R23 Information Services #104

Walking on the Wireless Side in Baltimore: WiMax, which delivers the Internet through radio signals

nytimes

Microcaster DJs get screwed under new licensing fees

sfweekly

Digital music suffering from entrepreneur drain

cnet

NPR’s Digital Makeover

newsweek

Why the pirates are on the rise in Sweden

bbc

The Woodpecker

From Wikipedia:

The Russian Woodpecker was a notorious Soviet signal that could be heard on the shortwave radio bands worldwide between July 1976 and December 1989. It sounded like a sharp, repetitive tapping noise, at 10 Hz, giving rise to the "Woodpecker" name. The random frequency hops disrupted legitimate broadcast, amateur radio, and utility transmissions and resulted in thousands of complaints by many countries worldwide. The signal was long believed to be that of an over-the-horizon radar (OTH) system. This theory was publicly confirmed after the fall of the Soviet Union, and is now known to be the Duga-3[1] system, part of the Soviet ABM early-warning network. This was something that NATO military intelligence was well aware of all along, having photographed it and giving it the NATO reporting name Steel Yard.

R23 Information Services #103

WOXY is moving to Austin
woxy.com

Mediafly (read podcast) channel coming to Roku Digital Media Player
cnet

WiMAX Moves Forward in Taiwan
WiMAX blog

The decade's 25 biggest tech flops (HD and XM make the list)
cnet

Coldplay First To Sell 1 Million Digital Albums
hypebot

Radio Cegeste

Radio Cegeste from Edie Eves on Vimeo from June 20, 2009.

R23 Information Services #102

Pandora now pushing radio to pay for music, too

arstechnica

Pandora Gets Another $35 Million

hypebot

Rhino Launches New Digital Sales Format

hypebot

Microsoft is launching a music streaming service this month

telegraph

Court Affirms Most Webcasting Royalty Rules

CommLawBlog

RAIN's Internet radio royalty round-up

RAIN

OPEN CALL: Microsound

Diapason Gallery for Sound is dedicating the month of October 09 to the exploration of the idea "Microsound", a technical term and also a musical genre. In honor of the 10th anniversary of the .microsound.org mailing list (founded by Kim Cascone) Diapason will present multi-channel installations, sound objects, performances, lectures, texts and other media in an effort to develop a survey on Microsound from today's post-digital perspective. Microsound is a term that encompasses explorations of sound on a time scale "shorter than musical notes". It includes subgenres such as Glitch music, granular synthesis, Lowercase sound, etc.

About Diapason: Since 2001, Diapason has been devoted to the presentation of sound art. The gallery, located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, contains two listening environments with state-of-the-art multi-channel sound systems: the "lounge" contains a 12 channel sound system placed asymmetrically around the space and the "gallery" is a focused listening environment with a high quality 8 channel system. Installation and performance proposals that consider site and spatialization as an important parameter will be favored.

More information:
www.diapasongallery.org
http://microsound.org/links.php

Please submit your proposals by August 10 2009 to:
Daniel Neumann, curatorial assistant
neumann@alulatonserien.de

R23 Information Services #101

The webcasting deal: What took so long?
latimes

Hold on, pandora didn't save all internet radio
nytimes

Sadly, Pandora Is Still Going Bankrupt
michaelrobertson.com

Why National Public Radio's Mobile Web Approach Works
poynter.org

Sprint Gains Network Advantage: Deal with Ericsson Delivers Competitive Edge

R23 Information Services #100!

