Call for content
"The Residents of the United States of America present
One-Minute Commercials for Democracy"
Delivering Digital Democracy In 60 Seconds Or Less

Deadline Extended: July 4th, US Independence Day
Release Date: Labor Day 2006

Communications Of Tomorrow (CommTom) announces a call for content, urging submission of socially aware, politically motivated contributions from US-based audio artists who are attentive to contemporary political conditions. The compilation will be distributed free of charge to US radio stations and public access media outlets. Submissions must be 60 seconds in duration and be free of language which would violate FCC regulations for radio airplay.

In a follow-up project to the 2004 CommTom release, "Polyphonic Voices Of Digital Dissent", which appeared on Democracy Now, Air America, and numerous radio stations across the United States, CommTom will release this next compilation to 100 targeted broadcasters across the United States. The accepted submissions will also be available for free download from the CommTom website, but will not be sold in stores. Custom packaging, designed and letterpress printed by MATTER will round out the presentation. A single copy will also be offered as compensation to contributing artists whose works are accepted for the project. Additional copies will be available to participating artists at cost.

For more info- http://www.commtom.com/special_projects/CommDem/commdem.html
For PDF guidelines- http://www.commtom.com/special_projects/CommDem/commdem_call.pdf

Call for web works!
ElectroOnline showcases innovative net art, online subversions, peer 2 peer communities & collaborations, arts / culture blogs,wiki’s etc.

Please send URLS to electrofringe@electrofringe.net
with ‘ElectroOnline Submission’ in the Subject

Call for screen works!
The ElectroProjections screen program showcases boundary pushing film, video, animation and documentaries that engage with new technologies, reveal elusive sub-cultures, investigate audio/visual relationships, explode narrative possibilities,explore performance on screen & apply experimental techniques.

Please send submissions as DVD – PAL to
ElectroProjections
2-25 Golden Grove St
Darlington NSW
Australia 2008

Deadline: Friday, July 14, 2006

Wednesday, September 30-Saturday, September 23. At Sala Carlos Chavez, Centro Cultural Universitario, Mexico City, Mexico. The Second New Technologies International Music Festival invites sound artists to apply to participate, submissions are due June 30. Invited artists include Hans Tutschku and Pauline Oliveros among many others.

From Daily Wireless

WiMAX Telecom Group, a multinational operator of WiMax services in Europe, set a new record transmitting live video at ranges of up to 40 kilometres (24.8 miles) of the World Sailing Championships in Austria -- and from moving vessels.

The experience gained will be applied to its network in the coastal region of Croatia. From a yacht moving at 12 knots, pictures of the World Sailing Championships were streamed live – and over a distance of 40 kilometres, thus beating all previous forecasts about the range of WiMAX technology.

By Tom Roe

The Federal Communications Commission is contacting about the same number of microradio stations so far this year as last, but targeting each "pirate" more often.

Now landlords of station locations are also being sent warning letters, and multiple people from several stations getting warnings rather than just the station location receiving a letter. (See complete chart here.)

RadioActive SanDiego also received a letter from the FCC a few weeks ago claiming that the online radio station is also broadcasting on 106.9-FM. "FCC agents showed up at the station (my home) today demanding to be let in so they can 'inspect' the station. We told them to go away," explained a member of the collective on a listserv. "There is a local pirate station that rebroadcasts our shows, but it is totally unassociated with us and isn't located at my house. Our website even says very clearly that we only do internet streaming." In another case, the FCC also sent a letter to a Colorado pirate's parents. Clearly, the FCC hopes that harrassment will work quicker and easier then filling out forms and waiting for warrants.

"Additionally, the FCC's enforcement this year is almost wholly confined to intimidation," the DIYmedia blog reports. "Less than one percent of its enforcement activities go beyond the visit or letter-writing stage. In fact, the FCC hasn't even fined anybody yet in 2006... This may be because the agency knows it doesn't have the time and resources to collect all of the fines it might issue."

Power 103.3 (Quad Cities, Iowa), Pirate Cat Radio (San Francisco) and Portland Radio Authority were among the most high-profile stations contacted during the last two months. The California College of Arts may be the first educational/art institution to receive a warning. Students there have created something called Art Interference Radio (which seems to play pop songs) on 87.9-FM (just below the 88, where the FM band starts on many radio receivers). The Silicon Valley-based college seems to be supporting the illegal station, and may be offering a "Pirate Radio/Radio Matrix" class.

