Radius Sketchpad is an ongoing monthly program on WGXC 90.7-FM presented by the Chicago-based platform, Radius. This month features Rob Ray's Subject To Greater Uncertainties, originally produced for Radius, and is followed by a playlist of works selected by the artist.

Subject to Greater Uncertainties weaves together Rob Ray’s interests in military operations, the desert, and natural resource extraction operations as expressions of human comprehension at the fringes of the complex system we call “the world.” Rob Ray asks: How do we act upon knowledge of which we are aware is only a tiny slice of something much larger and complicated? What are the intended and unintended outcomes of those actions?

Subject to Greater Uncertainties is composed of four discrete sections: X:1 and X:2; Furnace and Swarm:

X:1 and X:2 were created in the Mojave Desert region of Southern California at the Center for Land Use Interpretation’s Desert Research Station. Rob Ray used a 5-watt solar panel to voltage starve a BoardWeevil and record sonic booms emanating from the nearby the R-2508 Special Use Airspace Complex. Rob Ray thinks of this setup as a sort of “sound maquette” to investigate his interest in X-class solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections ability to destabilize global radio and low-orbit satellite electronics systems.

Furnace and Swarm were created in the abandoned Wildrose beehive charcoal kilns of Death Valley. The Wildrose beehives were constructed by the Madock Consolidated Mining Company in the 1870’s to convert wood into charcoal for the smelting of silver-lead ore extracted from their mines in the Argus Range. This operation proved fiscally unsustainable and the beehives were decommissioned only a few years after they were constructed. The beehives now serve as excellent reverb chambers and hiker desiccation prevention huts.

Rob Ray makes site-specific electronic installations, psychogeographic games and experimental sounds and videos. He has recently relocated to Los Angeles, CA from Chicago via Rensselaer’s Electronic Arts MFA Program in Troy, NY.

Rob also collaborates with Jason Soliday and Jon Satrom as a member of the Chicago-based circuit-bent multimedia noise trio I Love Presets and is the visual arts editor for the online journal Drunken Boat. From 1999 to 2008, Rob was founder and head curator of the DEADTECH electronic arts center in Chicago, IL, USA.

This Saturday Afternoon show features Baltimore-based artist Jason Sloan, and his project whiteout, a new series of live FM transmission performances exploring and questioning the aesthetic of noise on the radio. These new textural works are created live and in the moment through the use of multiple analog electronic instruments and a transmitter. The whiteout performances are currently taking place throughout cities across the United States during the summer and fall of 2012. So far the whiteout itinerary includes Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Austin and Los Angeles with the possibility of additional cities being added. A collected set of all the performances in the whiteout series will be released as a deluxe limited edition, collectable vinyl box set available sometime in 2013.

Writes Sloan, "I was about twelve when I first became aware of how beautiful radio noise could be. I recall laying in bed and listening to my portable shortwave radio, slowly turning the dial, but allowing for long pauses on the dead spaces, as I moved from one distant broadcast to another. At times, I think I was more interested in the sounds produced by the odd interference and signal modulation than the broadcasts themselves. I would often drift to sleep listening to the ghost like voices buried beneath layers of slow and undulating static. At that age, I didn’t think much about what attracted me to the noise. I just enjoyed its sometimes violent yet mysterious and relaxing qualities. Looking back on those late night listening sessions in the early 80′s, I’ve come to realize the impact they had on my own development as a sound artist and electronic musician. The seeds for my awareness of the radio as an expressive medium were probably planted during this years. Of course, I was totally unaware that artists like Neuhaus, Stockhausen, Vostell, Cage and others had already begun exploring the possibilities of the radio as an art form decades earlier.

With this in mind, two years ago I began to include live scanner feeds in my concerts and performances. Unlike shortwave radio, scanners pull from air traffic, police, ham and other types of local broadcasts within just a few miles of the listener. The idea of incorporating live, local transmissions into the performance as a sonic fingerprint of the local geography was appealing to me. I saw it as an aural snapshot of that very moment or even an invisible, stringed instrument of sorts.

