Following the development of the most pervasive medium in Australia, this is the first full-scale, national history of the country's commercial radio. From the experiments and schemes of the 1920s through the introduction of digital radio in 2009, this sweeping study moves from Sydney to Adelaide, Launceston to Cairns, Broken Hill to Albany. Exploring the varied programming genres of drama, music, quiz shows, sports, and politics, the in-depth research traces the engagement of commercial radio with various communities of Australian listeners. In addition, many of the iconic names of Australian radio are featured, including George Edwards, Grace Gibson, Jack Davey, Bob Dyer, Bob Rogers, Norman Banks, Andrea, Brian White, John Laws, and Alan Jones.

CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY BROADCAST JOURNALISM In the years before the civil rights era, American broadcasting reflected the interests of the white mainstream, especially in the South. Today, the face of local television throughout the nation mirrors the diversity of the local populations. The impetus for change began in 1964, when the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ and two black Mississippians, Aaron Henry and Reverend R. L. T. Smith, challenged the broadcasting license of WLBT, an NBC affiliate in Jackson, Mississippi. The lawsuit was the catalyst that would bring social reform to American broadcasting. This station in a city whose population was 40 percent black was charged with failure to give fair coverage to civil rights and to integration issues that were dominating the news. Among offenses cited by the black population were the cancellation of a network interview with the civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall and editorializing against the integration of the University of Mississippi. However, muscle, money, and a powerhouse Washington, D.C., law firm were on the side of the station. Despite the charges, the Federal Communications Commission twice renewed the station's license. Twice the challengers won appeals to the federal courts. Warren Burger, then a federal appeals court judge, wrote decisions on both challenges. The first ordered the FCC to allow public participation in its proceedings. The second, an unprecedented move, took the license from WLBT. This well-told, deeply researched history of the case covers the legal battles over their more than fifteen years and reports the ultimate victory for civil rights. Aaron Henry, a black civil rights leader and one of the plaintiffs, became the station's chairman of the board. WLBT's new manager, William Dilday, was the first black person in the South to hold such a position. Burger's decision on this Mississippi case had widescale repercussions, for it allowed community groups in other regions to challenge their stations and to negotiate for improved services and for the employment of minorities. Kay Mills is the author of A Place in the News: From the Women's Pages to the Front Page, This Little Light of Mine: The Life of Fannie Lou Hamer, From Pocahontas to Power Suits: Everything You Need to Know about Women's History in America, and Something Better for My Children: The History and People of Head Start. She lives in Santa Monica, California."

Renowned advocate and legal trailblazer Peter S. Grant has acted for – and against – virtually all of the major players in the Canadian broadcast and telecommunications industry. His résumé features stints as a rapporteur for UNESCO, Special Counsel for the CRTC, Broadcasting Arbitrator for Canada’s political parties, and advocate for the underdog in the David-and-Goliath struggle to expand Canada’s culture industries. In his sweeping memoir, Changing Channels: Confessions of a Canadian Communications Lawyer, Grant affords readers an insider’s glimpse into some of the biggest changes in the history of Canadian communications policy. Interspersed with fond recollections of his hometown of Kapuskasing and anecdotes of his growing family, Grant provides an eye-opening account of the Canadian communications industries. He documents his role in regulating the telecom carriers, increasing competition among service providers, and acting for dozens of broadcast programming services in front of the CRTC. Grant’s reasoned prose highlights his far-reaching expertise in all areas of communications law and cultural policy, and makes his story compelling to anyone who has picked up a phone or turned on a television set.

New in paperback Revised and expanded During the tumultuous 1990s, as Russia struggled to shed the trappings of the Soviet empire, television viewing emerged as an enormous influence on Russian life. The number of viewers who routinely watch the nightly news in Russia matches the number of Americans who tune in to the Super Bowl, thus making TV coverage the prized asset for which political leaders intensely--and sometimes violently--compete. In this revised and expanded edition of Changing Channels, Ellen Mickiewicz provides many fascinating insights, describing the knowing ways in which ordinary Russians watch the news, skeptically analyze information, and develop strategies for dealing with news bias. Covering the period from the state-controlled television broadcasts at the end of the Soviet Union through the attempted coup against Gorbachev, the war in Chechnya, the presidential election of 1996, and the economic collapse of 1998, Mickiewicz draws on firsthand research, public opinion surveys, and many interviews with key players, including Gorbachev himself. By examining the role that television has played in the struggle to create political pluralism in Russia, she reveals how this struggle is both helped and hindered by the barrage of information, advertisements, and media-created personalities that populate the airwaves. Perhaps most significantly, she shows how television has emerged as the sole emblem of legitimate authority and has provided a rare and much-needed connection from one area of this huge, crisis-laden country to the next. This new edition of Changing Channels will be valued by those interested in Russian studies, politics, media and communications, and cultural studies, as well as general readers who desire an up-to-date view of crucial developments in Russia at the end of the twentieth century.

This New York Times bestselling book is filled with hundreds of fun, deceptively simple, budget-friendly ideas for sprucing up your home. With two home renovations under their (tool) belts and millions of hits per month on their blog YoungHouseLove.com, Sherry and John Petersik are home-improvement enthusiasts primed to pass on a slew of projects, tricks, and techniques to do-it-yourselfers of all levels. Packed with 243 tips and ideas—both classic and unexpected—and more than 400 photographs and illustrations, this is a book that readers will return to again and again for the creative projects and easy-to-follow instructions in the relatable voice the Petersiks are known for. Learn to trick out a thrift-store mirror, spice up plain old roller shades, "hack" your Ikea table to create three distinct looks, and so much more.