I've just spent an hour or so listening to one of the best local personalities in the country: Steve Cochran of WGN.

I listened... not on my PC... but on my Blackberry while driving and walking around my neighborhood in Arlington, VA.

www.moodio.fm aggregates radio streams (and things like police scanners and air traffic control) for portable units.

Create an account on your computer, create a station list, then sign on from your handheld (for me a Blackberry Bold) and listen.

Like on the PC, the stream gets knocked off once in a while thanks to reception and bandwidth issues. But still...

All I need now is a new car with an I-Pod jack... and I can listen to WGN, KNX, WBZ, BBC Five Live and anything else while driving.

Of course, when I run into that blockng accident on the Beltway when I was listening to a report about a disabled on the Dan Ryan... shame on me.

I'm curious about something - and yes, as usual, it's a relatively naive question;

It is my understanding that when you are using a cell phone as a phone, while driving, say, along 1-5, that you get handed off from tower to tower as you travel. The hand-off is seamless and you usually don't notice.

But I had heard / read, that there are difficulties in getting streaming media to hand off as cleanly as voice.

Has anyone experienced this while driving a distance to warrant using more than one tower during your listening session? If so, what was the result?

A little off topic, but Rich...how cool is it to be covering the White House at the start of this historic Presidency? Please share some quick thoughts!

I've been using the Wunderradio iPhone application to do the same thing. Lately I've been listening to excellent fire coverage on 3AW, a commercial news-talk station in Melbourne, Australia that does local news with an American-network flare, with wraps and actualities and sharp writing. I also use the AOL Radio app to tune in to WCBS, WBBM, KNX, KCBS, WBZ, and lots of other CBS stations (KINK, too). And IHeartRadio brings in Clear Channel stations that I enjoy, like, KOA in Denver. Caught the President's news conference there yesterday. Sometimes the coverage isn't 100% (AT&T net), but these iPhone apps have revolutionized my listening. The only hope for local stations is information that I'd be screwed without (like major traffic or huge local news), or personalities that I'm bonded to. Otherwise, my listening options are infinite.

I believe there is a whole other side of this board dedicated to slathering over this historic presidency.

I'm thinking that these apps aren't really the "end of radio" but are in fact the beginning of the end of big antennas on top of mountains beaming programming only to people within line of sight. You both mention listening to "WGN" - a radio station. Rich is a big fan of the Beeb, Eastwood searched out 3AW for Australian fire coverage.

Local news and information will always be relevant to local people and therefore valuable. When Portland matters to the world (or when Portlanders out in the world wonder what's going on in Stumptown) they'll be able to tune in anywhere without needing to be close to a radio transmitter. They'll still be listening to K103 or KEX or whatever.

Bottom line is personalities and services matter. In fact it's rapidly becoming obvious that they soon will be the only thing that matters. Ironic that they are the disappearing element in broadcasting.

Become a content provider. Turn away from the transmitter on the hill and broaden your show to appeal on multiple platforms in different time zones.

Yes.

IMHO, increasing these, while at the same time being careful to maintain the branding and identity, can only be a good thing.

Oh, and I'm sure people are wondering about "that guy" who produces a killer show out of his garage, and his buddies that are gonna dilute radio.

--->just air them, and or syndicate them! Problem solved. More content is a very welcome problem.

Indeed, content is what it's all about. And that much-used word 'companionship' is a big part of the content: A handful of humans sharing ideas and information with other humans.
Being an old guy who remembers when dx-ing AM radio was still worth doing, stream-surfing is great. I love hearng a show that tells me something about that place. Now I can do it independent of my PC.

Paul: It's darn interesting, with lots of deja vu to '93 when I watched the Clinton folks come in. With all the Clinton folks in the Obama White House, you'd think they might have found at least one press office vet to come in and help out in the beginning. But nooooooo. It all starts from absolute scratch.

Notalent: I hope someday we'll get past this, and you'll find it in your heart to forgive my felonious assault on the sanctity of this thread.

Rich,

I could not find the emoticon for tongue stuck not so firmly in cheek and that obviously does not come through in text.

Still, I prefer to keep my business and politics separate... you can consider us past this...

This new tech is great... though I do not yet have the right blackberry for these apps... It's cool to hear from actual users of the tech I've helped to deliver even if only in a small way.