DIYmedia also reports that New York FCC agents warned Moises and Juan Cabrera about operating a station at 89.7 in NYC several times this year without mentioning the $10,000 fine the agency issued the duo last year. "Not only do this year's enforcement actions fail to reference the earlier 'punishment,' the FCC has made no moves to turn its earlier threat of a fine into an actual forfeiture," DIYmedia reports. "It is almost as if the agents in New York are just going through the motions." Or that they think fines are a waste of time and have more success with harrassment.

SoundAsArt Conference
Aberdeen, Scotland
November 24th, 25th, and 26th

SoundAsArt: Blurring of the Boundaries
Call for papers

Over the past several years a growing fascination with the emerging art form Sound Art, has become prevalent within arts communities and academia. But what is it, how is it defined, and what is the impact on current practices of composers, artists, and those working in related fields (video, sculpture, architecture etc.)?

The SoundAsArt conference hopes to explore some of these boundaries, blurry though they may be, with the goal not of definition but of exploration. It is a peculiar characteristic of this art form to revel in the blurring of distinctions, the crossing of disciplinary boundaries, and the redefining of practices.

The conference will take place over a three day period and will feature papers/talks, installations, soundwalks, and performances. The entire content of the conference will be documented for release and made available online in pdf/mp3 format.

The conference is presented by the artist group urbanNovember in partnership with the University of Aberdeen , with generous support of the Aberdeen City Council.

Call For Papers (Abstracts)

We welcome papers on the topic of sound art that address questions of origin, exploration of boundaries between related practices, investigations of current practices, and speculation on the future development of sound art. Papers by individuals wishing to present their own work in relation to these issues are also welcome.

Proposals in the form of an abstract (500-1000 words) should be submitted via the conference website at http://soundasart.urbannovember.org (go to "Abstract Submission" and select "Refereed Abstract and Paper Submission" and "Submit a New Abstract or Paper" no later then July 21st. Please do submit early; you will be able to revisit and change your submission until that date.

All proposals will be peer reviewed and selections will be announced by August 15th. Finished papers will be due by November 1st, submitted in the same manner as the abstract. Papers should be of a length appropriate to a 20 minute presentation (approximately 3000 words). There will be a 10 minute question and answer session after each presentation. Please include a short bio (200 words) and any technical requirements you may have for your presentation. A small sound system, data projector, and docking bay for mac/pc laptops for powerpoint are available.

Please note that only papers that can be presented in person will be accepted. Unfortunately we are not able to provide any financial assistance, although the conference is free for all to attend.

Key Note Speakers include Professor Jonty Harrison and composer/performer Rajesh Mehta. Guest artist include performer Keith Rowe. Others to be confirmed.

The peer review panel includes:

Dr. John Levack Drever
Lecturer in Composition
Goldsmiths College, University of London

Jonty Harrison, BA DPhil (York),
Professor of Composition and Electroacoustic Music
University of Birmingham

Rahma Khazam, MA
Writer, Music journalist

Dr. Fiona Maclaren
Lecturer of Photography
Nottingham Trent University

Rajesh Mehta
Composer, Performer

Dr. Ken Neil
Head of the MFA in Critical Social Art Practice at
Gray's School of Art
The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen

Dr. David Reid
Lecturer in Photography
Nottingham Trent University

Dr. Pete Stollery
Composer and Reader in Electroacoustic Music and
Composition
University of Aberdeen

Bill Thompson
Performer, Sound Artist


If you have any questions, please contact us at
soundasart@urbannovember.org


Thank you,

Bill Thompson,
Peter Troxler

SoundAsArt Conference
http://soundasart.urbannovember.org
urbanNovember http://www.urbannovember.org/
University of Aberdeen Music
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/music/
Aberdeen City Council http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/
soundasart list
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/soundasart/

Call for Performances, Workshops, Papers
Time, Sound, and Transcendence: Forging a New Vision for Improvised
Music Pedagogy and Practice

The inaugural conference of the International Society for Improvised Music.

The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dec 1-3, 2006

Featured Artists/Speakers: Steve Coleman, Janne Murto, Stephen
Nachmanovitch, Pauline Oliveros

The increasingly eclectic nature of the musical landscape yields
fertile ground for new approaches to improvised music performance and
pedagogy. The term transcendence may help us navigate our way through
this maze of possibilities: transcendence of boundaries between genres
and ethnicities within an emergent trans-stylistic expanse;
transcendence of old pedagogical patterns, where improvisation has been
marginalized or excluded in musical study; transcendence of
distinctions between "high" and "low" art in a more inclusive aesthetic
sensibility; and transcendence as in the heightened states of
consciousness that improvisers have long claimed to be central to their
work. In short, improvisation possesses rich unitive and
transformational qualities that can be harnessed in new musical and
educational models that reflect the creative needs and potential of our
times.

