries" conference. You can tune in at www.free103point9.org or by pasting http://comm.free103point9.org:8000/deepwireless.mp3.m3u into your computer's media player.

I will be blogging throughout the conference, and Nick van der Kolk, Justin Grotelueschen, Andrea Silenzi and Nadene Thériault-Copeland are also blogging "Radio Without Boundaries" on the Transom blog. They have photos too!

Brandon LaBelle got things started this morning with a keynote address called "Instances of radiophonic panic, or towards a theory of transmission." He used a subtle voice to describe a panic radio situation, to great effect. The conversation afterwards, which drew a bit on Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds" and other "panic broadcasts got me thinking: listening to the radio during a panic, one is both more attentive -- I need to know! -- and less -- I trust everything!

Andra McCartney is starting her "Radio Soundscapes" presentation now. I will post more later.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

R23 Information Services #94

WORLD'S FIRST COMMERCIAL 4G/LTE SITE UNVEILED IN SWEDEN IN 2010
WiMAX has competition

The Facebook for Ham Radio
http://www.73s.org/

Indie Labels Experience A Major Renaissance Amidst The Upheaval
hypebot

Hulu's first live concert could be tip of the iceberg
arstechnica

Lawyer: RIAA must pay back all $100M it has collected
arstechnica

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

R23 Information Services #93

House Judiciary Committee Passes Modified Performance Tax
Broadcast Law Blog

Cellphone Makers Hope for a Blockbuster Summer
nytimes

Metropolitan Talent Co-CEO Explains CMJ Merger
billboard

Clearwire and Cisco Partner to Deliver 4G WiMAX Services
WiMAX blog

Mogulus Renamed Livestream
dailywireless.org

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R23 Information Services #92

Pandora One
techcrunch

When ‘Local’ Makes It Big
nytimes

How do YOU listen to Internet Radio in Your Car?
radio.about.com

The rebirth of news
the economist

Stats on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter
McVay New Media

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Hunt for the West Chester Guerilla Drive-In's secret AM broadcast


From John Young on Boing Boing:

Back in 2007, you posted a link to the West Chester (PA) Guerilla Drive-In, where we project 16MM movies at secret locations from the sidecar of my 1977 BMW motorcycle. The kit-built AM transmitter in the photo you posted is the MacGuffin, a secret AM transmitter in a waterproof case hidden somewhere in the area, and broadcasting around the clock. In order to find out where movies are going to be shown, you have to find the broadcast, tune in, and discover the secret access code.

This year, the audio for the AM broadcast includes a freshly-recorded cover of "Brazil", which you will probably remember as the soundtrack for the Ministry of Information in Terry Gilliam's awesome 1985 movie. You can see the MacGuffin and hear the first bit of the secret message on the Guerilla Drive-In website.

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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

WGXC Online Radio


free103point9 has launched its third online radio web stream. WGXC Online Radio is on around the clock playing recordings from bands from Greene and Columbia Counties in upstate New York, and interviews with local personalities and politicians, and other sound recordings. Also occasional live events from throughout the two counties. Tune in at www.WGXC.org.

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R23 Information Services #91

Local radio stations fear affect of music industry fees
Indiana Gazette

More static for DJs at Clear Channel
nctimes

Webcasters Want Royalty Reduction

nationaljournal.com

iPhone/iPod touch prescribed to MU journalism students
Arstechnica

Radio receiver chips turn into a $100 million payoff for Silicon Labs
statesman.com

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Monday, May 11, 2009

R23 Information Services #90

Sirius XM sticks it to subscribers
cnet

AT&T Buys Verizon Assets for $2.35B
dailywireless

The end of the age of free
the guardian

Rural America not ready for broadband? Hogwash, say ISPs
arstechnica

Byrne turns venue into instrument
bbc

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Friday, May 08, 2009

R23 Information Services #89

CBS & Last.fm Consolidate Online Radio Units
hypebot

Quite Possibly the Best Phone/Web Commercial Ever
http://www.pomegranatephone.com/

The iPhone Is Accelerating Music Sales For Pandora
washington post

Sirius XM Radio Reports First-Ever Drop in Subscribers
rolling stone

RealNetworks Music Revenues Climb 16%
billboard

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

More WBAI shake-ups

NYC Indymedia has a leaked memo from Grace Aaron, Chair of the Pacifica National Board, saying LaVarn Williams is the new WBAI general manager, and Anthony Riddle is being asked to step down from GM to become Development Director in the Pacifica national office.

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Wednesday, May 06, 2009

R23 Information Services #88

AM/FM radio has about five good years left, if that… radio (of) today will be on the Internet
boston globe

Don’t Count Satellite Radio Out
& Satellite Radio Broadens Reach
hear 2.0 & WSJ

As Sales Slow, Music Game-Makers Turn To Hip-Hop And Electronica For Growth
billboard

FTC probe may force Apple/Google board members to part ways
Ars Technica

Rock stars sign up for web comedy
bbc

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Monday, May 04, 2009

A battle to preserve a visionary’s bold failure


From William J. Broad in The New York Times:
Today, a fight is looming over the ghostly remains of that site, called Wardenclyffe — what Tesla authorities call the only surviving workplace of the eccentric genius who dreamed countless big dreams while pioneering wireless communication and alternating current. The disagreement began recently after the property went up for sale in Shoreham, N.Y.

A science group on Long Island wants to turn the 16-acre site into a Tesla museum and education center, and hopes to get the land donated to that end. But the owner, the Agfa Corporation, says it must sell the property to raise money in hard economic times. The company’s real estate broker says the land, listed at $1.6 million, can “be delivered fully cleared and level,” a statement that has thrown the preservationists into action.

The ruins of Wardenclyffe include the tower’s foundation and the large brick laboratory, designed by Tesla’s friend Stanford White, the celebrated architect.

Read entire story here.

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Radio23 Information Services #87

Payola: Once a dirty word, now the basis of internet radio
the guardian

FiRe: Pro-quality audio app for iPhone integrates with SoundCloud

Radio Giant Faces Crisis in Cash Flow
NYTimes

Court, FCC fight losing battle

Variety

NASA is studying the feasibility of using IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX) on the Moon
dailywireless

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Sunday, May 03, 2009

Microwaving a cell phone

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