KPFT Notes

Report criticises BBC gay coverage
The report suggests the BBC needed “balanced and unsensational” coverage in its news and current affairs programmes, and should develop authentic gay characters in their programmes

By Marc Shoffman
Pinknews.co.uk

Gays and lesbians are rarely featured positively by the BBC, according to research.

The study by gay charity Stonewall revealed that only 0.06% of airtime was devoted to sexual diversity. The figures suggest that lesbian and gay lives were covered in just six minutes out of 168 hours of prime time television.

Just over half an hour of the broadcast material included “derogatory or offensive references to gay people”, the charity said.

Chief executive Ben Summerskill said more needs to be done to tackle lesbian and gay invisibility on flagship channels, “The stark conclusion of this major exercise is that gay licence-payers receive astonishingly poor value from the BBC.”

“At a time when the BBC is seeking renewal of its Charter, it’s difficult to argue that 1.5 million households should be expected to continue making such a substantial contribution to channels on which their real lives are hardly reflected, and which are often punctuated with derisive and demeaning depictions of them,” he added.

The study was conducted with the University of Leeds. It looked at programmes on the BBC between May and July 2005. Additionally, gay and straight focus groups said they found the BBC failing to appreciate the diversity of British life, in comparison with other mainstream channels.

One suggested the BBC was a “caveman” compared to other more modern broadcasters, such as Channel 4.

The research also revealed that half of the portrayal of lesbian and gay people was negative.

Stable gay relationships and families were also virtually invisible on the broadcaster, while the charity has also accused the BBC of failing to challenge homophobia

Mr Summerskill added, “The BBC has made strenuous efforts in the last five years to serve minority ethnic viewers more effectively,” he said today.

“Gay people are forced to pay the BBC £126.50 a year on pain of imprisonment if they fail. We hope that the BBC will now develop for the first time a similar sense of obligation to lesbian and gay licence-payers.”

The report suggests the BBC needed “balanced and unsensational” coverage in its news and current affairs programmes, and should develop authentic gay characters in their programmes.

A BBC spokesperson told PinkNews.co.uk: “ The report is definitely a valuable contribution but we are disappointed that they looked at such a narrow timeslot.”

“The research includes just two channels from 7-10pm, we have many other TV channels including radio, and online services, so our overall news output has been excluded.”

“If they had looked wider they would have found more diversity.”

This is the letter from Gary Krantz of Air America swiping back at Bill O’Reilly:

“Last week on Bill O’Reilly’s cable TV show, there were allegations that were misleading regarding the state of Air America’s Business. It is not often that we respond to these things, but in this case we feel we need to
set the record straight –

“Mr. O’Reilly has been bad mouthing Air America and saying it is failing for two years. It was not true before and it is not true now.

“In interpreting the story, one should consider the source: Air America’s ratings went up substantially in the Fall 2005 book and its affiliate base has grown from 36 affiliations in January of 05 to over 90 affiliations across the country, including internationally on the Voice of America

“In the recent Fall 2005 Arbitron Survey for New York, Air America/WLIB Programming is outperforming Mr. O’Reilly in both the 12+ and A 25-54.

“Financially, Air America is significantly stronger than ever. As of today, our have booked and pending business for 2006 represents 83% of the entire revenue generated in 2005. We are also up to date on all of our financial obligations. Most importantly, we have a dedicated board and investors who support our business.

“There is no substance whatsoever to Mr. O’Reilly’s absurd claims of ‘gloom and doom.’

“Thanks for the support, and if you want the facts, you can call me directly at 212-871-8120.”

Gary Krantz
President
Air America Radio
641 Sixth Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, NY
10011

This is the letter from Gary Krantz of Air America swiping back at Bill O’Reilly:

“Last week on Bill O’Reilly’s cable TV show, there were allegations that were misleading regarding the state of Air America’s Business. It is not often that we respond to these things, but in this case we feel we need to
set the record straight –

“Mr. O’Reilly has been bad mouthing Air America and saying it is failing for two years. It was not true before and it is not true now.

“In interpreting the story, one should consider the source: Air America’s ratings went up substantially in the Fall 2005 book and its affiliate base has grown from 36 affiliations in January of 05 to over 90 affiliations across the country, including internationally on the Voice of America

“In the recent Fall 2005 Arbitron Survey for New York, Air America/WLIB Programming is outperforming Mr. O’Reilly in both the 12+ and A 25-54.