Final Piece of the Webcasting Puzzle Settled
commLawBlog

Bertelsmann, KKR launch joint music rights venture
reuters

As Music Mags Fall, Pitchfork Is Booming
forbes

VLC 1.0 officially released after more than 10 years of work
arstechnica

Sources: Google OS lives (and it's coming to a netbook near you)
arstechnica

R23 Information Services #99

Casey Kasem Retires at 77

Online radio stations strike big deal on royalties
AP

The Death of Traditional Media (same day as MJ)
McVay media

Why Should Webcasters Pay 25% Of Revenue To Promote Musicians?
techdirt

Pandora Limits Users To 40 Hours Per Month
hypebot

Call For Submissions / New Adventures in Sound Art

Call For Submissions / New Adventures in Sound Art / HOME - Deep
Wireless, Sound Travels & SOUNDplay Festivals / Toronto, ON /

Deadline Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009

New Adventures in Sound Art invites artists of all ages and nationalities
to submit works on the theme HOME for consideration in 2010 future
programming for the annual Deep Wireless, Sound Travels, and SOUNDplay
festivals, produced by New Adventures in Sound Art in Toronto, Canada.

Artists may submit works in one or all of the following four categories:
1) Radio Art,
2) Electroacoustic Music & Sound Art,
3) Videomusic and
4) Installation Art (Note: please send separate submission forms for each
entry).

Individual interpretations or variations on the theme HOME are encouraged,
but should be realized with sound as the primary component.

All submitted works must respond in some way to the theme HOME in order to
be considered for 2010 NAISA programming.

1) Radio Art (for Deep Wireless)
The Radio Art category is for works conceived for radio or that use radio
and other wireless technology in their creation and that play with the
medium. Works submitted to this category must be less than 60 minutes in
duration. Special consideration will be given to 1 minute radio art pieces
for broadcast as well as 1 page proposals for collaboration on translocal
broadcast performances.

Pieces will be selected for broadcast within Canada and on several
international radio stations in May 2010 as part of the Deep Wireless
Festival of Radio and Transmission Art.

Both Canadian and International radio art submissions will be considered
for inclusion in the following:

-The Deep Wireless 7 radio art compilation CD
-The Radio Art Interventions (1 minute pieces played guerilla-style on
radio stations during the Deep Wireless festival)
-The Radio Art Salon - a listening gallery of radio art works exhibited
for the month of May.

2) Electroacoustic Music & Sound Art (for Sound Travels)
The Electroacoustic Music & Sound Art category is for multi-channel and
stereo works less than 20 minutes in duration and conceived for concert
performance or presentation in the Sound Travels festival of sound art.
Preferred formats for performance presentation include 5.1, octaphonic, 12
and 16-channel formats in both acousmatic (tape), live and mixed formats.
Please indicate in the notes the intended format of presentation and any
required instrumentation or specialized equipment.

3) Videomusic (for SOUNDplay)
The Videomusic category is for works that explores non-narrative
abstraction with equal emphasis on sound and image. Submitted works will
be considered for video screenings with either stereo or multi-channel
playback. Submitted works will be considered for screenings in either a
performance venue or a small-size gallery alongside other works selected
from this call for submissions.

4) Installation Art (for Deep Wireless, Sound Travels or SOUNDplay)
Installation proposals of previously realized works for site-specific and
gallery installations with no fixed duration will be considered for
presentation as part of Deep Wireless, Sound Travels or SOUNDplay.
Site-specific works can be for indoor or outdoor locations. Works can use
multichannel or single channel playback and may incorporate any number of
media, but must feature original sound as a primary element. Preference
will be given to small to medium scale interactive works that appeal to
all ages. Please attach a list of the necessary equipment required to
mount the installation and which of these items can be supplied by the
artist. Submissions should include audio, video or audio-video
documentation of previously realized versions of the work.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit a completed submission form (in digital format if possible)
along with the proposed works on CD or DVD.

For multichannel works, please include a stereo reduction for reference
purposes only. For video works, please include a DVD copy for reference
only. Screening and multi-channel masters will be requested later if the
work is to be programmed. For installation works or performance proposals,
please attach a list of required equipment with indications of equipment
that can be supplied by the artist.

Materials will not be returned. Please don't send original copies.

