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RadioZoom Episode #111 – Six Song Donut Spectacular: September 2006; Farewell to WOXY.com

A little late getting an episode out this week, but I’ve been battling an all out attack on my sinuses for the past six days. That being said, #111 is up and ready for download.

WOXY.com ends a long running history of being one of the best sources for alternative, independent music today. In this six song(plus two), I pay my respects to one of the greatest radio stations, terrestrial and internet-only, to have ever existed. All songs in this episode were artists that I discovered through WOXY, tracked down, and received permission from.

Today marks another page in rock and roll history. Septmber 15, 2006 will forever be the day that the music stopped, for good, from WOXY.com. Even if it begins again, it will never be the same as it ever was.

56:00 minutes
radiozoom.net

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My blog was hacked

When I woke up this morning, I went to delete a spam comment that got through my defenses, but WordPress wouldn’t let me log in. I tried my login and password a few different times and got nothing. That’s when I started to get that feeling. You know that one I’m talking about?

“This site hacked by” whatever the name was. I’m kicking myself for not getting a screenshot of it, but there was a large wolf image with some language that I was unfamiliar with. There was also a sound file that was posted along with it. It started out with some deep voiced man saying something very foreign, followed by some drums and horns. I was still sleepy eyed and increasingly pissed off that I didn’t take in all the details.

I was able to work around WordPress and get into the SQL database, delete the post, and get my user accounts reset. On top of that, I was running WordPress 2.0.3. I might have waited too long to do the 2.0.4 upgrade that apparently had some “important security updates”.

I’m not sure how this person hacked my site, but everything seems to be back to normal. I’ve done all the neccesary steps. Backed up my site, changed all my passwords, and done needed upgrades. All this after being knocked down with a troubling sinus cold thing all this week, this morning being the first day that I’ve woke up and actually felt good. I’m totally going running right now because that’s a lot better than punching a wall.

Update: Rebecca was able to grab a screenshot of it this morning and has it on this post.

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Podcasting and the Meta Argument

At BarCampVancouver, Ryan Cousineau[wiredcola] led a session called “Sturgeon’s Revelation”[wiki]. The idea that “ninety percent of everything is crud” was the center piece of this session, applying it to pretty much everything that exists in the world of Web 2.0[wiki]. The main topic of focus, however, was podcasting[wiki].

Darren Barefoot made a recent post regarding social networks and podcasting, citing that the resources are not there for the medium as there is for photo, video, or link sharing. This idea speaks a lot to what Cousineau was getting at with his session, and much of his thoughts on the topic is posted on his blog.

When it comes down to it, there is not an easy way to share content within a podcast unless you listen to it. You can’t Google search for information that can be found in a podcast. There are such things as show notes and tags that people apply to the material that they publish, but not everyone does it, nor does everyone do it the same way.

The only solution to this problem is to transcribe podcasts in their entirty so that anyone searching for a topic can locate it in your podcast as well as anywhere else on the web. Quite often, this is where people with low opinions about podcasting derive their argument, and I’ve heard this thought propelled by a lot of bloggers. Yes, blogging is a very quick way of publishing information for the world to read in nearly real time. It is instantly indexed, searchable, and archived.

Generating audio for a podcast can be done in the same way, but often is delayed and ineffective with being timely. The podcast itself, in its raw form, is a bunch of ones and zeros, and no one has developed a way to index the contents of a podcast so that it is searchable across the internet. No matter how great of material that you have in a podcast, some one finding that gem of information inside forty minutes of a mp3 won’t happen unless they download it and listen.

This is where I start to agree with the point that Cousineau is saying and the thoughts presented in Barefoot’s post. The conversation that you can get from podcasting is vastly different for the ones that happen through blogging, Flickr, or YouTube. “Feedback” is the better word for what goes on with a podcast. Continue reading “Podcasting and the Meta Argument”

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Air America having problems paying bills, filing bankruptcy

I had concerns when this network went on the air. The formula was a risky venture, and I can’t say that I’m overly surprised to see this happen.

Think Progress is reporting Air America radio will announce filing for bankruptcy protection on Friday according to three independent sources. The company has experienced financial difficulties throughout its existence, continuing to request infusions of capital and suffering the loss of several high-profile hosts. Five employees were laid off Tuesday without severance.

