Radio :: Paste

Last.fm to Expand to Terrestrial Radio in October

By Michael Saba on 2:00 PM on September 21, 2009

The London-based scrobble-meisters at internet-radio station Last.fm have grander designs than simply providing a way for people to chart how many times they've listened to the Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Maps." (Full disclosure: according to his Last.fm profile, this writer has an embarrassingly high playcount for Young Jeezy's "My Hood.") With the internet-radio market basically cornered by big names like Rhapsody and Pandora, Last.fm has decided to devote four HD radio stations in the U.S. to a terrestrial-broadcast initiative.... read more

Pandora Agrees to New Royalty Plan That Charges Heavy Listeners, Live365 Responds

By Michael Saba on 12:17 PM on July 10, 2009

Depending on who you ask, Pandora's agreement to reconfigure their business plan based on an increase in royalty rates is either a shrewd business movie, or the first toll of the death knell for internet radio. Pandora has emerged from the royalties battle standing, but shaken.... read more

Radio Russia

By Mark Krotov on 12:00 PM on July 6, 2009

Since the emergence of radio in the 1910s, Russians haven’t just listened—they’ve listened passionately, forcefully, illegally. In the ’50s, they reassembled shortwave radios to tune into... read more

Album Names and Cold War Games: A History of the Numbers Station

By Michael Saba on 9:15 AM on June 30, 2009

Just about anyone who's heard Wilco's magnum opus Yankee Hotel Foxtrot can remember the song “Poor Places,” but not necessarily for the melody, lyrics or Jeff Tweedy's inimitable crooning. No, what sticks out most is the the bone-chilling final 45 seconds of the song, where a woman’s voice robotically repeats the words “Yankee. Hotel. Foxtrot.” The true nature of those three words is far more eerie and mysterious than a mere disembodied voice repeating a sequence of the NATO alphabet. It's a recording of a numbers station: a broadcast of indeterminate location that transmits coded shortwave radio messages for top-secret purposes.... read more

Clear Channel Asks Weezer, The Eagles, Christina Aguilera, More to be DJs

By Ani Vrabel on 2:45 PM on June 18, 2009

It's one thing to love a musician. It's a completely different thing to want to listen to their music 24/7, like some radio stations offer. Luckily, Clear Channel Radio and Front Line Management have an alternative. Their collaborative project, called "artist personal experience" (a.p.e.), will allow artists to produce their own 24-hour online radio stations. Currently, Weezer, the Eagles and Christina Aguilera are slated to kick off their stations next month.... read more

Microsoft Wows E3 Conference With Myriad XBox 360 Plans

By Walton Murphy on 10:30 AM on June 3, 2009

If you've ever felt the urge to update your Twitter or stream radio while playing your favorite video game, now you're in luck. On Monday, Microsoft announced at the E3 conference that XBox 360 will now offer gamers the ability to stream music from Last.fm, check and update their Twitter and Facebook accounts and stream more movies and television shows faster from Netflix. Finally, we can stalk our friends on Facebook while waiting for Madden to load.... read more

NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams Launches "BriTunes"

By Rachel Dovey on 2:00 PM on May 12, 2009

NBC Nightly News' Brian Williams might seem about as attuned to Brooklyn Vegan as, say, Jack Donaghy, but he just launched an online music-interview show called "BriTunes" (admitting that he didn't come up with the name), featuring Deer Tick as his first guest.... read more

NPR Streaming St. Vincent, Conor Oberst, Jason Lytle Albums

By Gray Chapman on 11:07 AM on May 4, 2009

Consider your tax dollars put to work: National Public Radio is streaming unreleased albums from St. Vincent, Conor Oberst and Jason Lytle.... read more

Sirius XM prepares to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy

By Liz Stinson on 2:41 PM on February 11, 2009

To borrow and bastardize the ever-popular words of Farrokh Bulsara: another company is biting the dust. Or is about to, it seems.... read more

Benicio Del Toro to discuss Springsteen on Sirius radio

By Jeffrey Bloomer on 10:11 AM on February 5, 2009

Of all the names submitted for fevered recognition this time of year, one that has shown up puzzlingly few times is Benicio Del Toro, who carries Steven Soderbergh’s Che flatly on his shoulders. Although recent attempts to mine the famously severe actor’s mind haven’t gone especially well, Sirius XM Radio will give it another shot with an interview to air Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern on its E Street channel.... read more

The Walkmen to tour West Coast in January

By Mary Kate Varnau on 1:36 PM on January 5, 2009

NYC indie rockers The Walkmen have announced a January tour in support of You & Me. The band recently took about a month off, after a brief circuit of the UK and Ireland, and will travel the West Coast mid-next month. Performances begin in San Diego and work their way north, to the tour's culmination in Seattle. Beach House will join the crew for all five dates.... read more

NPR cuts programs, lays off 7% of workforce

By Mary Kate Varnau on 4:18 PM on December 11, 2008

National Public Radio has announced the cancellation of daytime news programs Day to Day and News and Notes. Hosts Madeleine Brand and Farai Chideya will lose their jobs when the shows go off the air in March, along with more than 60 other NPR employees. This is part of a larger effort to minimize the company's projected budget shortfall: $23 million for the fiscal year.... read more

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys release 10-disc Tiffany Transcriptions box set

By Loren Lankford on 12:45 PM on November 21, 2008

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys are quite possibly the greatest western swing band of all time. Now, 33 years after Wills' death, Collectors Choice Music is releasing a 10-disc, 150-song collection box set, due out Jan. 27. ... read more

KCRW music director Nic Harcourt steps down

By Loren Lankford on 3:19 PM on November 14, 2008

Nic Harcourt, music director and host of KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, is stepping down after 10 memorable years. His last day is Nov. 30, though he will stay on as a deejay for a show on Sundays from 6 to 9 p.m.... read more

Studs Terkel: 1912-2008

By Althea Legaspi on 6:30 PM on November 3, 2008

Legendary author and radio host Studs Terkel, 96, passed away Friday at his Northside home in Chicago. Although he was a transplant to the area, his name and legacy will forever be associated with the city he so loved and adopted as his own.... read more

Beck launches Sirius radio weekend takeover right now

By Loren Lankford on 3:01 PM on October 10, 2008

Well, if you want to get technical about it, he launched it a minute before this story was posted. But still.Starting today at 3pm EST, Beck took over Left of Center, Sirius' channel 26, with Radio Beck. The show will air through Sunday.... read more

General Motors offers new radio upgrade with USB port

By Mary Kate Varnau on 2:45 PM on September 9, 2008

General Motors is now offering an optional USB port as a radio upgrade on some of its higher-end models. The new radios are available now in the Chevrolet Cobalt, the HHR and the Pontiac G5.... read more

Rainn Wilson to host WXPN's Y-Rock Radio

By Michael Saba on 4:39 PM on August 13, 2008

In preparation for his upcoming flick The Rocker, The Office laureate Rainn Wilson will be appearing on Philadelphia's WXPN radio this Friday at 8 p.m. for the station's Y-Rock program. DJ Schrute will be spinning "his favorite alternative and indie rock tunes" on a show aptly titled the Rainn Wilson Radio Takeover. XPN is 88.5 on the FM band in Philly, and those of us not fortunate enough to hail from the city of brotherly love can tune in online at the Y-Rock website.... read more