AVIS CARES

Sorry this pic is a bit blurry... doing my best in the morning pre-caffination.

There was this litle one-page TRAVEL SAFETY info slip that came with by bill. At the top it had local speed limits, right-turn-on-red law, child restraint laws, etc. It was most of the things I wanted to know about the state I rented in. When in a new place, the right-turn-on-red law can determine on what terms you meet the local police at 2:00 AM.

I met them in a parking lot in Columbia Missouri and had to explain the presence of about 30 radios and a very well-stocked tool bag... I hope your visit is less exciting than mine. At 2 am the only excitement left should be in the parking lot at IHOP.

At the botom of the AVIS CARES travel safety slip was a little XM radio blurb for the suits renting a Benz and then this little local radio station list. It was far from complete which is to be expected with limited space, but more importantly to me listed ZERO public radio outlets. (Obviously a conspiracy) http://www.xmradio.com/ http://www.npr.org/

but what really got me was the double asterisk.

**The Radio station may not be picked up across the entire state.

I can't speak for all of us, but isnt that part of the thrill of local radio? If everybody could hear it, there wouldn't be anything special about it, would there?

A little time in MCI

I dont listen to much internet radio. I find it typically stiff; usually having no personality. But while trapped on an unexpected layover at a gate with no concessions and NO BATHROOM.. I used the available wi-fi to browse a bit.
http://weeniecampbell.com/juke/playing.php

This station runs deep catalog country blues and some related twangy stuff. Its the only place I have EVER heard Bill Williams. EVER. The man put out a 12" on Blue Goose in the 70s and it never went to CD and the label just faded away. It's strictly a 3 decimal place ebay rarity item... and they have it in regular rotation. Gotta love it.

Weenie Juke Radio will rock Charlie Mccoy next to Tampa Red. Its a blues education.

N.E.A.R. weirder than CONELRAD.

NATIONAL EMERGENCY ALARM REPEATER (NEAR) SYSTEM: United States. 1962. The National Emergency Alarm Repeater was designed to provide near instantaneous warning of nuclear attack to members of the public who were indoors at the time the warning was issued. The system, when activated, transmitted a signal over electric utility lines to receivers plugged into standard 110 volt receptacles. The unit was about 3.5 inches square. It emitted what was described as a "loud, annoying buzzing sound" that could be easily heard over normal indoor noise levels.

The system was intended as a supplement to sirens to provide warning coverage for 96 percent of the population in homes, offices, factories, schools, and in rural areas where installation of outdoor warning systems would have been too expensive. The engineering test phase for the National Emergency Alarm Repeater started in October 1962 with the installation of a converter on the Arizona Public Service Company system in Phoenix, Arizona.

As silly as EAS is somtimes, and as awkward as EBS was, remember that CONELRAD was ridiculous and that we actually considered N.E.A.R. By comparison the system almost seems workable now. This is one case where I can say that the government actually has improved something... and it only took what? four decades?

The Missouri Gospel Announcers Guild

This is from a picture I took of the billboard over their offices on Broadway in St. Louis. I'm not mocking them, I kind of like the swagger in that hand-painted look actually. It says a lot to me.

They use the acronym GMWA because the obvious one would be MGAG. Earlier it was the "Missouri Radio Gospel Announcers Guild" Mr. Gag... That didnt work our either. After they joined up with The Gospel Music Workshop of America they started throwning the much more benign acronym around. I can't really blame them.
http://www.gmwa.org/

It's a loose coalition of Gospel Radio DJs and staff with member stations that create a network of sorts, that extends outward from Missouri. This list includes:
1600 KATZ-AM St. Louis, MO
890 KGGN-AM Kansas City, MO
89.9 KOPN Columbia, MO
1050 WDZ-AM Decatur, IL
830 KOTC-AM Kennett, MO

They are pretty direct about their purpose. They want to propogate gospel music. They go on, in great detail and clarity here: http://www.missourigag.org/OurPurpose.htm

I bring this up because in general I like small locally-focused coalitions. They distribute the load of the work and everyone benefits through networking. It can raise the bar for professionalism and quality. Usually it is a great thing. I was able to listen to a few of these stations in my pan-Missouri drive this week. These staitons are very different from each other but share a little programming and staff it appears. I was particularly partial to the programming at KOPN. But I'm a sucker for small-town DJs.
http://www.kopn.org/

A local or regional network is entirely unlike a national network. With a national network, the primary focus is to lower costs. they syndicate, automate, voice-track, studio-share and consult the live our of a station. Quality immediately takes a hit in the talent department then with the loss of localism and all the connections with the community.

THIS IS WHAT'S WRONG WITH RADIO

THIS RIGHT HERE. THIS IS THE PROBLEM.

This is a picture of the buttons on the top of the radio in my hotel room. To me it meant in some way the pre-packaged, pre-branded franchised, sterilized radio formats really had become completely ingrained in American culture. The damage is done, the war (if there ever was one) has been lost. The packing of the media delivery product has been completely corrupted. [ooh sounds dramatic]
Oldies in Boston is Oldies in Miami, is Oldies in Shelbyville, Indiana...
These buttons were preprogrammed by hotel staff to local stations that fufilled the promise on each button. The soft rock button was a bit off with WJJK (a jack station) but, they also have no genuine Soft AC outlet in town. [Hooray for that]
There was no button for the preacher on the unnamed AM station talking about aliens that come to earth and visit with him to discuss their salvation via theonetruelordoftheuniversejesuschristamenbrothersandsisters...
But what would that button say? What one word summarizes that format? Religous talk just dosen't cut it. Christian Talk... yes he was christian but... christian talk is very formal very professional i.e. no aliens. Other. Ethnic? are aliens an ethnicity? whatever.
Point being that push buttons do not summarize the wildy varied programs of even what should be canned, predictably programed stations. I havent seen it before, and I hope not to see it again.