From Matt Bua's stay last spring creating "Sing Sun Room" at free103point9's Wave Farm.

Laboratorio 060 is a collective based in Mexico City. As part of an exhibition of this group at the Cue Foundation in New York, the group is launching a worldwide call for collaborations for a musical composition that will be learned and performed by the three members of this collective on the day of the opening and later transmitted on the radio in New York. The project Radio Killed the Video Star seeks to alter the homogeneous process by which entertainment is constructed and disseminated in our image-saturated media world. The ideal entries for collaboration should come from composers and musicians who may be interested in disseminating their work and in having their works interpreted by Laboratorio 060 –an artist collective without any professional musical experience— as part of this conceptual project. Entries should have three instrumental parts (instrument or voice) which can be interpreted by three individuals, and have a duration of no longer than five minutes. The proposals will be evaluated and the final composition will be selected by the guest curator of the exhibition.

Eligibility and Criteria
I. Any sound artist and/or composer of any genre is eligible to apply.
II. Special attention will be paid to those projects that take into consideration the specific context into which this performance will take place (an art space in Chelsea, and the radio)
III. Each participant may submit up to 2 entries.
IV. All compositions should be originated by the author. In case it is a collective work, there should be a designated representative for the group.
V. Participants may send submissions in either Spanish or English. If the composition has lyrics, these can be written in any language.
VI. By submitting their works, participants authorize the Cue Foundation and Laboratorio 060 to perform and present this work (either at the gallery, via radio or both) from March 13 to April 19 of 2008 at any given time, as well as show the documentation of their performance at this space.
VII. The authors of the submitted works will authorize the use of the composition and materials for publicity purposes. Authors will always retain copyright of the work. Laboratorio 060 will retain the rights of interpretation of this work without further authorization from the author. Participants will release the organizers of any copyright issue related to the submitted work.
VIII. The selection of the composition by the guest curator will be final.
IX. CUE Foundation does not search, nor actively promote the sale of any artworks. Nonetheless, if such agreement is reached between the author of the submitted work and Laboratorio 060, the resulting recording may be put for sale. In this case, 25 percent of the sale of this work will be directed to the CUE foundation and the remaining 75 percent will be divided between Laboratorio 060 and the author.
X. Participants accept the terms of this call for entries. Any unforeseen detail will be mediated and decided upon by the guest curator.
XI. The name of the author of the selected composition will be announced on the webpage of the CUE foundation (http://www.cueartfoundation.org) and on the webpage of Laboratorio 060 (http://www.lc060.org) on January 4, 2008.
XII. Selection criteria will include:
a) compositions with potential to infiltrate the radio in an effective and innovative way, b) works with an adequate balance between the three components,
c) works with an experimental and playful character, even if they have political content; d) non-commercial works.
XIII. The selected composition will be performed at the CUE Foundation on March 13, 2008 by the members of Laboratorio 060.
XIV. Whenever presented or advertised, the author of the work will be properly credited.
XV. The selected author of the work will receive 10% of the recordings produced.

Application process
XVI. All proposals should be submitted by regular mail to the following address:
CUE Art Foundation
Attn: Laboratorio 060
511 West 25th Street, Ground Floor
New York, NY 10001
XVII. Submission deadline will be December 21, 2007, at 6 p.m. (this is not a post-mark deadline).
XVIII. All works must be submitted with a musical score and an MP3 (CD) that may show an interpretation of the work.
Submissions will not be returned.
To receive acknowledgement of receipt, please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard. Do not call the CUE Foundation to seek acknowledgement of receipt.

