Audio liberation with Cleanfeed

Every time I think things are just as awesome as they can possibly be, something pops up and proves me wrong - and things get even more awesome!
     Enter Cleanfeed, a remarkable new technology that gets us connected over the web with unbeatable audio quality.
     I was tipped off to this new tech by a local AMer, where I do a monthly show on afternoon drive. I usually hopped down to the station for my show but the station went all remote talent with the pandemic and set us up with Cleanfeed.

     Then I found out it was free!
     Cleanfeed is multitrack, multi-party live audio and recording application using only a browser. Cleanfeed offers a nice array of tools and controls on both ends of the connection so both users can fine tune to their heart's content.       Get started without external mixers, etc., technical know-how not required. The minimum requirements are just a browser, a connection to the web and a microphone; Cleanfeed handles the rest.
     The free version of Cleanfeed offers multiple connections, unlimited recording and amazing audio quality, The pro version offers sweet features like multitrack recording, channel mix control and a cartwall.

     Pull in guests for engaging interviews, share your content with other low power broadcasters in real time - the possibilities are endless!

FCC Targets Landlords Who Allow 'Pirate' Broadcasting

The Friendly Candy Company has started targeting property owners and managers for 'knowingly' permitting so-called illegal AM and FM radio broadcasting from their properties, under a new 2020 federal law known as the PIRATE Act.
     Property owners and managers believed to be ignoring or facilitating illegal 'pirate' AM or FM broadcast operations from their properties will be given 10 days to respond before enforcement action moves forward.
     The PIRATE Act defines pirate radio broadcasting as the transmission of communications on the AM and FM radio broadcast bands without a license issued by the FCC (not including the use of unlicensed, low power devices permitted under the Commission’s rules, like we all use). The PIRATE Act permits the Commission to issue forfeitures for violations of section 511 of up to $100,000 per day and up to a maximum fine of $2 million.
     Apparently, no one at the FCC is aware of the fact that radio listenership, radio station licenses and employment in radio have all plummeted precipitously over the past five years.
     Is this a rather obvious effort to prop of the faltering stock prices of the many-times bankrupt radio conglomerates who are staring irrelevance in the face? One needs look no further than the Red Zebra fiasco, buying four DC area stations for $58 million in the mid-2000s, only to sell off those same stations 2018 - 2020 for a total of $8 million, to see where radio asset values are headed.
     Like the infamous radio Waterloo where industry insiders spent millions to stop non-factor satellite radio as the Internet snuck up and ate radio's lunch, battling the straw man of pirate radio (scared, kids?) will prove similarly futile.
     Could it be that corporate radio sucks Orangutan butt and the suckitude of corporate radio incompetence is quickly making once-great radio into the next MySpace.com? 
     Fortunately, solar power will free us from the need for utility power and eliminate the need for a landlord!

Social distancing = low power radio broadcasting!

Radio World sees the future and the future is low power! Radio World, AKA RW, is running a fascinating (and thrilling for us low power radio fans) series of articles on the sudden interest emerging in low power radio broadcasting. The reason? Social distancing required to stem the global pandemic.
     While visionary outlets like hobbybroadcasting.net, Part15LAB and Part15.us (and maybe even little old me) have been promoting the fun of low power analog RF for decades, the response from the industry at large has ranged from mocking to persecuting.
     Labeled as either nerds to be pitied or pirates to be prosecuted, low power radio enthusiast technology is suddenly at the forefront of pandemic coping strategies.
     After ignoring these exciting opportunities since literally the dawn of radio broadcasting, we now get to read quotes like "...We are getting a huge number of calls from churches around the country asking if we can help them to broadcast their sermon into the parking lot of their church..." and "...Just last week a customer from Texas called and explained that he was trying to find a way to set up a mini drive-in theater in the parking lot of his temporarily closed restaurant using a large screen TV and a DVD player..."
   
     Here's a soon-to-be-growing list of great RW low power radio coverage:

• Check Out These Unexpected Uses for Unlicensed Radio
• Oregon Firm Plans to Introduce “Parking Lot Radio”
• Low-Power Radio in the Parking Lot: What You Need to Know
• Look for FCC Certification When Choosing a Part 15 FM Transmitter

     While I don't necessarily agree with the certification premise it's important to consider the source - a  seller of certified transmitters! Nevertheless, it's delightful to learn of the emerging demand, irrespective of the source.
     And, of course, here's our "I told you so!" list of links to articles espousing the usefulness of this now-headline-making technology found on this humble assemblage for over a decade:

• Low power AM transmitters in action
• Real life low power radio stations
• More real life low power radio stories
• Other Readings on Low Power Radio
• Other's Radio Writings
• The Sea Grant low power radio stations
• Limited area Broadcasting
• Low power radio updates from around the web
• The High Potential of Low Power Radio

Sadly, social distancing will be around for a while. Happily, that means more opportunities for our technologies!

LPFMs new 'direction,' NAB acting stupid, again!

In the summer of 2019, the FCC adopted a rulemaking proposing to update the LPFM technical rules to reflect the maturity of the service.
     These proposals reflected changes sought by LPFM advocates and licensees to improve their signals and provide more regulatory flexibility.
     The proposed FCC Report and Order would adopt most of the proposed rule changes to allow LPFM licensees to improve reception and increase flexibility in transmitter siting while maintaining interference protection and the core LPFM goals of diversity and localism.
     The most impactful of these changes would be to expand the circumstances in which LPFM stations may use directional antennas and allow custom models designed for specific locations instead of only 'off-the-shelf' models with parameters set by the manufacturer.
     This privilege would allow LPFMs to direct their signals to where their listeners are, putting these operators on a level playing field with other spectrum users.
     Not surprisingly, the NAB and several of its members, still utterly bereft of any capacity to understand their own industry, bitterly oppose this change. Failing to understand the importance of promoting radio as a medium and still floundering in a self-made leveraged buyout financial twilight zone, the nattering NAB numbskulls continue to bite the hand that feeds them, all the while wondering why they are heading for irrelevance at the speed of light.
     Radio World is covering this story in a very fair article and you are encouraged to comment to the FCC, as specified in the Report and Order.
     Gotta love the NAB, pushing FM chips in cell phones and lobbying against LPFM while their members go bankrupt, silent and dark. Why can't I get paid that well for being that incompetent?