In this inclusive spirit, the International Society for Improvised
Music is happy to announce its first inaugural conference and invite
proposals for performances, workshops, and papers from individuals
involved in all kinds of improvised music. Submissions are welcome
from artists/educators working in tradition-specific realms—e.g. Jazz,
traditional Hindustani, European baroque, Arabic maqam—as well as in
trans-stylistic approaches. Given the dearth of trans-stylistic
approaches to improvisation pedagogy, proposals are welcome for
hands-on workshops that present strategies in this regard.

Deadline for submissions: August 15, 2006
Response from ISIM: September 15, 2006

Prospective presenters must be ISIM members for their proposals to be
considered. To download a proposal form online and to join ISIM visit
www.isimprov.org. To request a proposal form or for more information
contact Teri Adams, ISIM Conference Administrator, teri@isimprov.org 734-277-2690

forwarded by Ben Owen




If you've never heard of software-defined radio, that may be because some might liken it to outlaw pirate-radio; it's a wild-west wireless device which will, in theory, receive or transmit radio data on any frequency (or all frequencies simultaneously) by way of software-based controls. Not exactly the device the FCC's been hoping and praying for since, well, it kind of undermines the whole concept of segmented spectrum and delineated radio devices and services. But that's all the more reason why Wired's profile of one Eric Blossom and one Matt Ettus, is rather astounding. As creators of the Universal Software Radio Peripheral, they've managed to fit a modular SDR system into a $550 USB device, capable in theory of doing anything from receiving (and transmitting) HDTV, to GPS, to EV-DO, to AM radio on their specified frequencies, or others. Nothing new or unusual in and of itself, but the cost of the part, and its built-in integration with run of the mill desktop computers is what's unprecedented. Which is why if you think we'll ever see SDR in America, you're crazy; the government, which makes tens of billions of dollars from spectrum sales, has precisely zero interest in allowing software defined radio to run free. Funny, because as the cost of SDR goes down, it could actually end all our wireless transmission problems once and for all. Imagine an SDR-based cellphone that with one chip does GSM, CDMA, EV-DO, HSDPA, DMB, FLO, DVB-T, Bluetooth, WiFi, WiMax, etc. It's not impossible, you know. In fact, according to Blosson and Ettus, it's apparently quite easy.

From Tom Roe

Seton Hall University calls their legal station "Pirate Radio," though it is not, just a metal-loving college radio station. The station's faculty director may have been the only one "pirating" anything at WSOU, The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports.

WSOU (89.5-FM) faculty director Michael Collazo was charged last Thursday with money laundering and theft by deception by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. In all, he took $550,000 in advertising fees, and sub-carrier rights, Jonathan Casiano's story reports.

Collazo allegedly set up a corporation, Warren Sound Options Unlimited, so that when advertisers wrote checks to WSOU he could cash them. More shockingly, he leased Seton Hall's subfrequencies to Radio Verité, a station serving the Haitian community, and EIES of NJ, which provides radio programming for the blind, and pocketed the money.

Subsidiary Communications Authorization or SCA radio are frequencies attached to FM signals which cannot be heard without special receivers. They are common for reading services for the blind and Muzak, but lately former Haitian microcasters in Brooklyn have been leasing signals after getting busted by the FCC for using traditional FM signals without a license.

Shocking as the theft at the Jersey station may be, it is just a trickle compared to some of the overt payola recently uncovered throughout the radio industry.

Call for Submissions

Foldback Sound Festival August 2006


Curators: Matt Lewis, Tom Richards, Sebastian Lexer
3rd July deadline for all submissions

Foldback will be a three day festival held at Reception Space (Cremer St, Shoreditch. www.receptionspace.org receptionspace@gmail.com) from the 3rd to the 5th of August 2006 with an affiliated sound show to be held at Meals and SUVs Gallery in Dalston. www.mealsandsuvs .co.uk

The main objectives are to bring together a diverse cross section of sound practitioners to meet, compare notes and present new and existing work in a loosely categorised framework. The event will provide a platform for education, new collaborations, and a celebration of many types of sound based creativity.

The Event will be split in to five sections as follows:

Thurs 3rd August- Soundtrack First
An evening focusing on the relationship between sound/music and moving image. To include performances and screenings that investigate the dynamic between what we see and what we hear in film and video, looking at soundtracks, foley, music video, broadcasts and more.
Submissions are welcome from musicians, sound artists, visual artists and film makers working in any genre. Proposals might be for works using found material, improvised soundtracks, remixed or re-scored films or films where the soundtrack provides the starting point for the visual content.

Fri 4th August- New Retro Sound Machines
A day of presentations on new musical instruments, with a special focus on instruments in the acoustic or analogue realm. In the age of laptop musicians and Max Patches- there are still inventors and musicians coming up with fresh sounds with no computers necessary. This will be a chance for them to explain and demonstrate their audio wares, and compare notes on this under-represented world of musical invention. Submissions welcome.



Sat 5th August- Interface.
A day of seminars, demonstrations, and discussion on the theme of audio interfacing. We are looking for new ways of communicating with musical and audio hardware/software. As computers become ever more useful and powerful in the audio world are the means of real time control keeping up? Also where does the human input stop and the machine become creator? We want people creating new ways of talking to computers in order to create sound.

Sat 5th August- Odd Meter
Submissions invited for contemporary music that is not in common 4/4 time. Either submit your own work or suggestions for other composers/producers This event will be the closing party and contributions will be collated and mixed by DJ Yuri Suzuki http://www.affectedmusic.co.uk/ http://www.yurisuzuki.com

Satellite Projects for the duration of the event.
We would be interested in any stand alone audio work to be affiliated with the festival. This could be installation work, audio walks, web based work or anything else you might deem relevant, impress us! These projects will be promoted as part of the festival.


Submission Guidelines


Please state clearly which part of the festival you are interested in.

Audio CD/DVD/weblink Max 15 minutes and or written proposal max 500 words. Plus CV and brief outline of technical requirements.

Post to: Foldback
FAO Tom Richards
1st Floor
295 –297 Haggerston Road
Dalston
London
E8 4EN


Email to: receptionspace@gmail.com

Deadline: 3rd July 2006

AIRtime is the free103point9 artist residency program, located at Wave Farm, in upstate New York. The following projects were chosen for the 2006 AIRtime residency program, by a panel of Galen Joseph-Hunter, Tom Roe, and Gregory Whitehead.



31 Down, METRONOMA (Brooklyn, New York)

31 Down members, Ryan Holsopple, Mirit Tal, Shauna Kelly, Jonathan Valuckas and Shannon Sindelar, will create the video elements for their upcoming project METRONOMA. The work is based on the writings and relationships of H.P Lovecraft and Robert Bloch. The theme of nature is a focus within the piece. 31 Down will use the Airtime residency to venture into the utopian environment of Wave Farm to capture images of this landscape for use in our production.


Stephanie Rothenberg, Zero Hour (Buffalo, New York)

Zero Hour is a radio program and participatory performance that examines how radio and electromagnetic radio waves have been used to disseminate propaganda and implement other forms of “mind control.” The piece, performed by three artists transmitting simultaneously, makes specific reference to communication strategies used for psychological warfare during World War II. Audiences will be provided with customized headgear (a variation of the infamous tinfoil hat) with which to receive the transmissions.


Sophea Lerner (Helsinki, Finland)

During her AIRtime residency, Lerner will refine and develop experimental participatory platforms for distributed hybrid radio production and integration of broadcasts into public space. These developments will be in preparation for a workshop in an Australia-wide live participatory performance scheduled for the Electrofringe Festival in Newcastle NSW taking place September/October 2006. Research conducted during AIRtime will include:

• Refining the design and documentation of very low cost and rugged mic/preamp/transmitter units for outdoor use in relaying a variety of signal types (surface contact, directional, hertzian etc) via micro fm

• Researching and specifiying a number of alternatives for live and asynchronous program contribution via various telephony systems to existing participatory programming database.

• Documetation of flexible modular broadcast platform of ääniradio These activities constitute practical infrastructure for food radio as a model for media participation based on the ideas in a text written for Radio Territories (ed B.Labelle forthcoming)


Karin Bolender, Signal-to-Pink Transmissions (Weyers Cave, Virginia)

Signal-to-Pink Transmissions will be a live performance/installation as part of free103point9’s Radio Festival August 5th. The project will assemble recordings made during Bolendar’s "Can We Sleep in Your Barn Tonight?" MYSTERY TOUR,” an assemblage of artists, musicians, poets, and farm animals gathering in June for a journey in and around the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia for an investigation into what's hidden and endangered in the present Appalachian landscapes. At Radio Festival, Pink, the MYSTERY TOUR's pygmy goat, will roam and graze around the Wave Farm over the course of the event, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the place as she broadcasts the recordings and some live-mixed material from a small transmission-wagon. Bolender will use her AIRtime residence for research, preparations, and testing.


