From Jose Fritz in Arcane Radio Trivia:

This was in an issue of Popular Mechanics in 1934. Early in the golden years of radio, the fascination reached nearly hysterical heights where we thought radio was going to fix everything, do everything and be everywhere. In reality, we only ever really go to that last part.

Five coeds donned blindfolds and then competed in a pseudo-scientific race. The gauge was not really speed as it was difficult to navigate at all. Each participant was guided only by a radio beacon. Each girl carried a small radio receiving and wore earphones to hear the signal. They navigated by moving the set to turn the nulls toward and away from the beacon to navigate their path. The signals were the same kind used in aviation in that era. Apparently carrying the receiver and its battery was more difficult than following the beacon. Of course today the University of Cincinnati doesn't even own a college radio station. But they had an Amateur Radio Club all the way back to the 1921. Professor Carl Osterbrock, Jr. was the trustee for a 1ooo watt Collins transmitter and matching receiver. It's calls were W8YX.

From Cory Doctorow in Boing Boing:

The RFID Guardian project has released the hardware and software schematics for the latest version of its personal RFID (radio frequency ID) firewall. The RFID Guardian is a device that detects all the RFID tags on your person (passport, transit pass, bank-card, toll-card, car keys, etc), and interdicts them so that they can't answer queries anymore. The Guardian can clone all of these tags, and emit their signal on demand, but unlike a dumb tag, the Guardian only emits when you tell it to, and gives you a central way to set and enforce policy about when you will be identified and by whom. The new version is completely open, and the relaunched RFID Guardian site includes a wiki, source code repository and bug-tracker.

This multi-media art exhibition, curated by artists, will bring together diverse expressions of the War in Iraq, opening in several venues in Pawtucket and Providence, from March 5 to March 30, 2008. It will then travel to Fall River in April and to Boston in May. In these times of extreme political division and inadequate or biased media coverage, the exhibition will engage the American public in a broad-based dialogue that promotes awareness, understanding, and healing. Through the universal language of art, the exhibition seeks to give a human face to the complex conflict in Iraq and to engage those who have unconsciously cocooned themselves from the fearsome reality of the war. We ask the questions: What does it mean to experience this war firsthand, in combat, or as an Iraqi civilian? What does it mean to experience it from a distance, or on television? How can we in America reconnect to the reality of war? Are there shared visions of peace despite cultural and religious differences? The work will be selected purely on artistic merit and look to include as many perspectives as possible, beyond politics. The call goes out internationally to both soldiers and civilians for video, audio, photography, drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and the written word. The show will open simultaneously in the Arts Exchange (Pawtucket Armory), Machines With Magnets, Blackstone Valley Visitors Center, AS220 and the Cable Car Cinema, in Pawtucket and Providence, RI.

From WFMU:

We are pleased to announce that WFMU's live streams are finally available on the iPhone. iPhone listeners can point their browsers at iphone.wfmu.org and listen to our live mp3 streams at either 128k or 32k and also choose from a selection of our archived content and podcasts. Based on our initial testing it will come as no surprise that tuning in over Wifi will get you the best results however we've also had reports of listeners with strong EDGE reception tuning in at 128k without issue. Since the Quicktime Player in the iPhone has somewhat poor buffering compared with thick client-side players like Winamp and iTunes, we recommend listening to the 32k stream while connected over EDGE. For the time being we are only offering a small subset of our archived content and podcasts on the iPhone but will be adding more content as time goes by....

Tversity: A month or so ago, Tversity, a New Jersey based software company, announced that they had figured out a way to stream to the iPhone. Tversity's main product offering is a media server that allows you to stream all your audio and video content from your home computer to various web enabled devices (including many mobile devices and game consoles). I tend to think of TVersity as a variation on Sling Player or something similar to DotTunes but with many more features.

After contacting Tversity we learned that they also have some products aimed at enterprise level clients and they do a lot of work providing media delivery solutions to various wireless carriers. Over time we've been able to do some minor tweaking with their product and we're very pleased with the results.

