Friday, July 22, 2005

Construction Starts on Broadcasting Museum

The American Broadcasting Museum began it's construction in Chicago today. It will take over from the previous location in the downtown Cultural museum. It will open up next summer with a projected cost of $21 million(US).

No word as of yet if they have reserved a wing for my career highlights.

Radio & Records

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Death to Disco Anniversary

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the day that the old Comisky Park in Chicago held a disastrous promotion celebrating the backlash against the disco music genre. Originally, records and 8-tracks were detonated in the outfield, but soon chaos erupted and the rally turned into a full scale riot.

It caused the White Sox to forfeit the game that day and many unruly people were arrested.

Today people talk about it as a black day in broadcasting history as it was widely promoted by a Chicago area disk jockey.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Any Idiot in Florida Can Do Radio

THE MAN came crashing down on the citizens of Florida and made some arrests in an apparent rescuing of the public airwaves.
North Miami Beach, FL police detectives on June 23 seized and impounded equipment being used by an unlicensed radio station that used the 91.7 MHz frequency -- the same one used by Christian Rock noncomm WMKL/Key Largo-Miami.

According to the police report, the pirate station's transmitter was located on a two-story office building. The station was unattended, using a Windows Media Player running on a PC with a DSL connection. Furthermore, police say the pirate station's transmitter was turned on every evening using a "hot water heater"-type timing switch, which would turn off each morning.
Nice job, guys! Apparently the set-up sounds like it was put together by some chemistry and electrical engineering guys that just wanted to have something to brag to all their friends about.
Marquis McDonald and Rasheem Oriley are being accused by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement of airing uncensored rap and hip-hop music from a Ft. Lauderdale apartment on an unlicensed station at 88.5 MHz. The broadcasts effectively jammed WKPX/Sunrise, FL a student-run operation based at Piper High School
The underlining story to these two news blurbs are that it's obvious that a niche audience is being under-served. Even to a degree that people have to set up their own pirate station just to listen to the music that they wanted. Wait 'till ClearChannel hears about these stories. They read the trades. But of course, the spin would appear in the regular news that the real crime was that they aired R&B with explicit lyrics.

Maybe this is what The Lion 90.7 FM is going to have to become soon? Do you see it in their future?

[Via: Radio & Records and Radio & Records]