Radio Free Brooklyn Presentation for 'Resistance Radio' at Uniondocs; Brooklyn, NY June 2017
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Presentation given by Tom Tenney, Executive Director at Radio Free Brooklyn, at the Resistance Radio symposium at UnionDocs in Brooklyn, NY in June of 2017. Preso was to accompany live talk, so several graphics are uncaptioned, but hopefully will provide an idea of the main points.
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Radio Free Brooklyn Presentation for 'Resistance Radio' at Uniondocs; Brooklyn, NY June 2017
- 1. Community Freeform Internet Radio
- 2. WHY D.I.Y.?
- 3. A. Term used throughout the 20th c. mostly in reference to home improvement B. "DIY Movement" 1. self publishing books and magazines 2. creating self funded record labels 3. knitting, sewing and crochet D.I.Y.
- 4. D.I.Y. "DIY as a subculture could be said to have begun with the punk movement of the 1970s. Instead of traditional means of bands reaching their audiences through large music labels, bands began recording, manufacturing albums and merchandise, booking their own tours, and creating opportunities for smaller bands to get wider recognition and gain cult status through repetitive low-cost DIY touring."
- 5. D.I.Y.
- 6. D.I.Y.
- 7. RADIO AS A DIY ENDEAVOR
- 8. RADIO AS A DIY ENDEAVOR
- 9. RADIO AS A DIY ENDEAVOR Radio Act Of 1927
- 10. WHY START A DIY NETWORK ? HAVE A PURPOSE
- 11. TOOLS TO BUILD A DIY NETWORK + +
- 14. COMMUNITY - Brandy Doyle former Policy Director, Prometheus Radio Project CHALLENGES OF INTERNET RADIO AS COMMUNITY BUILDING TOOL
- 15. COMMUNITY
- 16. COMMUNITY
- 17. COMMUNITY
- 18. COMMUNITY Station is a Node
- 19. COMMUNITY Co-operative Work Model - Hosts contribute $25/mo. - Opportunities for $5-$25 reimbursement for: - Working fundraisers - Blogging - Studio building - Graphic Design - Press Releases - Etc. - Managers and officers exempt
- 20. COMMUNITY Community Practices - Shared Space - Studio: Rules of the Dojo - Monthly Community Meetings - Working together at events - Listening groups - Give each other technical support - Presence + “Liveness” = Community
- 21. COMMUNITY Using FREEFORM as a community-building platform
- 22. COMMUNITY What is FREEFORM Radio? - No prescribed format; Hosts have complete creative control over their show - Pioneered by Steve Post, Bob Fass, WBAI, WFMU, KPFA - Diversity by Definition: reflects the diversity of the community - Artistic communities to build local communities - Liveness is a key the success of the freeform format - Despite lack of programmed formats, patterns emerge
- 23. UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES “in-depth talks with a female movers and shakers who are deeply invested in the community” “... highlights the voices of Queer/Trans people of color from around the NYC metro area” “Critical analysis of news, politics, & everyday issues that impact Latin@s in the U.S. & around the world” “local government, living on the road, sustainable creativity, theism, rapping, gender & racial tensions, life without labels, impermanence, music, trans awareness, reducing waste, benefits of mycology, comedy, non violence, self defense, nudity, international relations, quantum physics, childhood fears & dreams” QUEER STATE OF MIND BADASS LADYFOLK OF BROOKLYN LOCA VIBES RADIO PANDEMONIUM
- 24. LOCAL MUSIC & CULTURE “Stories of Brooklyn women and non-binary people who make, promote, talk, and love music.” ”Your daily dose of local music featuring only artists who call NYC home” “Each week Matt Attack is joined in the studio by members of a Brooklyn area band for tunes and talk about the music they create and play.” “ A music super-fan interviews Brooklyn-based musicians who play eclectic jazz, rock and world music” BROOKLYN BANDSTAND FEMCHORD THE RODENT HOUR BROOKLYN PLAYER
- 25. LOCAL NEWS & POLITICS “... dissecting the intersectionality of the culture here in Brooklyn and Beyond” ”... gives a voice to Brooklyn communities and tackles topics that represent the diverse issues of our neighborhoods.” “...a variety show exploring the questions and answers that come with the major question….what would actually save the world?” “From international incidents to Park Slope perversions, your news team is here to make sure you get the very best in the very worst.” OBJECTION TO THE RULE FTP RADIO WHAT WOULD SAVE THE WORLD? THE WORLD IS A TERRIBLE PLACE
- 27. DOES IT WORK? AUGUST 2015 APRIL 2017 ORIGINAL SHOWS 16 70 SYNDICATED SHOWS 13 3 TOTAL LISTENER MINUTES 28,186 265,922 UNIQUE LISTENERS 1,055 13,373
- 28. DOES IT WORK?
