Two groups released studies this week about media consolidation.

On Wednesday the Media and Democracy Coalition released a series of reports focusing on the economic effects of industry consolidation in twelve states. Not surprisingly they find that media consolidation is bad. The coalition includes groups such as Free Press, the Benton Foundation, the Alliance for Community Media and the Prometheus Radio Project. The report said, "The research finds that in every one of those states, most citizens already live in highly concentrated media markets with few choices for news and views. More media mergers in these highly concentrated markets will reduce already insufficient local news coverage and eliminate diverse voices and viewpoints and, in every case, exceed US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission Merger Guidelines."

The Benton group and the Social Science Research Council released four other reports on the impact of media consolidation in the U.S. The reports said, "The studies focus on how the concentration of media ownership affect media content, from local news reporting to radio music programming and how minority groups have fared – as both media outlet owners and as historically-undeserved audiences -- in an increasingly deregulated media environment. These studies make clear that media consolidation does not correlate with better, more local or more diverse media content. To the contrary, they strongly suggest that media ownership rules should be tightened not relaxed."

From Mediageek: "The background to the release of all these reports is that initial public comments to the FCC on its media ownership proceeding [were due] Monday, Oct. 23. And, yet, the FCC has held only one of its promised six public hearings on the topic, and released zero of its own research reports that were promised."

DIY Media is one of the few outlets that cover all sorts of pirate radio activity, including the illegal actions of radio corporations.

Recently, they have reported that, "XM and Sirius admitted to selling souped-up in-car transceivers that operated beyond acceptable FCC power levels... XM Satellite Radio now reports that its terrestrial-based network of repeater-transmitters -- designed to bolster its space-based coverage pattern, especially in urban areas -- has not only been operating at excessive power, but on unauthorized frequencies."

Many of the "souped-up in-car transceivers" and other devices meant to send an audio signal from something like an iPod to a radio are slightly above FCC "Part 15" regulations. No one would buy them if they were weak enough to be legal. (You can expose the antennae in these devices to make them slightly more powerful.) So the crimes of these satellite radio corporations aren't that unusual. XM, though, admitting to setting up pirate radio stations all over the country is a different story. The National Association of Broadcasters and National Publc Radio (especially hard-hit because most of the small transmitters use lower-FM frequencies like NPR stations) are both complaining to the FCC.

DIYmedia also reports, "Last year the FCC issued several Notices of Apparent Liability to several cross-border companies in southern California. These companies were using unlicensed microwave data links to connect corporate and production facilities... [using] unlicensed studio-to-transmitter (STL) links to connect studios in the U.S. with transmitters in Tijuana. Both of them claimed they were operating under the counsel of the FCC's International Bureau, which assured them they didn't need licenses anymore to operate the links. The Enforcement Bureau called that counsel 'misplaced' and 'mistaken.'" The two stations were fined $68,000.

New Jersey Christian radio station WAWZ (99.1-FM) recently mailed a postcard to listeners asking them to help fight the Carribean "pirate" radio stations in Brooklyn that are also using the 99.1-FM frequency. "We Need Your Help!," the station's web site says. "It has come to our attention that someone is broadcasting a different format illegally on the same frequency as STAR 99.1 FM. Your immediate response and cooperation are needed to help us resolve this issue, so that you can once again enjoy the family friendly programming of STAR 99.1." Legal New Haven-based WPLR also interferes with the Zarephath, New Jersey-based WAWZ's reception in New York City.

Federal Communications Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps -- who stopped at Hunter College in New York last week -- take their traveling public hearing roadshow to Oakland Oct. 27 at the Oakland Marriott, Broadway at 10th Street. Get there by 5 p.m. to comment on FCC deregulation and other topics.

Protest Academy / Station Vienna
Call for Tactical Audio Submissions
Deadline: 01. November 2006
11. November 2006, 2 p.m.
Protest Academy Workshop, Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna

Until November 1, 2006, Protest Academy by London-based artist Paula
Roush/msdm, is looking for sound works made out of field recordings,
found sounds, auditory interventions, activated soundscapes,
performed sound walks, pirate broadcasts, sonic tools and other
experimental formats on the theme of Tactical Audio. Contributions
will be collected for an online archive on http://protest-
academy.msdm.org.uk/.

msdm's Protest Academy, hosted by the exhibition EAR APPEAL in the
Kunsthalle Exnergasse in Vienna, extends the Academy in Austria for
the first time. http://kunsthalle.wuk.at/2/frame.htm The
collaborative Academy was launched in London in February-March 2005
as a performative archive, which is structured into a four part
collective score of the academy's inaugural lecture titled: 'What are
we doing? What's happening to us? What needs to be done? I prefer not
to'

On November 11, 2006, 2pm the contributors to Tactical Audio are
cordially invited to present and discuss their submissions during the
Protest Academy Workshop, facilitated by Paula Roush/msdm, at
Kunsthalle Exnergasse. The idea is to generate a further station of
the performative archive in situ, investigating the sound of protest
from the perspective and situation in Vienna. Interested visitors/
listeners are welcomed!

