Notes on the first Radio Project meeting, which happened on November 16th. Informal discussions with students have happened before this.
My friend Sofia brought up the idea of a student run radio station. It made sense to me as a way of harnessing any excess energy we have as students to learn to work/play collaboratively and reclaim our sense of power on campus.
tiny autotheory moment (WHY radio project?): I imagine collaborative creative projects outside of our curriculum to subvert the mechanisms of privatisation that occur on campus. There seems to be a tendency towards individual learning and working, towards individual scholarship, which may benefit the transformation of power that has been happening in universities over the last few decades. Neoliberal education, the kind of education institution that runs as a profiting enterprise, seems to benefit from a seperation of individuals, and between staff and students.
I imagined any collaboration outside of the “professionalising” marking criteria to be an achievement. Collaboration can be understood as a practice to reorient our value systems beyond building our individual career paths and towards connection with others, play and curisoty, and also solidarity and care. These are my personal goals of the radio station as a learning process for all participants involved. I also imagine the privatisation tactics of management having increased a sense of alienation on campus: students have less class time, tutors are overburdened with bureaucracy, and projects are not collaborative. I imagine the radio project could help us rebuild our sense of engagement with our university, to go beyond submitting digital assessments as part of our learning, but to work in the thickness of social relations, without this work constricted by enterprise ideology.
For this meeting, I decided to take more control in the discussion, leading the group towards building a structure of the radio show. This was a position which I previously resisted, imagining a more non-hierarchical way of organising, and feeling cautious of imposing my own ideas on a group. Given the vaporousness of previous meetings, and our collective silences, I felt the need to take leadership so that we can gain momentum in a certain direction. This fascillitation went well and I felt confident to try to gather the voices in a room and also build a clear direction.
Students were excited to share a space together outside of the dynamics of a lecture, or course workshop, since there were potentially less hierarchies between bodies in the room, and more of a chance to speak casually. Students were also very critical of our university’s policies and agendas, and keen to promote solidarity for the staff and eachother.
Notes:
Radio Project First Meeting Notes
November 16th, 2023
How can we make academic knowledge more accessible and more communal through discussion?
A LONG FORM CONVERSATIONAL PODCAST could have an ACADEMIC PERSPECTIVE but be ACCESSIBLE
We want to learn about the university process of privatisation, and get involved with other groups
Giving people voices, amplifying voices: interviews based on ethics of solidarity.
Episode ideas:
- Interviews on solidarity
- Submissions of audio
- Performances
- Discussions about Sound Art and Noise
- Women’s Sound
Do we want to DOCUMENT? Like having an archive, and using platforms like MIXCLOUD, or is that consumeristic. Do we want to promote impermanence instead? (LIVENESS)
Streaming options:
- Resonance FM
- Mixxx and MixCloud
- DIY Streaming, on our own website!
Notes on a website: with a website we can also publish articles etc.
FIRST SHOW: FIVE EPISODES, 30-60 minutes, 3-4 hours in total.
PILOT EPISODE, trying it out, experimenting.
Editors:
- SOLIDARITY HOUR: Tom, Jeremy, Jack
- SUBMISSION HOUR: Pedro
- PERFORMANCE HOUR: Mouse, Tal
- NOISE HOUR: Alicja, Jack
- WOMEN’S SOUND HOUR: Mouse Tal, Alicja
- Production: Tom and Jeremy
DEADLINE to submit a show: 7th of December.
NEXT MEETING: 5-7PM 7th of December
TO DO:
- Check Mixxx and RTM
- Check possibilities of making a website (Ben)
- Email Elephant Documentary maker (Rose)
- Check out Rupture Radio (based in LCC, from Journalist students?)
- Produce an episode for the deadline. Individual groups can meet together.
- Make a name proposal document. (Tom)
Further notes from Tom: I had a meeting with my project tutor today about the radio project, they are very excited about our ideas! We discussed how broadcasting live could add a lot of elements to the project, like making our sense of place on campus, adding spontaneity to the episodes etc. We thought W401 would be a good place to do this, Lou’s room, and maybe to try this out for the first show (pilot), and see what happens. People could still send in episodes recorded earlier, but the whole show could be broadcasted live and presented. I’d be happy to host the show with anyone else who would like to come along.