“Financially, Air America is significantly stronger than ever. As of today, our have booked and pending business for 2006 represents 83% of the entire revenue generated in 2005. We are also up to date on all of our financial obligations. Most importantly, we have a dedicated board and investors who support our business.

“There is no substance whatsoever to Mr. O’Reilly’s absurd claims of ‘gloom and doom.’

“Thanks for the support, and if you want the facts, you can call me directly at 212-871-8120.”

Gary Krantz
President
Air America Radio
641 Sixth Avenue, 4th Floor
New York, NY
10011

Google appears to be jumping toward radio. Check this out:

Google to Acquire Dmarc Broadcasting

Mountain View, CA – Jan 17, 2006 – Google has agreed to acquire Dmarc Broadcasting. Google plans to integrate Dmarc technology into the Google Ad Words platform to create a new radio ad distribution channel for Google advertisers.

Dmarc has stated that its customers will not experience any interruption in service. A Dmarc executive has noted that radio stations will not notice any difference in working with Dmarc after the close of the transaction. Dmarc will continue to operate as it always has, but it will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. The Dallas, Kansas City and California offices will remain in place. The Dmarc spokesman went on to add that he expects that the relationship with Google will provide Dmarc with additional technology resources, which will likely result in staff increases and additional product offerings.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Google will acquire all of the outstanding equity interests in Dmarc, a privately held company, for total up-front consideration of $102 million in cash. Google will also make additional contingent cash payments based on net revenue and advertising inventory targets over the next three years up to a maximum payment of $1.136 billion. Google anticipates that the acquisition will close in the first quarter 2006.

Great piece from the BBC on one pirate radio station, located in India. “It was a perfect idea. In impoverished Bihar state, where many areas lack power supplies, the cheap battery-powered transistor remains the most popular source of entertainment.” Fascinating take on community radio and what it means to a village. Read the article here.

“Sue Schardt, a long-time supporter of independent producers, has just released her final report on the impact and challenge of Indies within the field of public radio.”

Very interesting stuff indeed!

KPFT’s Building Committee was out in force today, doing amazing work in keeping that little house on Lovett Boulevard in top shape. I wanted to share a few shots of what is truly a much bigger task.

The committee kicked off the day stripping down the old wallpaper in the lobby, and putting down a fresh coat of paint. The job is so big, it was a feat to do the one huge wall. Future workdays will allow a chance to complete this task.

The committee also hit the halls. Great work!

Members concluded by removing some old mailboxes from our production room. Those boxes had been there as long as I can remember, and having them down gave our production room a new, spacious look. Thanks a million to the Building Committee for their efforts!

One of the more common programmer questions has to do with minidisc recorders. I highly recommend Radio College for an exhaustive primer on gear, radio craft, etc. If you’re a complete newbie, and even if you are experienced and could always soak up more knowledge, that site will be a real boon to you.The kind of recorder you buy depends on your means. If you can splurge, I’ve heard that there are several quality flash recorders out there, which won’t drain your bank account. Flash recorders record your audio in WAV or MP3 format and will allow you to transfer your audio from the recorder to the computer via USB. Much more convenient than the old-school minidisc-to-computer real-time recording! If you are serious about flash recording I would only encourage you to jump in at the pro level, as the $30-90 mini-recorders you can purchase at Best Buy and elsewhere can be a hit or miss affair, and if you miss, that’s audio that sounds awful. My knock on the cheapies is that they don’t permit much space for a high-quality tape and don’t maintain accurate sound levels onscreen, if at all. Those levels will help you to capture the best audio. RadioWorld has a tight guide to flash recorders if you’d like to learn more about the key players. These recorders range $400-800, and they are dropping every month. If you do a great deal of field recording, take some time and consider a flash recorder as an investment in sound quality, time you will save from recording into the computer, and in hardware that will likely be part of your collection for years to come. The Marantz PMD series is considered among the best in the flash recorder field, but choose what works for you.