According to the submissions until November 1 and the workshop on November 11, the radio contribution I LOST MY VOICE TODAY on November 12, 2006 on Ö1 Kunstradio will consist of submissions of the Call for Tactical Audio for the Protest Academy / Station Vienna and a selection of the already archived Tactical Audio of the Protest Academy. http://www.kunstradio.at

From REC Network:

Effective 30 days from publication in the Federal Register, the FCC has made some sweeping changes to the Amateur Radio service. This includes changes in frequency privileges. The new band changes are as follows:
- 80 and 75 meters: Phone band now goes down to 3800 for General, 3700 for Advanced and 3600 for Extra. Top end of CW/Digital is now 3600. Novice and Tech Plus now has 3525-3600 for CW only.
- 40 meters: Phone band now goes down to 7175 for General and 7125 for Advanced and Extra. Novice and Tech Plus now has 7025-7125 for CW only.
- 15 meters: Phone band now goes down to 21275 for General. No changes to Advanced or Extra. Novice and Tech Plus now has 21025-21200 for CW only.
- 10 meters: Novice and Tech Plus now has 28000-28300 for CW and Digital modes. (They still have 28300-28500 for phone).
For more information on the rest of the provisions of the new amateur radio rules, see the FCC's Report and Order.

The residency will run from May 1, 2007- April 1, 2008. Application Deadline: December 15, 2006. Applications will be accepted online beginning November 1, 2006. Images may be uploaded from November 1 until December 15 through the Smack Mellon website.

The 2007/2008 Studio Program will be housed on the lower level of Smack Mellon’s newly renovated building at 92 Plymouth Street.

Smack Mellon offers free studio space to eligible artists for a one-year period. The program provides artists working in all visual arts media a free private studio space and a $5000 fellowship (dependent upon funding). The program does not provide living space. Artists also have access to shared facilities that include a fabrication shop, 2 G5 workstations for video editing, DVD burner and CD read/write capabilities, 2 emacs, flatbed and slide scanners, DVD players, projectors and monitors, wireless internet access and technical support.

Studios range in size from 250 to 300 square feet. Not all studios have windows. Artists will not be permitted to choose their studio. Artists who are accepted into the program must be prepared to actively use their studio a minimum of 50 hours a month or they will lose it. Artists may not accept a residency at another studio program during the same time as their Smack Mellon residency.

Longtime Tampa-based talk show host Bob Lassiter died last week, and free103point9 co-conspirator Michael Poole ("The Professor") has an exhaustive obituary up on the WFMU blog. Lassiter's Lenny Bruce/Lester Bangs brilliance was first noticed on a WKRP-like station called WPLP in the late '80s. Back then, his evening show had a cast of regular call-in freaks (one was a lawyer named "Lionel," actually Michael LeBron, who eventually got his own talk show in Tampa, and, since the early '90s, in New York City). Lassiter later failed in Chicago, and then came back to Tampa for shows of varying quality. Poole's story is complete with links to sound files, and other info about an incredibly direct, acerbic, and hilarious talk show host. He was 61.

Canadian Association for Sound Ecology presents
The Soundscape in Our Landscape

What: 3rd Haliburton Soundscape Retreat / the Soundscape in our Landscape
When: November 24-26, 2006
Speakers: R. Murray Schafer, Bernie Krause, Andrea Dancer, Kristi Allik & Robert Mulder
Deadline: registrations must be received by November 7th, 2006
(note: limited available spots)

The Canadian Association for Sound Ecology invites you to participate in its 3rd Haliburton Soundscape Retreat.

The weekend long retreat will take place at the Haliburton Wildlife Reserve on the weekend of November 24-26, 2006 and will include lectures/talks on the theme “the Soundscape in our Landscape” along with ear-cleaning exercises, show-and-tell sessions for participants and outdoor soundwalks.

Friday evening: a chance to meet all the registrants and speakers and a show-and-tell for those participants who would like to share their research and artistic works with those present.

