Radio Waves Podcast #355

Radio: September 30

            High on Podcasts and News

            KCRW (89.9 FM) has hired what station management considers key people in order to help develop audience podcast awareness as well as creating new podcast programs. 

            Gina Delvac comes to the station from Spotify, where she helped develop in-house podcasts. She will lead KCRW’s new Podcast Audience Lab, which hopes to connect station listeners with content of interest available on demand. “We’re going to take the best of what KCRW already does every day, and bring best-in-class audio experiences to the many neighborhoods that make Southern California great,” Delvac said in a released statement.

            “We'll curate the sounds and stories that matter most and be in direct engagement with the communities that drive our culture forward. We want to hear your stories, reflect your experience, and share it with the world,” she said.

            The second hire, Arnie Seipel, was snagged from National Public Radio and will lead the station’s news division. Seipel spent 14 years at NPR — most recently as the Deputy Washington Editor in charge of national politics coverage. 

            Prior to that Seipel was ingrained in NPR’s election coverage as a story editor.

            While I am not sure a political editor is the absolute best choice to lead the news staff, but I’ll give the benefit of the doubt for now. KCRW has a well-deserved reputation for quality news reporting and I don’t think management would do anything to change that.

            Ducks Stream

            Hockey’s Anaheim Ducks is going online via a deal with TuneIn — an online and app radio station player — to stream all Ducks games without the need for traditional radio.

            Hockey has always been a tough sell for radio, so the move is not too surprising. The LA Kings made a similar move a few years ago with a deal involving iHeart’s online app.

            The new Ducks Stream, launched September 22nd, will carry all of the Ducks games plus a series of ten podcasts revolving around the Ducks and the professional hockey league.

            There is a case to be made for streaming as the future of radio, broadcast or otherwise. Power and sound quality would be parity for all stations involved, and the savings in electricity and land costs could help create a radio renaissance. Holding the idea back for now is the lack of universally-available broadband internet access; once that happens, it could be a game-changer.

            Surrender

            The owner of an AM-FM combo in Lamar, Colorado is surrendering the licenses to KLMR and KLMR-FM due to storm damage to the studios.

            RadioInsight.Com reports that the station’s engineers sent a letter to the FCC stating that the “studios are a complete loss” after a microburst back in July. “Unable to restore service for both KLMR-AM (920) and KLMR-FM (93.5) … requesting to cancel both licenses, return spectrum, and release call letters.

            Owner 25-7 Media purchased the stations and two others in early 2018 for a total of $400,000.

            Interference Problem

            While listening to my radio I often hear what sounds like Morse-Code.  Am I getting somebody messages? — John Buckingham, Long Beach

            Interference is the bane of radio, especially AM which operates on frequencies close to many natural and man-made interference sources. Computers, cable boxes, televisions, and even light dimmers can cause interference. Sometimes, the interference can travel a fairly long distance down the power lines that supply electricity to your home. Perhaps a solar system inverter nearby could even be causing this, but I honestly have no real clue.

            My hunch is that SOMEONE or something near you has to be doing something. It could be a cheap switching power supply (“wall wart”) or machinery on the same supply line. You might consider contacting one of the larger stations affected and tell the engineering department it is hurting your reception. They might have ideas or can look into it more. Good luck!