free103point9 Top 40 for November 2007

1. Stars Like Fleas, The Ken Burns Effect (Talitres)
2. David Watson, Fingering an Idea (XI Records)
3. The Kevin Frenette 4, Connections (Fuller Street Music)
Kevin Frenette + Andy McWain + Todd Keating + Tatsuya Nakatani.
4. Charalambides, Likeness (Kranky)
5. Willing, Brotherhood of the Backwards Handshake (Evolving Ear)
6. Cloudland Canyons, Silver Tongued Sisyphus (Kranky)
7. Jeff Arnal + Dietrich Eichmann, LP (Broken Research)
8. Scott Smallwood, Desert Winds: Six Windblown Sound Pieces and Other Works (Deep Listening)
9. Temperatures, Ymir (Heat Retention) LP
10. Tatsuya Nakatani, Primal Communication (H&H)
11. Mammal, Lonesome Drifter (Animal Disguise)
12. Timeless Pulse Quintet, Timeless Pulse Quintet (Mutable)
13. Cadaver In Drag, Raw Child (Animal Disguise)
14. My Fun, Carte Postale (thelandof.org)
15. David S. Ware Quartet, Renunciation (Aum Fidelity)
16. Bruce Eisenbeil Sextet, Inner Constellation (Nemu)
Bruce Eisenbeil + Jean Cook + Nate Wooley + Aaron Ali Shaikh + Tom Abbs + Nasheet Waits.
17. Ting Ting Jahe, 18(16) (Winds Measure Recordings)
18. Duane Pitre/Pilotram Ensemble, Organized Pitches Ocurring in Time (Important)
19. William Parker + Hamid Drake, First Communion/Piercing the Veil 2xCD (Aum Fidelity)
20. White Rainbow, Prism of Eternal Now (Kranky)
21. Phil Minton + Yagihashi Tsukasa + Sato Yukie + Higo Hiroshi, Nippara * Tokyo (Austin Record)
22. Ironing, Pocket Almanac (Hymn)
23. Scott Smallwood, Electrotherapy (Deep Listening)
24. Tripwire, Looking in My Ear (Creative Sources)
25. Phantom Limb & Bison, Phantom Limb & Bison (Evolving Ear)
26. Giraffe, Hear Here (self)
27. Shelf Life, Ductworks (Public Eyesore)
28. Annea Lockwood, Thousand Year Dreaming/Floating World (Pogus)
29. William Parker + Hamid Drake, Summer Snow (Aum Fidelity)
30. Thick Wisps, Thick Wisps (self)
31. Manpack, Sticky Wic (digitalis)
32. Al Margolis/If Bwana, An Innocent Abroad (Pogus)
33. The Peeesseye, Mayhem in the Mansion (Evolving Ear)
34. Felix Werder, Electronic Music (Pogus)
35. Alabrecht Maurer Trio Works, movietalks (JazzHausMusik)
36. Various artists, Songs Most Likely to Succeed Class of 2007 (Radio One New Zealand)
With Matthew Underwood, Andrew Deutsch, and Stephane Sikora.
37. Chris Forsyth + Nate Wooley, The Duchess of Oysterville (Creative Sources Recordings)
38. Robert Ashley, Now Eleanor's Idea (Lovely Music)
39. Albrecht Maurer + Norbert Rodenkirchen, Hidden Fresco (Nemu)
40. Vampire Hands, Virgin Dust American Life (Freedom From)

Just added:

The SB LP, (Qbico 54)
Todd Merrell, Nagual (ArchivedCD 41)
Various artists, Sweet Earth Flower: A tribute to Marion Brown (High Two)
Normal, Love (High Two)
Illuminea, Out of Our Mouths (High Two)

To submit CDs, LPs, CSs, etc. for consideration of airplay on free103point9 Online Radio, mail to:
free103point9
5622 Route 23
Acra, NY 12405

From David Oxenford in Broadcast Law Blog:

In an unusually contentious FCC meeting, the FCC adopted rules that promote Low Power FM ("LPFM") stations seemingly to the detriment of FM translators and improvements in the facilities of full-power FM stations. While no formal text of the decision has yet been released, the Commission did release a Public Notice summarizing its action. However, given the lack of detail contained in the Notice as to some of the decisions - including capping at 10 the number of translator applications from the 2003 FM translator window that one entity can continue to process and the adoption of an interim policy that would preclude the processing of full-power FM applications that created interference that could not be resolved to an existing LPFM station - it appears that the Press Release was written before these final details were determined. And given that the two Republican Commissioners dissented from aspects of this order supported by their Chairman (and also dissented on certain cable items considered later in the meeting), one wonders about the process that resulted in the Republican chairman of the FCC voting with the two Democratic Commissioners on an item that in many respects favors LPFM stations to the detriment of existing broadcast operators.