If you are like me and don’t do as much recording and/or are unapologetically old-school, here’s my pitch for the MZ-R37, Sony’s sturdy, discontinued MD recorder. You can still do an ebay search for Sony MZ-R37s and find this equipment in the $50 range. A good R37 is solid and won’t let you down. My knock on the R37s is needing to pause to adjust recording levels. However, it’s otherwise wonderful. I’ve used various Sharps as well and, for what it’s worth, I often fall on the Sharp side of the Sony v. Sharp MD debate, but love the R37’s durability so much that I’d recommend it against any Sharp from the same era. Those Sharp 722s did look fly though.

Mics are a whole different ballgame. If you have to go cheap on an MD, spend on the mic. Again, think investment, not price. The Radio College site above is a great mic primer. I’m available, as always, if you have further questions.

One 2006 Public Broadcasting New Media Conference attendee is blogging the event, and there are plenty of details about how many outlets, including the BBC and other old-school media outfits, are adjusting to net, satellite and other streams. RRC and others report that satellite is threatening pubradio far less than originally thought, so the cutting-edge approach is fascinating.

Great piece from the San Francisco Chronicle on the pioneering Latino pubradio outlet. Here’s another community station that is truly serving the people.

Good morning, Mexico. How one pioneering bilingual public radio network in Fresno is linking families and friends on both sides of the border
Monica Campbell, Chronicle Foreign Service

Tlaxiaco , Mexico — Every Sunday afternoon, Eva Hernández settles into the small booth at the radio station in this town in Oaxaca’s northern highlands. She tidies the stack of notes from listeners that have piled up during the week and leans into the mike: “Alfonso Alavez Barrios in Washington wants Adrian Nicolas Feria in Chalcatongo to know that he’s OK.” Next: “Roberto León López from Tlaxiaco wants his brother Juan Victoriano in the States to call him from wherever he is.”

Catching her breath, Hernández, 25, reads several more missives at rapid fire, some in Spanish, others in Mixteco, the indigenous language of many Oaxacans. “There are so many messages,” she says during a musical request. “We could do this all day.”

To understand what’s behind Hernández’s workload, look through the booth’s window and check out the satellite dish that looms over the one-story radio station. Hoisted a year ago, the dish is part of an experiment spearheaded by Radio Bilingüe in Fresno, the only Latino public radio network in the United States. Its goal is to link to Mexican public radio stations such as Hernández’s XETLA in Tlaxiaco and connect families and friends split by immigration.

“Here in the Central Valley, we have migrants who come from the most remote parts of Mexico, places where radio is the medium,” says Radio Bilingüe’s director Hugo Morales, a Harvard-educated Mixtec and recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award, public radio’s highest honor. “We’re using the latest technology to try to help people swap news and advice across a political border.”

In 1980, Morales and a coterie of former child laborers, either in the California fields or Los Angeles factories, put Radio Bilingüe on the air. (To hear Radio Bilingüe’s programming on the Web, go to www.radiobilingue.org.)”We were angry, frankly, about the nonexistence that continues today of Latin programming in mainstream television and radio,” Morales has said. “Spanish-language commercial radio and television were disconnected from the needs of our community.” Today, Radio Bilingüe delivers nonstop programming in English, Spanish, Mixteco and Hmong, with 64 affiliates spanning the United States from Hawaii to Puerto Rico, plus Canada.

Given the Mixtec roots of Radio Bilingüe staff, it’s not surprising that “La Hora Mixteca” (“The Mixtec Hour”), the network’s popular Spanish-Mixteco talk and music show, was picked for the first binational, satellite-based radio test.

For years, “La Hora Mixteca,” which airs Sundays from 10:15 a.m. to 2 p.m., has focused on Mixtecs, the Mexican indigenous group with the highest number of migrants. They hail from the southern Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla and have worked California farms for years. But they have also headed to other parts of the United States. About 100,000 Mixtecs live in the United States, said Morales, while the Mixtec population in Mexico is expected to total some 726,000, according to Mexico’s National Institute for Indigenous Peoples.

It is estimated that “La Hora Mixteca” reaches about 60,000 Mixtecs in California through Radio Bilingüe’s five full-power FM stations in the Central Valley region. It’s trickier to gauge how many people tune into “La Hora Mixteca” through Radio Bilingüe’s affiliates outside of California or via the seven southern Mexican public radio stations that collaborate with the show.

