April brought a shower of new listeners to J1 as we saw a very significant increase in overall Total Listening Hours (TLH). J1’s overall ASL rating (see explanation below)) had soared this past month from 14.81 in March to 16.27 this month. ASL for Michiasa has substantially improved, especially on the weaker Monday (Sunday in the USA) timeslot. The growth in Europe is evident due to the rising amount of listening between 9AM and 5PM CET (overnight in the USA) and is responsible for filling in some of the “slumps” previous month’s results have experienced.

REC Networks has relaunched FMFIND.info today. FMFIND is a consumer friendly tool that allows users of satellite radio receivers, iPod extenders and other low power Part 15 devices that broadcast in the FM broadcast band to be able to locate a suitable channel that would avoid receiving interference from full power broadcast stations and FM translators.

FMFIND was started in 2006 originally in response to the hobbyist community who were using Part 15 transmitters such as those manufactured by C.Crane and Belkin to relay audio sources or very low power broadcast stations.

Original New York Times article (opens in new window.)

Imagine for a moment if your state passed a law that said that in order for you to use an interstate highway, you must be driving a Ford or a Nissan. If you drive a GM, Chrysler or a Toyota, you must use the 2-lane highway with a 35 mile per hour speed limit. If you were a GM owner, you would feel discriminated against.

In March, J1 experienced a gradual increase in listening around the world. Our world markets are starting to be more defined as our listening in Japan, Singapore and North America (USA/Canada) increase and other nations start to decrease. North America accounts for over 50% of J1 listening in the past month. Domestically in the USA, we have seen a substantial increase of share in Southern California. We are very concerned about a sharp decrease in TLH from the Bay Area, one of our primary markets.

Overall, J1 listening statistics for January have been fairly steady over December. Overall total listening hours (TLH) fell short of the 30-day November period but was an increase over December. In January, J1 did see an increase in VIP listening and simultaneous VIP counts have been seen as high as 7 during the course of the month.

01/11 5AM Update: REC's "sub-domains" used for the broadcast database server have been restored. It may take time for the information to propagate through the internet but should be up in the next 24 hours if it isn't up already.

This started late last week when our domain name server (DNS) provider ZoneEdit had a failure of their primary and secondary nameservers. This left REC as well as many other ZoneEdit users out in the cold.

We attempted to move our DNS to our hosting provider HostGator. (our use of ZoneEdit for DNS predates our use of HostGator by several years)

In 2009, REC celebrated its 25th anniversary. On July 20, 1984 from what started as a simple phone line called "California Comments" has developed and changed over the past quarter century.

2009 was a pretty slow year for REC. Other than routine database maintenance, we pretty much took a back seat in the broadcast/LPFM department this year. Our friends at Prometheus Radio Project were very busy in getting legislation through that would increase the opportunities for new community broadcast stations across the country.