Corporate Interests out to KILL Analog FM

All the discounters of FM in the Chicago to Madison, Wi area turn on WORT-FM 89.9 (Madison, WI) almost anytime for the most diverse programming and exchange of ideas anywhere in the midwest and most other places for that matter. (see www.wort-fm.org and also their web links http://www.wort-fm.org/links.shtml ).

WORT has Tons and tons of Jazz, Monday through Thursday afternoons and midnight to 6am Friday night, 20s - 40s Jazz Saturday morning, Oldies Rock, International Music, Progressive, Techno etc. Then there is the incredible international, national, and local talk programming. Don't count FM out till you here what a true COMMUNITY RADIO CAN DO!

Fatparrot where do you live? Clear Channel Communications City?

Come to the ocean of ideas know as Community Radio (see http://www.amarc.org/amarc/ang/ ) and once in a while: NPR. FM can be truly a wonderful sonic pleasure on a good uncompressed signal and a diversity of ideas.

PS: Forgot to mention their WORT's Schedule, http://www.wort-fm.org/schedule/schedule.htm

Their schedule speaks volumes. Compare that to the corporate owned sonic wallpaper music and news reporting most american's numb themselves to complacency with.

WORT is exciting not only for its content but for the fact they consistently win Best of Madison Radio Stations year after year with DJ's that don't get paid a dime for their volunteer efforts (heck, the guy that does the midnight to 6am Jazz show drives in 75 miles from Milwaukee to do the show after he gets off his paying job, you can talk to him between songs and go over jazz etc) but have the passion in their hearts and deep knowledge of their respective music venues. Many play in local clubs. Clear Channel Communications is really totally pissed off at WORT's success. I bet there are more places than Madison with thinking and active people.

One more PS:

I made several calls about the Analog to Digital transition and the best guesses are that Analog will be around till at least 2020 even if Digital Monopolies are successful. There would likely be a time when both are broadcast but with hundreds of millions of car radios still in analog out there it will be a longer time to phase out radio than it is likely to take to phase out TV.

Isn't it great that government is there to tell us what we what through their corporate proxy: Lower quality audio, compressed signals with the same crap all over the dial with about the only difference is the slight change in timing of commercials.

Jimbo,
WIBA does still exist but is nothing even close to what it use to be. Just another clone. Very sad, The Isthmus (a very successful free paper, http://www.thedailypage.com/ ) has done a stories on WIBA and what it use to be. Many contributers include stories from the old DJs who are just sickened by it all.

Regarding Digital, according to a top person I talked to at Fanfare (the FM Tuner company), digital is not really the issue at all. It is about taking complete control over what can be broadcast. It seems IBOC wants to control every detail of FM medium, total domination (something that can not be completely done while FM remains analog). Seriously, it is beginning to look like the days of the SS Troups and Orwells 1984. I for one, will not take this lying down. And by Clear Channel's failure in Madison, despite pouring millions into advertising and sponsorship of some local events, we can whip the Mindless Vanilla Programming !

If you think Bush and Ashcroft move fast and unilaterally read this about IBOC's Digital Audio Broadcasting:

http://members.cox.net/fmdxweb/iboc.html

and

http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/iboc/index.shtml

Remember in the 1920s and 30s when the government collaborated with General Motors in dismantling our mass transit system, literally at night pulling up rails.

"If you control what you know you control what can be."

Some more related interesting articles, while I take a break from work:

http://www.fair.org/counterspin/mcchesney-transcript.html

http://www.fair.org/media-beat/010322.html