OK perhaps a dumb question here ( but I gotta ask it)... Say tomorrow we all turn off our car radios during the morning commute and start listening to stations on the internet... would the infrastructure support it, or would most of our Blackberries/iPhones/Whatever just say "service not available" ?

I have seen trials of wifi via cell infrastructure using the comrex access wireless IP codec.

Right now just trying to get at least 128kbps was generally possible in many locations... at times rates as high as 750kbps were seen. actual bitrates are highly variable depending just like you said... other users on the system. noted 5pm to 9pm being particularly busy.

High volume conditions cause excessive delay time in trying to do a live broadcast over cellular broadband. This might not be a problem just trying to buffer a one way stream.. ie: listing to an audio stream.

I'd say the dead spots in any major metro area would be similar to any other RF dead zones.

These experiments were made under current conditions and only represent one heavy bandwidth user trying to get a good connection at any given time.

Todays infrastructure would not handle everyone with a car or cell phone trying to stream music or video simultaneously.

I'm sure someone else has already figured this out and is planning a vast investment in broadband wireless infrastructure expansion.

There's another way. Future car audio systems will mix podcasts downloaded a couple hours earlier with seamlessly-inserted local traffic delivered by cell or wifi. You'll have good audio, no handoff issues, and the need for bandwidth in real-time will be greatly reduced.

You'll also be able to program your player to insert local traffic, weather, EAS messages and Amber Alerts in content from 3AW or the Beeb. How cool will that be!

Notalent: I can second that emotion on field testing wireless IP codec. I did (or tried to do) some live shots with the Tieline Commander G3 from a moving van during the campaign. Like so much of life, it depends on where you are... and when you're there. And it really depends on how many other people are there. I still shudder from the day Queen Elizabeth arrived at the White House. All the testing even 30 minutes before were fine. But when she showed up and the 15,000 people on the South Lawn all decided to share the experience, there was no bandwidth for me. (Don't get me started on why I didn't have a hard line)


Business here ---------------------------------------- Politics here
Excellent Idea!

I also think the Internet will continue to provide more and more information elements along with entertainment services. This will come through both streaming of terrestrial stations and new, Internet exclusive programming.

I still think it all boils down to how good the actual programming is.

With the exception of NPR (and occasionally logging on to hear old friends via their Internet stream) I have turned on a radio - a car radio - only once in over two years. This includes some really long road trips. My 26 year old son controlled the music via minidisk and mostly homemade cd's. I had to ask him several times to tune in to a local station to get a traffic report during an ice storm in Little Rock. He hit the FM band and we found nothing. I told him the most likely place for a traffic report was on AM. We found whatever the local "newstalk" station was during a top of hour local newscast. We were stuck in 5 mile an hour traffic at 3 o'clock in the afternoon in a winter storm. And here's what drives me nuts about our wonderful business...the same image voice used by hundreds of other radio and TV stations across the country gave the top of hour ID using the same language every other station uses about how in touch and in depth they are. Then... a rushed five minute local cast that said absolutely nothing about what was going in in their community. I guess an ice storm ain't that important if you live in Little Rock. We stopped early and had a nice time exploring beautiful downtown Little Rock in 25 degree weather. The next day we had a nice drive through Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico and didn't turn the radio on once.

How simple would that be to fix?

p.s. I don't turn on NPR to hear traffic reports. Can you imagine what would happen to OPB's listenership if they started taking local news and traffic seriously? My local NPR affiliate is beginning to do more immediate information services throughout the day.

I have two teenagers who start there school days at different times. Our morning's consist of making them breakfast and getting lunches made and out the door without any media being turned on. No radio, no TV no computer.

I don't even need to tune in for school closures anymore because we receive a phone call and an email from Portland Public Schools letting us know if school is cancelled or delayed.

It's probably more of a taste issue with our family. I am surrounded by audio most of my working day, and for me it clutters up the morning hum in our house.

These days when I do drive the radio is off 98 percent of the time. I enjoy the silence of my own thoughts.

"I enjoy the silence of my own thoughts."

Chris,
Are you saying your ideas are dying of loneliness, or that they are in braille, or what?

I know how to read Braille. Does that mean I can read Chris' mind? Scary.

