As ever, you set the agenda for the show – what you’d like us to cover, and what questions you want us to answer. Here’s a summary of what’s covered in the latest installment of FrequencyCast:

• News Updates: BBC HD channel to be axed, iPhone 4S shortages, o2′s upgrade policy, PBS comes to the UK and festive DAB
• Focus: As requested by our listeners, it’s all about printers and printing.
• Review: iPhone 4S and the Siri virtual assistant
• Your comments and questions on dual monitors, Overdrive book lending and the Steadicam

If you have an iPod, iPhone or iPad device, you should find show 69 is available now via iTunes – See FrequencyCast on iTunes.

Alternatively, you can download Show 69 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html

Show Links:

• Show Notes for Show 69
• Transcript: Printers and Printing Transcript
• Transcript: iPhone 4S and Siri Transcript

Please help us out by spreading the word. Tell your friends via: FrequencyCast on Facebook and FrequencyCast on Twitter.

Any comments on the show? Anything you’d like to ask our Siri? Please add a comment below, or leave us a voicemail message on 0208 133 4567 (London call), or drop us a text message!

• News Updates: Scotland Switch complete, mobile roaming fees reduced, plus the of the line for an awesome vehicle
• Focus: 4G Mobile Broadband is coming, but will it cripple Freeview?
• Featured: Nintendo Wii U, Sky Go, changes to SeeSaw and the laminated book’s TV channel
• Out and About: Our look at the Home Technology Show
• Your comments and questions on Freesat HD, broadband dongles, and Internet cameras

If you have an iPod, iPhone or iPad device, you should find show 65 is available now for free download – If you’ve not subscribed, go to  FrequencyCast on iTunes.

Alternatievly, you can download Show 65 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

Links:

• Show Notes for Show 65
• Transcript: 4G and Freeview Interference
• Transcript: Show 65 Transcript Part 2

We’ve changed the format of this show everso slightly, to get more news crammed into the show. We’d love to know your comments.

Our shows are free, and we need to you to spread the word – Please mention FrequencyCast on Facebook and Twitter, and tell your friends about us.

Today, we’ve discovered a rather unusual approach being tried by community radio station Chorley FM, in Lancashire…

The radio station launched in 2006, after some trial ‘special event’ broadcasts, and has a good following in the community – it’s also a good training ground for people in Lancashire to get some experience in working for a radio station.

In a bid to get some revenue, the station is inviting one company to sponsor the station’s output for six months. Nothing new there – but it’s the way that they’re doing it that has caught our eye.  The sponsorship deal is available now as a “Buy it now”on eBay:

Chorley FM's sponsorship ad on eBay

For the £6,600 asking price, you’ll get advertising, presenter mentions, text messages to listeners, inclusion on the station’s branding, mentions on the station’s website, one on-air interview a month, and an Outside Broadcast of your choosing.

The station has a potential audience of 120,000 locals in the South Lancashire area, and broadcast on FM and online.

If you want to sponsor this community radio station, you can “buy it now”, or make ‘em an offer on eBay until the 16th of July: Chorley FM Sponsorship on eBay

Full credit to the guys and gals at Chorley FM for finding this rather unique way of raising money to keep community radio alive.

PS: If you’re reading Chorley FM – We’re happy to let you (and any other community station) make the FrequencyCast radio show a part of your output for free! For details and T&Cs, see our Syndicate FrequencyCast page

In this show, we have a lot to cover. Here’s a summary:

• News Updates: BBC Goes Full HD, Apple news round the corner, BBC Alba and fast o2
• Focus: The Future Of The Internet. The dangers of filters,TalkTalk’s new service, and Skype’s been bought
• Interview: An exclusive chat with the C.O.O of broadband firm Plusnet
• Your comments and questions on shortwave radio, short cable leads, Karotz and solar power meters

You can download Show 64 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

If you have an iPod, iPhone or iPad, get shows faster by signing up to FrequencyCast on iTunes.

Links:

• Show Notes for Show 64
• Filter Bubble Talk – TED.com video
• Transcript: Internet Filter Bubble
• Transcript: Full Plusnet Interview

We hope you enjoy our  June show. We’d love to get your comments on what you’ve heard.

Remember, our shows are free, and we need to you to spread the word – Please mention us on Facebook and Twitter, and tell your chums.

Here’s a look at what we cover in this show:

• News Updates: Digital Switchover update, BBC local radio and Powerline adapter news
• Focus: The Internet is changing – A look at how IPv6 will affect you and your browser
• Hands-on: We play with the new Nintendo 3DS, and don’t get a headache
• Your comments and questions on local radio, iMax Mini, Yesterday and analogue TV

You can download Show 62 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

If you have an iPod, iPhone or iPad, get shows faster by signing up to FrequencyCast on iTunes.

