Pancake City

If you could only listen to three podcasts, which ones would they be? Post your answer in a comment.

My favorite podcast is This American Life. A very close and less well-known second is WYNC’s Radio Lab. The show picks a broad subject like morality and digs up interesting scientific studies or stories about the topic. One of the hosts is Robert Krulwich, who seems to make an amazing use of whatever medium he is in.

I don’t have a clear third, which is part of the reason why I’m asking this question. The rest of the podcasts I listen to are entertaining but on a lower tier. If I had to pick one though, it would be Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me, NPR’s comedy news program.

PRI’s “Fair Game with Faith Salie” interviewed the GRI’s Evan Roth about its recent technological projects and the conflict between graffiti and advertising. It’s a great interview, and I’m not just saying it because he’s my sister’s boyfriend.

Evan, I want to participate in The Summer of Blood.

For $500 or more, you can sponsor a day of NPR programming and have a message of your choice read three times during the day. I heard this one yesterday:

“This show is sponsored in part by Brad and Amanda Richards in honor of their son, Jacob, who turns 6-months old today.”

I’m guessing it’s their first child. Child #2 is just getting a mug. Child #3 will be lucky to get an off-sized “All Things Considered” T-shirt.

Stop on by this Thursday, 2/22, and listen to Pancake City Radio from 9:00-11:00 p.,m. EST. I’ll post the link a 1/2 hour before the broadcast. The music is set, and I’m going to try to put up a web page with a “Now Playing” list and record a few short comedy bits by Thursday.

The best description I can come up for the music is catchy, evocative tunes from mostly independent labels. Some of the artists: Andrew Bird, Arcade Fire, Beulah, Gnarls Barkley, Ladytron, Lampchop, M. Ward, and Over The Rhine.

I’d appreciate feedback on the audio quality, server timeouts, and other technical matters. For now, I’ll be broadcasting from my computer with a limits of five listeners at a time. If you like this type of music, let me know what times and days you want the station to be on. You will likely get your wish, as you will likely be 20% of the audience.

Not sure anyone will see this in time, but PCRX will be running from 8-11 P.M. EST. Radio link.

Windows Media Player has trouble opening the link, try this one: WMP link.

The super-tentative program guide:
8-9: Nerd Orchestra
9-10: Randomly downloaded SxSW performers
10-11: Thrills and Chills

Please add “ish” after all times.

The format is 99% music, most of it from independent labels, although if I can get my roommate Meghan to listen to the station, I’m going to play some Dave Matthews just for her. (She has a poster of him behind hidden behind her Belle and Sebastian poster). Five listeners max for now. I’m broadcasting off my computer so that’s all I can handle. Listen for as long as you want.

If you tune in, please let me know how the sound quality was, if you had any problems logging on, and if so, around what time the problem was. I will be running more tests in the next few weeks as I work on technical issues and add more features.

If you are interested in helping me test future broadcasts out, please email me at monkey.on.keyboard(AT)gmail.com. It would be appreciated.

From 8-11 p.m, this Monday. It’s just a test to see if it works. Let me know if you can hear it.

The fees and hassle to produce a legal music podcast are prohibitive for me. My original idea was to make a biweekly podcast of six genre-related songs along with a bit of comedy. That’s not going to happen. It’s way too expensive, especially considering the small-scale nature of what I want to make.

The host of NPR’s All Songs Considered podcast (excellent for anyone who likes new music) occasionally mentions, “We try to get rights to play full versions on the podcast. When we can’t, you can listen to the whole version of the song at out website, …”

When a large corporation like NPR can’t get rights to include some songs in their podcast, and the DMCA doesn’t include a special “Pancake City” exception in the law (I checked–thanks a lot, CONgress), it’s time to ask a question that has always guided me through troubled times: “What would Liberal Jesus do?”

Liberal Jesus, is of course, NPR, and if NPR can stream a podcast on the web, maybe I can too.

I’ve found some answers to my questions, and at least one streaming company, LoudCity, that will supposedly stream a radio station and handle all the royalty paperwork for a monthly fee, starting at $20 per month. I saw supposedly because I need to check the fine print (Garamond, 8pt–very annoying) and see if thereis anything being left out or unmentioned.

I’m not sure I want to pay $20 per month to stream a few podcasts every month, but it’s either that or do an underground, illegal version for a few dozen friends and acquaintances.

Especially now that they started offering podcasts of their show for free.

Each show will be offered as a free podcast for one week starting the Monday after it airs. After one week, you can buy it for $.95 from iTunes or Audible.com*.

Linky linky

* The mark of an online giant is when people refer to your name without the .com.

This kid is going to be a hero at his next play-group.

Did WAMU blow all its money on crack and strippers?

The local NPR station here in Washington D.C. has been insane during its latest pledge drive. I never thought I would hear Kojo Nnamdi, a fair-minded and soft-spoken man that I admire greatly, say “Please, baby! Just $10. I need it bad.” It’s just not professional.

I’m used to the different tactics public radio uses to encourage donations: appeals to one’s charitable nature, inducements to feel guilty for not giving, reminders of the station’s quality programming, offers of donation plans for any income, and so on. But I’m not used to hearing the big man, Kojo, say (quote): “In a way, your relationship with WAMU is like a marriage. And now it’s time to consummate the marriage. Call 202…”

To be fair, it was tongue-in-cheek and pretty funny. And WAMU is an awesome station. Who wouldn’t want to tap that tower?

NPR’s Talk of the Nation played a few songs by solo artist Andrew Bird. His song, ‘Skin Is, My‘ is one of the best I’ve heard this year.

Top Ten Science Pictures

The Daily Show in Sweden? NPR is on the case.

Terry Gross, host on NPR’s Fresh Air, interviewed Al Franken and then Bill O’Reilly a few weeks later. Gross and Al Franken had an informative, entertaining interview. Gross and O’Reilly also had an informative, entertaining interview, especially the informative and entertaining part where O’Reilly tells her to “find another line of work” and walks out on her.

As easy as this would be to chalk up to O’Reilly being thin-skinned, Gross was very tough on him. And here’s where FOX News can learn from the liberal press: NPR’s ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin discusses the listeners’ reactions and offers his own opinion where he says that, in the end, the interview was unfair to O’Reilly.

Rush Limbaugh on Rush (link from Plastic)

KCRW is an awesome radio station in Los Angeles. In their archives, they have a great performance by Jurassic 5, a duo with Beck and the Flaming Lips, and several songs from a smoooooth group called Weekend Players. Check out KCRW.

(Do you like how I wrote “smooth” smoooooth? Isn’t it cooler than regular smooth? Come back in a few days–I’m working on putting Jurassic 5 in a dinosaur font and adding a flame effect to “Flaming Lips”.)