From Arcane Radio Trivia:

I read the term in a radio history book "toll broadcasting." I immediately thought of New Jersey. The concept was announced on WBAY-AM on August 3, 1922. The station had only been on air for a month. Then the AT&T Long Lines Commercial Department manager George W. Peck took the microphone to explain an idea of his. More here.

AT&T had been mumbling about toll broadcasting since February of that year. The concept was a new kind of station, a nationwide chain of stations. These weren't conceived as broadcasters but as "radiotelephone" stations... Mr. Peck compared them to phone booths. A user entered a booth, paid a fee and broadcasted on their radio stations nationwide. Any Joe on the street could become a broadcaster; it could have been a public broadcasting service.

Two weeks went by with only one user. Then they noticed the WBAY-AM signal was very weak. So they switched the broadcast to the Western Electric owned WEAF. The improved signal attracted a lot more attention to the idea. The Queensboro Corporation paid $50 for a 10-minute chunk of air time to promote some of their real estate. It appeared to work and they became a regular buyer. The American Express Company and the Tidewater Oil Company also were early adopters. But the first 60 days of "toll broadcasting" only made $550.

Interestingly only AT&T was allowed to sell airtime. Other stations were doing it, but AT&T was uniquely incorporated and licensed to do so because they owned the telephone lines. While ordinary citizens never took an interest in their "radiotelephone booths" other New York stations did. RCA’s two New York stations, WJZ-AM and WJY-AM, started toll broadcasting. AT&T called in the lawyers and threatened to withhold use of the phone lines.

The FTC tried to break up the fight by accusing most of the players with restraint of trade. instead they reacted with a back room deal. AT&T would get out of radio manufacture and in return got a cut of revenue for use of the phone lines. The AT&T, RCA and GE stations would be grouped under the ownership of a new company, NBC. More here.

From Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems:

We have constructed a fully functional, fully integrated radio receiver, orders-of-magnitude smaller than any previous radio, from a single carbon nanotube. The single nanotube serves, at once, as all major components of a radio: antenna, tuner, amplifier, and demodulator. Moreover, the antenna and tuner are implemented in a radically different manner than traditional radios, receiving signals via high frequency mechanical vibrations of the nanotube rather than through traditional electrical means. We have already used the nanotube radio to receive and play music from FM radio transmissions such as "Layla" by Eric Clapton (Derek and the Dominos) and the Beach Boy's "Good Vibrations." The nanotube radio's extremely small size could enable radical new applications such as radio controlled devices small enough to exist in the human bloodstream, or simply smaller, cheaper, and more efficient wireless devices such as cellular phones.

From Broadcast Law Blog:

This afternoon the [Federal Communications] Commission announced that it will hold its sixth and final public hearing on media ownership issues in Seattle, Washington on Friday, November 9, 2007. The hearing will be held from 4 to 11 p.m. at the Town Hall in Seattle, and will conclude the Commission's tour around the country to gather information on media ownership to assist it in reworking its media ownership and cross-ownership rules. More importantly, the timing of this final public hearing seems consistent with Chairman Martin's publicly announced target of wrapping up the Commission's reconsideration of the multiple ownership rules by the end of the year.

The Chairman apparently remains undeterred by congressional calls to slow the rule making process down. Yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee announced that it would hold a hearing on media ownership on Tuesday November 6, and today the House Energy & Commerce Committee has followed suit by announcing that it will hold its own hearing on the issue on December 6. While these hearings may put more pressure on the Commission to refrain from enacting new rules this year, by concluding its ownership tour next week, the Commission appears to still be aiming for a December action on the issue. And according to at least one news article, the Chairman is aiming to publicly outline his media-ownership proposals by November 13, in theory to advance those proposals before a vote at the next FCC Open Meeting tentatively set for December 18.

From David Pescovitz in Boing Boing:

NASA posted some wonderfully trippy sounds collected from Saturn and its moons. For example, one is the sound of winds on Titan, another is magnetometer data from Enceladus translated into audio. The weird recordings remind me of avant-garde electroacoustic music from the 1950s and 1960s.

