Immense Studs Terkel radio archive Kickstarts to digital; RAIN gets exclusive listen

Just about anyone working in the broadcast or media worlds should be familiar with Studs Terkel. The Pulitzer Prize-winner made his name on his probing interviews with both the leading thinkers of the day and the average workaday citizens of the United States alike. Now, a new project by Chicago’s WFMT Radio Network aims to preserve and digitize Terkel’s radio shows. RAIN News readers have also been granted exclusive access to a pair of his interviews from the late 1960s. Continue Reading

AM radio veteran turns to Kickstarter for new talk show

Dimitri Vassilaros was a talk host on AM station KDKA, and his resume as broadcaster and journalist includes stints with CBS, Clear Channel/iHeart, Gannett, Tribune-Review, and Hearst. He has a new program in his sights, and has turned to Kickstarter to fund what he says will be both an online radio production, and a podcast. Continue Reading

Kickstarter project offers better sound with portable amplifier

Lots of leaders and startups in the music industry have been exploring options for improving sound quality in online listening. We’ve seen lots of new platforms touting their hi-fi, lossless sound, but one of the top criticisms of those services is that people listen to them with mediocre headphones. A new Kickstarter project aims to literally amp up the sound quality for people even without top-shelf headphones. Continue Reading

Pono Music seeking $2.5 million in new equity crowdfunding project

Pono Music already has more than $6 million at its disposal from Kickstarter, but Neil Young and company are looking to raise more with a slightly different crowdfunding approach. This time they’re using Crowdfunder, which is an equity crowdfunding platform. Pono is looking to raise $2.5 million, and they’ve already received $1.43 million in commitments. Continue Reading

A survey of crowdfunded podcasts

Podcasting is a surging content category in online audio, but still off the mainstream path compared with Internet radio and music-service giants and their multi-billion-dollar valuations. Aggregators and producers such as Podcast One and Midroll Media are leveraging new platforms to raise awareness, and revenue, of online-only talk programs. Out on the fringe, some podcast creators are seeking funding and visibility on crowdfunding platforms.

Knowing about The Media Podcast project inspired us to survey crowdfunders Kickstarter and Indiegogo to observe how podcast creators are using them, and to what extent they are succeeding. Continue Reading