Soundscapes of the imagination

The final panel of this afternoon at "Radio Without Boundaries" conference was "Soundscapes of the imagination: the grey area between fact and fiction" moderated by Andra McCartney with Gregory Whitehead, Helene Prevost, and Alessandro Bosetti. This turned into the most lively session, actually argumentative, with Whitehead playing his usual contrarian role, challenging the status quo. At first the panel equated Orson Welles with George Bush as hoax-mongers (I reminded them that Welles' repeatedly announced that "The War of the Worlds" was a radio play during the broadcast). Whitehead then asked, "Where is the protest art," and some in the audience argued back that it was out there. We were all way off topic at this point (Whitehead's Twitter rant was hilarious). But it was engaging radio. Soundscapes haven't been mentioned in 30 minutes. Authenticity became the topic. "The master narratives are still unfolding," Whitehead said. "I am very interested in the productive role of dead air in that scenario," Anna Friz said, in a response of sorts.

Radio Communities: The Other Side of The Electronic Divide

Transom features this conversation from November 2006 at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at New School for Social Research, between activists and artists about radio as a community tool in emerging countries. Panelists included Pete Tridish, founder, Prometheus Radio Project; William H. Siemering, President, Developing Radio Partners; Khin Phyu Htway, student, The New School and contributor to Voice of America, Burmese Service; Gregory Whitehead, writer and artist. There is also an mp3 of an opening Whitehead performance.

Transom describes the conversation this way:

Using radio to create community, creating community radio. Why expect radio to do this? It's malleable, anonymous, inexpensive to build, easy to transmit and receive, relatively speaking, even when the simple act of owning the box is punishable by an indefinite jail term. Radio is always possible. It is the link between local community and the global community. Radio creates a dimension in which various communities can meet, exchange, discuss and develop ideas, transforming the way we define notions of geography and public space. What political, cultural and humanitarian goals can be served by this medium exclusively? How does radio function as a tool for shared information? We started with a presentation from Gregory Whitehead called, "Here Comes Everybody" and then moved to a panel discussion. The panel, and audience of fifty, focused on different ways of using radio as a kind of glue for creating community both here and abroad.