In any event, specific decisions mentioned in today's meeting include:

*Treating changes in the Board of Directors of an LPFM station as minor ownership changes that can be quickly approved by the FCC
*Allowing the sale of LPFM stations from one non-profit entity to another
Tightening rules requiring local programming on these stations
*Maintaining requirements that LPFM stations must be locally owned, and limiting groups to ownership of only one station
*Limiting applicants in the 2003 FM translator window to processing only 10 pending applications each, and requiring that they decide which 10 applications to prosecute before any settlement window opens (the two Republican Commissioners favored allowing applicants to continue to process up to 50 applications)
*Adopting an interim policy requiring that full-power FM stations that are improving their facilities in such a way that their improvement would interfere with an LPFM station to work with the LPFM to find a way to eliminate or minimize the interference. If no resolution could be found, the full-power station's application would not be processed (which we have expressed concerns about before)
*Urging that Congress repeal the ban on the FCC making any changes that would eliminate protections for full power stations from third-adjacent channel interference from LPFMs.

In a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Commission will apparently go further to aide LPFM applicants. The Further Notice will ask for comments on:

Potentially giving LPFM stations a status superior to that of FM translators
Looking at the relationship between LPFM and full power stations to see what permanent rules can be adopted to avoid having changes in full power stations preclude the continued operation of a LPFM facility - including the possibility that full power operators would have to pay the costs of relocating LPFM stations to different channels or transmitter site locations. Revising the LPFM rules to use contour protection interference techniques, rather than the strict mileage separations currently required. The new rules, and the new proposals could have a significant effect on broadcasters. Applicants who had a significant number of applications still pending in the 2003 window will likely have most of their applications dismissed (losing their investments in time and money in preparing those applications in 2003). The dismissal of many of these applications may impede service to the public as some of these translators would likely replace translators that may be bumped by new noncommercial stations proposed in the recent noncommercial FM filing window. And AM licensees who were hoping that some of these translators could be granted to provide them with FM translators on which their signals could be broadcast may not have such as many opportunities.

For full power stations, many of the simplified city-of-license change procedures that were only recently adopted to allow easier improvements for FM stations may now be complicated again, as LPFM stations will have to be protected. These LPFM stations, which were licensed as secondary facilities, may now be precluding new service by full-power primary stations.

As stated above, the full text of the decision has not been released - this summary is from statements made at the FCC meeting and from the Press Release that is lacking in many essential details. Broadcasters should be alert for that order to determine exactly how these new rules, and the potential for even more changes in the future, may affect their current or planned operations.

From Prometheus Radio Project:

On Tuesday, November 20, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it was ready to pass a set of provisions amending the rules that govern the low power FM radio (LPFM) service -- a noncommercial radio service that hundreds of schools, churches, municipalities, and community groups use to connect with their local communities. Below is the press statement of Pete Tridish, founder of the Prometheus Radio Project, on the announcement.

Click here for a printable copy of this statement: http://www.prometheusradio.org/media/rulemaking_announcement_LPFM_nov_21_2007_final.doc

Click here for a link to the FCC meeting agenda, announcing their intent to make some major decisions on the low power FM radio service: http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/#nov27.

Click here for a statement from Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE), sponsors of the Local Community Radio Act of 2007, on the priority of low power FM radio stations over translators: http://www.prometheusradio.org/media/doyle_terry_translators_FCC_july_2007.pdf

Contact: Pete Tridish, Prometheus Radio Project Founder: 215-727-9620 x 501, 215-605-9297, petri@prometheusradio.org.

"In recent weeks, the Federal Communications Commission, and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, have made strong public statements about supporting the low power FM radio service, and the vital work that it does nationwide. As the commission works at its November 27th meeting to make decisions about the future of LPFM, they must lay the groundwork to ensure that LPFM will not only be available in rural areas in the future. They must also protect the low power stations from losing their frequencies to full power stations that encroach upon their signals, and threaten to knock them off the air.

As a diverse set of groups, including Prometheus, have proposed over recent years, the FCC must prioritize local low power FM radio stations over translator chains fed by distant signals. The FCC has frozen the granting of translator licenses for the time being, to investigate the practices of these chains and to balance the priority of distant translator use with the needs of local radio. The FCC cannot move to lift the current freeze on the granting of licenses to these translator chains without prioritizing local radio over these distant-fed translators. Without remedying this problem, the Commission is telling the American public that they are prioritizing these distant voices, once and for all, and informing local groups that would like one single, local, hundred-watt-or-less radio station that there is no room on the dial left for them.

When Congress temporarily limited LPFM in 2000, they mandated that the FCC study whether or not there would be room for these vital stations in America's cities and smaller communities. During the exact moment when this study and its technical field tests were being completed in 2003, the FCC made the mistake of allowing a handful of speculators to apply for translator licenses on thousands of the very same channels that had been promised for LPFM use. When it comes to translators and low power FM radio stations, the FCC allocates spectrum based simply upon who filed their application first. If the FCC chooses to prioritize these translator applicants, all of the frequencies that the FCC designed for LPFM use back in 2000 will have been given away.

