by tomtenney on December 19, 2011
The following is a radio piece and accompanying paper I created for my class in “Creative DIY Cultures & Participatory Learning” on the state of DIY and pirate radio broadcasting, particularly as it exists in large urban areas like NYC. It explores the history and motivations for DIY broadcasting, examines the migration of DIY broadcasters from the airwaves to the internet, and what effect the recent passage of the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA) might have on the future of microbroadcasting.
NOTE: The audio portion of this piece isn’t quite “ready for prime time” quite yet. The audio quality still needs to be cleaned up especially for the Skype interviews, and portions of the VO re-recorded. I offer it here not as a finished production, but as a reference and companion to the paper. A ‘finished’ version will be completed in the new year.
click to play. TRT ~33 mins
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We Want the Airwaves: An Investigation Into DIY Broadcasting
Introduction
Radio began as a DIY endeavor, invented by amateurs and tinkerers – the hackers of the late 19th and early 20th century. The Radio Act of 1927 allowed the government to privilege certain groups, particularly the radio corporations, in the allocation of the radio spectrum, and effectively locked the amateurs out. Since that time, unlicensed broadcasters – or pirates – have roamed the airwaves and tried to elude the FCC. Through a series of interviews, this 33 minute “broadcast” looks at some of the motivations of these radio hackers – why they started doing it, and why they stopped. It also takes a critical look at the recently passed Local Community Radio Act (LCRA) – legislation which intends to open the airwaves to broadcasters under 100 watts, but may not be able to accommodate broadcasters in the largest urban areas. Finally, the migration of many microbroadcasters from the airwaves to the Internet is examined, particularly how this move allows for broadcasts to proliferate, but may not serve the public in exactly the same way the traditional radio medium is able to. It concludes that there still is much more work to be done towards equitable distribution of the airwaves, and that while Internet radio may be able to meet the needs of certain communities, its very distribution methods indicate a much different audience than would be served by local radio. [continue reading this post...]
Tagged as:
DIY,
LCRA,
microbroadcasting,
pirate,
radio
by tomtenney on March 27, 2011
I’m excited to announce that one of my short pieces, Reunion, has been selected to be included on the official CD for Toronto’s Deep Wireless Festival. The CD includes pieces by several (last year there were 20) sound artists from all over the world, who submitted pieces that examine this year’s theme: ”About Time.” I’m beyond honored that my piece – which I made as a meditation on age, time, friendship and death on the event of my 25th high school reunion – has been selected to be a part of such a prestigious event. Special thanks to my high school friends, many of whom can be heard in the piece, especially George, Julie, Jessica, David and Tanya.
Listen to Reunion:
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Tagged as:
festivals
by tomtenney on March 8, 2011
Photo by aturkus
There’s something that has just always seemed tragically lonely about NYC subway musicians. Making music is (or seems) to be an inherently social activity – something we do with, and for others – and yet most buskers perform by themselves. This isn’t unusual of course, there are many people out there who identify as “solo musicians.” But the busker seems to amplify the solitude of the artist… whether it’s because s/he is playing underground, or because their donation tray that sadly usually only contains a couple of dollars (if that), revealing the fact that most people are unable to connect with the interior space that the artist inhabits or that, more probably, they just don’t care. As I started recording some of these artists (and always paying them to do so), I began to realize that, in fact, these artists weren’t playing entirely alone, in many cases they were creating these incredible duets with the sounds of the trains, the echoes, and even with the people who were ignoring them.
I started wondering what it would sound like if some of these artists *could* play together…. I concocted an imaginary installation in which buskers from all over New York (or maybe all over the world?) were mic’d and their music broadcast to each other so that they could all play in a continuous, 24-hour jam in real time. Logistically, I’m not sure how this would work, but it would be an interesting experiment – maybe start with 2 or 3 just in New York, and then gradually scale up to include many others. Anyway, this piece is simply a meditation on that thought….
Thank you to Moonshine Shorey for providing the vocals. As always, please listen with quality headphones if available.
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Tagged as:
audio,
Music,
NYC,
subway
by tomtenney on February 14, 2011
At the risk of saying too much about the ‘intent’ of this piece (something I usually steer clear of), I feel as though explaining a bit about how it was constructed might enhance the listening. As a production project for a class in ‘Audio Experiments,’ I tried to find screams that were as “authentic” as possible – some of my sources were CVR (cockpit voice recorders) from plane crashes, phone calls from WTC on 911, and sounds from the Haiti earthquake aftermath to name a few. In other words, screams as media that were never meant to be media, the most unwilling participants in art you’ll ever find. Pulling these together and listening to each one was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever worked on – just completely draining emotionally.
There is one scream of my own, made by taping a homemade piezo transducer mic to my throat and screaming into my pillow. The scream was 4 seconds long, but I time-remapped it to 5 minutes, the length of the piece. Then I remapped the other screams at various lengths and used these to form the backbone of the “symphony” – the underlying rhythm and melody – trying to layer them in a way that was eerily musical. Other layers were then added, including many of the screams heard at their original speed.
WARNING: Some have found the content of this piece disturbing. Proceed at your own risk.
Listen with a good set of headphones if at all possible: [Runtime: 5:00]
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Tagged as:
audio,
Remix,
screaming,
sound art
by tomtenney on July 30, 2010
This is the final piece for my Radio Narratives class, a ten minute audio art/umentary entitled “Off the Grid,” which profiles (to use the term loosely), three of my favorite art stars: Don Eng, John King, and Walter Gambin. Special thanks to Reverend Jen for providing some miraculous VO which pulled everything together for me in my hour of need. As always, I recommend listening with a good set of headphones. Comments and criticism are encouraged.
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Tagged as:
art stars,
performance,
radio
by tomtenney on July 18, 2010
This is the third of four radio pieces I’ll be posting this summer. The directive for this one was to create a piece that fit into the theme “Home” as presented on the CD put out by the Deep Wireless Festival. I chose to document my trip back to Boston, earlier this summer, for my high school reunion at the Cambridge School of Weston. I had recorded several hours of the reunion, not knowing if I would use it for anything, so it was a challenge to create something out of this stuff that I had recorded without idea or direction. I’m fairly pleased with the result, although I think parts of the narration are problematic and could use some additional editing.
As always, please listen with a good set of headphones if possible.
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Tagged as:
radio,
sound art
by tomtenney on July 8, 2010
This is my second production project for my Radio Narratives class. The assignment was to create a piece following the Snap Judgement guidelines, with one of the following titles/themes: Great Expectations, The Wizard of Oz, or Busted. I chose the first, and wrote a script about my romance with a young German actress back in 1986, based on my journal entries and her letters. Thanks to Noel Dinneen and Emilie Blythe McDonald for providing voices for the young me and the young Heidi.
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Tagged as:
radio,
storytelling
The following is a radio piece and accompanying paper I created for my class in “Creative DIY Cultures & Participatory Learning” on the state of DIY and pirate radio broadcasting, particularly as it exists in large urban areas like NYC. It explores the history and motivations for DIY broadcasting, examines the migration of DIY broadcasters from the airwaves to the internet, and what effect the recent passage of the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA) might have on the future of microbroadcasting.
