Author: Paul

  • Bipartisan Hostility Towards Your Rights To Record and Enjoy Satellite & Net Radio

    Sure, it looked like a new day in Congress with the Democrats taking over. This past weekend’s National Conference on Media Reform definitely reinforced that notion as it pertains to media ownership and internet freedom. But the entertainment industry and copyright cartel are a whole different she-bang. Too many entertainment industry liberals are way to…

  • NCMR: The Dicey Future of Public Broadcasting

    When I first walked in I’d just been in the hip-hop panel, and actually started to giggle. The audience for this panel was like the polar opposite of the hiphop audience, I thought maybe there was a nice baroque music concert or a showing of a Jane Austen film — mostly older, even elderly, middle-class…

  • NCMR Panel: Make Music with Your Mouth, Kid: Hip-Hop Activism

    This panel was certainly the most fun and the most thought-provoking of all the panels I’ve been to at the NCMR. It’s nearly impossible for me to summarize because each presenter brought a unique perspective and set of facts to lay on the audience. But, as the title of the panel suggests, all the presenters…

  • Uncommon Candor

    I’m sitting in a session on the FCC featuring current Democratic commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, with former commissioner Gloria Tristani as moderator. I’m very impressed with the degree of candor that Commissioners Copps and Adelstein have expressed at this conference in mulitple sessions, on topics ranging from payola to the BellSouth/AT&T merger. These…

  • Radioshow Experiment a Partial Success

    Last night I attempted to broadcast the radioshow live from Memphis using Skype to connect us with the WEFT studio. Here in Memphis at the Cook Convention Center we got a wired (rather than wireless) connection to the internet, which I understood was shared by very few people. I don’t know how many people were…

  • Listen to Daily Reports from the NCMR

    John Anderson is filing daily reports from the National Conference for Media Reform for his program Media Minutes. John will definitely be capturing all the highlights of the day, along with interviews with prominent and interesting people working to change our media environment. The first daily report for today, Jan. 12, is already posted, featuring:…

  • Live at the National Conference for Media Reform

    Although I gave no warning on the blog (I did mention it on the last two radioshows), I am here in rainy, but warm, Memphis, TN, for the 3rd National Conference for Media Reform. I got in last night and attended the Save the Internet coalition Party for the Future at the Gibson Guitar Factory.…

  • Taiwan Pirates Protest for Communications Freedom

    The Taiwan radio pirates certainly know how the value of banding together to fight against the selling off of the public airwaves. According to the Taipei Times, last week pirate broadcasters held protests in front of the National Communications Commission, their version of the FCC. Held back by rows of police in riot gear, angry…

  • Update from Oaxaca: “In the face of repression, quiet determination, dignity.”

    Nancy Davies and George Salzman have written two new updates from Oaxaca and posted them on the web: Last Sunday, 10 Dec, the popular movement held its eighth mega-march, the first large manifestation following the imposition of a virtual state of siege imposed by the federal armed forces on 25 and 26 November. Nancy Davies’…

  • Reviewing Some Media-Making Gear

    Occasionally I post some reviews of electronics gear to Epinions. I post there because it increases the likelihood that my reviews will be found by someone who is looking for them and will appreciate them. Recently I reviewed Sony’s latest (and maybe last) minidisc recorder, the MZ-RH1, which also allows you to upload all your…