In that 2003 window, a single translator applicant applied for 2500 licenses to broadcast, nationwide. One radio station currently has 792 translator applications repeating its signal.

In 2005, the FCC wisely froze translator applications like those listed above in order to find an intelligent resolution. In recent statements, Chairman Martin announced a limited proposal to reject some of these applicants, but if the FCC wants to support low power FM radio, they have a lot of work to do.

No matter what happens in Congress, LPFM will only be available in America's cities if the FCC acts to make room for it. The Commission needs to revise the spectrum priority relationship between LPFMs and these distant translator chains. There are a number of ways that this can be done without affecting the legitimate use of repeating stations by local networks.

In terms of low power FM stations being encroached upon by full power stations that want their signals -- while dozens of stations are under threat of this happening in the next weeks or months, the Commission and its staff should be commended for the work they've done, case by case, to make room for both these threatened stations and the full power stations moving into their path.

We encourage the Commission to continue to address the simplest displacement cases now and relieve the hold up on some of these less problematic encroachments. The few, tougher cases should remain on hold for settlement until, through further comment, more innovative solutions are found. Also, hasty judgment should not be made on the fate of low power stations suffering dramatically increased interference through encroachments -- more solutions can be found in these cases after further comment. Another excellent option for frequency availability for LPFMs at the disposal of the Commission is to use more detailed engineering methods -- methods which can open up a limited number of new options for communities. This could be exciting if the order of application problem (between the chains that got an opportunity to apply before communities got their chance) were resolved.

The statements that the FCC and Chairman Martin have made on the small ameliorative measures they might take for LPFM are helpful and well intentioned, and we'd like to give credit where credit is due -- but all of these measures pale in contrast to the prospect of America's cities never getting a fair chance at low power radio, and the importance of keeping low power FM radio stations serving their full communities.

Prometheus would heartily congratulate the hard work of the Chairman Martin and the FCC staff on this new low power notice, so long as the Commission does not:

1) foreclose the LPFM opportunity in the cities by ignoring the translator/LPFM priority problem, and

2) make hasty judgment on the hardest encroachment cases, and cases that do not involve displacement but do involve significant interference. These should be resolved after another round of comment and creative problem solving."

From Westchester.com:

The Purchase College New Media program and the Neuberger Museum of Art are co-sponsoring a lecture by Tianna Kennedy and Tom Roe, founders of free103point9, a non-profit arts organization focused on establishing and cultivating the Transmission Art genre.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be presented on December 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the Neuberger Museum. Kennedy and Roe will track the history of free103point9’s activities and define Transmission Art practices. Their talk will provide a foundation for audiences in anticipation of the upcoming “Off the Grid” exhibition at the Neuberger Museum, which will be co-curated by the Museum and free103point9. The exhibit will be on view from March 30 to July 1, 2008. Transmission art is generally a participatory live-art or time-based art, and often manifests as radio art, video art, light sculpture, installation and performance. This genre encompasses a diversity of practices and media working with the idea of transmission or the physical properties of the electromagnetic spectrum. Programs by free103point9 include public performances and exhibitions, an online radio station, the free103point9 Transmission Artists, an artist residency program, a distribution label, an education initiative, a sculpture garden, a study center, and an online archive.

The Off The Grid exhibition will assemble media works by contemporary artists making social and ecological responsible art. Installed inside the Neuberger Museum of Art and across the Purchase College campus, visitors will encounter installations that are non-regulated, fluid, and composed of accessible, sustainable materials, often incorporating participatory elements, which augment the works themselves. Purchase College, State University of New York, is located at 735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, N.Y. For more information, call 914-251-6100.

From Amateur Radio Newsline:

Some good news and one big loss for ham radio at the now concluded World Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, of the GB2RS News Service has the details:

"The big news for amateur radio is that a worldwide secondary allocation of 135.7-137.8kHz has been approved. This marks the first time since allocations to radio services began that the amateur service has had an allocation below the medium wave broadcasting band. The effective date is not yet set and in any case amateurs must wait until their own administrations authorize the new allocation before they can use it. Some administrations, while not wishing to block the international allocation, have indicated a reluctance to implement it in their countries because of various interference concerns. The band is already available in the UK and several other European countries and this paves the way for many more countries to become active on Low Frequency. At the time of writing, hopes of a possible amateur secondary allocation near 5MHz had faded. This,as a result of the failure to find a compromise on the main 4 to 10MHz issue. I'M Jeramy Boot, G4NJH, and you are listening to the Amateur Radio Newsline."

