funferal's blog

Those of you listening may have noticed some new public affairs content on WRFU. We've added some shows, like War News Radio, to our automation system. Our automation plays when there are no scheduled shows, or when scheduled shows don't happen. Most of the time we fill this time with content from our local music library, but from 4-8pm we're now concentrating on providing public affairs content on the automation system.

This won't affect any scheduled shows during these periods, but when there's no live/local content you'll hear shows like War News Radio, the Progressive's daily and weekly news analysis, and the prison radio commentaries of Mumia Abu-Jamal. You'll also hear reruns of popular local shows like Media Geek (originally broadcast on WEFT-FM 90.1 on Friday afternoons) and Media Matters (originating from WILL-AM on Sunday afternoons).

I'm working on generating podcast feeds of the various content we provide, so you could, for instance, subscribe to our Monday afternoon shows, or our media analysis-related content. It's not top of our list of things to do, so could take a while, but do check back....

WRFU had a stand at the Market at the Square today, and we got the chance to talk to a range of community members about the station and the IMC more generally. I generated a short video of the sights and sounds at the market. Things are still warming up - there's much more vegetables to come - but as always it was a fun, lively, atmosphere.

The FCC has recently proposed changes to the rules governing LPFM stations like WRFU. Below are the comments I submitted to their "Second Notice of Proposed RuleMaking" (2NPRM):

My name is Andrew Ó Baoill, and I am station manager of WRFU-LP, a radio station in Urbana, IL, that is one of the beneficiaries and progeny of the LPFM licensing regime. I am in addition a PhD student at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois, where my research focuses on the role of community radio. I write today to express my support for the actions the Commission has undertaken to facilitate the growth and development of the LPFM sector, to underscore the benefits that the LPFM service has brought to our community, and to respond to some of the questions asked in the Second Notice regarding how best to foster the stability and further growth of this valuable service as we look to the future.

THE WRFU EXPERIENCE - INVESTMENT AND REWARDS

A Critical Ear is now being carried on WETX-LP on Fridays and Tuesdays. WETX-LP serves the tri-cities area of eastern Tennessee and Virginia.

A Critical Ear, which airs on Thursdays from 6-7pm, has a new website, acriticalear.info. The site includes links to archived shows (space constraints may mean that's just the last few weeks) as well as supplementary resources, links to sites mentioned during the show, and so on. Check it out and let us know what you think of it.