Saturday: Bernie Krause (www.wildsanctuary.com) will discuss his research into bio-acoustics and his recent Arctic Soundscape Project. Kristi Allik & Robert Mulder will discuss their recent work in Labrador on disappearing soundscapes and the use of soundscape in their site-specific and new media work. Murray Schafer will take us on a soundwalk which will include a site-visit to the latest venue for his Patria cycle. The evening will include more show-and-tell time for those participants who would like to share their research and artistic works with those present.

Sunday: Will begin with a soundwalk/performance and continue with a talk by Murray Schafer about his use of the environment in the Patria Cycle. Andrea Dancer will discuss her research into education with regards to sound ecology. This will be followed by discussion and suggestions for future CASE educational projects.

Registration fees for the retreat are $195 (CDN) for CASE/WFAE members and $225 for non-CASE/WFAE members. The registration fee covers meals and accommodation for the retreat. The non-CASE/WFAE rate provides the participant with membership in CASE or WFAE for one year which includes receiving the bi-annual publication Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology. For more information e-mail case@magma.ca or call 416-910-7231.

In order to register, please print out and fax or mail back the form below with your registration information and payment. Registrations must be received by November 7th and space is limited.



Canadian Association for Sound Ecology
c/o Musicworks Magazine
401 Richmond Street West #358, Toronto, ON M5V 3A8


Haliburton Soundscape Retreat Registration Form
Deadline to receive registrations is November 7, 2006

Name __________________________________________
Address _________________________________________
City _____________________________________________
Province________________Postal Code________________
Country___________________________________________
Telephone Number___________________________________
Fax Number ______________________________________
Email Address _____________________________________
Web Url __________________________________________

For Registrating by Visa or Mastercard

Visa/MC #____________________________Expiry Date______

Signature_________________________________________

Please provide on a separate sheet of paper a 50-word summary of your ‘show and tell’ presentation, if you wish to do one, and/or a 50-word summary of any project ideas you would like to propose. Note: there are a limited number of ‘show and tell’ spots available and we will be offering this on a first come first served basis.

Registrations should be submitted to: The Canadian Association for Sound Ecology, c/o Musicworks, 401 Richmond Street West #358, Toronto, ON, M5V 3A8, Canada. You can also fax this form along with your VISA number to 905-454-7662. Registration fees for the retreat are $195 (CDN) for CASE/WFAE members and $225 for non-CASE/WFAE members.

Payment can be made by cheque, money order, Visa or Mastercard. Please make cheque or money order payable to The Canadian Association for Sound Ecology.

From Media Network weblog:

The website of Radio Habana Cuba reports that Cuba has again denounced at the United Nations what it calls ”the growing US radio and television aggressions against the island.” The website says that Cuba’s Alternate Ambassador to the UN, Ileana Nuñez, made the denunciation during a speech at the Fourth Commission of the General Assembly dealing with issues related to Information.

The website continues: “She pointed out that Washington’s radio and television aggressions have been underway for years and have increased since August with the use of a G-1 plane to increase its television transmissions from one to six a week.”

According to Radio Habana, “The Cuban diplomat pointed out that the US radio electronic war against Cuba directly violates international telecommunications agreements. Nuñez added that each week, right-wing radio stations in the US transmit more than 2,240 hours of radio and television towards Cuba on 30 different frequencies. Some of these radio stations belong to the US government and others belong to or offer their services to organizations linked to terrorists that work against Cuba in the United States, with the total knowledge of US authorities.”

The FCC announced today that it moved a "Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture" to a "Forfeiture Order" against Shawn Deroux for operating a radio station at 87.9-FM in the Bronx without a license.

That means Deroux isn't paying his $10,000 fine, and the FCC is slowly stepping up their efforts to get him to pay. Many Haitian pirates in New York City operate just below the bottom of the dial, which is 88.0-FM on many radios. Some, however, can tune a little below 88, and even pick up 87.7. You can also hear 87.7 "pirates" on your television, on channel six.

We are presenting the FO A RM Festival of Sound & Video at the Portland Art Center. Featuring critically acclaimed electro-acoustic composer Olivia Block, local avant-folk accordionist Luc, and ethereal noise trio Borborygmus (Jonathan Sielaff/David Hirvonen/Jean-Paul Jenkins), along with a screening of abstract video curated by Morgan Currie and an ongoing barrage of video installations, ranging from the visual and conceptual to the non-linear and fragmentary. We are seeking single or multi-channel video work to be displayed throughout the performance space on television monitors. The work should be visually arresting, primarily silent (or adaptive to headphones) and will loop continuously throughout the evening. Abstract, fragmentary and non-narrative work is welcomed. While showing national and international artists, we will feature Portland-based artists. Local video-makers will be asked to supply their own technical requirements - monitor(s), dvd player(s), power-strip, etc. - and install their own work on the afternoon of the event.