Future World Radiocommunications Conferences are tentatively scheduled for 2011 and 2015. One tentative agenda item for 2011 is a secondary allocation of about 15 kHz around 500kHz. Not on the schedule is any more talk about a new 5 MHz ham radio band. (GB2RS)

From George Hunka in Superfluities Redux:

....All this is a roundabout way of saying that, as part of my unusual practice these days of writing for web sites other than my own, a report of my visit to a rehearsal for Richard Foreman's next show is now up at the Ontological-Hysteric production blog -- behind the scenes, into the kitchen or the atelier, whatever. Perhaps you will learn something about Foreman, or about the directorial process itself. At any rate, it's a chance to hear about some unique theatre artists at work. I don't think we'll be seeing a show like Richard's Theatre Nightmares on the Fox network anytime soon -- there's much less yelling and bawling, and only rarely do Foreman's performers and technicians respond with a deferential "Yes, chef!" to his notes. But for those who'd like to see it, free103point9 offers a real-time audio and video webcast of Foreman's rehearsals for "Deep Trance Behavior in Potatoland" every Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

From Oribitcast:

When Audi showed off the Cross Cabriolet Quattro concept car at the Los Angeles Motor Show, one of the key features was a prototype of streaming internet radio direct to the car. It's a glimpse into a future that's not too far away - a future that could come sooner than you think. The system by Bang & Olufsen streams the internet radio channels via a mobile internet connection - the same connection that supplies the Google Maps-powered GPS navigation system.

Of course, this next generation of "radio" has tailored its programming to your specific musical tastes, thanks to the car's occupants accepting or rejecting the music tracks (a la Pandora, or Slacker). So it behaviorally builds a custom-made playlist that is able to adapt to your unique tastes. The "perfect" set of channels, with an endless selection of genres available. Prototypes are one thing, but when will such a system see the light of day?

The answer is 2010, according to the Center For Automotive Research (CAR). CAR conducted supplier interviews that indicate 2010 - which is just over 2 years away - to be when customized and/or on-demand content will be streamed to vehicles. That content could range from personalized internet radio, to streaming video/movies, to localized alerts and updates, not to mention more robust real-time traffic data using two-way communication. Combine this trend with the fact that vehicle-based digital storage systems, like the Ford SYNC and Chrysler MyGIG, will continue to proliferate and drop in price. And suddenly it all starts to come together.

These systems, which are essentially built-in harddrives with interfaces made specifically for on-road use, can cache large amounts of data and make up for any signal drop-outs - creating a seamless experience regardless of where you are. Mobile wireless 3G networks aren't the only way that signal will reach your car (though currently, they could do just fine). If Google has it's way, the 700mhz spectrum that's going up for auction early next year would be "open" to all at wholesale prices. Paving the way for a wireless internet boom as innovative wireless providers, who otherwise couldn't afford to build a national infrastructure themselves, will be able to provide you (and your car) with wireless internet service. This is the future of "radio" (among other things)... and it could come as soon as 2010.

Click here for over two minutes of wall to wall September Eleventh's, courtesy of America's mayor, [Rudy Giuliani]. Your mission from WFMU: turn some or all of them into music, to be reposted on WFMU's blog. The best one received by December 5 wins a WFMU messenger bag full of CDs and other assorted swag. Send your mp3 submissions to ken at wfmu dot org, but if they are larger than 8 megs, please post them somewhere and send me the URL. Submissions will be posted on the WFMU blog.

From David Oxenford in Broadcast Law Blog:

The US Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia has set the briefing dates on the appeal filed by various webcasting groups seeking review of the decision of the Copyright Royalty Board setting Internet radio royalties for the period 2006-2010 for the use of sound recordings (see our coverage of this controversy here, and a detailed summary of the CRB decision here). The briefs of the various webcasting groups who appealed are due on February 25. The brief for the CRB (represented by the Department of Justice) is due on April 25, and that of SoundExchange (the "Intervenor) will be filed on May 15. Reply briefs are due on June 12, and oral arguments are yet to be scheduled. As the Court usually takes a summer break in July and August, the argument is likely to be held in the Fall of 2008, and a decision would likely not come until very late in the year or, more likely, in 2009.

