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Re: [ARSCLIST] Community Radio



i have in the recent past volunteered at KVRX in austin, texas and may look to
volunteer at KUT in the fall.
mark downs
Quoting David Lewis <davlew@xxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Tom Fine wrote:
>
> How do these stations afford to pay the yearly royalties to ASCAP and BMI?
> Very curious -- and sure wish there was one in this neck of the woods!
>
> >>>
> There might very well be one. They are scattered all over, tiny little
> stations with low watt transmitters generally, although some have fairly
> strong signals - you can pick up WAIF on the outskirts of Cincinnati even a
> little better than in the city. There is WFMU in NYC, which is by no means a
> small player in the game. The politics of many of these stations tend to
> veer to the left, which is one reason why they don't get listened to as much
> as maybe they should. Music programming is all over the map, and you might
> tune in one time and hear something you really, really hate, but on the same
> station there might be some old timer spinning records from the 1920s, say,
> on a Sunday afternoon.
>
> Jerry Fabris, on this list, has an excellent show on WFMU, which plays
> records from the Edison National Historic Site. I love it and listen to it
> when I can.
>
> I was hoping to find some single listing of all the various "community" (i.e
> as opposed to "public") radio venues, but there isn't one. There is a
> listing at the NFCB (National Foundation of Community Broadcasters) site,
> but not all stations are necessarily members of this organization - WCBN and
> WFMU are not, for example. It doesn't matter now as to low wattage - if you
> have a web-stream, that levels the playing field, as anyone with a computer
> can listen to the programming.
>
> These stations, in a lot of cases, have been around for decades, a leftover
> from the 60s and 70s approach to expanding access to media in the public
> interest. The RIAA have not come after us full-bore quite yet - I don't know
> the details, but right now a decision as how to collect from stations like
> WCBN is tabled. We're such small potatoes, raising our own money from
> donations and a slim amount of underwriting, that it isn't a priority. And
> it is a problem in terms of enforcing the DMCA; a fair number of community
> stations are based on Indian Reservations, and to pay to the RIAA the
> equivalent of what they want could consume the entire revenue stream for an
> Indian station for a calendar year, and he government didn't want to do
> that. So now the decision is on hold.
>
> We have set up a system whereby we record every music track played into a
> database, so if they come calling, we're ready. So far as I know, no one has
> shown up from the RIAA or any other concern at WCBN just yet. Is there
> anyone else on this list who volunteers on community radio?
>
> By the way, my show airs every other Thursday morning from 6-9am ET at
> www.wcbn.org
> I do it next week, my collaborator Keith Larsen does it this week, and he
> also plays a lot of obscure stuff. I'm hoping to sign him up with ARSC this
> year as he is very interested in attending the Wisconsin conference.
>
> David N. Lewis
> Assistant Classical Editor, All Music Guide
>
> My life is the clearest proof that if you have talent, determination and
> luck, you will make it in the end: Never Give Up. - Sir Georg Solti
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
> Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 10:37 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercury co-founder Irving Green passes
>
> How do these stations afford to pay the yearly royalties to ASCAP and BMI?
> Very curious -- and sure
> wish there was one in this neck of the woods!
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Lewis" <davlew@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 3:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercury co-founder Irving Green passes
>
>
> I'm a community volunteer radio programmer on WCBN-FM 88.3 in Ann Arbor,
> based out of the University of Michigan. Many might feel that this is "there
> for the grace of God go I" type radio, but I have been on community radio,
> off and on, for a period of nearly 28 years - I was on WAIF-FM Cincinnati
> for many years before I joined WCBN.
>
> If you show up, have a broadcast license and can operate the gear, then they
> don't worry about what you play, as long as there's no foul language.
> Musically you can play practically anything. We do play a lot of classical
> music on the station, it takes up roughly half of my bi-weekly three-hour
> program, and others will even mix it in with the pop, jazz and other things
> that they play.
>
> My program is on the web, and I have listeners both locally and abroad. I
> get fan email from places like Taiwan and Scotland.
>
> David N. Lewis
> Assistant Classical Editor, All Music Guide
> 1168 Oak Valley Dr.
> Ann Arbor, MI 48108
> 734 887 8145
>
> My life is the clearest proof that if you have talent, determination and
> luck, you will make it in the end: Never Give Up. - Sir Georg Solti
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger and Allison Kulp
> Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 3:08 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Mercury co-founder Irving Green passes
>
> Dave,I find this facinating.As one of those with "limited interest",the
> classical record(ing)s I listen to were mostly done,between 1925,and
> 1965.Classical radio,a dying sector of the broadcast market,itself a dying
> industry,thanks to web downloads, tends to forget there were even recordings
> made,before the mid 80s,or so.So how do you get away with playing stuff like
> mono Mercury ? (Many of which,I prefer to the stereos... the heresey! )
>    I do not own a car,so I have often had to carry my thrift shop/flea
> market purchases with me,when I go from digging for vinyl/shellac,to the
> supermarket,etc. .)On one such occasion,I ran into the morning guy,since
> canned/"retired",from the local classical station.He started a
> conversation,and confirmed my suspicions,that the corporate owners of the
> station,refused to allow any pre-digital recordings to be played,because
> they said it was bad for ratings,and it was an unstated policy,to
> program/push new recordings.Something about they weren't there to expose
> people to the best recordings/performances,just to provide pleasant
> background music,to keep the sponsors happy.
>    So how do you pull this off ?
>     Roger Kulp
>
> David Lewis <davlew@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>   Dave Lewis:
>
> Well, I may represent the "limited interest" faction, but I was certainly
> waiting to see certain Hanson recordings come along - mainly Griffes' Kubla
> Khan, the Loeffler and Sessions' "Black Maskers." To this day, I keep a reel
> tape version on hand of "Maskers" just so if I want to program it on my
> radio show, I can make a transfer. I would have thought these things,
> although monaurally recorded, considerable to make the "cut," but umusic, I
> guess, knows better than me, a mere consumer and (god forbid!) critic.
> David N. Lewis
> Assistant Classical Editor, All Music Guide
>
> My life is the clearest proof that if you have talent, determination and
> luck, you will make it in the end: Never Give Up. - Sir Georg Solti
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Mark W. Downs
Audio Preservationist
Harry Ransom Center
University of Texas at Austin
P.O. Box 7219
Austin, TX 78713-7219
www.hrc.utexas.edu


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