KDKA - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA - 1920s
Credit: The Pennsylvania Center for the Book
Thanks: ARCANE RADIO TRIVIA for linking to the article where I found this logo in its own great post titled, Will Rogers and his famous Alarm Clock
From my long-form blog at KoHoSo.us, I discuss my deep worries about today’s announcement that college radio stations are going to start being added to Clear Channel’s IHeartRadio app.
Second and perhaps most importantly, it now gives Clear Channel “live or die” power over these stations. It is certainly solely up to Clear Channel as to whether or not a college station remains available on IHeartRadio. Let’s say that the quality of a college station dips for a semester (as will happen as its disk jockeys come and go). Perhaps even more threatening, what if a host takes issue on the air against something Clear Channel supports or even the company itself? The pressure Clear Channel could bring to change a format or individual host in the face of a threat to remove the station from IHeartRadio would be immense in this era of shrinking college budgets which shows no end in sight as conservative political pressure will continue well after the economy finally but inevitably improves. Being dropped from IHeartRadio could be the excuse any money-hungry college dean needs to sell off his school’s license to be another NPR drone or, worse yet, another frequency churning out the religious K-LOVE feed.
R.I.P. The Duke of Louisville
Bill Bailey (William Boahn) 1930-2012
DJ Bill Bailey, ‘Duke of Louisville,’ dies - Louisville Courier-Journal
KIRO-AM Radio Broadcast - Seattle, Washington U.S.A. - December 8, 1941
While much is being posted today about the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor (and, rightfully so), one of the most haunting moments on the American home front came on the next day, December 8, 1941.
While this time of deep uncertainty has since been captured in a more humorous light — most notably by the movie 1941 — we can only imagine now what it was like when radio was all people had as a constant companion for information. Even to me, a person born 20 years after World War II ended, the thought of being left with no news and having no idea if enemy ships were steaming toward the west coast makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
I do want to add one point of certainty on this piece of audio history. While most websites hosting it state that it was broadcast on the night of December 7, 1941, I agree with Seattle area radio historian Feliks Banel among many others that believe the evidence shows it was indeed from the following night.
While much is being posted today about the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor (and, rightfully so), one of the most haunting moments on the American home front came on the next day, December 8, 1941.
While this time of deep uncertainty has since been captured in a more humorous light — most notably by the movie 1941 — we can only imagine now what it was like when radio was all people had as a constant companion for information. Even to me, a person born 20 years after World War II ended, the thought of being left with no news and having no idea if enemy ships were steaming toward the west coast makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
I do want to add one point of certainty on this piece of audio history. While most websites hosting it state that it was broadcast on the night of December 7, 1941, I agree with Seattle area radio historian Feliks Banel among many others that believe the evidence shows it was indeed from the following night.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]0 plays
Things have not been good in the radio industry for many years but today, October 26, 2011, just might become known as Black Wednesday in the business. The largest of all radio conglomerates, Clear Channel Communications, has been handing out pink slips like Halloween candy in almost every market it infects. However, the biggest insult might have come from Cumulus Media which recently bought out Citadel Broadcasting and grabbed control of famed rock station KLOS in Los Angeles.
Pictured is Jim Ladd who was perhaps the last disk jockey left on any commercial station of any format that was allowed to select his own music. Pink Floyd fans would recognize him as the DJ on the Roger Waters solo album, Radio K.A.O.S.. Tom Petty fans might know that Ladd was the inspiration for The Last DJ. He has been a staple of the Los Angeles rock radio scene since the 1970’s and was just as relevant and sharp today as he was when he started.
Jim Ladd was unceremoniously fired today by Cumulus. He was not given a chance to say goodbye or do a farewell show.
Yes, perhaps music radio has been the cruelest of all of the forms of show business even before the days of deregulation and broadcasting conglomerates. That being said, the firing of Ladd and many more all across the country today shows two things
1. The radio conglomerates are still completely clueless about how to save radio with programming and personalities that are connected to the market.
2. All that matters to Clear Channel, Cumulus, Entercom, and all the rest is what Wall Street has to say about their overall portfolios, not good ratings much less good radio. It’s the same problem that infects all other commercial endeavors in the United States right now where the end customer means nothing.
While I have a good feeling that Jim Ladd might end up on anther station here in Los Angeles, I don’t feel that good about everybody else that got dumped today much less the industry as a whole. For those that only know me through Tumblr, I would like to offer the following link that is on my long form blog at KoHoSo.us. Covering stations of almost every type (mainly minus urban, hip-hop, top 40, and adult contemporary that I do not care for), it is a list of what I believe are the best over-the-air radio stations in the U.S.A. and Canada that also stream online. With only a very few exceptions, all of the listed stations are either independently-owned or non-commercial. I hope that my readers will take a look at this page, not because I want the attention, but because they will find some great music and see that over-the-air radio still has something good to offer.
Radio | KoHoSo.us
Pictured is Jim Ladd who was perhaps the last disk jockey left on any commercial station of any format that was allowed to select his own music. Pink Floyd fans would recognize him as the DJ on the Roger Waters solo album, Radio K.A.O.S.. Tom Petty fans might know that Ladd was the inspiration for The Last DJ. He has been a staple of the Los Angeles rock radio scene since the 1970’s and was just as relevant and sharp today as he was when he started.
Jim Ladd was unceremoniously fired today by Cumulus. He was not given a chance to say goodbye or do a farewell show.
Yes, perhaps music radio has been the cruelest of all of the forms of show business even before the days of deregulation and broadcasting conglomerates. That being said, the firing of Ladd and many more all across the country today shows two things
1. The radio conglomerates are still completely clueless about how to save radio with programming and personalities that are connected to the market.
2. All that matters to Clear Channel, Cumulus, Entercom, and all the rest is what Wall Street has to say about their overall portfolios, not good ratings much less good radio. It’s the same problem that infects all other commercial endeavors in the United States right now where the end customer means nothing.
While I have a good feeling that Jim Ladd might end up on anther station here in Los Angeles, I don’t feel that good about everybody else that got dumped today much less the industry as a whole. For those that only know me through Tumblr, I would like to offer the following link that is on my long form blog at KoHoSo.us. Covering stations of almost every type (mainly minus urban, hip-hop, top 40, and adult contemporary that I do not care for), it is a list of what I believe are the best over-the-air radio stations in the U.S.A. and Canada that also stream online. With only a very few exceptions, all of the listed stations are either independently-owned or non-commercial. I hope that my readers will take a look at this page, not because I want the attention, but because they will find some great music and see that over-the-air radio still has something good to offer.
Radio | KoHoSo.us
Why should anybody care about the demise of an alternative rock radio station in a city where most people reading this do not live? Because of this attitude where big media and other corporations believe people are not smart enough to accept anything “different” whether it be music or any other product or service especially if your town is not New York City or Los Angeles. Mr. Diablo catches that attitude perfectly below. I’m not a big alternative rock fan but it’s the same thing I dealt with when growing up down I-80 in Sacramento and took up the call from a band more of my own era…don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart.
Life will go on- the ignorant knuckledraggers over at the buttrock radio station will continue to perpetuate and reinforce an unfair stereotype of the Reno-Tahoe area, only now they will do it unchallenged by the people that think that the Biggest Little City can be more, and is more.
