Nagai writes:"EC(h)OLOCATOR is a radio project I originated in March 2003. In the 18 month period that followed, I organized six live broadcasts realized in collaboration with independent campus and community radio stations in Canada and the United States, and staged a number of public performances, talks and soundwalks related to the project.

Conceptually, EC(h)OLOCATOR engages with the idea that every place has a unique sonic character that impacts the emotional and physical lives of each organism living within its boundaries and that this sonic character is worthy of attention, study and deeper understanding. Inspired by the sense of cooperative individualism that defines the “community” of community radio, and encouraged by the freedom to experiment that is one part of the ethos of transmission art, I set out to create something that would subvert the “anywhere, anytime” homogeneity of most FM radio; something site-specific and undeniably local yet moving beyond “local” in the traditional sense of local producers, with familiar voices, playing local favorites.

Each broadcast differed according to the needs and capabilities of the host station, the number of people involved and the nature of field recordings and other sound materials collected in the days prior to the performance. The broadcasts included a combination of straight field recordings, live processing and mixing of all kinds of sounds, pre-edited material created by the assisting producers and myself, call-in comments from listeners and live vocal and/or ambient sound input. At each station, I was in residence for a period of days. During that time, I worked with volunteers and station staff to collect local recordings and interviews. Together we conducted soundwalks and field recording expeditions to places of sonic interest. Prior to going on the air, we spent much time considering the numerous ways one might broadcast the “sound of place” to an audience of diverse listeners. At all times, participants were encouraged to conceive of radio space as a unique physicaltemporal place, to imagine formats that relied not on external conventions of airtime etiquette but rather on the naturally emerging qualities of the momentary but very real “ether space” created during a live broadcast.

Projects took place at the following locations:

WGDR: Plainfield Vermont, May 2003
Radio Free Brattleboro: Brattleboro Vermont, May 2003
CKLN: Toronto Ontario, May 2003
CJAM: Windsor Ontario, June 2003
psy.geo.conflux 2004/free103point9.org: Brooklyn New York, May 2004
WSPN: Skidmore College, Saratoga NY, October 2004"