Edmonton students start Web radio station

Just to reinforce how stupid the House of Representatives bill on webcasting is, it’s worth noting that had this story occurred in the US, these would be exactly the kind of people the RIAA would be chasing for large sums of money – and sending into bankruptcy.

A group of high school students in Edmonton are about to launch the country’s first ever 24-hour radio station staffed entirely by teenagers. The station will broadcast over the Internet, complete with news, opinion and music from the Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts.

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Student radio station may not have to close up shop

Meanwhile, not too far away…

After a massive weeklong fundraising drive, ACRN, Ohio University’s student-run radio station, is just about $800 short of the $5,000 it needs to continue operating. The Internet station has been facing the possibility of closure since June 2002, when the U.S. Librarian of Congress adopted new royalty fees for Internet broadcasters.

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BBC pours £1m into ‘Asian Archers’

The BBC has long believed in the idea of radio serials as ‘cultural cement’… and they’re probably right. Radio New Zealand is failing the population of this country by not having its own audio-only Shortland Street equivalent. No, I’m serious!

The BBC is investing £1m in a radio soap opera for the relaunched Asian Network in the hope it will become The Archers of the British Asian community. Jenny Abramsky, the director of BBC radio, admitted the corporation had failed the Asian population as she relaunched the network as a national digital radio station. However, she said the new soap, expected to be on air by 2004, would develop Asian talent.

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