Episodes

Portland community radio station KBOO-FM celebrates its 50th year on air in 2018, and to commemorate the anniversary the station is hosting an exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society Museum. While an exhibit seems simple enough on the surface, in fact a lot of time, thought and work goes into curating the artifacts and narrative that it comprises. Moreover, the physical exhibit is just one aspect of KBOO’s effort to record and preserve its history, which includes an online exhibit and an extens...

If you’re a hearing person, you might not expect that podcasts would be popular with people who are deaf or are hard of hearing. But you’d be wrong. Miri Josephs is a podcaster who also considers herself part of the deaf community. She joins this episode to explain why it’s important to make podcasts, and radio, more accessible to people with hearing disabilities. She also offers tips for making your show more accessible to people with a range of hearing ability. Miri also tells us about the po...

The nation’s largest TV station owner is about to get even bigger, threatening to create the equivalent of Clear Channel for local television. New ownership rules passed by the FCC’s Republican majority in November are set to take effect Feb. 7, paving the way for Sinclair Broadcast Group to acquire Tribune television stations. Prof. Christopher Terry of the University of Minnesota explains what’s at stake. Be sure to subscribe to Radio Survivor in your favorite podcast app or platform so that ...

“Franken FM” is the name writer Ernie Smith of Tedium.co calls TV broadcasters who use analog Channel 6 to be heard at 87.7 on the FM dial. Paul talks with Ernie about their mutual fascination with these stations, which Paul has written about extensively on Radio Survivor. Also included in the interview, Ernie Smith explains how he approaches writing about things for the internet. Tedium.co covers topics as diverse (and uniquely inconsequential) as FrankenFM and the inventor of the mouse pad. ...

How do I get a broadcast radio license? How can I find all the LPFM or college radio stations? Will you visit and write about my favorite station? Every week the editors of Radio Survivor receive, and answer, queries like these from readers and listeners. While we enjoy corresponding with people, we thought we shouldn’t reserve our replies to just individual interlocutors. So here we have our very first mailbag episode, responding to the most frequently asked questions we receive. Maybe we tac...

Radio Free America is an online hub for community, college and public radio streams, serving up two weeks of archived programming, on demand. Founded by CEO Kenneth Pushkin in 2013, the platform now hosts more than 125 noncommercial stations free of charge. Pushkin and RFA’s station relations manager Jeff Abrams join to explain more about the service. They also share some of their own radio experiences. Abrams talks about the community station he helped to found in Boise, Idaho. Pushkin tells u...

Eric and Paul met young enthusiastic podcasters and podcast fans when they attended Podcon in Seattle at the beginning of December. It’s almost an understatement to say they were impressed by diversity of the attendees, and their love of radio drama style shows. Your hosts learned a lot (there’s a library with free public podcast studios!) and they share some of the takeaways in this episode. The same weekend Paul and Eric had the opportunity to attend the launch party for KBFG, a new LPFM comm...

2017 was a year of ups and downs, from the continued growth of LPFM to the loss of net neutrality. All four Radio Survivors gather to review the year that was, assessing what happened in college radio, community radio and podcasting, with stops along the way in Istanbul, conspiracy theories and classical music. Jennifer, Matthew, Eric and Paul guarantee you won’t hear another look back at 2017 like this one. Be sure to subscribe to Radio Survivor in your favorite podcast app or platform so that...

Anita Pouchard Serra traveled across Argentina helping to set up new community radio stations with the DTL! collective. A photojournalist, she also documented the building of these stations, that are officially unlicensed, but operate in the spirit of a communications law that passed, but never went into effect. Anita joins to tell us about this movement of Radio Comunitaria Alternativa y Popular, and its role in communities and the larger media environment in Argentina. This is an encore pres...

Why didn’t the internet just stop working the day after the FCC voted to end network neutrality? Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins to answer that question, and explain what happens next. He also lays out where is the fight over internet freedom going next, and what the real threat is for independent and community media. Then we learn more about public access TV and how one station in Portland, OR is evolving and innovating to keep up with the times. We talk with two...

First conceived in the 1930s, there is a type of tiny little radio station that anyone can operate legally, without a license. Bill DeFelice of HobbyBroadcaster.net joins the show to tell us about so-called ‘Part 15’ radio stations, and how you can get on the air today, to broadcast around your house, or even your neighborhood. Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast. We dedicate hours of time and effort for each weekly episode. Help us sustain and grow this show by contributing as litt...

The Chicago Independent Radio Project launched as an internet radio station nearly a decade ago, with a mission of bringing a truly independent music- and arts-focused community radio station to Chicago. Thanks to the Local Community Radio Act, which allowed the growth of low-power FM stations in the nation’s biggest cities—and a lot of hard work and organizing—CHIRP took to the Chicago FM airwaves on October 21 of this year. Shawn Campbell, CHIRP’s founder and general manager, also was a stron...

