I nice little profile from MTV about community low power radio.

From Showtime, the fantastic NPR radio program, This American LIfe, is now a TV show. This short clip is a beautifully poignant tale of how play acting and media soon corrupted an innocent playground. The animation is by the great comic book artist, Chris Ware.

Technorati Tags: Chris Ware, Showtime, This American LIfe

I view media as a kind of ecosystem, and it’s axiomatic that ecosystems require diversity to survive. So when I hear that small Internet radio stations might be squeezed by bad legislation, it concerns me greatly. Please read and take action immediately by following the link below.

Take Action: Rescue Internet Radio:

Online music is in danger. In March, the Copyright Royalty Board announced a decision that could drastically impact the variety and diversity of music available on the Internet. All “webcasters,” nonprofit and for-profit, small and large, face a massive hike in the royalties they pay every time they play a song. The exorbitant fees could put small, independent webcasters out of business and force the large webcasters to adopt the cookie-cutter model of traditional radio. The fees would be unsustainable for public radio webcasters who would be forced to significantly reduce the alternative and cultural programming they offer.

Technorati Tags: internet, radio

Below is Democracy Now!‘s main lineup for its Valentine’s Day broadcast. I don’t know about you, but I celebrated the day with my loved one. Yes, it’s important to acknowledge all the bad, nasty things going on in the world, but sometimes I think Leftist media are so darned dour. As much as I appreciate the service indy media provide in presenting alternate and dissenting voices, I just think this kind of distorted perspective is damaging to the soul. Honestly, I feel so icky after listening to Democracy Now! I’m just wondering how productive it is to always be in such a state of horror. Of course we should not stick our heads in the sand, but for once please celebrate life and take a chill pill. Why not devote a day to beauty and love? Seriously. All protest and no play makes lefties very dull boys and girls….

Democracy Now!: radio and TV news:

Valentine’s Day: Labor Conditions at US-Owned Plantations Show Hidden Realities of Flower Industry

Today is Valentine’s Day. Chocolate, flowers, diamonds. How can gifts that bring so much happiness have come from so much pain? We begin our coverage with a look at the flower industry. Nora Ferm of the International Labor Rights Fund talks about a new report on labor conditions at US-owned flower plantations in Colombia and Ecuador. We’re also joined by Beatriz Fuentes, President of the Sintrasplendor Union at Dole’s largest flower plantation in Colombia which has become the site of a growing worker’s struggle. [includes rush transcript]

“Diamond Life”: Documentary Examines How Diamonds Funded the Civil War in Sierra Leone

We turn now to the issue of conflict diamonds — also known as blood diamonds. The documentary “Diamond Life” looks at how diamonds funded the civil war in Sierra Leone. [includes rush transcript]

Child Labor: The Hidden Ingredient to the Billion-Dollar Chocolate Industry?

On Valentine’s Day, chocolate is the currency in which people are supposed to trade their love. Little do they know that chocolate might have been made with slave labor. We speak with Brian Campbell, an attorney with the International Labor Rights Fund. [includes rush transcript]

Global Witness Founder Charmian Gooch: “The Diamond Industry is Failing to Live Up to Its Promises”

For more on the diamond industry, we’re joined by Global Witness founder and director Charmian Gooch. Gooch says diamond companies have failed to deliver on promises to reduce the prevalence of blood diamonds.

Technorati Tags: Democracy Now!

More from the ACME summit. It was fun to reconnect with Jonathan and Susan from Reclaim the Media, folks I met several years ago in New Mexico at the first ACME conference. They are radio and indy media activists who told me of a really awesome concept, radio barnraising, a community project for creating popular radio. Essentially activists and volunteers gather to build a local radio station and to train producers in remote communities of typically under-served populations, such Mexican migrant workers.

Among those in attendance was Jose Ignacio Lopez Vigil, a Central American radialista who I’ve admired from a distance. He is co-author of one of the best books I’ve read about guerrilla warfare and media, Rebel Radio, a history of the FMLN’s Radio Venceremos that broadcast in the midst of El Salvador’s bloodiest fighting during the Civil War of the 1980s. It’s a gripping tale, and makes punk zine publishing seem like kindergarden. What follows is a snip from his thoughts concerning a production pedagogy. It has good lessons for any media activist out there trying to develop a credible approach to popular media.

Saludo Radialistas! a message from Jose Ignacio Lopez Vigil | Reclaim the Media:

Friends, I will take this opportunity to share three ideas, three challenges that I find fundamental in these diffcult times that we are living today. As alternative community radio people (radialistas), as women and men passionate about the radio, I think we have to achieve three combinations, three fusions, the first being the fusion of content and form. Making a stupid, superficial program, void of ideas, is easy. It’s also easy to make a program that is profound and full of ideas, but cumbersome. The first is entertaining and done in an enjoyable, cheerful fashion, but it doesn’t say anything. The second may have great content, but it is boring, and lacks wit. And if it doesn’t have charm, it’s lost, because if it is informative and educational but boring, nobody will listen to it. Even if it has great content, nobody will listen to it. Therefore we have to fuse form and content. Sometimes we say that since we are community based one does not have to worry so much about the quality, but the contrary is the case: only the best for the people. An educational program has to be cheerful, attractive, and seductive, precisely because of what it is it needs to be of excellent quality.