Subject: Loss of Public Affairs Desks in Broadcast Television,Guest: Jackie Wright
Category Archives: Media Ownership
Mergers, diversity of ownership, and multiple perspectives.
District Refuses To Be Open About KCSM-TV Sale
Originally published in the AFT Advocate – May 10 2013
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 District Refuses To Be Open About KCSM-TV Sale
LowJack The Power
A fun video about radio, where it’s been and what low-power radio means.
Censored KCSM-TV Bids Released by Community College District
In response to MA’s public records request, censored bid information was released by KCSM-TV’s owner, the San Mateo Community College District. MA was joined in the public records effort by the Palo Alto Daily Post, a local newspaper that has reported extensively on the District’s effort to sell, transfer or liquidate the 5th largest public television station in California. Continue reading Censored KCSM-TV Bids Released by Community College District
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
Clearchannel Public File Inspection
Media Alliance ED Tracy Rosenberg’s report from a public file inspection for Clearchannel Radio in San Francisco.
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