Media Alliance ED Tracy Rosenberg’s report from a public file inspection for Clearchannel Radio in San Francisco.
Category Archives: Media Ownership
Mergers, diversity of ownership, and multiple perspectives.
What’s Left of the Dial
Article in the Nashville Scene:
For a surreal stretch of hours last June, a radio tuned to 91.1 FM in Nashville did nothing but emit bottomless, hissing static. The erstwhile WRVU, which for decades beamed out an engaging, erratic mishmash of everything from punk rock to country classics, jump blues to hip-hop, had been sold to local NPR affiliate WPLN, its signal cut off abruptly. Continue reading What’s Left of the Dial
Regulators Focus Eye on the Sale of KUSF by Reyhan Harmanci
Originally published in the NY Times
When KDFC, the popular commercial classical radio station, was sold to the University of Southern California in January and bumped down to 90.3, the nonprofit end of the dial, hundreds of thousands of classical music fans lost the ability to hear the station’s offerings, thanks to the downgraded signal strength.
But that was not the only local effect of the sale. For over three decades, 90.3 had been home to the much-loved University of San Francisco radio station KUSF, which was yanked off the airwaves to make room for KDFC when U.S.F. sold its license to U.S.C. for $3.75 million.
In the days and months after the abrupt sale, fans of KUSF gathered support and started an ad-hoc streaming service called KUSF-in-Exile.
Continue reading Regulators Focus Eye on the Sale of KUSF by Reyhan Harmanci
Looking for Journalism in all the Wrong Places
Originally published in the Huffington Post
The news is full of the lack of news. Everywhere pundits, commentators, and academics mourn the death of the crusading journalism of the fourth estate. My own organization, Media Alliance, was founded in 1976, in the heady days following the Watergate scandal that ended a presidency. Movie stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman portrayed the Washington Post reporters who tracked an obscure break-in to the upper reaches of the White House. The film now seems like an antique, a dinosaur in an age when the off-the-cuff comments of long-time White House correspondent Helen Thomas garner more attention than her interrogations of presidents. Continue reading Looking for Journalism in all the Wrong Places
Public TV For Sale
Originally published in the SF Bay Guardian – Feb 4 2012
The San Mateo Community College District Board of Trustees has announced the upcoming sale of its independent public television station, KCSM-TV. Some potential new owners are cause for alarm.
A January 10th walk-though for potential bidders was attended by the Christian broadcasting giant Daystar Television. The fastest-growing faith-based network in the country, Daystar’s mission is to reach souls with the good news of Jesus Christ as one of a “new breed of televangelists.” Continue reading Public TV For Sale
San Mateo Community College District Refuses to Be Open About KCSM TV Sale
Updating the San Mateo community on the sale of the non-commercial TV station KCSM-TV, which has been housed at the College of San Mateo since 1964, is no easy task.
For the second consecutive time, a public records request filed by Media Alliance (MA), this time accompanied by a request by the Palo Alto Daily Post newspaper, has been denied by the Board of Trustees. In 2012, the names of the bidders were not released until the District had already decided to reject all 6 bids. In 2013, the District confirms that negotiations are on-going with one “top bidder”, but refuses to divulge who that top bidder may be and what their plans are. Continue reading San Mateo Community College District Refuses to Be Open About KCSM TV Sale
AT&T / T-Mobile Merger Bites the Dust
Washington DC – Signaling the tail end of a regulatory process that hasn’t been going AT&T’s way for some time, the telecom giant made formal the abandonment of plans to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telecom. The announcement comes on the heels of a CA Public Utilities Commission investigation in July and August of 2011, a Department of Justice announcement of opposition to the merger on anti-competitive grounds and the Federal Communications Commision’s refusal to approve the merger without an investigation. Continue reading AT&T / T-Mobile Merger Bites the Dust
College Radio: You Will Be Assimilated
Posted by Tracy Rosenberg on
The Huffington Post January 28 2011
Like the B-52’s? Metallica? The White Stripes?
You might have never heard of them if not for KUSF, the venerable San Francisco college radio station that first played their music.
College radio is part of the diverse package of community media voices around the country that with spit-and-glue budgets, volunteer energy and a handful of overworked staff, keep bits of the television and radio waves open to the public, while training millions of young people in technology and how to use it.
These do-it-yourself outlets, which have survived for decades with an open door policy, often feature unique and eclectic formats inspired by the passions and talents of the surrounding community. At the University of San Francisco for the past thirty years, that has often meant the city’s flourishing and influential music scene, one of the most vital in the country.