mediageek

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  • mediageek 4 December 2008: Communication Rights and Freedom of Expression

    On Nov. 7 the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, AMARC, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a conference held in Montreal, QC. Community radio CKUT‘s News Collective recorded the conference, making the audio available to other community radio stations to share. On this edition of the radioshow we listen to two presentations from the panel…

  • New York Times Declares: Iraq War Over

    Well, at least a special edition of the New York Times that I’m pretty sure was released by hoaxmeisters, the Yes Men. According to an unsigned press release I received in my email this morning, 1.2 million copies of the “exact replica” of the New York Times with a cover date of July 4, 2009…

  • The FCC Can Has Google for Piratez

    Ever wondered how the FCC tracks down and busts pirate radio operators? Anyone familiar with the subject has heard about radio tracking equipment that helps agents triangulate a signal, but what other tools are in their arsenal? Google is a big one. Another tool? Taking pictures of the buildings where they find signals, and photographing…

  • Tim Robbins Speaks Truth to the NAB

    On today’s radioshow I also played a portion of Tim Robbins’ not entirely scheduled keynote speech to the National Association of Broadcasters convention on Monday, in which he excoriated the mainstream media industry saying, ““We are at an abyss as an industry and as a country.” Robbins’ excerpt is in the first part of the…

  • Twitter has the best live feed from FCC Stanford

    I only two weeks into my Twitter experience, but I’m starting to drink the Kool Aid. Following these Tweets is giving me the best updates from the Stanford hearing when I can’t be listening live: https://twitter.com/simX https://twitter.com/jjtoothman https://twitter.com/freepress Thanks to @nsputnik! for the Tweet refs.

  • Distributor Death Takes Down Another Indie Mag

    After publishing 80 issues, the great independent culture and politics magazine Punk Planet has announced its closing. According to a front-page post on PP’s website by Daniel Sinker there are several factors contributing to its demise, “bad distribution deals, disappearing advertisers, and a decreasing audience of subscribers.” The bankruptcy of major distributors is a problem…

  • Microcinema Pitfalls

    I’ve been a bit more tuned in to microcinema lately as a result of talking more with my old pal Jason Pankoke from Micro-Film magazine and reading his new Champaign local microcinema ‘zine, C-U Confidential. (Listen to Jason’s recent appearance on the radioshow.) However, my enthusiasm for radically independent film and video is still tempered…

  • Illinois’ Racist Mascot Has One Foot in the Grave

    Today the University of Illinois Board of Trustees and Administration announced that it is halting use of “Chief Illiniwek” effective Feb. 21. Ostensibly this is so Illinois can get out of sanctions imposed by the NCAA against schools using racist imagery and mascots. It’s taken some twenty years of pressure from students, Native American groups…

  • Not dead, maybe sleeping

    Has nearly a month gone by since my last post? Wow. I guess it’s time for the customary tardy blogger’s excuse/apology. For me it was the Thanksgiving holiday combined with having a cough (probably whooping) and cold that lasted about 6 weeks. Not a great excuse, I know. But, hey, at least the radioshow didn’t…

  • Dave Rabbit off to Iraq

    Salon features an article on Vietnam War pirate broadcaster Dave Rabbit who has begun podcasting since he discovered an underground following for recordings of the programs he did in 1971. Now Rabbit is off to Iraq to produce a new podcast, probably from inside a Baghdad hotel filled with journalists. Although he claims to be…