Whilst RADIOPHRENIA had existed before the pandemic, it seemed at the time to be a perfectly executed response to the gig-less world we are currently occupying. It has an ephemeral quality, in the sense there was a timetable, and you could tune in 24/7 for 2 weeks and hear a piece. It’s free to listen, but once it’s done it’s gone. Much like live radio, and unlike some modern internet radio shows that have playback. This is purposefully a moment in time which you can witness, and feels more poignant and finite. Due to the nature of recorded content and the internet, perhaps there’s an element of our engagement which is less immediate. We have the ability to order our content to fit around us. Our TV now more than ever is in step with our mood or our comfort. With music streaming services and podcasts, radio has to fight against media which can be saved and backlogged with minimal effort. It allows our brain compartmentalize, we have an infinite amount of time to engage with something so we can put it to one side. The choice to put this festival on FM radio, and have no later playback option is conscious decision to make listeners engage in the rituals of a historic radio broadcast. It means it’s hear now and only now. We either hear it or we miss it. In a sense it’s uncomfortable to address this for me. As I can relate to feeling an overload of information I must process, read, listen to, watch. “Catch Up” is in an interesting concept to me. With radio and TV broadcasts of the past before digital. These were concepts that existed. You had times you could see things and once they happened they were gone. The modern world of digesting media is having 100 things you can catch up with and dissecting these large bouts of information for things of interest. This shift slowly causing our brains to work in a more analytical way.
The Artist Cucina Povera was one of the many performers at last years RADIOPHRENIA festival.
I had not considered the racial politics of pirate radio until watching this documentary. Whilst the mainstream view of pirate radio celebrates boat-owning white middle class DJs setting sail and exercising their freedom in true Jack Sparrow style… This paints a picture of pirate radio before the 80s as predominantly white and exclusive. Norman Jay speaks about how he was denied entry to a club The Soul Mafia were performing at due to his ethnicity. This caused him to realize this seemingly radical movement had a race problem. It’s very inspiring to hear about the development of black-led pirate stations like DBC who were the gatekeepers of their own culture. In contrast to a group of white-led pirate DJs playing and celebrating black music, yet the clubs they play enforcing an unfavorable attitude towards black people existing in those spaces. This documentary really brought home the power of pirate radio and to me tells a story far more powerful than ‘The Boat That Rocked’ told. A generation of people left behind by Thatcherism, dealing with racism on top of that as their culture permeates society but then leaves them at the front gate. It also makes me think of Lovers Rock and how our radio formats; as well as the music of the 21st century is indebted to black culture.