Scanner, 24/48 (London, England)

24 Hours of recordings in 48 minutes.

Writes Scanner, “As life accelerates around us all the time, this work will explore an idea of time compression. In auditory interfaces, cassettes, mp3 players, etc. speeding up playback can improve the rate of listening, without significant distortion of the audio. Yet in our lives it seems ever clearer that slowing down can achieve more. In the nineteenth century, rest and relaxation were accepted pleasures. Today, we struggle to allow ourselves the sheer restorative joy of letting go.

In compressing an entire day into a single performance, it’s a playfully suggestive idea of what we miss whilst sleeping, yet drawing attention to the minutiae of every moment.”


Jeff Fedderson, EarthSpeaker (Brooklyn, New York)

EarthSpeaker will be a permanent outdoor sonic installation at free103point9’s Wave. Six or more solar-powered sounding elements, similar to speakers, will be distributed across the grounds, built into the earth. They will use the cavities in the earth as resonating chambers. Drawing inspiration from dusk-active creatures like crickets, bullfrogs and fireflies, the units will absorb and store solar energy during the day, perhaps emitting sparse, intermittent, sounds, just enough to give visitors the sense that something is there. At dusk, the nodes will come alive, emitting a brief, distributed chorus of sound as the sun sets that will continue until the energy each of the nodes has gathered during the day is consumed. Each node will consist of one or more solar panels, an energy storage device, one or more speakers, amplification electronics, and sonic behavior electronics. They will be visually integrated with the landscape and eventually overgrown with vegetation.


Joe Milutis, Radiophonic Paterson (Providence, Rhode Island)

Radiophonic Paterson is an homage to William Carlos Williams’ Paterson. The premise takes the poem not as an artwork, but as a map for the city and new experience, mediated through sound. The poem is notable for its interface between the materiality of the signifier and the intractable materiality of a city: how can the materiality of radio and sound extend William’s meditation into an exploration of Paterson today? Prior to his AIRtime residency, Milutis will complete preliminary research, interviews, and “field recordings.” AIRtime will provide Milutis with focused time and technical resources to mobilze Radiophonic Paterson.


FarmerBart, SOUNDseeds (Troy, New York)

SOUNDseeds is a “green” powered system for gathering sound and data from the environment in order to be harvested and processed through digital sound synthesis. After a designated duration (2-3 weeks) the SOUNDseeds will be collected. Their sounds will be transferred into a software application designed to analyze and re-synthesize the collected data.


LoVid, Cross Current Resonance Transducer (New York, New York)

In 1967, while working on a radio telescope in Cambridge, Jocelyn Bell Burnell detected unusual pulses recorded on the telescope's output tape. Burnell and her colleagues found it difficult to believe that these strange pulses were naturally occurring signals, and began referring to them as LGMs (Little Green Men), suggesting that the signals were indicative of extraterrestrial intelligence. In time it was discovered that the source of the pulses was a rapidly spinning neutron star that sends out regular bursts of radio waves and other electromagnetic radiation. Such stars are now called pulsars. LoVid’s Cross Current Resonance Transducer addresses the processes of interpretation and evaluation that are inherent in human attempts to understand natural phenomena. Inspired by the story of the pulsar's discovery, LoVid is building a system for monitoring, manipulating, and interpreting natural signals including electromagnetic radiation, wind patterns, ambient temperature gradients, and barometric pressure modulations. The project will involve three primary areas of exploration: collecting data, processing and manipulating collected data, and designing and outputting processed data. Cross Current Resonance Transducer is supported, in part, by a NYSCA Individual Artist Grant. Lo
Vid will use thier AIRtime residency to research and experiment with the transmission related components of the project.


Jesse Pearlman Karlsberg, Azariah (Troy, New York)

The Azariah narrative explores prophecy and the power of singing. The story follows a young man named Azariah, who after the “Great Disappointment” (the failure of a prophecy predicting the return of Jesus in 1844), begins to have visions in which he meets strange prophets who speak to him through song. The narrative follows Azariah as he seeks the prophets during increasingly lengthy forest walks. For his MFA Thesis, Karlesberg presented the Azariah story as participatory singing event, molded after a shape note singing convention. Shape note conventions are daylong events featuring impassioned, often raucous, non-stop singing. With no audience, singers face each other in rows of seats arranged in an inward-facing hollow square.