Appeals were filed by the a number of groups including large webcasters (including AOL, Yahoo and DiMA), the small commercial webcasters, various noncommercial groups (including two collegiate broadcasting groups and the National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music Licensing Committee), and various commercial broadcasters who also stream their signals on the Internet. A group called Royalty Logic, which is seeking to become a collective that is competitive with SoundExchange, also filed an appeal of the CRB decision.

Already, there has been a settlement announced on one narrow aspect of the case, the minimum fees for companies that stream multiple channels, limiting the per company minimum fee to $50,000. Obviously, if there are other settlements, these appeals could become unnecessary in whole or in part.

From Medianetwork blog:

Shortwave radio hobbyists have reported deliberate interference to the Amharic-language transmissions of Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), beamed to Ethiopia. A US hobbyist noted “jamming” of DW’s signal on 11645 kHz on 14 and 15 November, and to DW’s Amharic broadcast on 15640 kHz on 15 November. (Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest, 15 November)

A German listener said the interference resembled a combination of sounds, “like bubble, motorboat, pips, and whistle buoy howl.” In a separate report, Ethiopian Review website reported on 13 November that VOA broadcasts to Ethiopia had been jammed since 12 November “with the help of the Chinese government that provided technicians and powerful radio jamming equipment.” (Source: BBC Monitoring research 16 Nov 07)

From Liz Berg in WFMU Beware of the Blog:

Ever since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed, the FCC has been required to periodically review the country's broadcast ownership rules. For those who may not know, the 1996 Act was responsible for widespread media consolidation: as ownership regs were loosened, companies like Clear Channel and Infinity Broadcasting were allowed to purchase many more stations across the country (and were also allowed to own more than two stations in a single market). Most recently, the FCC's 2006-07 review of the media ownership landscape has been met with unprecedented outcry; citizens are not happy about the homogenization of their airwaves, and are serving the feds with tons of public testimony and mounds of comments, urging them to steer clear of further ownership deregulation.

Localism, dull/homogeneous programming, and concerns about the lack of station ownership by women and minorities appear to be at the crux the public's beef with broadcast radio and TV. These sentiments were reflected during the FCC's town hall meeting on media consolidation in NYC last year which I attended, and you can read the wrap-up on this post (as well as listen to the whole damned thing).

It would seem as though the teeming masses who are upset with the current state of radio are simply asking for more community-based broadcasters. There is space reserved for community radio on the low end of the dial, but in many areas, religious conglomerates and NPR affiliates outbid local community groups for non-commercial, educational spectrum. So now, even non-commercial frequencies are sounding more and more alike across the U.S. No wonder the people are angry.

How do we solve the larger, interrelated problems of media consolidation and crappy programming? How do we allow more voices to be heard on the non-commercial end of the dial, especially those who don't have the resources to purchase and manage a full-powered FM station? A loaded answer would be LPFM.

The FCC re-established low-power radio licenses in 2000 as a response to an outraged citizenry, who were upset over massive media conglomeration just like they are today. Many believe that LPFM was not a real solution to the problem, as it relegates community radio to the teeny cracks of spectrum left over once the commercial giants and moneyed national non-profit groups had bought up all of the full-powered frequencies. Let the big guys broadcast at 50,000 W, and toss out 100 W scraps to community groups.

Although these inequities certainly illuminate the secondary (or some might argue tertiary) status of local broadcasters, something is better than nothing. The fact that local groups were even given a space on the public dial was monumentous in itself.

Today, the idea of establishing even more LPFM stations is gaining steam, with the Senate Commerce Committee voting to remove certain interference limitations for low-powered stations. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is arguing (as they did in the late 90s) that LPFM stations will cause third-channel interference problems for their member stations (mostly large commercial broadcasters). Although a study debunking this theory was just released, NAB is claiming that these findings are flawed and will continue to lobby against LPFM and S.1675 (the Local Community Radio Act). LPFM cannot be expanded until the House and Senate vote for this bill.

Prometheus Radio and Free Press are encouraging LPFM supporters to write to their representatives in support of S.1675. New Jersey residents in support of LPFM should pay special attention, as Senator Lautenberg has added an amendment to S.1675 that would essentially block any new LPFM licenses from being allowed in the Garden State.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MThThdEmswU&rel=1]

From Xeni Jardin in boing boing:

This English-language footage from Russia Today shows riot police rolling through the streets of Tblisi in pickup trucks, small dishes in hand. A high frequency pulse follows. "Georgian police used an acoustic gun -- it's a non-lethal weapon that disorients people for a period of time," says one "special weapons expert."

