radio

World News

Norway Will Be First Country To Shut Down FM Network, Go All-Digital

8:03am January 06, 2017

by Camila Domonoske

Digital radio has room for more channels, and supporters say it provides higher-quality sound. But most Norwegians oppose the decision to entirely ditch the national FM network starting next week.

A tiny radio receiver built from components the size of two atoms. It emits a signal as red light, which is then converted into an electrical current and can be broadcast as sound by a speaker or headphone.

This Christmas Song Brought To You By The World's Tiniest Radio Receiver

2:01pm December 19, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

Engineers made a radio receiver with building blocks the size of two atoms. One benefit of a radio so small you can barely see it: The machine works at extremely high temperatures.

Radio Garden Lets You Tune Into A World Of Global Broadcasts

3:49pm December 16, 2016

by Deepak Singh

It's a new website with 8,000 radio stations from around the world. It's a way to travel to faraway places — and for immigrants to get a taste of home.

People listen to the radio as the results of the presidential elections are announced in Kireka, Uganda, in February. Many rural Ugandans don't have Internet access, and the radio is a central source of news — and platform for citizens' opinions.

World News

Turn On, Tune In, Transcribe: U.N. Develops Radio-Listening Tool

8:35pm October 31, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

In rural Uganda, "radio is everything," as one journalist puts it. So the U.N., hoping to hear more rural voices, used a tiny amount of data to build speech recognition software for new languages.

Science

Can Ancient Fossils Prepare Humans for the Future?

1:00pm September 02, 2016

by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Recently, Drs. Lindsay Zanno and Victoria Arbour took a brief scouting expedition to New Mexico, looking for dinosaur fossils exposed at the surface of 90-million-year-old rock. Only three North American dinosaur species have been identified from this time period. They want to find more.

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"Whether you met him or not, you felt like you knew him," NASCAR Hall of Fame Executive Director Winston Kelley says of longtime broadcaster Barney Hall.

Radio Legend Barney Hall, The Calm Voice Of NASCAR, Dies At 83

2:08pm January 27, 2016

by Bill Chappell

From the debut of the Daytona 500, Barney Hall missed calling the race only four times. He was revered for navigating any situation with steady intelligence.

U.S. Investigating Covert Chinese Radio Broadcast Network

6:23pm November 03, 2015

by Laura Wagner

The Federal Communications Commission has announced an investigation into a California firm after a Reuters report revealed that its radio broadcasts are backed by the Chinese government.

Evelyn Birkby interviews guests on her KMA radio program, Down a Country Lane, in 1951 in Shenandoah, Iowa.

Food Podcasts 1.0: These Radio Pioneers Had It Down 90 Years Ago

6:06pm October 29, 2015

by Anne Bramley

From the 1920s on, women broadcasters offered recipes, life hacks and insights for the farmer's wife. Like podcasts, their shows were often personal, off-the-cuff and right from the kitchen table.

Ed Walker hosted WAMU 88.5's Big Broadcast, a popular show featuring rebroadcasts of vintage radio dramas, for more than two decades. The 83-year-old died Monday shortly after his final broadcast.

National

Remembering A Lifelong Radio Man And His 'Big Broadcast'

5:42pm October 26, 2015

by NPR Staff

Ed Walker died Monday after signing off his long-running show, The Big Broadcast, for the last time. The show, heard out of NPR member station WAMU, reprised programs from the golden age of radio.

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National

The Hidden FM Radio Inside Your Pocket, And Why You Can't Use It

8:01am April 17, 2015

by Emma Bowman

Most smartphones have a built-in FM chip. But whether or not it's activated is in the hands of the mobile carriers, who profit when you stream radio. The broadcast industry is pushing to change this.

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