Medialoper

We're Not Who You Think We Are

Radio

Don’t Call It Public Radio

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WFMU is not a normal radio station.

A normal radio station would have pulled the plug on its transmitter after the college it was affiliated with went bankrupt. Instead, WFMU’s staff and listeners banded together to buy the station’s broadcast license from Upsala College back in 1995. Not only did the station survive the transition, it eventually raised enough money from its listeners to buy its own broadcast facility in Jersey City.

A normal radio station would have given in, or given up, when the RIAA began demanding that web broadcasters pay hefty royalties far exceeding what terrestrial broadcast stations pay. Instead, WFMU fought back and used the opportunity to lobby record labels for exemptions from the new fees.

A normal non-commercial radio station drives listeners away with frequent pledge drives that are designed to elicit as much guilt as possible. Instead, WFMU has only one pledge drive a year, and it actually draws listeners in with entertaining and unique programming (like the annual Yo La Tengo all request show scheduled for Tuesday March 7th, at 8pm EST – make a donation and Yo La Tengo will play your request live).

Normal public radio stations receive funding from corporate sponsors and go as far as they can to bend the financing rules imposed on public radio. WFMU accepts no corporate sponsorship or underwriting of any kind. The station is totally listener sponsored. As a result, there’s absolutely no conflict between what listeners might want to hear and what sponsors might find inappropriate.

In a world of right wing talk and satellite hype, WFMU is one of the few broadcast stations keeping traditional radio relevant. Ironically, they’re doing it with the help of the Internets.

WFMU began streaming its signal online in 1997. It was a costly and risky move for a station that had just gained it’s independence, and all of the financial obligations that went along with that independence. The bet paid off, however, and Internet listeners now make up a substantial portion of the station’s listening audience, contributing enough during the annual marathon to keep the station afloat.

More recently, WFMU has expanded it’s programming to include podcasts and web-only programs that bypass the arbitrary content limitations imposed by the FCC.

I’m frequently astounded that a small, listener supported station from Jersey seems to have a better grasp on new technology and its implications than any of the major media corporations. All of this innovation comes at a price, of course. Bandwidth and servers aren’t cheap — hence the annual Marathon.

If you’ve never listened to WFMU before, consider this your invitation to tune-in. You might also think about making a small donation to a very worth cause (tax deductible, of course). Consider how much of your hard earned cash you’ve given to the mega-media corporations in the past year. And what have they done for you lately (besides canceling “Arrested Development”)?

You Could Be (On)line

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I heard a new Guns n’ Roses song on KROQ this morning. It was the lead single from the 15-years-in-the-making Chinese Democracy. The hosannas at whichever evil-multinational major label that swallowed up Geffen records must have been deafening when Axl finally stumbled in — bleary-eyed from a 72-hour meth-fueled final mixdown — and said in no uncertain terms: “Release this, motherfuckers!”

Yeah, not so much. The song I heard this morning was one of three tracks that have been leaked (or is it “leaked”) to the Internet, and the official release date of Chinese Democracy remains a mystery, or as the joke goes — sometime after actual democracy in China. What’s so extraordinary about this is how unextraordinary it is anymore. The only thing surprising is how long it took for any of this music to actually hit the Net. Axl must sleep with his laptop under his pillow.

We all know the drill: big artists like Radiohead get their tracks stolen (or is it “stolen”?) and posted on some rogue website or newsgroup; the word spreads at netspeed; and pretty soon everybody who wants to has dug up the songs, which might even get played on the radio. Then, the lawyers send their threatening letters and the band pleads with their fans to please not listen to what are always described as unfinished demos or rough mixes. The fans, as always don’t care: they’d rather spend hours on forums discussing the virtually indistinguishable differences between the rough mixes and the finished product, which they rushed out and purchased or downloaded the day it came out, just like they were going to. (Unless the leaked tracks sucked total ass, in which case the artist and record companies had no right to try and charge for them anyway!)

Meanwhile, smaller bands like Arctic Monkeys or Drive-by Truckers use the internet as an organic part of their marketing strategy, actively posting tracks on their websites or MySpace long before they are supposed to be released, knowing that hardcore fans are going to spread the word if the music’s any good.

So in the case of these Guns n’ Roses songs — “There Was a Time,” “I.R.S.” (the one I heard on KROQ) and “Better” — which was it? My guess is that they were a trial balloon, leaked on purpose to see if there was any interest, and if people thought that they were any good. (It’s not really within the purview of Medialoper to do music criticism, but this particular ‘Loper always thought that it was Izzy’s songwriting and Slash’s guitar were what made Axl’s terminal assholishness so great back in the day, and they are both long gone. So, interesting song, but not necessarily caring.) Considering that there is no doubt that people are still interested in this music, it might actually signal that an album is due. I’m sure that Axlologists are debating that point right this very second.

Either that, or Tommy Stinson leaked them. That would be OK, too.