A little-recognized aspect of Illinois’ new statewide cable TV franchise law is that it takes away local municipalities’ ability to enforce zoning laws and similar provisions when it comes to how cable TV providers use the public right-of-way. Residents of Evanston, IL got a rude wake up call to this provision when AT&T started installing large and loud refrigerator-sized utility boxes in front of and behind residences all over this Chicago suburb. Not only is the city government prevented from doing anything about it, but it’s actually required to help AT&T put them in place.
Scott Sanders of Chicago Media Action has been working with Evanston residences who’ve organized a coalition called Stop the Box to press for changes in the state franchising law. On the second half of the Oct. 16 radioshow Scott calls in from outside a public meeting held on this subject, and hands the phone to Mary Beth Kisner-Griffin, one of the local organizers, who tells us more about how AT&T has worked hard to disempower local residents and governments.
Download/Podcast:
mediageek 16 October 2008 part 2 – broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20081016-pt2.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This week Mitchell Szczepanczyk from Chicago Media Action joins us to talk about some of their top media reform issues right now. In particular, we get into the digital TV transition, and the folks who will be left behind, along with CMA’s challenges to Chicago TV broadcasters’ FCC licenses over the poor quality of their local election coverage.
Podcast/Download:
mediageek 16 October 2008 broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20081016.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Tags: broadcast license, chicago, chicago media action, cma, digital transition, dtv, fcc, wnur
Download, Listen Now, Podcast | Paul | 
October 17, 2008 11:45 am | 
Comments (0)
My new timeslot on WNUR is an hour long, giving me twice the airtime of the original mediageek radioshow. What I’ve decided to do is treat the first half-hour as a self-contained program matching the format that the program has had up to now, distributing this to the show’s affiliate stations around the continent.
With the second half-hour I’m taking a looser approach, often focusing on issues that are more local in nature for the Evanston-Chicago area. If the week’s guest is able to stick around we’ll try to take calls.
This week guest Shawn Campbell of the Chicago Independent Radio Project was live in the studio, so we talked a little bit more of the project’s history with regard to the former community-radio format of Loyola University’s WLUW, and took one phone call.
Podcast/Download:
mediageek 9 October 2008 part 2 broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20081009-pt2.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
There is a group of motivated radio lovers in Chicago who think that the city needs a real community radio station, independent of a college, university or other organization that might change its mind about who can be on the radio. Shawn Campbell is the president of the Chicago Independent Radio Project, and she joins me this week to talk about why Chicago needs community radio, and how they hope to squeeze a new noncommercial station onto the dial.
Podcast/Download:
mediageek 9 October 2008 broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20081009.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Due to being overworked, along with a last-minute pre-emption, this week’s show is an encore edition from May 23:
This week the feature is the other NPR – Neighborhood Public Radio. It’s a broadcasting art project, taking open-mic studios to art galleries to connect with the surrounding community through radio. I had a chance this week to stop in to NPR’s storefront studio next door to the Whitney Museum in New York City, where they’re participating in the Whitney Biennial. In part one of my interview, NPR’s Lee Montgomery tells us about Neighborhood Public Radio, its origins and what they’re doing.
Podcast/Download:
mediageek 3 Oct. 2008 broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20081003.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This show marks the debut of mediageek on its new home station, WNUR 89.3 FM in Evanston, IL, broadcasting to the north side of Chicago and the North Shore suburbs. My pal John Anderson guests to help re-inaugurate the program as we review the raison d’ete of mediageek, and new producer Andrew Gothelf shares his own brief experience interning in a commercial radio newsroom that quickly disappeared.
Podcast/Download:
mediageek 25 September 2008 broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20080925.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Tags: chicago, commercial radio, communications act, diymedia, evanston, mediageek, radio, radio news, wnur
Download, Listen Now, Podcast | Paul | September 25, 2008 11:01 pm | Comments (0)
Download/Podcast:
mediageek 19 September 2008 broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20080919.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Sarah Kanouse is an interdisciplinary artist who works in radical media, investigating the ways histories, public spaces, and forms of citizenship influence one another and shape the realm of political possibility. Her newest project, Voices of America, invites participants to take audio snippets from the US government’s Voice of America radio service and remix them and share those remixes. On this edition of mediageek Sarah tells us about this project and how it fits in with the 2008 presidential election season.
Podcast/Download:
mediageek 5 September 2008 broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20080905.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Tags: audio collage, minneapolis, president, remix, rnc, sarah kanouse, voice of america, voices of america
Download, Listen Now, Podcast | Paul | September 7, 2008 12:56 pm | Comments (0)
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders set up the first non-state radio station in China since 1949 to broadcast a message in protest against Chinese officials continued suppression of free speech and jailing of journalists, even as the Beijing Olympics are underway. We’ll listen to that broadcast, and catch up on how former FCC officials are joining the fight against the FCC’s current indecency rules.
Download/Podcast:
mediageek 15 August 2008 broadcast quality mp3
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/mg20080815.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The FCC finally took action against Comcast for its discriminatory network management practices that blocked its internet customers’ BitTorrent file-sharing traffic. However, while it’s good to see the FCC action, it’s still a mixed decision.
Podcast/Download:
Listen Now:
[mp3]http://www.mediageek.net/sound/2008/MG20080808.mp3[/mp3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe