SRS- Inspiration for style

I'm definately going to continue the general style that I started on my poster, but I think I'm going to exaggerate it more. When I started my poster Ange suggested that I play up a sort of 90s-grunge look (think Nirvana, flannel shirts, greasy hair... you children of the 90s know what I mean. :P) But I think it would be a very appropriate for a poster that's major tagline is "MAINSTREAM SUCKS". I really enjoy making flash websites, so one of the pieces in my series will definitely be that. I'm think of an animation intro to the website with a couple shocking facts about the big media takeover of radio, and then a grunge-like style for the rest of the site. Here's a screen shot of one website that was close to the type of style I think I'll go for.

SRS- Inspiration for Content

Hey everyone-

Here's some articles I'm going to look to for inspiration/information. Take a look!

Pay for play
Why does radio suck? Because most stations play only the songs the record companies pay them to. And things are going to get worse.
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By Eric Boehlert

March 14, 2001 | Does radio seem bad these days? Do all the hits sound the same, all the stars seem like cookie cutouts of one another?

It's because they do, and they are.

Why? Listeners may not realize it, but radio today is largely bought by the record companies. Most rock and Top 40 stations get paid to play the songs they spin by the companies that manufacture the records.

But it's not payola -- exactly. Here's how it works. Click to read the rest of this article.


Radio's big bully
A complete guide to Salon's reporting on Clear Channel, the most powerful -- and some would say pernicious -- force in the music industry.
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For the past few months, Salon reporter Eric Boehlert has been tracking the story of Clear Channel Communications, the little-noticed media giant that has quietly taken over the country's radio and concert industries.

The company owns nearly 1,200 radio stations and effectively controls the rock radio market. It also owns SFX Entertainment, the nation's dominant concert-venue owner and touring promoter.

In the stories below, Boehlert has detailed the corporation's evolution under the aegis of Randy Michaels, the one-time shock jock who has turned the industry upside down with rampant cost-cutting and a good-ol'-boy approach to management. Click here to read the rest of this article.

Website Is Up!

Yayyyy! My website for this class is up and running! The solution to the mystery of the non-working-STFP-uploader was solved by using Cyberduck, instead of Fugu or Fetch. Who knows why... computers are just crazy. But it works! So I don't really care why anymore. So here's my website, up and working!

PSTR- Progress

Here's the evolution of my poster so far. I still have a lot of reworking to do with the images, so the picture on the left is NOT my final, but's it the current stage of progress I'm at. Right now I'm working on finding a balance between having the images be recognizable as people who represent why radio sucks, but keeping them toned-down enough so that they don't take the attention from the headline, which is the focal point of the poster. Ange pointed out that the poster doesn't direct your eye very well, your eye tends to get stuck up at the top, which I completely agree with. So I'm also trying to re-work the lines coming out of the radio so that they direct the eye better, instead of distracting. If anyone has any other ideas or constructive criticisms please feel free to tell me! Thanks!

Webspace Rant.

Wow this is so frustrating! I don't know if anyone else is having this same problem... but today in class I had NO problem using Fetch to upload things to my webspace, but when I go home and try to get to my webspace from fetch on my home computer, I get an error message EVERY TIME! "SFTP connection to "drotn008.email.umn.edu" could not be opened because the connection to the SFTP server could not be established or was lost". Huh?? So I guess I'll have to wait until I'm on a university computer in McNeal to try to put up a link to my blog. Boo :( Sorry Ange!

PSTR- Sketches

PSTR- Initial Ideas

While looking at the list of "Things That Suck", I found the section on radio. It talks about how radio has become monotonous and brainless due to limited numbers of frequencies available and big media companies taking over huge numbers of stations. I did a speech on media consolidation with an emphasis on radio for my public speaking class last semester, so I know a fair amount of background on that issue. That speech also made me pretty interested in the issue and realize WHY all my favorite radio stations have disappeared in the last five or so years. For example, the time my favorite 80's, 90's and Today station mysteriously became a country station overnight to my dismay... booo Clear Channel Broadcasting... Boooo.