Tag Archives: radio

The Radio Analogy: What Broadcast Radio Got Right (and Wrong) About Discovery

Posted on April 13, 2026 by nathanalbright

White Paper 4 of the Beyond the Playlist Series Abstract Broadcast radio preceded streaming by decades and was, for most of the twentieth century, the primary infrastructure through which ordinary listeners encountered music they had not chosen and had not … Continue reading →

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Scarcity by Design: Chart Truncation, Paywalls, and the Institutional Logic of Contemporary Airplay Metrics: A White Paper on Mediabase’s Top-25 Model as a Case of Information Gating

Posted on February 8, 2026 by nathanalbright

Abstract The contraction of publicly visible radio airplay charts from broader ranked lists (Top 40 or Top 50) to abbreviated Top 25 displays, combined with aggressive recurrent classification and the placement of full charts behind a high institutional subscription price, … Continue reading →

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White Paper: From Gatekeepers to Signals: The Canceling of Ebro in the Morning and the Changing Relationship Between Radio and Online Music Journalism

Posted on December 16, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary The canceling of Ebro in the Morning—a flagship hip-hop radio show associated with Apple Music and Beats 1—marks more than the end of a particular program. It reflects a structural transformation in the relationship between traditional radio authority … Continue reading →

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White Paper: The Profit Pressures Behind Radio Format Changes — With Portland & The Dalles as Case Studies

Posted on September 28, 2025 by nathanalbright

Executive summary Radio stations change or shutter formats when revenue, costs, and audience reach fall out of balance. In mid-2025 Portland lost “Bella 105” (Hot AC) when Audacy flipped 105.1 FM to a simulcast of sports “1080 The Fan,” and … Continue reading →

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The State Of Adult Contemporary On Spotify

Posted on May 13, 2020 by nathanalbright

One of the ways in which one moves from a low-information into a high-information listener of music is the awareness of where one’s listening choices fit in the highly segmented music industry.  Once you know where the songs you tend … Continue reading →

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On Instantiation

Posted on May 7, 2020 by nathanalbright

One of my online acquaintances created a music chart that helped to coin the neologism I would like to talk about today.  What is instantiation?  The term refers to the time when a given song reaches a widespread radio audience, … Continue reading →

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As I Walk Into The Great Unknown

Posted on August 8, 2019 by nathanalbright

Rachel Platten, if she is remembered at all, is remembered generally as a one-hit wonder for her empowerment anthem “Fight Song” and for her debut album Wildfire, both of which were widely panned as among the worst music of 2016.  … Continue reading →

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A Modest Proposal For The Creation Of A Soundtrack Pop Format

Posted on May 2, 2019 by nathanalbright

From time to time I enjoy reading discussions about the formulation of various radio formats.  Although my current connection to radio is slight, at one time I was a college radio DJ and I have retained an interest in the … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Aliens Are Coming!

Posted on January 16, 2019 by nathanalbright

Aliens Are Coming!:  The True Account Of The 1938 War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast, by Meghan McCarthy Despite not having a great deal of interest in aliens or literature about aliens [1], I have a great deal of interest … Continue reading →

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Book Review: C.S. Lewis & Mere Christianity

Posted on July 2, 2014 by nathanalbright

C.S. Lewis & Mere Christianity: The Crisis That Created A Classic, by Paul McCusker [Note: This book was provided free of charge by Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.] In some ways it is particularly ironic that … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Christianity, History, Military History | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments