The news coverage of the China earthquake has been heartbreaking. The scenes on television are just unreal, almost unbelievable; disaster on this scale is hard to comprehend.
But some things are still best conveyed by radio. It can be a tremendous medium for storytelling.
National Public Radio ran a story on the quake's aftermath this afternoon that, well, completely tore me up. It took me quite a while to recover from it.
Melissa Block, on the ground in China, accompanied survivors as they frantically clawed through the rubble of their collapsed apartment building, looking for their loved ones.
The story is about 12 minutes long, and is so evocative of the horror on the ground that it is, candidly, really hard to take... but it's also one of the best pieces of radio journalism I think I've ever heard.
The ordinarily stalwart Ms. Block was not keeping it together all that well at points, and I have to say I was right there with her... the hell with journalistic (or personal) detachment in a situation like this.
Showing posts with label radio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radio. Show all posts
14 May 2008
16 October 2006
No static at all: Understanding Triangle (NC) FM radio
Never let it be said that we don't do service journalism (service blogging?) at enrevanche.
Helpful hints for NC visitors:
When in the Triangle area of North Carolina, everything worth listening to on FM radio can be found at 91.5 FM or below on your dial, including two (!) very fine jazz stations:
88.1 - WKNC, NC State's student radio station
88.7 - WXDU, Duke University's student radio station
88.9 - WSHA, Shaw University (jazz format)
89.3 - WXYC, UNC's student radio station
89.7 - WCPE, privately-funded classical radio station
90.7 - WNCU, NC Central University (jazz format)
91.5 - WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio/NPR news/talk
All else on the FM dial is dross; a programmed, formatted morass of pop, country, Christian and "urban contemporary" bullshit... the same stale wasteland that commercial radio everywhere has become, essentially.
Since the student radio stations (KNC, XDU, XYC) are relatively low-output and you'll only be able to pick up one or at most two of them, depending on where in the Triangle you are, you now have all the information you'll need to program the presets on your rental car's radio.
Helpful hints for NC visitors:
When in the Triangle area of North Carolina, everything worth listening to on FM radio can be found at 91.5 FM or below on your dial, including two (!) very fine jazz stations:
88.1 - WKNC, NC State's student radio station
88.7 - WXDU, Duke University's student radio station
88.9 - WSHA, Shaw University (jazz format)
89.3 - WXYC, UNC's student radio station
89.7 - WCPE, privately-funded classical radio station
90.7 - WNCU, NC Central University (jazz format)
91.5 - WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio/NPR news/talk
All else on the FM dial is dross; a programmed, formatted morass of pop, country, Christian and "urban contemporary" bullshit... the same stale wasteland that commercial radio everywhere has become, essentially.
Since the student radio stations (KNC, XDU, XYC) are relatively low-output and you'll only be able to pick up one or at most two of them, depending on where in the Triangle you are, you now have all the information you'll need to program the presets on your rental car's radio.
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