Recently, I was in my car listening to the SPK debut album Information Overload Unit from 1981. About halfway through the albums opening track Emanation Machine R. Gie 1916, I became aware of how much it sounded like some of the textures and modulating frequencies I would listen on the shortwave for hours as a kid. I began to wonder if a musical performance of pure analog electronic “noise” was broadcast on the radio, how would a listener moving through the dial know what they were hearing was an actual broadcast? And if they did, how where they able to discern synthetic, controlled noise from pure generative noise? It is my hope that the whiteout series of performances brings the very essence of noise, music and even our own environmental sonic awareness into question."

The interview features David Skal- an expert on Halloween. Host Bryan Le Beau is joined by David Skal author of "Death Makes A Holiday." They will discuss the origins and myths of Halloween. And for our commentary Andrew Bacevich reflects on "Paltry War, Paltry Politics." Andrew Bacevich is a professor of international relations at Boston University, where he also serves as director of the university's Center for International Relations. Alex Boese, curator of the Museum of Hoaxes, joins us to recount a hoax that took place in the second half of the nineteenth century in the Nevada Territory. "Talking History" is a radio show distributed by the Pacifica Network.

Tune into this special two-hour election edition of Jason Candler's "in so many words," which focuses on the month before and after the general election of 2008. in so many words is an 18 ½ hour time capsule of news radio, composed entirely of unedited sound bites, devoid of any newscasters, commentators, editorials or analysts (and is commercial free!). It sequentially covers the time period of the last Presidential Election, and the first hundred days of the Obama Presidency (May 12, 2008 to May 12, 2009). Described as "a cocktail for social awareness and self evaluation", in so many words unfolds a mind-opening non sequitur narrative that informs you about the city, country, and world we live in, the scope of news reporting, the connections seemingly different stories have with each other, and how you relate to this reality. The longer you listen, the more the puzzle pieces fall into place.

An eight hour excerpt of in so many words was exhibited at Figment NYC on Governor’s Island on June 9-10, 2012 (figmentproject.org). There, listeners were able to draw their reactions to the audio in large sketchbooks. A different eight hour excerpt was exhibited at Figment Boston July 28-29, 2012. Excerpts of the 18 ½ hour program are posted monthly on Jason Candler's website here.

Tracklist for Vital Weekly 858, a weekly experimental new music show, formerly by folks behind Staalplaat.:
0000 Tune
0014 Piotr Kolekci & Molok Mun - Rosemary
0313 Taylor Deupree - Shutter
0621Legion - Colossus0923
0927 Minoy & PBK - In Shadow
1227 Steven Vinkenoog - Downstrokes
1527 Hatzatz - Daydream
1847 Petit & Robinson - Dinner Done
2105 Ilia Belorukov - Nudoksa
2505 (The) Solar Plexus - Gutterbeat
2752 Adega Ensemble - Third Session
3051 Holzkopf - W Botfly
3355 Tune

Part one of radio play with voices of Brian Dewan, Christine Entwisle, John Hegley, and Sir Gideon Vein. Plus vintage radio ads, including sexist coffee ads from the 1950s, and a variety of ads from KBOA Kennett, MO from the 1940s and 1950s.

Live from the Catskill Community Center. Host Matt Bua will be joined by Nan-Suli-Wah, the Catskilll resident that dreams of the "What Makes you Happy" radio show. They'll be chatting and playing gospel and uplifting hits for your weekend wake-ip. Also weather radio, solar radio, and more. Feel free to call in 518-291-WGXC. Tweet song requests @WGXC.

This edition of "framework:ephemera" features selections by Ernst Karel, including works by Peter Cusack, Gilles Aubry, John Arndt, Jed Speare, Jonty Semper, Aaron Dilloway, United States of Belt, and Walter Ruttmann. For more information see http://ek.klingt.org.

Recordings of sound works from the exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, March 22-June 10, 2001. Works by Jim O'Rourke, Marina Rosenfeld, Andrea Parkins, Pamela Z., Elliot Sharp, Gregory Whitehead, Ikue Mori, Brian Conley, and Brandon LaBelle are included.

Frédéric Acquaviva is an experimental, self taught and independent french composer born in 1967 and living in Berlin, working mainly on voice, langage, sound as idea in the form of live spatialised concerts, or sound installations, chronopolyphonic installations…., records or editions, since 1990.

He has published numerous CDs with Al Dante or Casus Belli, been programmed in Museums (such as Weserburg Museum in Bremen, Centre Pompidou and Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Moderna Museet in Stockholm) or La Fenice in Venezia, art galleries (such as Peccolo Gallery in Livorno, Lara Vincy, Incognito and Archives in Paris, Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich) or underground venues (such as Les Voûtes and Le Donjon de Maîtress Cindy in Paris, The Rialto Mercato at Venezia, the Groix Island, the Hoxton Lounge and Kitchen in London, Vladicin Han Bridge, Serbia, Brio in New-York or in Iwana, Kenya).

He worked with major poets or artists such as Pierre Guyotat, Isidore Isou, Maurice Lemaître, Henri Chopin, Jean-Luc Parant, Maria Faustino, FJ Ossang, Marcel Hanoun and is currently working on several projects with english mezzo-soprano Loré Lixenberg.

Acquaviva is also known for having curated the first international major exhibition on the work of Gil Wolman at MACBA, Barcelona (2010-2011). He is an expert on sound poetry and Lettrisme, has realised the 3 and only historical lettrists Symphonies by Isou, Lemaître and Pomerand and in addition to his curatorial activities (exhibitions, films, editions, lectures, radiophonies) is also working on an ambitious Archives project in this field.

"Under the Radar" concert with Frédéric Acquaviva and Lore Lixenberg. Live broadcast from Deep Listening Space, Kingston NY. An intimate and cozy evening with composer Frederic Acquaviva and mezzo-soprano Lore Lixenberg. Hosted by Pauline Oliveros. Live streaming broadcast at www.deeplistening.org. Presented in collaboration with free103point9. Part of Ione's 17th Annual Dream Festival.

Frédéric Acquaviva will also be a guest in person at Wave Farm in Acra on the "Saturday Afternoon Show" from 4-6 p.m., Sat., Dec. 1 on WGXC 90.7-FM and free103point9 Online Radio.

Track playlist for "Vital Weekly" 859:
0014 Ulrich Troyer - Song For Heide
0320 Bernard Falaise - Nuire
0612 Grzegorz Bojanek - Remaining Motionless
0912 BioMechanica - BM01-05
1216 Adam Beckley - Avner
1516 Tiziano Milani - Dark, Dark My Light
1822 Muennich & Esposito & Jupitter-Larsen - The Wraiths Of Flying A
2125 Star Turbine - Life Forms
2432 Ypotryll - A Blue Mantle Under The Stars
2735 Threha Sektori - Desproarehn
3037 The Infant Cycle - Pool Skin
3335 Alexandre St.Onge
3632 An Moku - Stockwerk
3934 Cremaster & Angharad Davies - Bruine
4238 Piano Interrupted - Hedi

Dziga Vertov's (1896-1954) "Enthusiasm! The Dombass Symphony (1930)." Original soundtrack excerpts, recorded in 1929-30, 26'30". Written and directed (composed): Dziga Vertov; Sound: P. Shtro; Sound-Recording Station: Timartsev, Chibisov, Khariyonov & Molchanov; Recorded: Shorin System; Additional Music: Donbassa March by Timofeyev; Produced: Ukrainfilm Kiev Film Studio, 1930.Extracts taken from the DVD Entuziazm (Sinfonia Donbassa), Osterreichisches Filmmuseum 2005 via Ubuweb. "Enthusiasm! The Dombass Symphony" (1930) is possibly Dziga Vertov's most revolutionary achievement: a symphony of abstract industrial noise for which a specially designed giant mobile recording system was constructed (it weighed over a ton) in order to capture the din of mines, furnaces and factories. For Vertov, the introduction of sound film didn't mean talkies, but the opportunity to collage, montage and splice together constructions of pure environmental noise. Denis Arkadievitch Kaufman (b. Bialyskov, Poland 1986 - d. Moscow 1954) adopted the name Dziga Vertov as an adolescent; a futurist pseudonym loosely translated as "spinning top". He studied piano, violin and psychoneurology, at the same time writing poetry and recording natural sounds with a phonograph for his Laboratory of Hearing (1916). By 1918, he had begun to work w ith cinema and - with his future wife Elisaveta Svilova - created the group Kinoks [Kino-Eye]. Concentrating on documentary films, they championed "what the eye doesn't see" . Between 1925 and 1929, he developed the idea of Radio-Pravda [Radio-Truth] and Radio-Ear (from "I hear").

Micah Moses's Cinema Terrorisme is an audio sigil using cut up methods and collage in order to distill the horror of modern existential malaise into substantiate energy mass. There is no moral value expressed in Cinema Terrorisme. Everything you hear has been alchemically remapped into a new order of relational aesthetics. More information is available on the Cinema Terrorisme blog at http://cinematerrorisme.blogspot.com/

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's weekly media show. Guests this week include Michael Ratner on Bradley Manning hearing; Joe Torres on FCC.

Two hours of shortwave radio-based programming.

5 a.m.: "The RAIN Report:"Short 2012 Hamvention interviews with Don Whiteman, KK9H and Mark Klockson, WA9IVH (11 minutes)."

5:30 a.m., "The Shortwave Report" with host Dan Roberts and international news via shortwave radio.

6 a.m.: "Glenn Hauser's World of Radio"

6:30 a.m.: "Amateur Radio Newsline"
"Hams provide emergency communications as a massive typhoon hits the Philippines; The IARU Region 3 Monitoring System notes an increase in the number of intrusions into the amateur radio bands; hams in Taiwan say that they are in need of additional operating spectrum and the FCC plans to hold several hearings on the communications breakdowns caused by Hurricane Sandy."

Live from the Catskill Community Center. Host Matt Bua will take calls and suggestions, and accepts walk-in guests live at the Catskill Community Center. Also weather radio, solar radio, the ski report, and more. Feel free to call in 518-291-WGXC. Tweet song requests @WGXC.

"An Interruption" recorded live by Radio Helsinki for Radia. "Radia" is an international group of radio station interested in new and forgotten ways of making creative radio. Each week, one station in the network asks an artist to make a radio work that can be heard around the globe. This week:
Lucas Cejpek text, reading
Michael Fischer live-mix with 2 CD-players
A live on air improvisation by MIchael Fischer based on textfragments by Lucas Cejpek, dealing with interruption. The texts are part of a work in progress, a dictionary of a single word, which is interruption.
In 2005 Michael Fischer developed connex:context, a series of live performances on Orange 94FM - community radio station Vienna, in collaboration with the authors Marietta Böning, Petra Ganglbauer, Christine Huber, Semier Insayif, Gerhard Jaschke, Christian Katt, Margret Kreidl, Peter Pessl, Valeri Scherstjanoi, Birgit Schwaner, Lisa Spalt, Dieter Sperl, Günter Vallaster, Peter Waugh, dasfröhlicheWohnzimmer; live performed at Alte Schmiede, Salon Praterstraße, Literaturhaus Wien, Literaturhaus Graz and festivals Literatur in Grün or Haydn in der Wart.
Lucas Cejpek born 1956 in Vienna, where he is living as a freelance author and director of theatre- and radio-plays. Latest book: Where Is Elizabeth? A novel, Sonderzahl publishers, Vienna 2009.
Michael Fischer musician-composer in the range of improvised music, noise, new music, soundscapes on saxophone, violin, cd-player/mixer, conducted instant compostions, since 1999 working on the implications of the electro-acoustic phenomenon feedback. 2005 he launched the Vienna Improvisers Orchestra, working as an instant composition conductor also for other large ensembles. Concerts, performances, festival appearances as musician and cross-collaborator throughout Europe and Japan. http://m.fischer.wuk.at Original broadcast: radio orange 94.0 FM, November 6, 2012, 22:00 – 22:57

This edition of framework:afield has been produced in Germany by Marcus Beuter. For more information see his website at http://www.marcusbeuter.de.

"Nam June Paik: Global Visionary" opens Dec. 13 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. This show will tune in some of the Korean artists sound and video works. From the Smithsonian: "The artwork and ideas of the Korean-born artist Nam June Paik were a major influence on late twentieth-century art and continue to inspire a new generation of artists. "Nam June Paik: Global" Visionary offers an unprecedented view into the artist’s creative method by featuring key artworks that convey Paik’s extraordinary accomplishments as a major international artist as well as material drawn from the Nam June Paik Archive, which was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum from the artist’s estate in 2009. The exhibition includes 67 artworks and more than 140 items from the Archive. Several rare artworks borrowed from private and public collections in the United States and abroad, including "TV Garden" (1974) from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, "Whitney Buddha Complex" (1982) from the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, and Paik’s rarely seen installation "Moon Projection with E Moon and Birds" (1996), on loan from the Paik Estate, are featured. Three exceptional artworks from the museum’s collection will be included: "Zen for TV" (1963/1976), "Megatron/Matrix" (1995), and "Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii" (1995)."

Monthly, formerly weekly, overview of shortwave and FM pirate radio. Pirates in the news this week include an article about David Tedder of Longview started the low-power “pirate” station KRAP, which broadcasts on 107.9-FM. Reports of dozens of raids against pirate radio stations in Islington and Hackney. A new pirate-themed movie is out titled "Young Soul Rebels." FCC announces first opportunity for small community radio stations in 12 years as heard on International Radio Report. Select postings from the HF Underground and note stations logged per the Free Radio Weekly. Off Air Recordings include the stations of: WMPR, Channel Z, Radio Ronin Shortwave, Insane Radio, 2012International.

Tune in as host Tom Roe recounts important radio-related news. Plus a few Free Speech Radio News reports from this week about the Federal Communications Commission and radio-controlled drones being used in the United States. Plus music, weather, the ski report, and more.

This show will tune in New York City radio the night the former Beatle was shot (from. WFMU recording), and other solo works and Beatle songs. This show also plays an excerpt of Howard Cosell announcing the news during "Monday Night Football."

Reports on Clear Channel's mass firings of on-air talent and programming and music directors this past week. Also, the FCC approves LPFM and backs off a vote on limiting media diversity for more comments. Plus reports from Free Speech Radio News about radio-controlled drones, media consolidation in Argentina, and more. And solar weather and local shortwave radio events.

Reportedly, maybe, Guglielmo Marconi tuned in three clicks on Dec. 12, 1901, using a 152.4-metre (500 ft) kite-supported antenna for reception, to receive at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland (now part of Canada) signals transmitted by the company's new high-power station at Poldhu, Cornwall in the UK, for the first transatlantic wireless communication. This evening we will tune in to Marconi tributes, performances, inventions, and ideas. Tributes include Neptune's "Marconi's Belief," radio dramas starring Marconi as a character, and Marconi-inspired performances.

Tune in highlights of December Federal Communications Commission's December "Open Meeting" over Ravi Shankar ragas. Solar weather, other radio news, more. Hosted by Tom Roe.

From Julio Martinez of KPFK 90.7-FM Los Angeles, via Pacifica Radio Network archives. "To All A Good Night"(26:07). "This is an an original radio drama written by Julio Martinez which traces the history of Santa Claus in a new and fun way. This story features Nicholas the Bishop of Smyrna, John Winthrop, the Puritans of 1647, The Saxons, the vikings, ChristKleinlein from Gernmany, Pere Noel from France, Washington Irving, John Pintard, the Montgomery Ward staff who brainstormed the Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer for their holiday catalog in 1939 and of course Mr. and Mrs Santa Claus."