- 31. DISCOVERY
- 32. LIVENESS Importance to Discovery - Emphasis is on live broadcasting - 45 out of 70 original shows broadcast live - No online archiving until 5 days after broadcast - Shared space – interaction between live hosts - Sunday: 13 hours back to back live - Raymond Williams: Programming as Sequence or Flow
- 33. LIVENESS Other reasons LIVENESS is important: - Liveness is intrinsic to radio - Timeliness (news & politics) - Real time communication (call-in) - Intimacy between host and listener (the idea that someone is listening AS you’re speaking; speaking to you) - Fans want to hear band interviewed live - Imperfection / Mistakes - Urgency
- 34. EDUCATION “I don’t know why we are not taking technology that is at our disposal and running classes to teach our kids to read schematics. Give your child some kind of electronic intelligence. You got to realize that technology exists to create a radio station almost on a matchbook, and our kids would be fascinated by that if we would direct them toward it.” - Napoleon Williams, Black Liberation Radio
- 35. EDUCATION - Media Literacy at a critical crossroads (vis. state of current political situation) - Program or be Programmed (Rushkoff); Software Takes Command (Manovich) - Making is learning - Hosts learn and create, teach others to create and learn - Leveraging skills and knowledge of RFB community - Not only radio, but journalism, design - Alternative pedagogical methodologies - Connect media to realities
- 36. WHAT’S NEXT? - Renovation of storefront to workshop space - Off-site Media Literacy / Tech workshops - RFB Presents (live local music showcases) - RFB 2 (all local music stream) - Membership program integrating local venues and businesses - More remote live broadcasts
- 37. WHY START A DIY NETWORK ? HAVE A PURPOSE And use the tools at your command
- 39. RADIO FREE BONESEssentials 1. An excellent microphone Electro Voice RE20Shure SM7B Heil PR-40 (try to avoid condenser mics unless you have a VERY soundproof studio) RØDE Procaster
- 40. RADIO FREE BONESEssentials 2. A good mixing board Allen & Heath XB14-2 Broadcast Mixer with Telecom Channels Audio Hybrid for call-ins
- 41. RADIO FREE BONESEssentials 3. Audio Encoder NiceCast ($60) MA C PCCROSS PLATFORM BUTT ($FREE) SAM Broadcaster ($200-800)
- 42. RADIO FREE BONESEssentials 4. An Internet Connection (Wired Ethernet with Wifi fallback recommended)
- 43. RADIO FREE BONES5. Automation Software (optional) MA C PC MegaSeg ($200) Radiologik ($192-320) RadioDJ ($FREE) SAM Broadcaster ($200-800)
Editor's Notes
- D. Modern instances of DIY communities: Hackerspace, NYC Resistors, etc. often considered “subversive” 1. When did making things become a subversive activity?
- E. Similarly, RMMF – Why do we need word “Remix Culture” for something that used to be simply called “culture”
- Advertising: Advertisers: Draw was to illiterate audiences. 1. At the beginning of the 20th century, over 10% of Americans were illiterate (about 7% in 1927) compared to less than half percent today (this refers to absolute illiteracy and doesn't rely on the 'literacy scale' which puts functional illiteracy in the US much higher (around 15%). 2. This is also a reason it was effective as a subversive tool, and still is in some countries 1. We will return to literacy later
- “Values first instead of following tech” Story about guy in Borders
- We will get to the nuts and bolts things (mics, mixers, servers, etc.) later, but this is most important. For me, it was a convergence of a few things: 1. My background as a live performer, and producer of live events. Spaces disappearing etc. 2. A long time interest in radio (story about dad's shortwave) and making things myself (newspaper, Dukes of Hazzard film) 3. A real concern about Media Literacy (Hofstra students)
- Jeanine Garafolo, Todd Barry, Dave Chappelle, UCB, Marc Maron, Judah Friedlander. How I met Rob, both mentioned in same NY Times article.
- Challenge accepted!
- I think when people say “community radio” they think of this – traditional model
- When we say “community radio” we mean more like this (many artists, few listners) a. We aren’t going for huge numbers, flip of traditional model b. Community exists for the maker as much, if not more, than for the listeners i. story of laughter from the basement with KT
- We are not a megaphone, we are a stage. We’re not one person using an amplifier to reach a lot of people. We are a lot of people standing on a stage for a few d. Small audiences are ok. Small numbers are taboo in broadcasting. Typically, the idea was to reach as many as possible, an idea that was driven by advertising. Large audiences keep commercial radio on the air, and the programming reflected/reflects this.
- Our idea is that the station is just a node. 1. Artists come, perform for a few, but each member of the audience is a netwok in itself. 2. I don’t like the idea of “using” social media, because radio IS social media, and cannot be untangled from the current fabric of how messages and memes spread.
- B. With new technologies, as much as they are giving us, we are losing this aspect of discovery i. everything we consume, we choose. This is creating these “bubbles’ we keep hearing about. a. This is most prominent in the current zeitgeist w/the “fake news” phenomenon b. But also, algorithmic discovery, like Pandora, is NOT discovery c. Esp. when it comes to music, our networks are important, but by this I mean HUMAN HUMAN networks. d. People talk about “using social media” to “promote” our shit, but at the end of the day, all this is is HUMAN curation. e. Mystery Girls on WERS in Boston was my social network – they were cool
- i. At RFB, our emphasis is on LIVE broadcasting, with about 2/3 of our programming being live ii. We don’t allow archiving shows until five days after broadcast for this reason a. Incredible resistance at first. I was called a “crusty” old codger b. My response iii. The studio is a shared space also adds to the community – it’s a commons that we communally care for. When hosts are out, they need to get others to cover their shows. They provide feedback at community meetings. iv. Most importantly, they hand off live listeners to each other a. shows promoting each other. talking to live hosts as they come in. b. For two seasons running, Sundays were our best days b/c we had 12 hours of b2b live shs c. Cite Raymond Williams’ “Programming as Sequence or Flow” d. Radio as performance. I encourage hosts to think of themselves as an act in a very long play or performance. Thus, don’t be late, be a part of the pattern.
- First, I think that liveness is intrinsic to radio. Otherwise you have a “podcast” ii. I like podcasts, but REALLY hate the word, because it emphasizes this “self” ness (POD cast) iii. Timeliness (news); Communication (call in); Imperfection (mistakes) iv. For the hosts, there’s the sense that they are talking to someone in real time a. Hard to get used to at first (talking to babies) v. For listeners there’s an intimacy – a feeling that someone is talking to YOU a. There is a PRESENCE that you cannot simulate b. Interesting to me that our live shows do exponentially better than pre-records. c. Even fans of bands want to hear them LIVE instead of pre-recorded.
- Even just literacy is at a critical crossroads. Hofstra story. I could lead a movement of one to get young people reading again, but that’s not where we’re headed.
- “Values first instead of following tech” Story about guy in Borders
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