Submissions must be postmarked no later than September 30, 2009 and mailed
to: New Adventures in Sound Art
601 Christie Street #252
Toronto ON M6G 4C7

Visit http://www.naisa.ca for more information.

How to build a radio in a POW camp

By Cory Doctorow in Boing Boing:

This first-hand account of the construction of a clandestine shortwave radio by British POWs in a Japanese camp in Singapore really reminds me of James Clavell's magnificent novel King Rat, my all-time favorite war-novel, which revolves grippingly around the construction, discovery and consequences of a hidden shortwave in the Changi camp (both Clavell and Ronald "St Trinian's" Searle were interned in this camp).

BJ: Can I just ask you - the components for the low voltage battery cells that you produced, where did you get all the components from?

RGW: Well, zinc wasn't hard, there was some sheet zinc lying on the aerodrome and we pinched quite a bit of that because that would be eaten away during the use of the cells for the low voltage. I don't know what would have happened if that ran out. I think someone produced two lantern cells which did for a while, but it was mainly on this home-made cell system, which wasn't efficient but nowhere near as inefficient as the rectifier was. We must have been consuming... Ah Ping said he had to turn up a lot of power to keep the lights what they wanted. We were dispersing such an amount of power in this four test tube rectifier for the high tension.

A variable capacitor was another component we had to bring in. We couldn't make a variable capacitor, it was impossible. We had to take two plates off the one we had to get a high enough frequency. Yes, I can't remember why we didn't go up a bit in inductance; it was largely a trial and error business really. Except that in a regenerative receiver you had some idea when you were near a station because the receiver was so sensitive as all regenerative receivers are.

It had a piece of meat skewer type wood which I had a hole drilled in by a pen-knife, and we glued this in with some of our glue or something, into the capacitor shaft so that we could tune it by holding a little stick across it, fixing it at about six inches because one couldn't get one's hands any closer to the set because it was in a state of very near oscillation where the maximum sensitivity is, just before it bursts into oscillation. With a fairly clear HF band, it wasn't long before we knew roughly, by putting a couple of marks on the stick, where it was. We knew that the Voice of America was due for a transmission and I don't think we ever knew the frequencies because the BBC didn't announce frequencies, they just came on the air and broadcast.

Construction of Radio Equipment in a Japanese POW Camp (via Make).

R23 Information Services #98

Twitter Users More Engaged with Music -- and More Likely to Pay for It
NPD

Seven Apps Worth Buying Headphones For
nytimes

Lessons Learned From Twitter Windfalls
billboard

Radio stations step up battle against Performance Rights Act
latimes

Licensing issues Shut Down Pandora Oustside US
slashdot

R23 Information Services #97

President Obama signed the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009

The top internet radio stations
telegraph.co.uk

FCC Opening Door for New LPTV and TV Translator Applications
comm law blog

Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson on the Future of Free
wired

In Online Music Era, Country Fans Lack a Connection
washington post

FCC opening door for new LPTV and TV translator applications

By Matt McCormick in CommLawBlog:

Ever want to own your own television station? Your chance is just around the corner, as long as you’re willing to start small with a Low Power Television or TV translator station. The FCC has announced that the welcome mat for applications for new LPTV/translator stations (and major changes to existing stations) will be out as of August 25, if you want a rural station; if you’re looking for Bright Lights/Big City action, though, you’ll have to wait until next January.

In a Public Notice released June 29, the FCC announced a two-phase plan for the filing of applications for new digital-only LPTV and TV translator stations (we'll call them LPTVs collectively) and for major changes of existing LPTVs. Also, any analog LPTVs that didn't pick up a digital companion channel in the last go-round back in 2006 will now get another chance.

Phase 1 begins August 25, 2009, when the FCC will begin accepting, on a first-come, first-served basis, applications for new digital-only LPTV stations, major changes in existing LPTVs and digital companion channels in rural areas only.

