Aircheck: The Western States Museum of Broadcasting Blog

One reason for the continued quiet here at ISLR is that I've begun creating posts for the newly launched Aircheck: The Western States Museum of Broadcasting Blog.

The Western States Museum of Broadcasting (WSMB) is affiliated with Southern Oregon University and Jefferson Public Radio. They have an amazing collection, and are working to build a permanent home with exhibits and public programming.

Please drop by Aircheck when you can. Today there's a short post about Charles Herring, the first TV newscaster in Seattle (and the first TV newscaster north of Los Angeles and west of Minneapolis).

Sleepy August Update: Simulated Radio, KEXP, etc.

The quiet summer continues at ISLR HQ, with a few minor exceptions. Apologies in advance for this sleepy August self-promotion:

Simulated Radio: Seattle Rewind from SeattlePI.com

Seattle Rewind podcasts highlighting Pacific Northwest history (and produced by yours truly) are now available via iTunes. This weekly audio feature (part of that 21st century school of audio production that I like to think of as "Simulated Radio") can be streamed here, or you can sign up for a free iTunes podcast here. Each episode is also paired with a photo gallery of historic images from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer archives prepared by Casey McNerthney.

KEXP on Crosscut.com

Debate continues in Seattle about what will replace the Fun Forest, the ailing amusement park left over from the 1962 World's Fair (I'm a fan) at Seattle Center. I wrote a piece for Crosscut today about the intriguing live venue that Seattle not-for-profit radio station (and online global indie music powerhouse) KEXP has proposed for the site. For background on similar initiatives, I spoke to Roger LaMay at WXPN about World Cafe Live, as well as to representatives of Mountain Stage and the Grand Ole Opry.

Washington News Council Blog Post

Seattle writer (and long-distance runner) Heidi Dietrich was kind enough to write a post earlier this week for the Washington News Council website about my history-fueled media projects.

Recent Radio Writing Round-Up

It's been a quiet summer here at ISLR HQ, but here's a round-up of other recent activity:

Seattle Rewind is the name of a new weekly history feature I'm helping write and produce for SeattlePI.com (a Seattle daily that went online-only in 2009). Each episode includes a gallery of historic images from the PI's amazing photo collection, as well as a short audio podcast hosted by yours truly. The inaugural edition from a few weeks ago was, naturally, about Seattle broadcasting history.

The PI also recently published a piece I did about Seattle talk radio. It was meant as a time capsule of sorts, examining the current status of 10 different local talk programs as the radio industry wrestles with change and stares into what could be an uncertain future. I spent most of a day in late April observing each of 10 programs for an hour or so. KIRO FM's Ron & Don had me on their show the day the story appeared, and you can get a podcast of that portion of the program here.

Finally, the second episode of This NOT Just In premiered on NPR affiliate KUOW FM in early June, this time using some forgotten audio related to the 1889 Great Seattle Fire. One more episode is complete (which won't air until December), and I'm pleased to report that KUOW has just ordered an additional 10 episodes of the series. Production on those will get underway later in the summer.

More Radio News in NY Times' "Television" Section

Just as it happened before several weeks ago, the awkward lack of a dedicated Radio section in the New York Times has again resulted in a goofy looking web presence for the online newspaper of record (left).

This time, the story about NPR Music wasn't even so much about radio (or TV, for that matter) but about the web and other media platforms.

Still, it seems to this writer that a story about an NPR initiative (at least while the "R" is still in their initials, since radio only has 5-10 years left, and it's very trendy for radio organizations to become "media" organizations these days--NPM, anyone?) belongs in a "Radio" section.

Even a section called "Television and Radio" that covered broadcast and online media would be better than the current presentation. Lastly, ISLR's standing offer to oversee Radio efforts for the NY Times still stands.

KOMO Exhibit at MOHAI in Seattle (VIDEO)

I shot the video (below) earlier this week at a new exhibit at MOHAI. The exhibit highlights 100 years of the company now called Fisher Communications, and was commissioned by Fisher as part of its centennial celebration.

Fisher began in Seattle in 1910 with flour mills, then got into radio in the 1920s and TV in the 1950s. Nowadays, Fisher operates KOMO TV and radio and several other stations in Seattle.

While the exhibit is small, it's rich with colorful artifacts from the golden era of local radio and local TV. It's on display at MOHAI (full disclosure: my former employer) until September 6, 2010 and is definitely worth checking out.

Audiobiquity L-900: Truth Is Strange As (Radio) Fiction

The I STILL LOVE RADIO staff were intrigued to read Jerry Del Colliano's post the other day on Inside Music Media about a new radio receiver in the works in Australia and China that will be able to receive podcasts via terrestrial signals.

Astute I STILL LOVE RADIO readers will recall last year's fantasy audio appliance review of the completely fictitious Audiobiquity-900, which (in my audio appliance dreamworld) would do exactly what the Australians and Chinese are hoping to offer (and a lot more).

The next challenge is to figure out how to get on the list to receive an advance unit for review purposes . . .

Himan Brown Passes Away

ISLR is sad to note the passing of radio drama godfather Himan Brown, who died in New York on Friday, June 4 at age 99.

Here's a link to his NYTimes obituary.

We had reached out to Mr. Brown via his granddaughter Melina Brown back in October 2009 with hopes of conducting an interview.

In a prompt and kind email in response to our inquiry, Ms. Brown said, "My grandfather is not able to do interviews at this time. He is 99 years old and not in great health . . . it's impossible for him to talk to anyone who is not an immediate family member or very close friend."

This writer's first regular exposure to radio drama came via Brown's CBS Radio Mystery Theater in the late 1970s, which aired weeknights at 10 pm in Seattle on KIRO (710 AM).

Though I listened in bed and usually fell asleep somewhere in the second act, I have many fond memories of E.G. Marshall's detached yet creepy host persona, as well as the parade of recognizable though not necessarily nameable voice talent who populated the program. For me, a guy like Mason Adams (though I only learned his name later when he was a regular on TV's Lou Grant series) best exemplifies the kind of talent that helped make that show so good.

While Himan Brown's early career is remarkable and his output over the decades is nothing short of prolific, you've got to hand it to him for producing network radio drama as late as 1982. That's pretty amazing.