Links:

• Show Notes for Show 62
• Transcript: IPv6 Explained
• Transcript: Nintendo 3DS Review

We hope you enjoy the show.

We’d also like to remind you that without you, we’re nothing. Our shows are free, and we need to you to spread the word – Please mention us on Facebook and Twitter, and spread the word.

The service is intended to be a one-stop for listening to radio stations in the UK, and combines BBC and commercial radio stations on one platform.

The RadioPlayer is free, and is a joint venture between the BBC, Global Radio, Absolute Radio, Guardian Media and the RadioCentre.

An initial 150 stations and now live on the RadioPlayer, with more on the way. Some “on demand” radio content, including BBC Listen Again content, is also available with the new RadioPlayer

You can listen to stations now from your web browser at www.radioplayer.co.uk

Episode 7 is out now at www.fostersfunny.co.uk - and as well as being required viewing for Partridge fans, is also a must-watch for anyone who’s spent time working in local radio, like our Carl and Pete.

In this installment of Mid Morning Matters, some home-made jingles, Alan’s interview, and the hottest radio quiz in North Norfolk, radio Battleships.

Hope it makes you snigger and cringe alternately…

Back of the net!

(Listeners – Pete and Carl? Which one’s Alan, and which one’s Sidekick Simon?)

In our latest TV and Tech show, we cover the following:

• News Updates: BBC One HD, BT Vision Powerline Recall
• Focus: Seconds Generation Apple TV
• Hands-on: TomTom Go 1000 Sat Nav
• Your comments and questions on tablets, streamers, 3D and PIN codes

You can download Show 57 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows downloaded automatically by signing up via iTunes.

Links:

• Show Notes for Show 57
• Transcript: Focus on Apple TV
• Transcript: Hands on with the TomTom Go 1000

We hope you enjoy today’s show. We’d love to know what you think.

As ever, if you like what you’ve heard, please spread the word!

We’ve just released a quick 10 minute update covering a few news snippets – the changes at Global Radio, a new TomTom sat nav, good news for T-Mobile and Orange users, plus new toys from Apple

The 10 minute FrequencyCast Update is attached to this blog entry, and is available free via iTunes or at www.frequencycast.co.uk/update.html

We’d love to get your feedback on these stories.

Plans to close the music station were announced by BBC bosses in March, but today, the BBC Trust has announced that plans to shut the station are to be shelved, and the station will carry on.

Not so lucky is BBC Asian Network, which appears set to close.

The saving of 6 Music has been widely regarded as a good move, and will come as great news to the various campaigners and lobby groups who’ve been applying pressure to the BBC online and offline.

The station now has 1 million listeners (up from 600,000 prior to the threatened closure), with many people tuning in for the first time to hear what all the fuss was about.

A result all around, and the station’s gained a huge amount of press coverage, awareness and listeners – a cynic could even remark that this has been a very successful BBC marketing campaign. But not us.

Well,  that number is set to shrink to 15.

Following recent rule-changes announced by regulators OfCom, Heart stations will be merged into what’s being called “Super Stations”, in some cases forming what are effectively regional radio stations. Mercury FM (Crawley) and Ten17 (Harlow) will also form part of nearby Heart super stations.

It’s expected that up to 200 jobs will be axed as a result of these changes.

Also, their Gold services will be affected. At present, there are 26 “Gold” branded stations with some local programming, but these will be scrapped to be replaced with a national “Gold” network with no local programming, from next week.

Another dark day for “local radio” in the UK…

Pete from FrequencyCast was at the celebrations to mark the historic broadcast, and was able to secure an interview with John Bower, the chairman of the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society. In the interview, John looks back at the events of 1920, talks a little about today’s radio amateur, explains that the moon is in our grasp, and looks at issues such as the troublesome Powerline adapters and DAB radio.

Anyone with even a casual interest in radio should find this a fascinating interview, and we’d love you to take a listen.

You can download the 20 minute interview, or listen online, at www.frequencycast.co.uk/historyofradio.html

Take a listen and let us know your thoughts.

• News Updates: BBC1 HD, Freeview HD, DAB Amnesty and new iPhone.
• Focus: Getting more from your digital photos
• Hands-on: A tech-tech keep-fit bug
• Your comments and questions on BT Vision and the BBC iPlayer

You can download Show 52 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows faster by signing up via iTunes.

Links:

• Show Notes
• Transcript: Get more from your digital photos
• Transcript: Get Healthy with a Fitbug

We hope you enjoy this packed show. If you like what you’ve heard, please spread the word…

No idea what we’re talking about? Shame on you! A towel is probably the most handy thing you can own. “A man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with”.