“It’s hard to know who’s listening,” says Filemón López, a burly Mixtec and former grape picker who runs the U.S. portion of “La Hora Mixteca” from his cramped booth in Fresno. “We get calls from all over, from Santa Rosa to Wyoming and Florida. But the radio puts us all in the same room. It feels like sitting in a plaza back home.”

Radio Bilingüe envisions similar cross-border shows broadcast in other native Mexican languages, including Zapotec, Triqui (mostly spoken in Oaxaca) and Purépecha (concentrated in the central state of Michoacán).

“It goes beyond connecting families,” Morales said. “It’s about preserving our culture, something corporate radio won’t address.” He is determined to give space to indigenous Mexicans who often face discrimination both in Mexico and the United States for their darker skin color and the fact that some don’t speak Spanish.

A visit to Radio Bilingüe’s headquarters suggests that expansion will be slow. A skeleton crew works from a nondescript building on Fresno’s east side. Like most public stations, it depends on volunteers and foundation money, including a Rockefeller Foundation grant (which funded the satellite in Mexico). But endowments cannot be guaranteed. “It’s tight here,” Morales says of the station’s finances. “Only lately have we been able to put more resources into technology.”

Indeed, a lot is packed into three hours. A recent show included a Spanish-language news broadcast, a lengthy segment on tax tips for migrants, and a swarm of messages and song dedications from Mexicans on both sides of the border. Part of “La Hora Mixteca’s” popularity is owed to López himself, a longtime community activist who demonstrated for farmworkers’ rights. Also important is his vast folk music collection — and a solid grasp of what makes some Mexicans, especially Oaxacans, cut the rug.

“Here in the Central Valley it’s all about the chilena,” says López, referring to a music genre popular in rural Mexico but rarely heard on California’s commercial Latino stations. It’s boppy and mixes violin, guitar and harp. Christian Herrera, a young listener in Bakersfield, called in recently to “say hello to my paisanos in Oaxaca.” He then asked López to play a chilena, “whichever one you got.”

In rural Mexico, where telephones and even electricity can be scarce, radio stations can be a vital link to the outside world. Hernández, who runs XETLA’s “La Hora Mixteca” broadcast, says the demand for cross-border programming is growing. “People here seek out anything that connects them with their relatives,” she says. “I’ve been asked if we could broadcast entire town fiestas to folks up north. Great idea.”

For now, Hernández and her colleagues, many of whom run similar migrant-oriented programs, are flooded with messages from listeners eager to pass greetings to relatives.

“A lot of the messages are typical ‘Hi Moms!’ or ‘Son, please call home,’ stuff like that,” Hernández says. At times, though, news from relatives can be urgent. “People call in saying that their dad is sick and needs money right away,” she says. “It’s not always easy to get ahold of somebody right away when they’re up north, they might not have a phone or address. Sometimes radio is the fastest vehicle.”

Hernández, who finished high school, a formal education many in Oaxaca lack, fell into radio but now cannot imagine doing anything else. She believes in the value of keeping up communication between the United States and Mexico, especially as the U.S.-Mexico border hardens and keeps undocumented immigrants from visiting home.

On a recent Sunday in Magdalena Peñasco, a tiny Mixtec village nestled in an arid, deforested valley outside of Tlaxiaco, Justina Mendoza asked if any of her co-workers at the farmers’ market had XETLA’s toll-free phone number. “Isn’t that Mixtec show on today?” she wondered aloud. “I want to say hi to my cousins in North Carolina.” Mendoza couldn’t be certain that her relatives would be tuned in to “La Hora Mixteca” when she called, but she didn’t mind. “Half of this town is working in the States, and I know that plenty are in the Carolinas,” Mendoza said. “My cousins will get my saludo.”

On the other side of the market, beyond a line of women weaving hats from palm, is Brigida Cruz, an elderly Mixtec who sells produce. Her 10-year-old grandson Hermundo lives in Hawaii. “I haven’t heard from him since he left,” she said. “I doubt he’ll ever call in.” But Cruz listens to the radio station anyway. “It’s comforting to hear how others are doing. Maybe if somebody else’s relatives are doing OK, so are yours.”