Please send a dvd, display requirements and artist’s resume
(TO BE RECEIVED BY NOV. 1st, 2006) to:
Seth Nehil
4605 NE 13th Ave.
Portland, OR 97211
USA

After initially charging for podcasts, This American Life is going free. Fans of the show had been rolling RSS script that pointed to the source files on the TAL website, allowing free reception.

The BBC is reporting that Debrecen airport in Hungary is about to test attaching radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to every passenger.

This sounds like one of those fabrications that zoom about the internet. But the BBC reports that Dr Paul Brennan, an electrical engineer from University College London, is leading the tagging project, known as Optag. "The basic idea is that airports could be fitted with a network of combined panoramic cameras and RFID (radio frequency ID) tag readers, which would monitor the movements of people around the various terminal buildings," they quote Brennan.

At check-in, each passenger would somehow be tagged. "In our system, the location can be detected to an accuracy of 1m, and video and tag data could be merged to give a powerful surveillance capability," he says.

Maybe the right-wing thugs have overthrown the Hungarian government. Or perhaps civil liberties are quaint 20th Century ideas.

From St Helena Herald via Media Network Weblog:

The first construction works began a couple of weeks ago at Radio St Helena in Pounceys, St Helena, with the pouring of the concrete slab, which holds the base to the shortwave transmission antenna. This antenna will be erected later this month when the man behind the revival of the Radio St Helena Day (Sat. Nov. 4), Robert Kipp, arrives from Germany.

This project was made possible entirely by generous donations. The antenna was funded by overseas shortwave enthusiasts and the concrete slab holding the base was sponsored by local building contractors and friends.

After this year’s revival, Radio St Helena plans to continue this annual worldwide transmission, which is very popular with shortwave radio enthusiasts and local listeners - who can hear peoples’ greetings from all parts of the world. Next year will be an extra special shortwave transmission, which will coincide with Radio St Helena’s 40th anniversary. More information of the Revival of Radio St Helena Day, including the schedule, can be found at www.sthelena.se/radioproject.

Andy Sennitt comments: This is one of these rare occasions when the local people are getting as excited as the shortwave hobbyists. St Helena has traditionally been one of the most isolated places on earth. With a population of around 4000, this tiny island in the South Atlantic has no airport (though that’s about to change), and access has been via the Royal Mail Ship St Helena, which takes 5 days from Cape Town and about half that time from Ascension Island.

From New Scientist:

Solar flares can drown out GPS signals with potentially serious consequences for airlines, emergency services, and anyone relying on satellite navigation.

It turns out these bursts of charged particles, which produce auroras and geomagnetic storms, also generate radio waves in the 1.2 and 1.6-gigahertz bands used by GPS.

How was such a clash missed? Because GPS receivers only became common during a period of low solar activity. By 2011 solar flares will reach the peak of their cycle and receivers will likely fail. Or so Alessandro Cerruti of Cornell University, New York, told a meeting of the Institute of Navigation in Fort Worth, Texas, last week. The only solution would be to redesign GPS receivers or satellites, which may not be practical, says Cerruti.

Vox Novus invites composers to submit audio works 60 seconds or less in length to included in a special theme concert of the 60x60 project to be held June 2007 in Munich, Germany. The theme for audio works will be on the topic of oppression and/or totalitarianism. Sixty compositions will be selected to be performed continuously in a one-hour concert, in conjunction with multimedia elements and an analog clock marking the passage of time.

During the concert each of the 60 pieces selected will begin precisely at the beginning of the minute, this will mark the end of one piece and the beginning of another. There will be no pause between the pieces. Works may be less than 60 seconds in length, but may not exceed 60 seconds. Works selected that are less than 60 seconds long will be “padded” with silence either before, after, or surrounding the composition. Please note that the total duration of the work including silence may NOT exceed sixty seconds.

The 60x60 project’s definition of a record work is as follows: any work created as a musical composition which is captured on recorded media, which does not require live performers for its production in broadcast at concert halls, radio, multi-media, etc. Its creation can include but not limited to acoustic instruments, voice, environmental sources, and computer (Sampling, MIDI, C Sound, ProTools, etc.)

All submissions must be postmarked by December 1, 2006. Selected works will be announced on March 1, 2007. Submission of the work(s) on compact disc must be accompanied by the submission form and sent to:
60x60
c/o Robert Voisey
Radio City Station P.O. Box 1607
New York, NY 10101 USA
Read more about guidelines here.

