Monday, November 27, 2000
I missed giving advance notice for this week, but be sure to tune in to WEFT for the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center News Hour. This is a "trial run" weekly program which will air Dec and January on Monday nights at 6:00pm on community radio WEFT, here in Champaign, IL. The program will feature local, national, and int'l news and features as covered by the U-C IMC. WEFT will also be airing other new locally produced news & public affairs programs during this time. You can listen live at 90.1 FM in Central Illinois, or tune in on-line at the WEFT website.
Here is the schedule of upcoming programs (programs not in bold are not IMC productions):
12/4 AMERICAN INDIAN MASCOTS IN SPORTS
Jay Rosenstein (airshifter) with Steve Kaufman and Brenda Farnell
12/11 WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE LOCAL GREEN PARTY?
Peter Miller (airshifter) with Brent McDonald
12/18 EDUCATIONAL ISSUES FACING URBANA SCHOOL DISTRICT 116
Cope Cumpston (airshifter), elected school officials, board members,
representative of the Urbana Equity Audit Steering Committee
12/25 WHAT'S HAPPENING AT PACIFICA AND DEMOCRACY NOW?
Produced by the Programming Committee. Host t.b.a.
1/8 RACE INEQUITY IN CHAMPAIGN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Sehvilla Mann (airshiftter) with Sarah Carsey, Paul Kaiser, Nancy
Dietrich-Rybicki, and Danielle Chynoweth
1/15 A TRIBUTE TO DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Gladys Hunt (airshifter) with local school children and teachers
1/22 A LOOK AT THE CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BOARD
Danielle Chynoweth (airshifter) with Molly Stentz, Russell
Dietrich-Rybicki and County Board Members Trisha Avery and Tony Fabri.
1/29 RADICAL CHEERS FROM A RADICAL GIRL
Danielle Chynoweth (airshifter) profiles Amy Jennings, brain trust for
the Radical Cheerleader OR AUTO-FREE IN CHAMPAIGN-URBANA
2/5 SPOTLIGHT ON THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN (NCAAM)
Peter Miller (airshifter) with Mike Wright, local member of the NCAAM.
posted 11/27/2000 07:19:56 PM [link
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Yet again, John Anderson, host of pirate/free radio at About.com, has an interesting article--this time about a couple of pioneering microbroadcasters using the 'net as way to provide true public-access radio.
While community radio, where most folks can have access to a real radio studio, provides public access to make media not otherwise seen, it's even a step closer to put voicemail and e-mailed sound files on the air. It's a powerful idea, since it can extend a voice to people who might not be able to get to a studio, whether they're shut-ins, institutionalized, or simply don't have transport. Of course, there is the potential for problems with content that many will find objectionable--John notes that one station had Nazi rants, for example--but I think the opportunity for some unfettered access to the airwaves outweighs that risk.
posted 11/27/2000 07:01:24 PM [link
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I'm back from a long Thanksgiving vacation in Colorado and ready to resume posting.
I tuned around the radio dial a little bit on my car trip out and while in the Denver metro area. As one might expect, there was quite a bit of country music to be had, along with a lot of Christian broadcasting on the left end of the dial. A nice surprise was High Plains Public Radio, which I listened to on a late Saturday evening through most of western Kansas. Instead of hearing typical public radio fare (mainstream jazz or classical), I heard a very eclectic music program hosted by a young woman who sounded barely out of high school, not professional (a good thing), but clearly having a good time playing her music--everything from trip hop, to punk and world music. It sounded more like community radio than public radio to me, though I'm sure it's much more "public-like" during daylight hours. A pleasant listen nonetheless, especially since I didn't expect to find much of interest at all on the radio dial out in the sparse high plains.
posted 11/27/2000 06:53:55 PM [link
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Monday, November 13, 2000
I must have missed this one, being caught up in the LPFM fight: Current Magazine reports that the Sen. Kent Conrad successfully blocked the passage of a bill that would have put religious broadcasters on par with educational non-profit brodcasters. This would have meant that religious brodcasters would not have to prove the public interest of their programming to the FCC, making religious programming de facto in the public interest. The effect would be to further enable the spread of religious stations (mostly satellite run operations) at the expense of new community stations.
posted 11/13/2000 04:41:50 PM [link
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Thursday, November 02, 2000
Free Politics & Free Media!
The Prairie Greens and the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center are hosting a benefit concert and teach-in on Sunday Nov. 5th at the Highdive in downtown Champaign (Illiniois). Some of the features include: members of the Poster Children, local folk-hero Paul Kotheimer, newspoetry, as well as short talks on Indpendent Politics, Indendent Media (by yours truly), Living Wage, and other topics.
I encourage anyone interested in expanding political debate both in media and the elections to come to this fun event.
posted 11/2/2000 05:01:41 PM [link
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Feed Magazine has a short essay on pirate radio. The author contends that pirate radio will not go away if LFPM is killed, and I tend to agree with this viewpoint.
In fact, I think radio pirates will only proliferate should Congress succeed in killing LPFM, since the hope of getting a license is probably the only thing keeping a lot of groups from going on air right now. Further, I have difficulty seeing the FCC having the resources to shut down the pirate radio onslaught, unless Congress declares a war on pirate radio like the war on drugs (and we know how successful the war on drugs has been).
posted 11/2/2000 03:14:30 PM [link
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There's been no word on the status of the appropriations bill with the anti-LPFM rider now as Congress goes into a "lame duck" session, with the Senate postponing further business until after the elections. This may mean that this bill could suffer a pocket veto, should Clinton do nothing on it, or that the outcome of the election may entice Congress to back off until January if Bush wins--knowing that they won't have to fight him to kill LPFM.
posted 11/2/2000 03:11:12 PM [link
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