Territories Reimagined: International Perspectives (TRIP)
Manchester, 19-22 June 2008. Call for Papers and Projects.
Psychogeography, neogeography, deep topography, urban interventions, locative media, collaborative mapping.

Between June 19 and 22, 2008, TRIP brings together artists, academics, movers, shakers, do-ers and dissenters in a unique event combining an interdisciplinary conference with a city-wide series of actions, exhibitions, and screenings. TRIP enables the previously separate worlds of theory and practice to interact, initiating new approaches and energies, and furthering techniques to take on and alter the physical environment.

Beginning as a reaction to the industrial revolution, the re-imagining of the city by romantics, bohemians, and avant-gardists evolved into a diverse range of strategies, practices and arguments, from the psychogeographic drift or derive to the artistic intervention. By the 1990s these were being utilised by artists, writers, activists, and historians, attempting to negotiate urban and rural space in the post-modern world.

But practices developed in the twentieth century encounter a different world in the twenty first - a more observed and policed world on the one hand, a more corporate, globally-connected world on the other. Increasingly the body, social, individual and political, is the site of contradictory demands - the demands to consume versus the demands of control.

TRIP will be based at Manchester Metropolitan University, on the city's main southerly corridor, Oxford Road. But we want events to take place throughout Manchester, in as wide a variety of spaces and venues as possible. Like many northern cities, Manchester is changing fast. Perhaps you want to critique the implications of "regeneration", or perhaps you want to stimulate new ways of engaging with an increasingly consumerised environment. Maybe you're passionate about the possibilities of inventive walking and drifting, or maybe you're a performance artist aiming to change the energy of a public space. Wherever you're coming from, TRIP wants to hear from you with your ideas. To submit a paper, you should send an abstract outlining your subject and the key points of your presentation.
To submit an idea for an intervention, performance or a walk involving members of the public, please outline in one paragraph the aims and ideal locations for your project. To submit an idea for a gallery-based project, please outline in one paragraph the thinking behind your installation or work. Please try to keep your paragraphs to a maximum of 200 words. And don't forget your contact details. Deadline for submissions: October 1st 2007. Deadline extended until December 22, 2007. Submissions should be emailed to: TRIP@mmu.ac.uk for further information on festival announcements, walks, talks and events, then please access our blog-space, which will be updated regularly at: http://trip2008.wordpress.com

free103point9's Tianna Kennedy was recently at CKUT's Redefining Media: Media Democracy and Community Radio conference in Montreal. Her panel, "Radio, Art and Freedom of Thought" also featured CKUT's Kathy Kennedy and Charlotte Scott. There is audio of all three presentations here:
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-4-20071025-RadioArt1tianna.mp3
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-4-20071025-RadioArt2kathy.mp3
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-4-20071025-RadioArt3charolette.mp3

From Reclaim the Media:

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin plans to hold the last of six official public hearings on media ownership rules in Seattle, before rushing the agency's 18-month long consideration of the rules to a fast-tracked conclusion by mid-December. The hearing will be the only chance for Northwest residents to weigh in on proposals that would allow giant media companies to grow even more concentrated. While Martin had proposed holding a Seattle hearing on Nov. 2--less than one week away--no date has been officially announced. Beginning next Wednesday, Reclaim the Media will provide testimony workshops for anyone wishing to testify at the Seattle FCC hearing, or to learn more about media ownership issues.

From Matthew Lasar in Lasar's Letter on the FCC:

Presidential hopeful and U.S. Senator Barack Obama has asked the Federal Communications Commission Chair Kevin Martin to rethink its proposed timeline for revising the agency's media ownership rules. "According to press accounts, you intend to present specific changes to existing rules in November with a Commission vote on that proposal —whatever it may be—on December 18, 2007," Obama wrote to the Commission today. "I believe both the proposed timeline and process are irresponsible."