What’s a “rural” area? To meet that condition, you must specify a transmitter site at least 75 milers (121 kilometers) from the reference points for any of the top 100 markets. (In an Appendix to the Public Notice, the Commission has helpfully listed not only all of the top 100 markets, but also their respective reference points.)

The geographical “rural only” restriction goes away when Phase 2 begins on January 25, 2010. From that date on, applications for new LPTVs, major changes and companion channels may be filed regardless of the proximity of the transmitter site to a major market.

In both phases, applications will be accepted first-come, first-served, and will be "cut-off" on a daily basis. That means that if you file your application one day after a conflicting application, you're out of luck (unless, of course, the earlier-filed conflicting application gets dismissed, in which case you would get a second chance). If two conflicting applications happen to be filed on the same day, they will be deemed to be “mutually exclusive”, which will entitle them to go through the FCC's auction process.

Applications for new LPTVs and replacement translators must specify an in-core channel (i.e., Channels 2 through 51). Incumbent analog LPTVs looking for digital companion channels should also try to specify an in-core channel, but if nothing suitable is available, a channel between 52 and 59 may be used if the applicant goes through a whole circus full of hoops outlined in the FCC's Public Notice.

(Our colleague Peter Tannenwald raises an interesting question: why would an existing LPTV analog station with an in-core channel apply for a second in-core channel as a digital companion facility, rather than simply applying for a new station on that second channel? The problem with companion channels is that, at some point, that licensee will have to choose between its original channel and its companion channel – that is, in the end the licensee would have only one station on one channel. On the other hand, if the LPTV licensee got an in-core channel as a new stand-alone station – i.e., not a companion channel – and eventually did a flash-cut switch to digital on its original channel, it would end up with two channels, both of which it could keep.)

And on the topic of flash-cuts, the FCC reminds LPTV and Class A licensees currently operating in analog that they can file on-channel digital conversion (i.e., flash-cut) applications at any time – like right now, if they want. The Commission encourages analog LPTV stations that are planning on filing flash-cut applications to do so before the FCC begins accepting first-come, first-served digital applications. Acting sooner rather than later will get you ahead of any tsunami of applications that might develop in, say, August (or January) as far as processing is concerned; it may also prevent other applications from limiting your options in some ways.)

The FCC application filing fee for a new LPTV station or for a major change in an existing station is $705.00. There is no FCC filing fee for flash-cut or digital companion channel applications. All applications must be submitted electronically thought the FCC's CDBS program.

It’s been years since the FCC has flung open the door for new (i.e., non-companion) LPTV stations anywhere. As a result, it is extremely likely, if not an odds-on mortal lock, that some serious demand has built up – demand that we will see unleashed on August 25. In other words, we can probably expect a ton of filings as soon as the door opens. Since the coming opportunity is strictly first-come, first-served, applications which are filed at the first opportunity will block out later-filed applications. That being the case, if you have specific notions of filing for a new station in a particular community, you would be smart to get all your ducks in a row so that you will be able to file on August 25. Otherwise, you run the risk that somebody else will get there first.

Spy Numbers

The Palais de Tokyo is currently holding a "Spy Numbers" exhibit: On the short waves of our radios, voices read out uninterrupted series of numbers. 2… 11… 58… 35… 23…
Whether they are encrypted instructions intended for sleeping agents, messages exchanged between traffickers, or simple telephone settings, the “Spy Numbers Stations” have been broadcasting for several decades without their precise function becoming known. In the wake of Gakona, the previous exhibit inspired by the work of Nikola Tesla, Spy Numbers continues the exploration of the electromagnetic spectrum and its margins in this second session of 2009. Beyond the visible and closer still to the infra-thin and the spectral, the Palais de Tokyo experiments with forms of art that elude any wistful desire for fixed interpretations. In an exhibition area reduced by half due to renovations, Spy Numbers brings together a variety of artists whose interests include mathematical encoding, the production of aurora borealis, archiving contact lenses, seismic sensors, the disappearance of hanged men and mountain summits.