Karlsberg will use his AIRtime residency to concretize his approach to transmission in an Azariah installation by using Wave Farm’s forest setting, transmission equipment, and library holdings to further develop the practical and conceptual details of the project. Writes Karlesberg, “Radio waves, like the prophets' songs that fill the air in Azariah, are all around us, but invisible and inaudible. Like Azariah, a radio receiver can capture those hidden signals and render them audible. I want to exploit this thematic intersection between radio and prophecy by working with radio to create an installation of the Azariah story.”


Matthew Ostrowski (Brooklyn, New York)

During his AIRtime residency, Ostrowski will develop a text-based music-theater work designed specifically for radio broadcast. The content will be non-narrative and utilize computer-generated voices to explore:

• Language that describes objects
• Language that describes scenes or activities
• Language that describes mental states

The use of computer-generated voices will exploit the tension and ambiguity around the idea of “a character,” and the idea of words and images generated by a “speaker” with a motive for using those words.

from Tom Roe:

Iowa microcaster "Power Hits 103.3-FM" continues its brazen, in-your-face challenge to the Federal Communication Commission's authority, arguing that Federal law allows emergency broadcasts in "times of war."

Rita Pearson in Quad Cities Online (see link, above), interviews the micro station's founders, Matthew Britcher, 28, and Jason Duncan, 26, who have already received a warning letter from the FCC, and are photographed in this latest story. They are running an open, mid-'90s-style campaign largely fueled by positive public opinion.

They are basing their time-of-war argument on title 47 part 73 section 3542 of the Code of Federal Regulations that says: "Authority may be granted, on a temporary basis, in extraordinary circumstances requiring emergency operation to serve the public interest. such situations include: emergencies involving danger to life and property; a national emergency proclaimed by the President or the Congress of the U.S.A and; the continuance of any war in which the United States is engaged, and where such action is necessary for the national defense or security or otherwise in furtherance of the war effort."

Britcher and Duncan are also making First Amendment arguments to stay on the air, and have hired an attorney, Arshia Javaherian of Rock Island. He describes the station's legal situation as "somewhat touch and go" as the duo await a response from the FCC. "They claim there is room on the public spectrum for broadcasting of their station, and that the denial of more broadcasting stations in the Illinois/Iowa Quad-Cities area is an infringement of their First Amendment rights," Mr. Javaherian wrote to the FCC.

The time-of-war or disaster argument has been made before (recently in New Orleans), but has never played out in court, which is where Britcher and Duncan would like to see it head. Preferably with a jury. The FCC won't let that happen, not after Stephen Dunifer spawned several thousand stations when a judge restrained the government from taking action against Free Radio Berkeley for 18 months. A judge will probably end up deciding this one too, and the Quad Cities are not Berkeley. So good luck there, fellas.

In the meantime, overt acts such as this "Power Hits" station may inspire a dozen or so others to take similar stands, and help show the need to pass the improved LPFM bill that is now stuck in Congress. Both the House and Senate Commerce Committees have passed measures to allow several hundred more LPFM stations around the country (after the National Association of Broadcasters interference complaints were debunked as blatantly false). If these bills do not create more community radio stations throughout this country, then there surely will be more civil disobedience on the airwaves.

Unfortunately, that's usually followed by a police state-style crackdown.

Read the full, not very well-written, story about the Iowa microcasters here:
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi?prcss=display&id=290082

Saturday May 27th
@ Ryerson University Student Campus Centre

8:30 am - coffee
9:00 am - Whose radio art is it anyway? Magz Hall
short coffee break
10:30 am - free103point9 with Matt Mikas and Tianna Kennedy
noon - 1:00 pm - lunch (provided)
1:00 - 2:00 pm - Listening sessions (limited spaces available must register) + Earspace Workshop - Exercises in Listening by Andra McCartney
2:15 pm - Trevor Wishart
short coffee break
3:45 pm - The Wire
break for dinner (not provided)
7:30 pm - doors open Radio Theatre 2 (show starts at 8pm) + The Kitchen of the Future by Evolution Control Committee

Sunday May 28th
@ Ryerson University Student Campus Centre

8:30 am - coffee
9:00 am - Radio, networks, ether with Joe Milutis
short coffee break
10:30 am - Deep Wireless panel
noon - 1:00 pm - lunch (provided)
1:00 - 2:00 pm - Listening sessions (limited spaces available must register) + Earspace Workshop - Exercises in Listening by Andra McCartney
2:15 pm - Wireless Imagination with Tetsuo Kogowa & Kathy Kennedy
short coffee break
3:45 pm - Radio of the Future panel with Magz Hall + Neil Sandell, Charlotte Scott and Tetsuo Kogawa
5:00 - 6:00 pm - Wine & Cheese Reception - a chance to network etc
6:00 - 7:00 pm All request redirect (with John Oswald, Mark Gunderson + Toronto celebrities)

Unfortunately, there are entry fees...