Last week The New York Times and Associated Press both ran stories suggesting that Martin wants to fast track a vote on the FCC's media ownership rules. Up for grabs are caps limiting how many newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations a single entity can own. Martin has long favored relaxing restrictions that would prevent an entity from owning a newspaper and a TV station in the same city.

The AP article reported that Martin plans to propose new media ownership rules soon, likely at a hearing on October 31. The public would be allowed to comment through mid-November and some of December. The Commission would vote on the proposal at a meeting on December 18. The Commission would also hold its last hearing on its media ownership provisions in Seattle on November 2nd, according to the story.

Obama's letter to the FCC said that he found it "disturbing" that the FCC is considering these changes. "It is unclear what your intent is on the rest of the media ownership regulations," he wrote. "Repealing the cross ownership rules and retaining the rest of our existing regulations is not a proposal that has been put out for public comment; the proper process for vetting it is not in closed door meetings with lobbyists or in selective leaks to the New York Times."

The statement calls for the FCC to create an independent panel to explore ways to further media ownership diversity, something that FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, has proposed. "In closing, I ask you to reconsider your proposed timeline, put out any specific change to the rules for public comment and review, move to establish an independent panel on minority and small business media ownership, and complete a proceeding on the responsibilities that broadcasters have to the communities in which they operate," the letter concludes.

The 10th La Superette is this December, and an open call is now going out for participation. For the 10th Anniversary of La Superette, it is expanding into a full arts festival to take place over the first three weeks of December organized by Ignivomous Inc., and hosted by chashama. For a look at our guidelines and to sign up go to: http://www.lasuperette.org/call.php. The deadline for online submission is November 18, 2007. More information through lasuperette@gmail.com.

Stars Like Fleas' new record, "The Ken Burns Effect," is out now on the French label Talitres. It would probably be highly recommended no matter where the New York-based band recorded, but part of it comes from a Stars Like Fleas performance in 2006 at Wave Farm. SLF played two sets at Campfire Sounds, one on the stage near the ponds, and one around the large tree in the forest. The opening track, "Hoax's Head," contains a snippet from the beginning of the Wave Farm show, and the fifth track, "Early Riser," is a full song recorded at the forest stage. free103point9's Brooklyn program director Tianna Kennedy also plays cello throughout the CD.

From Radio World:

The battle over low-power FM and possible resulting interference has been off the front page for a while, but it’s simmering on Capitol Hill.

Speaking before the House Committee on Small Business last week, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said the agency is considering an order that would guarantee low-power FM stations will “have reasonable access to limited radio spectrum.”

He said this in the context of describing how the commission is providing opportunity for small businesses in radio with the advent of the LPFM service.

We recently reported that attorneys in a legal session during the NAB Radio Show said the FCC is holding up some major modification applications for full-service FMs if the changes would result in taking lower-power stations off the air — a big change in policy, considering LPFMs are licensed as secondary services.

free103point9 Online Radio is seeking field recordings and acoustic ecology tracks for airplay. free103point9 Online Radio airs a "Field Recordings" show every Sunday at 10 a.m. ET, and also incorporates submitted performances throughout regular programming. CDs, LPs, and other formats sent for airplay will be stored in the Wave farm Study Center Library and available to the public. In addition, free103point9 is planning a series of field recordings performances in the summer of 2008 and looking for possible performers and presenters.

Please send recordings for airplay consideration to:
free103point9 Wave Farm
5662 Route 23
Acra, NY 12405

In collaboration with T.O.W.A.R. [http://thereoncewasarebellion.org], Gallery5 will host Repressed 3, a show dedicated to socially conscious works. This event will take place March 7, 2008 and will be the precursor to a workshop series. Gallery5, located in Richmond, Virginia, is currently seeking workshop proposals, performers, artists, and volunteers. For more information and proper forms go to:
http://www.gallery5arts.org/repressed3packet.pdf

Radio Astronomy is an art and science project which broadcasts sounds intercepted from space live on the internet and on the airwaves. The project is a collaboration between r a d i o q u a l i a, and radio telescopes located throughout the world. Together we are creating 'radio astronomy' in the literal sense - a radio station devoted to broadcasting audio from our cosmos. (Image at right: Very Large Array [VLA], NRAO, New Mexico, USA.)

