homogenization & hype

It is increasingly obvious that corporate media is vapid and bland, but this homogenizing influence - extending beyond simplistic 'content' - may require closer consideration.

A familiar echo of Huxley's "hypnopaedia" in Brave New World, nationwide repetition of calculated slogans and phrases works to discourage consciousness and support the

status quo.

Corporate radio programming is oriented towards an increasingly devalued "workforce" and is meant to remind us of our place in US plutocracy and how fortunate we are to receive the corporate blessing of a "50-minute music hour." It's not enough that corporations want to copyright our language, now they are redefining our measurement and experience of time.

Corporate media monopoly assures ongoing hype about the contributions to America that corporations have made, obscuring their 'externalized' costs while subtly implying that we could never live without them. A closer look at corporate history reveals a consistent pattern of greed, incompetence and crime - and massive public subsidy. Additionally, it is not hard to prove that corporate diversion of public funds is a central reason Americans don't enjoy the same level of social services as many other industrialized countries do. Non-commercial public access to broadcast media should be one of those subsidized social services as in the idea of a citizen run independent public broadcasting trust.

As a playful antidote and response to the dullness of corporate gruel, I'd like to invite participation in a little project. Inspired by Marshall McLuhan's audio collage "The Medium is the Massage," one of the projects I have in mind for my research is the composition of an audio collage of snippets from corporate radio stations all over the US - slogans, jingles, catchphrases...any of the hypnopaedic mantras repeated thousands of times a day on the airwaves. I would like to take these and compose them in an audio collage that will not only amuse, but powerfully demonstrate one problem with monopoly broadcasting.

Feel free to send me your suggestions & submissions!

LPFM no longer available?

One of the sources in my reading list is Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio edited by Hilmes & Loviglio (Routledge, 2002) and I recommend it as a useful and insightful survey of significant radio history from its early commercial take-over to its digital future.
One essay "Radio By and For the Public: the Death and Resurrection of Low-Power Radio" by Paul Riismandel is especially relevant to my focus on the history of WRIR.

From my reading so far it is my understanding that LPFM licenses are no longer available and are not likley to be in the near future - is this correct? Riismandel tells us that "religious groups received about half of all the LPFM construction permits" even though religious programming abounds on US airways. Is there a list of how the other permits were distributed?

Though opponents to LPFM claimed concern that it might interfere with high-power channels, this absurdity can be easily contradicted with an attempt to listen to Richmond radio stations. The corporate channels come screaming through loud and "clear" making WRIR sometimes difficult to detect amidst the corporate cacaphony.

And here's an LPFM technical question: I live in Stratford Hills, near Pony Pasture and I can receive WRIR quite easily in my car but in my home, even my new "Super Radio" is difficult to tune to its LPFM signal - why is this? Is there any way I can improve my reception in my home?

Some Questions

So, as I pursue my research into radio I have a few preliminary questions that some of you might be able to answer...

What is the average cost to run a typical commercial radio station?
What about LPFM stations?
College radio stations?
Is there a text or source that could answer questions like these?

What is the basic minimum of equipment needed for an LPFM station to broadcast?
Approximately what would it cost?

What about radio in an emergency?
Could a radio station be run by a generator in a disaster?

Has the FCC stopped issuing LPFM licenses? If so, why?