Third Coast Festival / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition
For audio documentary and feature work...
Deadline: July 21 2006

The Third Coast Festival / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition honours the best audio documentary and feature work produced around the world (in English). They seek stories that document a place, time, person, event, phenomenon or issue. These include but are not limited to investigative reports, narrative stories, personal essays and audio portraits. Entries must be 2-60 minutes in length, and must have been presented publicly on the radio, the internet, or in a gallery/museum setting between July 1 2004 and July 21 2006. Winners receive monetary prizes of up to US$6,000 and their programmes will air nationally in the fall as part of the 2006 Third Coast Festival Broadcast.

Prizes are awarded for:
Best Documentary:
Gold: US$6,000
Silver: US$5,000
Bronze: US$4,000
Director's Choice: US$1,500
Honourable mentions (up to two: US$1,500)
Best New Artist: US$2,000 - This award will be given to a producer who has been working in the audio field for less than two years.
Radio Impact: US$2,000 - This award will be given to a programme that has had a significant impact on an individual, group or community.

Audio Luminary Award (Formerly known as the Lifetime Achievement Award)
This award is presented to a person who has not only left a profound mark on the audio field, but continues to be a source of new ideas and inspiration. As in previous years, a committee of producers/leaders in the field will join the Third Coast Festival staff in selecting the winner from a slate of nominations submitted by radio fans, producers and other radio professionals worldwide.

Entries are accepted on CD only. CDs should not contain extraneous audio other than entry material, and should be labeled with producer’s name, programme title and the length of entry. Submissions must include: completed entry form for each entry; two copies of each entry on separate CDs, labeled with producer, title and length; brief programme synopsis for each entry; brief producer bio on a separate sheet; and entry fee.

Entry Fees
US$45 for entries postmarked on or before June 30th
US$25 for student entries postmarked on or before June 30th (must include photocopy of current school ID)
US$65 for all entries postmarked July 1st through July 21st

Contact:
Third Coast International Audio Festival
Chicago Public Radio
Navy Pier
848 E. Grand Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
United States
Tel: 312 948 4682
Fax: 312 948 4867
info@thirdcoastfestival.org
http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/annual_competitions.asp

from saveaccess.org
May 24, 2006 : 12:30 p.m - 1:30 p.m.
National Day of Out(r)age! protest
at Verizon World Headquarters, 140 West Street at Vesey Street, Manhattan
Organized by the saveaccess.org coalition with Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), the NYC Grassroots Media Coalition, Paper Tiger Television and more!
Join thousands of people in cities across the country to protest AT&T, Bell South, Qwest and Verizon. These companies are spending $1 million a week to buy votes in Congress for their deregulatory legislation COPE HR.5252 and S.2686. Local cities have expressed their opposition to this legislation—now it’s time for the public to stop this phone company backed legislation—and demand accountability to local communities and the public interest.

from Tom Roe


Newsday broke this story May 18, reporting that someone temporarily "hijacked" Long Island's WBAB (102.3, 95.3-FM) signal, interrupting Pink Floyd's "Hey You" with a racist song by Rebel Jonny.

"I'd like to find out who did it," program director John Olsen told Newsday's Bart Jones. "I'm not happy about it."

Olsen says a similar incident occurred with WBAB's sister station WBLI about two weeks ago with the same song, he said. The stations share a studio on Sunrise Highway in Babylon on Long Island, New York.

Olsen told Newsday that the station's technicians were unable to block the pirate transmission. After the Jonny Rebel song ended, several seconds of empty air space followed until regular broadcasting resumed with the end of the Pink Floyd song. The song "Nigger Hating Me" reportedly advocating killing African-Americans. It could be a racist statement, or an attempt to make the dumb humor of the station's morning show look even dumber. (The shows hosts are already in trouble for a "Wetback Steakhouse" fake commercial they recently aired.)

How could someone hijack a signal like this?