Listeners will hear the acoustic output of radio telescopes live. The content of the live transmission will depend on the objects being observed by partner telescopes. On any given occasion listeners may hear the planet Jupiter and its interaction with its moons, radiation from the Sun, activity from far-off pulsars or other astronomical phenomena.

Radio Astronomy correlates the processes associated with broadcast radio - the transmission of audible information, and the processes of radio astronomy - the observation and analysis of radiated signals from planets, stars and other astrophysical objects. The work synthesizes these two areas. The signals from planets and stars are converted into audio and then broadcast on-line and on-air. The project is a literal interpretation of the term, ³radio astronomy². It is a radio station broadcasting audio from space.

free103point9's Tom Roe appeared on Norman Keyser's "In Progress/Left of the Dial" show on WRPI (91.5-FM) in Troy, New York two recent Mondays from 10 a.m., playing a variety of transmission art, Wave Farm performances, and other recordings. Here are the playlists:

Oct. 1, 2007
Transmaniacon MC, "Radio4" from Radio Action I
Tom Roe, "Tropospheric Wave" from forthcoming The Worst Hour of the Year
Dymaxion, "The Haunted Radio" from Radio Action I
Radio Ruido, "False Rosetta" 7"
Melissa Dubbin + Aaron S. Davidson, "Every Spy Has Their Numbers" from Radio Action I
The Dust Dive, "Postcards of Real Worlds" from forthcoming Claws of Light
Tom Roe, "Superfund Stories" for The FM Ferry Experiment
Michelle Nagai, "Soundwalking at Night through milkweed Au Grand Bois, Quebec, Summer 2002" from Tune(In)))
Neptune, "Marconi's Belief" from Radio Action I
Gregory Whitehead, "Song for a Headless Apache" from Songs for coverage of RNC 2004 protests
United States of Belt, "Ping Pong Holiday" from Ping Pong Holiday

Oct. 15, 2007
Melissa Dubbin, "Music from the First Karate Lesson" from Dado Blade
Matt Mikas, "Silent Weapon Technology" from Interactive Audio Response Kit
Matt Mikas + Brad Truax + Tony Flynn + Jeremy Glover, "Orifice of Strategic Information" from Radio Action I
Latitude/Longitude, "Solar Filters" 7"
The Dust Dive, "Cut the Day with a Steak Knife" from Claws of Light
The Dust Dive Flash, "Can't Stop This Feeling" from Tens of Thousands
Matt Bua + Matt Mikas + Tom Roe, "Dub The Bridge"
Stars Like Fleas, "Hoax Head" from The Ken Burns Effect
Stars Like Fleas, "Karma's Hoax" from The Ken Burns Effect
Sabers, "Bene Gesserit" from Radio Action II
Stars Like Fleas, "Early Riser" from The Ken Burns Effect
Tom Roe + Kelly Benjamin, "New York Rebuilds" from Constructive Engagement
Sybarite, "Secropia" from Tune(In)))
Radio 4x4: Gabriel Burh-Murian + David Matorin + David Galbreath + Andrew Neumann
Michelle Nagai, "Drone in key of d 60 bmp" for Scape 2
Scanner, "ElectroPollution" from Tune(In))) The Kitchen

From Regine in We Make Money Not Art:

Messy notes from the fascinating talk that Tatiana Bazichelli gave at City of Women, a festival running until October 13 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her talk was an overview of Extra Gender, the last chapter of Tatiana's book "Networking. The Net As Artwork," which gives a snapshot of the history of artistic networking in Italy, through an analysis of the realities which during the past twenty years have given way to a creative, shared and aware use of technologies, from video to computers, contributing to the formation of Italian hacker communities....She started her overview of hacktivism in the 70s with the birth of Radio Alice (studio pictured), an experience in free independent radio in Bologna. Radio Alice was also an art experiment where languages was played with and explored in a dada-ist way.