The Power of the Radio

          The Radio is an interesting space. It is both very real and completely imagined. While the recoding studio occupies a given space, the show can be broadcasted in any location that gets a particular wavelength. Radio shows are transmitted through a invisible means, but the transition is guaranteed. If you have a Radio, you can have access to any show on the air. Access cannot be denied based on who you are, because who you are is not seen. However, by listening to one radio show, you are connected with the others listening. A community is created through the air.

The Radio makes use of only one of our senses, that of the auditory. But somehow, these simple wavelengths penetrate our ears and create community. A radio show can unify a certain group of people who inhabit many different lives and locations. Radio can actually be a means of cultural production and can unify marginalized groups.

            In Australia, as investigated by Daniel Fisher in “Mediation Kinship: Country, Family, and Radio in Northern Australia” radio is used to connect the marginal Aboriginal groups who have been splintered in contemporary society. These radio shows do not only provide entertainment for the Aboriginal people, but also helps maintain kinship ties, a main concern of the contemporary Aboriginal community. A kin from one location can be connected to a kin in another location through a radio. The radio in Australia is very successful and listened to greatly. The amount of programs has expanded, allowing for a larger community to be created. Networks have been developed. Without a doubt, the Aboriginal radio in Australia is a type of ‘culture tape’ that holds people together and strengthens community.

            Another example of community-based radio is a station, CBQM broadcasted from Fort McPherson in Canada.  This radio station is without a doubt community driven. CBQM caters towards the Aboriginal community in the small town. The show often takes requests, utilizes call-ins, and airs private messages. The radio station is almost used as a bulletin board for the society. Furthermore, CBQM utilizes bilingual DJs in order to keep their languages alive. The people use the radio station to re-affirm and re-assert cultural ties. The community is actually strengthened by CBQM, and the stations usefulness as a cultural tool is undeniable.

            Radio is without a doubt more complex and important than mere entertainment. It is a mode of culture production. Radio can form culture, recreate culture, and strengthen culture. Radio is a place perfect to unify the marginalized, because it is widely accessible. We must see Radio as important, and as anthropologists, we must view Radio as a space of study, because it is clearly a space of culture.

References Cited:     

Allen, Dennis

            2010 CBQM. National Film Board of Canada

Fisher, Daniel

2009 Mediating Kinship: Country, Family, and Radio in Northern Australia.

Cultural Anthropology 24(2): 280-3