The network has had several controversies since its inception including a funding scandal involving Evan Cohen. Air America Radio funneled $875,000 dollars from Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, a not-for-profit, in the form of a “loan” to fund its operations. Due to of the less-than-ethical funding arrangement, Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club has been disbanded. […]

However, the progressive talk radio format did exist with the variety of IndyMedia projects as well as Pacifica Radio. Air America, however, was the first radio that put through an entire slate of radio shows instead of syndicating individual shows. This has largely caused problems with their expansion as it required stations to pick up the entire network for 24 hours a day instead of the most popular shows. [blogcritics]

Everything has to start somewhere, and this makes the network ripe for the picking in terms of a buy out of some sort. If that were to happen, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some things change.

At the same time, the content is something that I haven’t paid enough attention to. I’ve read numerous things about people being upset about their programming, and that says something. All press is good press, but presenting alternative views on a liberial or left wing radio program in a conservative, right wing controlled nation is a delicate task.

There’s always good and not so good ways to do things, and it’s the same way that I feel about political campaigns. Attacking the other side will never work. Education and strong, valid arguments will always be better, in my opinion, than some one yelling slander into a microphone.

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The press and emergency services in B.C.

I am consistantly impressed with the way that the press interacts with emergency services in British Columbia, and the same can be true about the rest of Canada.  Sitting here and watching the news coverage of the recent shootings in Montreal, the amount of information coming from the police, in near real time, is really interesting compared to the news coverage I am used to in the U.S.

First off, I should say that my heart goes out to those people affected by this.  Regardless of who or why, things like these are shocking and scary.  While the CBC was covering this, I had sirens going off all around the west end.  Kinda spooky.

The media seems to be included on these events as they unfold, at least for the most part.  I so often see the morning news where there was a fire the night before.  While there are still firemen putting out the flames in the background, someone is talking to the camera, giving an update as to what happened, possible causes, and preliminary info about people affected.

What I’m used to back in the states is official statements that get released to the press or press conferences that happen hours, if not days, after the fact.  That gets printed up in the papers or some person with overly perfect hair tells you the facts on TV.  In between that time, everything is uncomfirmed and speculation.  You get some of that here, but the involvement of people on the scene is much higher.  It’s not some guy, outside of the whole situation, who has the job to collect the information and report it to the press.

It impresses me.  Maybe there is more confidence in the whole spectrum of distributing information, meaning the people on the scene, the media, and the person taking in the news, in Canada.  There is a lot more scrutiny in American media, always making sure that the right people are saying the right things at the right time.

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Skype releases 2.0 Beta for Mac; Video for everyone

I use iChat to video chat with my family back home all the time. That’s a strict, Mac-to-Mac application. Skype 2.0 Beta for the Mac[download] bridges video chatting with PC users of the VoIP/IM client.

System requirements

  • Mac computer with G4 800 Mhz processor or faster
  • Mac OS X v10.3.9 Panther or newer
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 40 MB free disk space on your hard drive
  • Microphone
  • Webcam: Suggested webcams include Apple iSight, Philips SPC900NC, or Logitech QuickCam Pro 400. Drivers for the Philips and Logitech webcams can be downloaded from http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/.
  • Internet connection (broadband is best, GPRS is not supported for voice calls, and results may vary on a satellite connection).

I have yet to put it through the ranks, but if you wanna talk and see your buddies over long distances, this is worth checking out.

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Five blades is worth the time

I am one of those people that loves free stuff.  Seriously, who doesn’t?  Give me a free cellphone and I’ll use it, granted that it’s a worth while device.  Happily, it has been, especially the camera on it.

When we hit the PNE a few weeks ago, I got a free Gillette Fusion from one of the numerous booths that populate the grounds.  I’ve been a Mach 3 user for a while now, never giving the idea of more than two blades being worth the time and money.  Boy, was I ever wrong.

And the Fusion?  That sucker has five blades.  Five!  That’s nuts, and the crazy thing is how good of a shave I get from it now.  Dare I say that I’m a changed man, all because it was free.

I swear that this isn’t a commercial or ad.  I just dig a good shave.  That’s all.