I do not avoid media. In some ways, I feel guilty of not being plugged into enough different forms of media on account of the fact that I do not read the newspaper on a regular basis.

It hasn't been until the last ten years or so that I have started to run into people who intentionally avoid specific types of media (such as people who don't own a TV) or who avoid mass media altogether. I am trying to mentally digest the paradox that a number of these people work in media themselves. I am not trying to offend or attack anyone here.

Yes, I believe that there is a lot of crap on the radio today, there are a lot of non-compelling, cheaply produced programs on TV, and much airtime on both of these media is sadly wasted on infomercials for useless stuff that I have no interest in buying. But, there is a lot of utter bullshit on the Internet. If you insist that the Holocaust never happened, for instance, you could easily find web pages and online communities that support this view. No matter which medium you look at, you have to trudge through a great deal of garbage to find something useful. Nothing is sacrosanct today.

I have loved radio ever since I assembled some of the radio circuits in an old Science Fair kit back in 1981, and was rewarded with the experience of hearing some of the local (Buffalo, NY) stations, such as WUFO, WBEN, and WWOL. The experience was only enriched when I started playing with my dad's shortwave radio. I hope to be listening to (or for something on) the radio until the last terrestrial transmitter is shut off--if that even happens within my lifetime.

Matt - I should have said closed captioned! Your bat ears can probably pick up the voices in my head.

"Are the voices in my head bothering you?"
The Gods Must Be Crazy

> I know how to read Braille. Does that mean I can read Chris' mind?

Only if phrenology were a legitimate science.

I was going to elaborate on A-T's post, but it's been said better than I can (two great threads: "JOCKS WERE BETTER THEN," ../208652/199622.html"../208652/141951.html" target="_blank">../208652/141951.html"#f7f7f7" align=left> Author: Littlesongs
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 5:55 pm

Yesterday was a wild and deadly day for weather in Oklahoma. Instead of counting on a clip here or there from CNN, I went straight to the source. I watched a tornado develop on the air, selected from a number of live dashcams in storm chasing vehicles, read a blog with the latest warnings and developments, caught raw footage of the damage as it came in and found real time doppler radar all in one place: The KOCO website.

This one OKC television station not only provided lifesaving information to their viewing area, but shared harrowing stories, snapshots from locals, miraculous tales of survival and continuous live coverage with the entire world. It was a textbook example of how technological advances and new media sources can be integrated on a local level to create really extraordinary reporting for a global audience.

I would also point to WWL in New Orleans as a worldwide voice in a local crisis. Their hurricane coverage is second to none. The station is staffed by committed professionals and proactive journalists. They comfort the victims, keep crucial information flowing, and advocate for their community day and night. When nature comes crashing into town, WWL reaches every southern Louisiana household in the finest tradition of live local radio, serves the entire region as the hub of a storm network, and captivates a worldwide audience on the web.

This is an awesome discussion. I believe that new technology holds great promise for broadcasters. Local outlets have a whole other potential level of vitality and importance. Not only in their community by serving nearby neighborhoods of listeners and viewers, but as a global broadcaster with unparalleled insight into news events as they unfold.

> I would also point to WWL in New Orleans as a worldwide voice in a local crisis.

I remember hearing the shortwave simulcasts of WWL on WHRI, shortly after Hurricane Katrina. What I heard were the sounds of REAL public service. Kudos to WWL and WHRI!!

A moment of silence For Chris (and Barb) having 2 teenagers. Mine's 29 now, but the horrifying memories of raising one teenager are as fresh as yesterday!

Picture the coverage of WWL and KOCO, with what happened in Pdx with the recent snow storm. After the top of the hour news liner..Count on us....etc. FIVE MINS. OF DEAD AIR. INSTEAD OF LOCAL NEWS.... during a snow storm...What is the ROI for automation. And the corp. radio big shots can't figure out why sheeple (people)are turning away from radio.

>>I am surrounded by audio most of my working day,

Chris...like your philosophy...in my "semi-retirement" the house is fairly quiet all day and the TV only gets turned on when my wife gets home from work at 5. Love my limited work at home, service to my community several times a week downtown, reading and thinking-praying more in the quiet (being empty nesters and living on a cul-de-sac helps)
how humane!

haha i used to listen to him on kdwb when i was just a baby.