“Don’t be afraid of the mic, enjoy the anonymity of the sonic, and join your local community radio”
Ghosts in the radio (Image courtesy of Signals2Noise)
On 4th October 2024 16 community radios gather in Berlin under the theme Signals2Noise at Silent Green for a 18-hour public event and broadcast during which the productions developed over the previous months will be premiered alongside other contributions curated and invited specifically for this program. These include works by researchers, artists, radio makers, musicians and collectives whose practices revolve around the diverse constellation of media practices and experimental radio.
Lucia Udvardyova and Ieva Gudaityte were so kind to answer a few kaput question ahead of the gathering.
Lucia, Ieva, what is the first memory coming to your mind when we talk about radio culture?
Lucia Udvardyova (right side) with friends
Lucia Udvardyova: At home when I was growing up, we always had radio on – and in fact we still do to this very day. The radio creates this constant aural soundtrack, there is never silence in my parents’ house 🙂
When I was a teenager, the radio was also a conduit to a new world, and musical subcultures that I perhaps wasn’t so familiar with before – like the nascent electronic culture in the 90’s. There was this Slovak alternative radio – now defunct – that I loved called Radio Ragtime (here is a short documentary about it, it was basically a bunch of young people getting together and playing the music they loved and operating independently)
Ieva Gudaityte
Ieva Gudaityte: Similar to Lucia, radio has a very strong childhood association for me, especially my grandad. Every summer I would spend with them in their little allotment outside the city, we’d listen to the radio together: first I, to the bedtime story, then him – to the evening news.
What is it about radio that fascinates you most?
Lucia: For me, radio has a sentimental vibe to it –- it reminds me of my childhood and it being on constantly as a sort of aural carpet of our household.
Ieva: I think it must be how versatile and paradoxical it can be in joining everyday reality so seamlessly, fitting everywhere and leaving space for personal interpretation yet also having its own agency. Maybe that is what makes it a perfect tool for both authoritarian control and revolutions, propaganda and eclectic anarchy.
Mixmaster Radio (Image courtesy of Signals2Noise)
Which radios and radio hosts did you listen to during your socialization?
Lucia: Our Czechoslovak radio (still during communism as a kid), but also Radio Free Europe and Radio Luxembourg (I think? – was a long time ago hehe). These were radios broadcasting music you wouldn’t hear on the state-run channels. Later, Ragtime Radio.
Ieva: Funny to have my answer next to Lucia’s – because Lithuanian National Radio (post Soviet fall) but Radio Free Europe and Radio Luxembourg, also Radio America were these mythical stations in my childhood. Another channel from the National Broadcaster, LRT Opus started becoming a thing in my later teenage years. Listened to a lot of NTS in my student days. But if I’m being perfectly honest, I wasn’t huge on radio before I started researching it.
What is the general idea behind Signals2Noise and the radiophonic marathon at Silent Green on 4 October?
Lucia: Signals2Noise is a major gathering of independent community radios held in Berlin. S2N focuses on the exchange of experiences and collective artistic processes with Eastern, Central and Northern European community radios.
Community radios have a long and complex history as a medium and an important, if largely underestimated, position within the wider cultural and media landscape. S2N aims to highlight the many aesthetic, musical and social processes that emerge and unfold around alternative radios.
S2N is the result of a collaboration between Cashmere Radio, an experimental radio station based in Berlin-Wedding, and Easterndaze, a platform for the exploration and dissemination of Eastern European cultural and music scenes. S2N builds upon two editions of Easterndaze On Air, a remote exchange between community radios, which took place in 2021 and 2022. A number of community radios from the Easterndaze network are taking part in S2N, together with radios from the nordic-baltic Independent Community Radio Network (ICRN), as well as several radios participating for the first time, making a total of 14 radio stations.
Together, members of the community radios will undertake an 8-month collective co-production and co-curation process. This will culminate in an 18-hour public event and broadcast on the 4th October 2024, in Berlin-Wedding where the productions developed over the previous months will be premiered alongside other contributions curated and invited specifically for this program. These include works by researchers, artists, radio makers, musicians and collectives whose practices revolve around the diverse constellation of media practices and experimental radio.
Ieva: I have not much to add – just that we want to show what kind of a strange and multifaceted bird alternative radio can be and is today, how local and at the same time universal, political and intimate, fun and serious it can be. We invite everyone to feel the playfulness and joy of these communities, because these are the contexts that inspire us and make us want to carry on doing things together in this appalling state of the world today.
AGF, Antye Greie-Ripatti is an artist based in Hailuoto, Finland. Her artistic focus is on language, sound, listening and politics. She will be performing at Signals2Noise (Image courtesy of Signals2Noise)
What can the attendees expect, like who is giving lectures and concerts?
Lucia: Basically entering a 3rd radio station with a plethora of various formats and styles: from talks, installations, film screenings, performances, dj and live sets, and even a circus performance and toilet karaoke. Check out the programme, which will be also live streamed on Cashmere Radio, among others, here: https://s2n.cashmereradio.com/
Ieva: Yes, expect to be surprised and hopefully a bit confused! We promise really exciting, diverse, and quality sound art dealing with various serious topics – and loads of laughs.
What advice do you have for young people who want to gain radio experience?
Lucia: Be curious and try out many different things and see what interests you the most, and try to pursue that. These days, it’s fairly easy to approach online radios and see which show you like best, and perhaps get in touch with that radio maker, etc. See where things go on from there 🙂
Ieva: Exactly what Lucia said. Don’t be afraid of the mic, enjoy the anonymity of the sonic, and join your local community radio. Come to the festival and see for yourself, it’s such a lovely bunch!
Signals2Noise, Silent Green Betonhalle/Exhibition, Gerichtstraße 35 13347 Berlin, 4.10.2024