Seems like the Federal Communications Commission is in the midst of one of its annual sweeps of New York City-based pirate radio operators. Reports here and here (probably the same source, actually, a known anti-pirate crusading engineer) indicate that "Red Hot Radio" 102.3-FM in Brooklyn was shut down Nov. 6. Red Hot Radio's web stream, at least, is still on the air. On Nov. 2 the FCC definitely sent Sean Buckner a "Notice of Unlicensced Operation" for microcasting on 94.3-FM (or 90.1-FM, the notice lists both frequencies) in Brooklyn. Often the NYC FCC enforcement office, now led by District Director Daniel W. Noel, will take action against several local pirates within a week or two, usually once or twice a year.
--Tom Roe

Celebrating Art's Birthday is a tradition started by French Fluxus artist Robert Filliou who declared, on January 17, 1963, that Art had been born exactly 1,000,000 years ago when somebody dropped a dry sponge into a bucket of water. Throughout the last decades artists continued organising annual celebrations in the spirit of Filliou's "Eternal Network" or "La Fête permanente." In 2008 people all over the world will again be preparing numerous networked birthday parties for art, several of these under the motto "Forever Young."

Kunstradio invites you to join our celebration by contributing presents to our party, which will take place on site at Common Ground, QDK, Museumsquartier Q21 in Vienna from 8 p.m. on January 17, 2008. These presents we invite you to upload to our present pool online under
http://www.kunstradio.at/PROJECTS/AB2008/presents-upload.php

We will be listening in on your presents and streams during our party on site in Vienna, artists will re-mix and further distribute these online and via our live Kunstradio broadcast on the cultural channel on the Austrian National Radio Ö1 from 11 – 12 p.m. CET, as well as on the EBU satellite.

A selection of presents will also be presented in later on air editions of
Kunstradio. Should you have any questions or plan to organise a party yourself, please do not hesitate to contact us under: kunstradio@kunstradio.at Spread the word! This is a party you can bring as many people and presents as you wish! More about Art's Birthday can be found here: http://www.artsbirthday.net

MATA (Music at the Anthology) is currently accepting scores for consideration for commissions and performances for the 2009 MATA Festival in New York City, in the spring of 2009. Materials for submission must include: 2 recordings of samples of recent work - a maximum of two works may be submitted (MIDI tapes will not be accepted), scores to accompany the above recordings (unless scores are not pertinent), biography or résumé, list of works, contact information, SASE if you wish to have your materials returned. Although commissions are only awarded to composers under 40 at the time of submission, composers of all ages who are at the early stages of their careers will be considered for programming on the festival. Commission amounts range from $1500 to $5000, depending on the parameters of the work. Composers are expected to attend the premiere of their work. Please include a sentence in your cover letter specifying if you would like your works to be considered generally for the festival in the event that you are not chosen for a commission. MATA will consider works of any instrumentation and duration; please send whatever you consider to be your best work. In addition to our traditional festival programming, MATA encourages submissions in the following sub-categories:

Site-Specific Works
• Works conceived for and directly influenced by particular indoor or outdoor spaces, ranging from non-performative speaker-based installations to spatialized instrumental ensembles. For multidisciplinary collaborations, please include a detailed description of the role your composition played in the resultant work. DVD or online video documentation is encouraged. Works of extensive duration will be considered in this category.

Electro-Acoustic/Computer Works
• Live ensemble works utilizing electricity as a primary element in their execution and/or construction. Works that incorporate improvisative/indeterminate notation as core components are strongly encouraged.

Chamber Music for Wind Instruments
•Works for brass and woodwind ensembles ranging from solo to quintet. Non-tradtional groupings are encouraged, but conventional quintet submissions will receive equal attention.

If your music has been programmed by MATA, or you have received a commission, you must wait three years before re-applying. Only one commission will be awarded to any one composer in his or her lifetime. Postmark Deadline: February 15, 2008. To submit or for more information, contact:
MATA
293 Warren Street #2, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Phone: 212-563-5124, Email:info@matafestival.org, Web: www.matafestival.org

--Missy Mazzoli, Executive Director & Chris McIntyre, Artistic Director

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.