Urban Unrest

26 March 2008 | Community, People of Color, Politics | Ernesto Aguilar

I will be blogging from Atlanta, starting today, for the annual National Association of Community Broadcasters’ conference. I’ll be facilitating the Program Directors’ Solution Center, which gives PDs from around the country a chance to discuss issues we face and creatively come up with solutions. Many good sessions are happening in Atlanta, and I hope to share more.

As a followup to my Rovics comments this week, Current forwards a link to this piece, which seems to only lend credence to Rovics’ remarks about the importance of non-com radio. It essentially says that most of the music discovery sites and Internet radio, by and large, are doing what you’d find on mainstream commercial radio. Great for Flo Rida and Buckcherry, bad for anything other than mainstream music. This acknowledgment eems to rachet up the need for a niche music focus on the air.

Speaking of the value of radio, Greg Guma continues to churn out solid stuff on his blog. Now, if I could get him to link to me. Hmmm…

On the media justice front, RaceWire speaks on “extending the teaching moment” provided by Barack Obama’s speech on race. Maya Wiley also shares some thoughts on the speech. As for Obama’s rival, Media Matters covers how bad the coverage was following the release of Hillary Clinton’s schedules during the White House years.

And finally, a big congrats out to KPFT News’ fabulous Ann Raber. Starting April 4 through November, Ann will be co-curating BallotVox, a project aimed at bringing together the best from the blogosphere, online audio/video and more, focusing on Campaign 2008. BallotVox was launched by Public Radio Exchange as part of a Corporation for Public Broadcasting funded collaboration. And, if you’ve caught Ann’s weekly segment on KPFT News with the Texas Observer, you know she does first-rate work, so check it out. If you haven’t caught Ann’s incisive Observer interviews, tune in Wednesdays to KPFT News at 5 p.m.

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