What Does a Civil Society Sound Like?

Abstract

Early on in this project, I went to conduct an interview with a longtime music presenter and volunteer at ArtSound FM. The presenter had kindly agreed to take me through the process of preparing her drive-time mix program. We met in the station’s music library, and over the course of about an hour she explained to me how all the sonic bits and pieces of her two-hour program got assembled. The building in which this radio station was housed at that time was tiny and cramped. As I sat in the music library, I had a nearly comprehensive view of the entire station, including the reception foyer, the editing rooms and the on-air studio. During the interview, I noticed something that I would only later recognize as important: the on-air studio had been almost completely vacant of any noticeable human presence for the entire hour or so that I had been conducting the interview.

Basically try and avoid the prural [sic] when talking to listenrs [sic] The reason for this is that radio is a very personal and intimate medium. It works best when used in this manner. In these days of television, hi-fi etc, people seldom gather around the radio in groups —Even if they do, it shouldn’t preclude you from talking as if to a single person. A good idea is to imaging [sic] a friend, flatmate or relation as your sole listener and direct your show at that person. Imagine a different person for each show you do or for each hour of your show.

‘Guidelines for Announcers’, December 1976, 2XX¹