TV & Radio
Open Air
Several years ago in Viroqua, Wisconsin (pop. 5,079), a group of serious radio-heads started a community station. The station, Radio Driftless, is now on FM and broadcasts full-time, and since they hit the airwaves, Viroqua has had the radio bug. This Wisconsin town sounds like a sound guy’s fairy tale, but the story doesn’t... »
Turning the Dial
“Oh, I’m not proud,” George Kagan says. “I don’t like the idea of pride.” But it’s hard not to imagine a justified hint of it as he weaves the tale of his 62 handcrafted radios, which are now on display at Hyde Park’s Southside Hub of Production (SHoP). »
Cracking the Code
The show has left many wondering whether the Chicago Police are really the superheroes in the SUVs, and why they should be portrayed as such if they are not. »
Radio noir
“Please note that some of our sounds effects are a bit loud,” the warning read. “If you have sensitive ears, you might want to keep an eye on the trash can lids.” This note, displayed during “An Evening of Classic Horror and Suspense in the Old Time Radio Tradition,” seems a bit distant from... »
Chicago Verité: Media Burn video archive preserves Windy City history
Most college students grew up around camcorders and YouTube, but there was a time when no one outside of the major networks was able to inexpensively shoot video or easily broadcast it. On Thursday, May 6th, the Fund for Innovative Television (FITV) gave a screening at the University of Chicago’s Film Studies Center of... »
What’s the Matter with Cable News?: The media’s incivility reaches a fever pitch
Popular opinion has led us to believe that the infection to be worried about this fall is swine flu. Given its generally mild effects, I beg to differ—the real epidemic we should be on guard against is the insidious rise of talking head-itis, easily identifiable by its common symptoms: disregard for evidence, angry invocations... »
Rabbi Radio
A gap in WHPK 88.5 FM’s programming will finally be filled this summer with the arrival of the station’s first Jewish interest show. Rabbi Yossi Brackman of the University of Chicago’s Chabad House describes his upcoming show, tentatively titled “L’Chaim with the Rabbi,” as a Jewish variety/call-in show, and says it will provide “some... »
Live from Englewood: Chicago Public Radio’s Natalie Moore covers the real South Side
Sometimes it seems like there are two different versions of this side of Chicago. Media portrayal of the “mean streets” of the South Side can sometimes look like a whirlwind of shootings and low-income housing controversy, but this sensationalized portrait is not the South Side that residents know—as many can attest, life south of... »