Well, not how you think. Just using a transmitter and broadcasting on the same frequency would only work in a small area just around the "pirate" transmitter. The "pirate" would have to have a more powerful transmitter (highly unlikely) and a higher antenna (virtually impossible) then the station it was attempting to override. (In this case, the "pirate" was heard throughout WBAB's signal area of Long Island and eastern New York City.)

Olsen guessed to Newsday that someone over-rode the STL (studio to link) high-frequency microwave signal from its studio in Babylon to its transmitting tower about six miles away in Dix Hills near the Long Island Expressway.

"Somebody using an illegal transmitter and small antenna we believe overtook our signal between the studio and the transmitter and that's how they got in," he told Newsday. He added that the "pirate" would have to be near the signal but not necessarily at the transmission tower.

"You have to be technologically pretty proficient in order to know how to do it," he said. "The equipment is probably readily available and if you know how to put the equipment together ... then it's something that's possible."

Speculation also popped up on the New York Radio Message Board, where radio station engineers and aficionados in the New York-area chat about technical things.

Posters there reported that WBAB powered down their transmitter, "and the song continued, the only thing that stopped the transmission was when the pirate shut his equipment off. (Probably to avoid being traced as it only lasted 1 minute)."

Word on the NY radio board was that the pirate probably was a radio engineer. "Obviously, the STL was hacked by someone who has the knowledge and the equipment to override the STL point-to-point link between WBAB's studios and transmitter. The STL frequencies are of public record," someone posted. "But, it would have to be someone who is close by and with enough power to capture the signal path. No doubt, someone had to have the knowledge and ability (and equipment) to do this."

"Indeed, whoever is responsible for this would have to have the necessary equipment not only to produce a signal at those frequencies, most likely at very high power, but also the equipment to align their antenna to the receiving dish at the TX site," another poster wrote. "STL patterns carry a very, very narrow beamwidth and it would require proper alignment to hit the STL receiver. Especially in order to override the existing STL signal."

For those interested: An STL is a studio to transmitter link, a mini-microwave complete with fixed dish antennas and transmitting very narrow beams.

An RPU is a remote pickup unit, which is used for remotes. The RPUs are basically police radios at 450 MHz (some at 26 Mhz too) that use dedicated channels, and provide better audio than utility radio. Licensed stations can move them around anywhere in their coverage area without prior FCC approval. With the new synthesized radios, they are very easy to hack into, according to posters on the radio board.

From Media Network Weblog
http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/

The US government is interested in extending the capability of the EC-130J Airborne Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) aircraft to support the broadcast of digital TV signals in addition to, or instead of, the existing 10 kW analogue broadcasts. The US Naval Air Systems Command, Aircraft Division, is seeking vendors to provide options for achieving this.

from Media Network weblog
http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/

Dave Kernick writes: The main radio service of the Iraqi Media Network (IMN), Republic of Iraq Radio, is now available on a live audio stream from the organization's website at www.iraqimedianet.net.

The website is available in Arabic, English and Kurdish. The audio stream is accessed via a large pink button on the Arabic and English home pages - these pages and the Kurdish home page also have "Online Streaming" links to two IMN radio and three IMN television audio/video streams, but these links are currently inactive.

The Iraqi Media Network is a public broadcaster set up by the Coalition authorities in the wake of the 2003 Iraq war. Operating nationwide, it runs two radio networks (Republic of Iraq Radio, Holy Koran Radio), three national TV channels (Al-Iraqiyah 1, Al-Iraqiyah 2, Al-Iraqiyah Sports), and the "Al-Sabaah" newspaper.

from We Make Money Not Art
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/008494.php

Radio Map, by Michael Hohl and Stephan Huber, is an immersive telematic environment that enables participants to walk about a projected photorealistic image of the Earth and listen to live internet radio programs that are located at the corresponding locations all over the world.

Once a person walks about the map, a graphic element is placed into the direction of movement. Called the PoI (Point of Interest), it is used to select radio stations. Should more participants enter the space, all their lines connect to this single element, creating a shared PoI, which is placed in the calculated middle of all participants. The individuals have to collaborate to navigate the PoI. This encourages complete strangers to act as a group while exploring the map for radio stations.

As the PoI approaches the location of a radio station its volume increases giving the impression of "tuning in" to it. If the PoI is located between two or more stations that are close together their signals would mix. This creates potential for surprising "mixing" of the sound. Yet participants are always able to accurately “tune into†a station avoiding disturbing effects.

Experiencing the content and local colour of the actual radio programs invokes surprise. Participants become aware of different time zones, weather conditions, Summer and Winter, and the fact that we are living on a globe that is rotating around the Sun.