Month: February 2002

Media Consolidates in the US while the Media Consolidates with Power in Italy Ad Age reports that Commerce Committee Chair Sen. Ernest Hollings plans to hold a hearing in that committee on the issue of media consolidation and its effect on diversity and public service in the media. He criticizes the DC Circuit Court for…

The Boulder Daily Camera reports that the “FCC closes underground station” in Nederland, CO. This is a clear case of: if you run a pirate station, be careful answering the door and don’t answer questions from FCC agents. They’re not cops and you don’t have to talk to them. (via the radio forum at about.com)

Last night I presented my proposal for a new mediageek radio show to the WEFT Programming Committee. If the committee sees fit to grant the proposal, it will air Fridays at 5:30 PM after Free Speech Radio News, which I think is a suitable lead-in. Another demo show will air tomorrow during that time slot,…

Got Those Consolidation Blues I’m beginning to think that the DC Court of Appeals won’t be happy until the big four media companies own every damn cable system, tv station, radio station, newspaper and Internet property in the country. Last week the Court struck down an FCC rule barring companies from being in both the…

Meet Indymedia This week I’m coordinating a week in residence for the Urbana-Champaign Indpendent Media Center at a living/learning residence hall at the Unviersity of Illinois. It’s an opportunity to prove that IMCs are not produced by shadowy net ghosts, but by actual living breathing human beings, most of whom are your neighbors. This might…

Webcast Music Fees Set, But Not So Friendly to NonComms The Copyright Office finally released the rates for webcasting music as the result of arbitration between the recording industry and the radio industry. These are the fees that on-line broadcasters will be required to pay the record industry (not the songwriters — those fees are…

Police Attack Italy IMC I’m not sure what to comment on this, except to say that it’s wrong, but seems to be part of a disturbing trend, given the recent shutdown of the Swiss IMC. Here’s the news from Global IMC, which was translated from Italian: This morning around 7.00, police knocked at the doors…

Charges Against RaisetheFist Webmaster Dropped. What’s Going On? Urbana IMC’s ML points out a Newsbytes article: “‘We have opted not to seek an indictment at this time. We are continuing to investigatate the matter, but as of right now, he’s off the hook,” said Thomas Mrozek, public affairs officer for the U.S. attorney’s office in…

IMC-Switzerland Voluntarily Shuts Down Over Charges of Anti-Semitism Machination.org has been covering this story pretty well (look in the center column). I haven’t had the time to properly contextualize the situation and post it here. Luckily Machination’s Matthew has done a pretty good job: “The Swiss IMC webpage was shut down today, probably by its…

New on DIY-Files: First impressions on the Sound Blaster Extigy, USB external sound card.