The FCC is about to vote on rules that would reverse network neutrality protections that the Commission put in place just two years ago. The terms of this rollback were released right before Thanksgiving, and represent the FCC effectively abdicating its role in guaranteeing the free flow of information on the internet. Prof. Christoper Terry from the University of Minnesota helps us understand this proposal and put it in historical perspective. He explains that the DC Circuit Court of Appeals al...

“Podcasts are luring people into listening,” Jennifer Waits reports, quoting the esteemed radio scholar Susan Douglas, from her keynote address at the recent Radio Preservation Task Force conference in Washington DC. Jennifer also relays some important reasons for studying radio history shared at the conference, especially to help understand the present and plan for the future, and she fills us in about efforts to preserve the early history and recordings of podcasts, as well as women’s pivotal ...

We’ve talked about community podcasting on the show, now we want to connect the dots to community radio. The apparent ubiquity of public radio podcasts makes it seem like a podcast of a radio show is just automatic. But, in fact, turning terrestrial shows into consistent podcasts requires work and thoughtful planning behind the scenes. Community radio KPOV in Bend, OR is starting a project to do just that. Station Manager Jill Mahler joins us to explain the history of the project, how it’s fund...

The Federal Communications Commission just proposed new ownership rules that would drastically loosen restrictions on broadcast station ownership limits. Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota joins us again to help understand this proposal, and the threat to local journalism and broadcasting. He argues that it has be viewed in an historical context, with respect to the FCC’s failed attempts to deregulation ownership over the last 21 years. Arguably, nobody understands this leg...

Journalism professor John Anderson has been tracking the FCC’s enforcement of unlicensed radio for 20 years, and has seen the agency have little success, despite the periodic uptick in policing the airwaves, such as we’re seeing now. He suggests there are common sense approaches to managing the FM broadcast spectrum that would address the underlying causes of pirate radio. John also updates us on the elimination of the “main studio rule” for radio stations in the US, and what that means for com...

At the end of 2015, it looked like the University of Nevada-Las Vegas might hand over the keys to its radio station, KUNV-FM, to Nevada Public Radio. More than a year later the situation reversed course, with the university deciding to keep the station and increase student involvement. Our college radio watcher Jennifer Waits learned that advice from other thriving college stations was pivotal in creating the plan to revitalize KUNV. In particular, the station’s General Manager Frank Mueller rel...

Ajit Pai was just renominated and confirmed as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and there are a number of pivotal policy items ahead on his agenda. Our resident FCC watcher, Prof. Christopher Terry from the University of Minnesota, joins to help us understand what’s in store and what the stakes are. First, he explains the reality behind President Trump’s threat to revoke NBC’s television license. Then he tackles the proposed merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribu...

Rob Quicke founded College Radio Day in order to celebrate this unique medium and service. This year’s College Radio Day happens Oct. 6. Now in its seventh year, the celebration has spread globally with hundreds of stations participating. Quicke, who is also the GM of WPSC-FM at William Paterson University, joins to share the story of this event, detailing the reasons why college radio deserves to be celebrated. He also turns the tables on your hosts, asking them to explain what they think makes...

The Grassroots Radio Conference is an annual meeting of community, college and other non-commercial radio stations for the purpose of skill-sharing, training and strengthening ties. We talk with Caitlin Reading, a LPFM station startup specialist who is helping to organize this year’s GRC, happening Oct. 6 – 9 at WCAA-LP in Albany, NY, to learn what will be happening. Then Paul and Jennifer reflect on the two decade history of the GRC, and its evolution and growth alongside the birth and floweri...

As autumn kicks off in the northern hemisphere Jennifer, Eric and Paul circle back to share responses to last week’s episode, all about community podcasting, and look forward to what’s in store for community media this fall. Jennifer lets us know about two international festivals being broadcast by her home station KFJC, and reports on the impending sale of the Brown University affiliated commercial station, WBRU. We also preview College Radio Day, the Grassroots Radio Conference, and Radio Pres...

Zahra Noorbakhsh and Tanzila ‘Taz’ Ahmed started using the #GoodMuslimBadMuslim hashtag as a joke on twitter. When they started a podcast using the same name it became an instant hit. They were getting positive press coverage before they had even recorded their first episode. Zahra joins to discuss the show, and the things she has learned about podcasting. Please help support this non-commercial podcast. Comments? Something you think we should cover? Email us: podcast@radiosurvivor.com | Tweet...

On this episode we revisit our features on Bainbridge Community Broadcasting, and our interviews with founders Barry and Channie Peters. BCB started out as a low-power community radio initiative, but pivoting into podcasting when the group discovered that would better serve their community. We’ll listen to our first conversation with them from July 2015, and then Paul’s follow-up visit to their studios in November 2016. Radio Survivor is a listener-supported podcast. You can support us two ways...