“The 700 MHz spectrum, being vacated by TV stations as they go digital, is coveted for its ability to penetrate walls and other obstacles. Under FCC chairman Kevin Martin’s proposal, to be circulated in the agency as early as Tuesday, mobile services in these airwaves would have to allow consumer choice. ‘Whoever wins this spectrum has to provide … truly open broadband network — one that will open the door to a lot of innovative services for consumers,’ Martin said in an interview Monday.”
Tag: 07.10.07
A Bright Future For Radio?
“Why are these canny investors putting their millions into radio? Because they believe in the digital future, where, within the next five years, it is confidently predicted every television will be digital, every home have broadband. Radio will be something you download, time-shift, available through many devices other than that crackly old set that sits in your kitchen with flour on its face. They can also see that UK commercial radio is a business in decline. Some experts believe this is because there are too many stations, too much regulation, unfair competition from a BBC with its secure funding and freedom to change.”
Edinburgh – Paying For Your Art
In August Edinburgh is crawling with theatre at the Fringe Festival. Many of the the offerings are home-made. But by the time you add up all the costs of doing work there, performers end up paying for the opportunity…
The Insta-Review
“It’s every critic’s nightmare. A publisher gets snotty and refuses to send out any advance copies of a well-hyped book – even if you agree to sign an embargo letter – and you know that your editor is going to want you to write something the day it’s published for the following day’s paper.” This is when a speed reading course comes in handy…
The Great Mind Of Lyndon LaRouche
His adherents regard Lyndon LaRouche as the greatest mind of the past 300 years, at very least. “I’m probably the best economist in the world today,” as LaRouche told The Washington Post in 1985. But a list of the areas of expertise behind that claim of eminence is even more astounding. LaRouche has determined the correct pitch for tuning musical instruments. Any other tuning bothers him, besides being incompatible with the structure of the universe.”
Meet Your Architect
Dallas’s Museum of Nature & Science is in the final stages of selecting an architect for its new home, and last month, took the unusual step of inviting the four finalists to address a public gathering and lay out their vision for the museum and the city around it.
Bringing The Real Africa To Light
A landmark exhibit of the work of artist Simon Njami is aiming to change global perceptions of African life and culture, a mission the artist has embraced throughout his career. Born in Europe, Njami sees the world’s affection for traditional African art as an incomplete interest in the subject. “Art and artists can tell their own stories – and in those stories is truth about what it is to be African. Part of the truth, at least.”
Why English Festivals Are So Successful
“An interesting by-product of New Labour’s insistence on cultural ‘inclusivity’ has been the emergence of a thrusting new breed of arts administrator determined to ensure that venues/festivals/events are open to all.”
The World’s Top 10 New Building Projects
“Countries from the US to Kazakhstan are in a building frenzy. They are all eclipsed, however, by the greatest building site of all: China, whose appetite is so insatiable that it is gobbling up half the world’s concrete and still has room for a third of its steel for pudding. This is a boom time for architecture. Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai and Moscow are staking their claim to a place on the architectural stage, with no absurdity too extreme.”
Why Everyone Hates The New ENO Kismet
The English National Opera has been savaged for its production of Kismet. “Underlying the criticism is a sense of mystification that ENO should have put on Kismet, which is set in Baghdad at the time of the Arabian Nights, at all: a disquiet about what it means for the company – once at the cutting edge of radical opera – to be mounting a West End show with a West End star, Michael Ball, in the lead. And messing it up. Is this what they are subsidised for?”