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Lolo has a new job, and I got new sunglasses

Crossing the Burrard BridgeLaura[lolod] is a mighty fine chick in my book.  She got herself a new job and had her farewell gathering last night with, now former, co-workers and me last night.  I wanted to take a moment to wish her congratulations on the new job.

More importantly, I also want to thank her for being super cool and giving me these new sunglasses.  My old pair busted the other day, almost a year to the day that I bought them.  I’m a big fan of buying cheap because the less I spend on shades, the longer they last.

She got these for herself not long ago, but found other ones she liked better.  They’re mine now, and I really dig ’em.  Gave them the full test today.  Passed with flying colors.

Thanks, Laura!  And congrats!

And by the way, I took a bunch of pics today while taking care of some errands.  Check them out here.

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Vancouver could do Wi-Fi better

I’m surprised that there isn’t city-wide Wi-FI already established in Vancouver. I could stand to never have the need to hunker down in a cafe and avoid people trying to peak over my shoulder. It’s a pity that Toronto will have this before we do on the west coast.

Toronto Hydro rolled out the city’s free Wi-Fi – or wireless Internet access – Wednesday morning. The service will be free for six months – and will allow people wireless access to the World Wide Web throughout the downtown rather than solely at pre-existing Wi-Fi hotspots, generally cafes and restaurants.

The project is the largest of its kind in North America, and Mayor David Miller is enthusiastic it’ll be successful.

The signal will be available from Jarvis St. in the east to Spadina Ave. in the west, and from Front St. to the south, north as far as Bloor St. Customers will also be able to make phone calls over the Internet and, in time, watch video. [citynews]

Being such the tech friendly city that Vancouver is, there is probably talk that I’m not aware of. Still, everything I have experienced up to this point, in terms of the tech community that exists in this city, tells me that a Wi-Fi setup like the one going up in Toronto could be dwarfed by one setup in Vancouver.

A good friend of mine from college, Andy Stoll, was apart of a non-profit group trying to setup something like this in the “technology corridor” of eastern Iowa(the area between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City) I’m not too sure how well the operation is going, but the initative was pretty bold. cFree Wireless Network still exists, but I can’t say anything about the network itself.

With the amount of high rises that populate downtown Vancouver, one would think that this could be easily done. You just have to get past the asethetics police and those that feel the frequencies used to transmit wireless signals don’t cause tumors to grow all over your body.

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WOXY.com is calling it quits

If you are a fan of independent music and internet radio, then you are just as sad as I am to here about the recent decision by the folks at WOXY.com[wiki] to pull the plug.

This is the moment all of us hoped would never come. After plugging away at this for the past two years, it’s become pretty clear that operating woxy.com as a stand-alone Internet “radio station” is not going to cut it. Our operating costs are higher than you might think, and the revenue we were able to generate from advertising isn’t close to supporting what we’re doing. Even membership revenue wasn’t enough to get us there. When your business doesn’t make money, you eventually go out of business.

With this in mind, we’ve been looking for either a significant partner – someone with a larger plan into which woxy.com could be plugged – or an outright buyer. That search hasn’t been fruitful. We’re still willing to entertain offers and explore possibilities (email bryan@woxy.com), but our time is short. We thought it was time to share our situation with you … to give you a heads-up. […]

Barring something exceptional happening in the next two weeks, we will silence our broadcasts on Friday, September 15th.

Sometimes no matter how hard you try and how special the thing you do, it simply isn’t enough to beat the odds. It’s the cold reality of business that not even we could escape. When September 15th comes, we’ll meet it proudly with heads held high and celebrate the past two years of woxy.com and the spirit of 97X. For those lucky enough to have been part of it, The Future of Rock and Roll will forever be in our minds and hearts. [woxy]

Heartbreaking. I nearly cried the day I found out that the radio station that used to be 97.7FM, WOXY, was sold off to some radio group and dismantled, only to become some variety hits station(aka crap). It was the, “97X! Bam! The future of rock and roll.” Real DJs playing real music. Totally awesome stuff that I would listen to via their online streams.

The beauty of the operation is that even though the broadcast portion of the station was sold, the programming was retained. A dream would be for WOXY.com to make a return to the world of radio somewhere. It’s some of the best, new music that you won’t hear anywhere else, not to mention nearly all of it being independent artists.

I’m hoping for a last minute hero to help them out, but until then, I’ll miss WOXY.com a lot.