tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-372581982008-09-30T10:13:34.461-04:00Musings, thoughts, advice and practical knowledge about things like running a college radio station, things at public radio/NPR, living in Boston/Geneva/Rochester, radio engineering, why the weather sucks, audio production, webcasting, the MBTA, the CATS, the RTS and the Red Sox. Maybe commercial & satellite radio will sneak in, too. <br/><br/><strong> ENGINEER'S CREED: You can have it fast, cheap, or good quality...pick two!</strong>Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comBlogger181125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-10778219945120858392008-09-30T10:03:00.003-04:002008-09-30T10:13:34.482-04:00

Crap like this is why, generally speaking, I really dislike unions. It's why most of my friends dislike - or even outright hate - unions, too. We're not exactly a statistical sample, but the universality is remarkable. Apparently, the spawn of Satan Carmen's Union has decided that, even though the MBTA is fiscally on the verge of bankruptcy, they want their back wages and they want them right

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-49057084605983387762008-09-29T00:32:00.002-04:002008-09-29T00:56:54.690-04:00

It's late so I don't have time to really flesh this out properly, but I was reading the esteemed Dan Kennedy's MediaNation media-criticism blog, specifically a post about how the town of Nantucket in Massachusetts somewhat inexplicably wanted to suppress details about a severance package a court granted a terminated employee. I'd already commented over there and someone else responded as well,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-3298182176851493562008-09-25T21:12:00.003-04:002008-09-25T22:00:20.612-04:00

Okay, okay, I know that this entire post is completely being unfair to Kinsey Wilson, the new SVP/GM of Digital Media of NPR. But dammit, this is something I've blogged about before (or commented about it...although I can't seem to find 'em at the moment) so I'll blog about it now. I'm getting mighty annoyed with this vast influx of non-radio journalists into the radio business. Especially

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-6711552317958671152008-09-21T14:16:00.001-04:002008-09-21T14:18:12.392-04:00

Sorry for no posts lately...my wife and I moved to new digs last weekend and we don't have internet yet at the new condo. Not much time to blog at the job, either...too much sports going on.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-87905486489197205552008-09-08T11:19:00.003-04:002008-09-08T11:42:40.825-04:00

So despite the apparent dismal failure that is the Car Talk TV show, it appears CBS is going to make a TV show out of Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me. http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/radio/wait_wait_to_become_tv_show_93640.asp WWDTM is a top earner and top listener-getter. And with good reason, the show is consistently funny, consistently intelligent and - perhaps surprising for a comedy

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-18527949328875526532008-09-06T22:00:00.002-04:002008-09-06T22:28:59.543-04:00

Baby talk floods 'RKO A funny thing happened when WRKO conservative talk host Reese Hopkins (inset) told listeners 17-year-old Bristol Palin's pregnancy makes him question VP hopeful Sarah Palin's parenting skills. Angry Republican listeners blew up his e-mail box, claiming Bristol's condition is family business. And Hopkins, who talked extensively on-air about the suspicious Gloucester teen

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-80342390578454594492008-09-01T22:54:00.003-04:002008-09-01T23:02:08.196-04:00

From the New York Times At a reception for educators at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Sandra Ross, a special-needs high school teacher from Orlando, Fla, said, “She’s going to be a good role model for the country.” Of Bristol’s pregnancy, Ms. Ross added, “Everybody makes mistakes.” I know this is a cheap shot, and I'm sure that's why the Times put the quote in there, but dammit.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-32555390204867464172008-08-29T19:45:00.000-04:002008-08-29T19:40:53.031-04:00

Welcome any readers from my review of the VR3 car HD Radio in Radio World. There was an error in my review that couldn't be corrected before the issue went to print. In reality, the radio CAN be forced to automatically re-tune to a multicast channel after a power loss.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-13016029533161096162008-08-29T19:26:00.004-04:002008-08-29T19:42:03.110-04:00

Not long ago, I learned that WSKG is revamping their schedule to add Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and one of WEOS's shows, Out of Bounds with Tish Pearlman. The latter will be Sundays at 11:30am, by the way...I encourage you all to tune in, just do it Thursdays at 7pm to WEOS instead. :-) (actually, during the Democratic and Republican Conventions, OOB is on at 6:30pm) Anyways, this weekend,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-41582840462589685742008-08-27T12:14:00.001-04:002008-08-27T12:17:11.659-04:00

I clicked 203 times in 30 seconds, which just surpasses "Delusions of Godlike Power" and approaches "Near Death". And all I've had today is a Diet Coke...didn't have time to hit the Dunkin Donuts on the way to work. LIVE FOR THE MOLECULE! Created by OnePlusYou - Online Dating Service

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-71983826596680759202008-08-26T22:53:00.005-04:002008-08-26T23:16:28.999-04:00

All this week on WEOS is Democratic National Convention coverage, and next week is the Republican National Convention. It's meant a lot of changes...temporary changes...to our air schedule: most notably that we've pretty much blown out all music programming (World Cafe and Echoes) in favor of special NPR coverage at night, a little more BBC World Service, a big extra hour of Democracy Now, and

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-40586135125295813122008-08-19T08:05:00.008-04:002008-08-26T22:53:46.022-04:00

When Americans were asked in a 2007 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press to name the journalist they most admired, Mr. Stewart, the fake news anchor, came in at No. 4, tied with the real news anchors Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw of NBC, Dan Rather of CBS and Anderson Cooper of CNN. And a study this year from the center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism concluded that

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-15454680217131947792008-08-18T12:47:00.002-04:002008-08-18T13:00:44.397-04:00

Word from Current is that Pandora, the "Internet radio service that allows listeners to customize musical selections to their own tastes", is about to die, fiscally. The article says it's chiefly because of incredibly unreasonable licensing fee structures the music labels have set up, and refuse to back down from. The tone of the article is that, while it'd be sad to see Pandora go away, it

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-19048646631992074402008-08-17T23:06:00.002-04:002008-08-17T23:23:58.227-04:00

"If you've got nothing to say, then don't say anything." Beats me who that quote is attributable to, but it's certainly true enough in my case. Not that I've run out of things to say, mind you. Just that I don't have much lately that's relevant for the blog. So I'll give y'all a little rundown of what's coming up over the next several weeks that ought to explain a certain lack of posts... My

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-15631119133790731632008-08-11T22:49:00.002-04:002008-08-11T23:18:23.775-04:00

In my review of the VR3 add-on HD Radio auto tuner, I erroneously reported that the radio could not be forced to return to an HD-n multicast channel after power off. Thanks to alert reader Tom Wilson, who said his VR3 would indeed return to a multicast channel after power off, I tried some of the other VR3's that I grabbed at the discounted price of $38, and they all would indeed return to a

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-84988017731566448942008-08-10T18:18:00.006-04:002008-08-10T18:53:47.026-04:00

I read this article about managing pedestrian street crossing in the Boston Globe today. It's a pretty good article. I like that people are finally starting to realize that it's a losing game to try and make a city be as efficient as possible for cars to the exclusion of pedestrians, buses, bikes, etc. But there's a gigantic element missing from this article: namely, the elements. Can we

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-58839856363491489802008-08-08T13:31:00.006-04:002008-08-08T13:37:52.876-04:00

The other day I was driving home, and in Canandaigua I got behind this drag-racing funnycar on Rt.5&20. It was loud as hell and belched smelly exhaust, but it looked really cool. I managed to snap a few covert photos with my cameraphone, including the last one that came out really distorted but in a nifty way. Check out the ultra-wide rear tires in the first pic.

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-36850146839448650502008-07-29T22:18:00.002-04:002008-07-29T22:23:24.494-04:00

I've been seeing this ad for Reebok a lot lately, and considering that it's got 20 NFL players in it (and how much these guys get paid to appear in an ad) I'm sure I'll be seeing it a lot more. The first time I saw it I was just completely stunned. Not in a bad way, not at all. It was just such a giant non-sequitur, and yet...it was just weird enough that it works. Actually, it works really

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-81600818671542816152008-07-29T12:26:00.005-04:002008-07-29T12:41:09.498-04:00

Recently I accused FCC commissioner Jonathan Edelstein of "selling out" his normally-left-leaning values, in that he was willing to approve the XM-Sirius merger if various conditions were met. Conditions that were stricter than what had been originally proposed, but frankly, were ultimately meaningless in the face of a government-sanctioned monopoly...which is what XM/Sirius are. I personally

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-36901903156919562782008-07-27T16:49:00.004-04:002008-07-27T17:00:41.787-04:00

I recently wrote a review of the VR3 add-on auto HD Radio tuner. It wasn't very kind; the radio isn't bad but it's not all that great, either. Between when I first bought it and when I finished writing the review, the price dropped from $150 to just over $100. That lowered price helped make the radio a lot more attractive. Well, that was two weeks ago (July 13). Today at Target (July 27,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-22711892809888731732008-07-18T14:05:00.003-04:002008-07-18T14:15:49.565-04:00

I guess we know where Jonathan Adelstein's bread is really buttered. Adelstein, a Democrat appointee to the five-member FCC board of commissioners, is usually known for being a rather "liberal" member, often taking any stance that opposes "big media" from getting any bigger. Well today he sold out. Oh sure, he's trying to extract a bunch of conditions of the deal...and I give him props for one

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-19730786137902132002008-07-16T12:25:00.005-04:002008-07-21T16:35:07.158-04:00

Good grief. The number of public radio shows that either are rumored to be ending, or have confirmed their ending, is getting ridiculous! Let's do the list, shall we? Radio Open Source (already well gone, albeit "reborn" as a podcast-only) Justice Talking (confirmed)Fair Game with Faith Salie (already gone) Word for Word (confirmed) The Bryant Park Project (confirmed) The Infinite Mind (rumored

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-68195060310832271782008-07-14T11:32:00.002-04:002008-07-14T11:51:05.037-04:00

Well, I sort-of-called it back in January, when Luke Burbank bailed on BPP for greener pastures in Seattle's powerhouse AM talker: KIRO. But today NPR officially announced the end of the Bryant Park Project. I would imagine the biggest reason for the euthanasia was that NPR is not in good financial shape right now. I wouldn't call it a crisis, but the extended Democratic primary battle...while

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-54581295312395734132008-07-12T19:40:00.015-04:002008-08-11T23:23:02.345-04:00

Wandering through Target recently I spotted a big “HD Radio” logo on a box in the auto section. This was the first I’d seen of HD Radio in Target, a store that’s known for attracting shoppers that are younger and have higher median household incomes...qualities many stations like in listeners, too! Perhaps the VR3 VRHDUA100 could be a real boon. Sadly, while I found it to be a decent tuner,

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37258198.post-3574470658282914832008-07-09T15:07:00.002-04:002008-07-09T15:19:46.736-04:00

Ted Koppel is guest-hosting NPR's Talk of the Nation today. Wednesdays means TOTN is in the Newseum in front of a live audience. Generally speaking I really like Koppel. He brings the gravitas, which can make him all the funnier when he wants to be. He can do really silly stuff with an amazingly "heavy" deadpan voice. But today, he's sometimes taking it one notch too far...I suspect that the

Aaron Readhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07971835990882097517noreply@blogger.com