Every so often excellent freeish-form New Jersey-based WFMU shakes up their radio schedule a bit. The current version starts today and goes through June 11, 2007. It includes regular favorites such as program director Brian Turner, Dan Bodah, and Bethany Ryker, as well Tony Rettman and Black Ops, who have DJ'd at several free103point9 events.

Next year will mark free103point9’s tenth anniversary. As we approach this monumental milestone we'd like to invite you to participate in an exciting schedule of special anniversary events and the planning ahead for free103point9’s long-term future.

We are writing to ask you to consider making a tax-deductible contribution to free103point9. We hope you believe free103point9 programs and activities –- online radio, special exhibitions, unique experimental transmission shows, and artist residencies and resources –- to be valuable and can assist in making their continuation possible.

Since our founding in 1997 as a mobile microcasting collective, free103point9 has fostered artists and audiences interested in experimentation on the airwaves. With encouragement and assistance from the free103point9 community at large, and generous grants from the New York State Council for the Arts, and Experimental Television Center, free103point9 shifted from artist collective to nonprofit organization in 2002, employing the term "Transmission Arts" as an umbrella for our interactions with airwaves.

“Transmission Arts” unite a community of artists and audiences interested in experimental radio ideas and tools. Transmission practices harness, occupy and/or respond to the airwaves that surround us. We are excited that the term is becoming part of the educational canon.

Proudly, over the last ten years, we have presented the work of hundreds of artists to international audiences in a wide scope of contexts. Our programs have been presented in partnership with exciting and influential institutions such as Anthology Film Archives, NY; Art in General, NY; Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw; Electronic Arts Intermix, NY; Gwangju Biennale, South Korea; Hallwalls, Buffalo; Hogar Collection, Brooklyn; The Kitchen, NY; LMCC, NY; The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh; The New Museum for Contemporary Art, NY; NAMAC; The Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico; The Ontological Theatre, NY; PERFORMA, NY; Rhizome, NY; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and White Box, NY among numerous others.

From 2000 to 2004 the free103point9 Gallery in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn provided a special place for artists working in experimental sound genres such as avant folk, noise, computer-based music, free jazz and spoken word. Renamed the free103point9 Project Space in 2005, it continues as place for artists to meet, conduct workshops, present works in progress, and serves as a key studio for live content streamed on free103point9 Online Radio. This year, we’ve started hosting public events again and have many special events planned for this fall. With financial support, we will expand these programs further.

Both our Online Radio and Dispatch Series programs continue our commitment to the experimental sound and transmission community, and distribute live and recorded works to audiences in over sixty countries. We are now working closely with over 20 "transmission artists," exhibiting their work in many contexts including online radio, galleries, museums, and public spaces.

The free103point9 Wave Farm, which opened last year in upstate New York, is situated on 30 acres of pastoral meadows, with ponds, forest paths, and mountain views. Wave Farm is home to a summer performance series, artist residencies, skill shares, special Online Radio performances, and a forthcoming Transmission Sculpture Garden. As many of you have witnessed first hand, the Wave Farm environment is uniquely inspiring. Your extraordinary feedback about the grounds and atmosphere fuels our vision for Wave Farm as a public destination for decades to come.

On June 16, 2006, we broke ground on the Wave Farm Study Center, which will house reading, listening, and viewing libraries; a performance/gallery space; a recording studio; and future artists-in-residence. This major undertaking is well on its way. Designed by Caireen O’Hagan and Manche Mitchell, the Study Center is a 4,000 square-foot facility. We are working with some terrific who are supportive of free103point9’s activities and we will do much of the interior work in-house. Yet, we need to raise an additional 20,000 dollars to complete the building, and are turning to our community for the first time appealing for individual contributions to help close this gap.

We'd like to thank you for your help in building free103point9 from a tiny group to a well-respected non-profit organization that now works with some of the best transmission artists in the world. We are planning several special events in conjunction with our anniversary next spring and we look forward to celebrating together.

Your support will facilitate future programs and ensure the longevity and growth of free103point9. Donations of any amount are welcome. More information by clicking donate above.

Simon Elvins work, April, 2006:

This map plots the location of FM commercial and pirate radio stations within London. The poster works in its own right as a piece of information design, but when connected to the modified radio it becomes part of the interface. Each map is made site specific by connecting only the stations that can be received in that location. This is done by drawing power lines in pencil on the back of the map, which conducts electricity from the radio to the front of the poster. Placing a metal contact onto each point enables us to listen to the sound broadcast live from that location.