Today is marked by fans of the wholly remarkable radio series, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, as Towel Day. The date commemorates two weeks after the author, Douglas Adams, ascended to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, on 11th May 2001.

In searching to see which of the newspapers have mentioned Towel Day, the Telegraph referred me to an article written by Douglas in 1999 – It’s well worth a read: How to stop worrying and learn to love the Internet.

We’d also like to point to a rather good deal on the radio series (the original and best Hitchhikers version) – All five series of the radio series can be purchased for £36 (saving £44), from Play.com. There’s a bonus CD of extras and behind-the-scenes stuff too. Free postage and packing all the way from Ursa Minor.

Once again, happy Towel Day to you all, and Don’t Panic!

HHGG fan? Add a quote below…

We now have a ShoutCast stream on FrequencyCast, which includes our current show, as well as a selection of recent Focus features. Internet radio receivers make use of a database of streaming radio stations, and we should be listed on many of those databases. If you have an Internet radio, take a look and see if we’re listed.

If we’re not listed, you may be able to add us manually – here’s our Shoutcast feed address: http://lush.wavestreamer.com:3680/listen.pls

Fnd out more about our streaming service, see our FrequencyCast Radio Station page.

Can you get FrequencyCast on your Internet radio? Let us know which model you’ve found us on, as a comment.

• News Updates: New iPhone details leaked, 3D TV is here, HD news and HomePlug hassle.
• Focus: How the rushed-through Digital Economy Act affects you, TV, radio and the Internet
• Hands-on: We get to go outside and play with a few sets of walkie talkies
• Your comments and questions on catch-up TV, MP3 players, ITV 1 HD and more

You can download Show 51 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.

If you have an iPod or iPhone, get shows faster by signing up via iTunes.

Links:

• Show Notes
• Transcript: Focus on The Digital Future
• Transcript: Hands On With Walkie Talkies
• Become a Facebook Fan

We hope you enjoy this packed show. If you like what you’ve heard, please spread the word…

Director General Mark Thompson announced the proposed closure as part of a strategy review released today. There will also be a cull of a sizable chunk of the BBC online content, reported job cuts, and a number of other cutbacks.

You can read the full report, and also “Have Your Say” to the BBC Trust: BBC Strategic Review.

The proposals now undergo a 12 week public scrutiny period.

The “Save 6 Music” Facebook Group now has over 91,000 members.

According to the last audience survey, 6 Music pulls in 695,000 listeners a week (0.4% of all UK radio listening). Amongst those that do listen, the station has a strong following, and we’re already seeing petitions and a “Save 6 Music” Facebook group and petitions popping up, in an attempt to stop the Beeb from closing the station.

Commercial station Absolute Radio (the station formerly known as Virgin) has been quick to leap in, apparently offering to buy 6 Music from the BBC, and run it more efficiently that the BBC has been doing. (Source: The Times)

At the moment, the future for 6 Music remains unclear…

The tech team at Absolute Radio has released a nifty site that allows the world to peek into the playlists of UK radio stations. Their site robot monitors the “Now Playing” information transmitted by radio stations, and uses this to work out the number of songs on a station’s playlist, and how frequently songs get repeated.

Feel you’re hearing the same songs on your commercial radio station? You probably are, and this site proves it.

The site highlights that Capital FM has played 8,800 or so songs in the last 30 days – but that’s made up of the same 223 tracks… a pretty small playlist. Artists JLS, Beyonce and Lady GaGa clock in with over 350 plays a month.

Go to comparemyradio.com and see how your station compares.

“The needle returns to the start of the song, and we all sing along like before…”

If you’re not familiar with the series, it was first shown in the late 1970s, and it’s a US sitcom based at a commercial AM radio station. The largely dysfunctional staff show how not to run a station – the first episode shows how the station switches from elevator music to Rock-n-Roll.

The crew includes Breakfast Jock the burnt-out Dr Johnny Fever, stunning receptionist Jennifer Marlow, vegetable-obsessed newsreader Les Nessman, Programme Director Andy Travis, salesman Herb Tarleck, plus the spineless boss, Arthur ‘Big-guy’ Carlson.

The show was shown here in the UK now and again in the 80s and 90s on ITV, but has not been available here for quite some time. DVD releases have been an issue due to copyright royalty issues arising from the show’s use of original rock and roll tracks.

WKRP Series 1 is now available in the UK, after a long wait by the series fans. It’s available for download from iTunes. The 22 episodes will cost you just over £20. Some music tracks have been edited or altered to overcome the copyright issues.

Thanks to listener and forum member Speedrite for letting us know.