Tune in! & practice resistance, solidarity, and responsibility respectively.
On 9th of December the second Easterndaze On Air radio day is about happen. Community radios from Central and Eastern Europe will connect through the Easterndaze x Berlin platform, in cooperation with Cashmere Radio, in an effort to encourage collaboration between these DIY mediums.
Lucia Udvardyova, Matteo Spano and ๐๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ answered some questions ahead of the broadcast event.
On 9th of December the second Easterndaze On Air radio event celebrating community radio in Central / Eastern Europe is about to happen.
What is Easterndaze On Air all about in the first place?
Lucia Udvardyova: Easterndaze On Air is a project that basically came about from the pandemic and the impossibility of doing physical events. In April 2021, we organised a week-long radio community marathon, where radios exchanged moderators, interviewed each other, and created a special programme for the live broadcast (including a speculative radio play).
This time around, the collaboration grew into eight community radios from Central and Eastern Europe, with Berlin’s Cashmere Radio as the coordinator and host of the initiative. And we will have one live broadcasting day, where each radio is participating with a special show introducing their region and the radio, as well as a panel talk focused on the topic of community radios and the current socio-politial and geopolitical issues, moderated by Ieva Gudaitytฤ. We feel all these radios play a crucial part in their respective country’s often dwindling media landscape (Hungary, Poland, etc) but they are also globally connected at the same time.
The list of participating radios is long and brings together (at least for me) more known radios like ๐๐๐ฌ๐ก๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จย and ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ with still (again for me) less known ones like ๐๐๐๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ, ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค, ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ๐๐๐ฎ๐ง ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ, ๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ, ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ and ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐จ.
How did this group of radios find together?
Matteo Spano: ย The radio network emerged from the previous edition of Easterndaze, and thus through Lucia’s contacts and willingness to put together similar projects across Central and Eastern Europe. Following the exchange in 2021, contacts were maintained and on several occasions more specific collaborations took place (such as solidarity broadcasts with Ukraine following the outbreak of war). With ICRN (which in turn is already a network of different radio stations, IDA in Tallinn/Helsinki, Palanga Street Radio in Vilnius, Tirkultura in Riga), there was also a recent meeting involving Cashmere, last September, in which the topic of international (and translocal) collaboration between different radio projects was addressed. It can therefore be said that, in different formations but with similar intentions, the different radios have continued to develop relations with each other. This edition of Easterndaze is a further example of this type of collaborative practice.
How does one has to image the exchange process between them in general?
Matteo Spano: ย The process changes radically depending on the context and the parties involved. At times it may be a ‘simple’ exchange of transmissions, or the retransmission of a live radio signal. At other times it may be a format in which several radios collaborate, either live or remotely โ for example, it happened to be a cooking show held in parallel between Berlin and Vilnius, where each radio listened to the other radio in the course of the broadcast and shared recipes, music and anecdotes. In short, it is often a hybrid solution between presence and remote participation, which underlines the particularities of radio practice.
On the facebook event page for the Easterndaze On Air 2022 you point out the role of independent community radion for the ongoing crisis in the Ukraine as well as the sociopolitical exchange process in general. Do you feel that the political system understands that important role you play therefor adequate and you get the necessary support (logisticly but also economically)?
Matteo Spano: It is difficult to give a unified answer to this question โ depending on each country there are extremely different political situations. As far as Berlin is concerned, there is not too much to complain about, as evidenced by the fact that this exchange is financially supported by the cultural department of the senate. Beyond the financial support, I would say that giving recognition to the value of independent cultural production is the task of the organisations themselves who participate in the production directly, and who therefore set for themselves the yardstick by which they decide their own degree of ‘value’ or ‘success’.
On the 9th there will also be a ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐จ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ๐ญ๐. What kind of topics will be discussed there?
๐๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ๐ญ๐: The main concept behind this yearโs Easterndaze discussion is the idea of network: what it means to build, maintain, and belong to one. In that framework, we will discuss how (our) independent community media/radio responded to Russian invasion of Ukraine; how our Ukrainian colleagues, and how we can use our radio platforms to practice resistance, solidarity, and responsibility respectively.
What else to say?
Lucia Udvardyova:ย Tune in! ๐
Listen live on December 9, 2022, from 4pm CET on individual radio websites and on FM 88.4 Berin 90.7 Potsdam.
Participating radios:
๐๐๐๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ – https://20ftradio.net/
๐๐๐ฌ๐ก๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ – https://cashmereradio.com/
๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค- https://www.instagram.com/i_c_r_n/
๐๐๐ก๐ฆ๐๐๐ฎ๐ง ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ- https://lahmacun.hu/
๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ – https://mutantradio.net/
๐๐๐ฌ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ – https://gasolineradio.com/
๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ฅ – https://radiokapital.pl/
๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐จ – https://radioplato.by/
