----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <313@hyperreal.org> Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 6:17 AM Subject: [313] Techno on local radio
> I remember Kiss FM back in 1991, when there were both Colin Faver *and* > Colin Dale - two evenings of techno a week! It was like manna from heaven > for my 15-year-old ears... and it's a shame that it's not on Kiss anymore, > but that's just the way terrestrial radio is going. It's a distant memory in the US as well. Most college radio stations in the US have included at least one dance music specialty show in their lineups since at least the 80s, and this was precisely what drew me in to house/techno, and DJing. I lived near and worked for one of the highest rated college radio stations in the US from '92-'97, and I can tell you our funding was completely inadequate to reach a broad audience. We transmitted at 100 Watts, which had a broadcast range of approximately 10-15 miles depending on the weather. We had an extremely devoted General Manager at one point who attempted to increase our transmission range to reach the next largest audience of approximately 130,000 people, 25 miles away. We were able to secure funding to afford a transmitter to broadcast that distance, but the FCC licensing fees for broadcasting for greater distance were prohibitively high. So... we wound up with a very powerful transmitter and the same tranmission radius. Six years later, they still have not been able to raise the funds to acquire the new license. And again, we were one of the the best funded, most highly regarded college radio stations in the US, and the first college radio station in the US to go digital. We were the 2nd largest student organization at a university of 30,000 students, but when a Big 10 college football team can generate so much more national exposure for the university, it's no wonder that a non-commercial radio station will lack the support to reach a wide audience. The rules on retaining that non-commercial staus allow some flexibility to generate revenue through underwriting, as opposed to advertising, but at that point you are inherently marketing to a small business audience at small business prices. Simply put, it is the FCC that has allowed college radio's continued existence in the low bandwidth range of our dials, but it's very unlikely that college radio will reach a wide audience if licensing for transmitting greater distances remain so high. And given the recent attempts at killing NPR, I'd say that is not the direction things are headed in. None of this really considers profit motives at state-run universities, which is whole different ball of wax. This impact is so great that the University of Iowa has even considered privatizing itself. And none of this touches on the FCC's strict crackdown on pirate radio in the mid-90s. All this said, I considered myself extremely lucky to have worked for http://www.uiowa.edu~krui Visiting staff from other colleges would drool at our professional mixing board, production studio, staff offices, record archives, and even the transmission range I was complaining about above. That I was allowed to maintain an underground dance music radio show for five years running, continuing a legacy and leaving my own is nearly miraculous in its own right. College radio has been the only salvation on American airwaves for some time now for the devoted audiences that tune in. Most kids start their musical education by flipping the dial, be it radio or television. Without college radio, things might be more bleak than they are now. Wiht few exceptions, public access television does not appeal to a younger audience. Laura Gavoor has oft noted the impact of major corporate ownership on American radio. Andrew Duke also had some great posts on this topic a while back. He's still running that radio station in Halifax, still organizing his annual fundraisers. :) Searching the archives may prove instructive. Tristan ------------------- Upcoming Gigs: 3/16/02 - Centripetal Force @ The Edge, DC 4/6/02 - The Basics @ The Abyss, DC 4/14/02 - Filler @ Blue Room, Adams Morgan, DC http://www.mp313.com <- Music http://www.metrotechno.net <- DC techno + more http://www.metatrackstudios.com <- DC DJ/Production studios http://phonopsia.tripod.com <- Hub [EMAIL PROTECTED] <- email --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
