Philadelphia-based radio access advocacy group Prometheus Radio Project says there might be 21 new low-power FM radio frequencies available in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy market. There's an October deadline for non-profit organizations to apply for low-power FM licenses that can cover entire towns. "Not all channels are usable in real-world conditions, and not all channels are in locations with actual demand for community radio," the group says. "These numbers are not gospel -- they are informed guesses made by the Prometheus technical team using FCC tools." In New York State, here are some possibilities: Rochester, up to 32 new stations; Catskill, one; Hudson, two, Kingston, four; Saugerties, three. See more information at Prometheus Radio Project.

Animals come out at night on the radio.

Episode 875 of weekly experimental new music show, by folks formerly behind Staalplaat. Click on title for playlist 875: tracklist for Vital Weekly 875: 0000 Tune; 0014 The Closed Circuit - Einsparpotential; 0310 Solanaceae Tau - Tanks Of Xiao Ping; 0619 Re-Drum - A Moon Piece; 0920 3+ - Reciter (Sunset Of Sollow); 1229 Lugozi - Nic; 1533 Marcus Rubio & Bill Shute - Only The Imprint Of An Echo Remains; 1834 Stefan Funck - So Far So Good; 2139 Exit To Exist & Creation VI- You Will Dissolve In The Airlove; 2441 Bennett & Stone & Harth & Uchihashi - Eschew Obfuscation, Espuse Elucidation; 2741 Tasos Stamou - The Return Of The Long Lost One 1; 3006 Slavek Kwi & Simon Whetham; 3308 Instant Movie Combinations - Jungle Book; 3608 Fossils; 3909 Stpocold - The Way I Like It; 4207 Tune.

Monthly cassette show. In a "Tabs Out" exclusive we reveal the identity of Noise Park. We also play a ZX Spectrum video game cassette and other jams from Alan Gesso, Giant Claw, Raw Thug, Somnaphon, Potpourri, Deadmoths, Orchard Thief, Bang Bros, Ouxatil 95, Abortus Fever, William Clay Martin, Pierrot Lunaire, Charles Barabé, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Birds of Passage.

"PiratesWeek" is off this week. Two episodes of "The RAIN Report" instead, with visually impaired ham Greg Rosenberg, AB9MZ, discussing strategies for emergency preparedness for the disabled. Plus, ARRL Audio News for the week, including, "n this edition: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell have both announced that they will soon leave the FCC; the FCC has granted the ARRL’s request for a temporary waiver to transmit communications on amateur service channels above 30 MHz using single time-slot Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems; the ARRL will be promoting Amateur Radio at the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual convention; we mourn the passing of George Hart, W1NJM, the developer of the National Traffic System; Bruce Paige, KK5DO, with this week’s Satellite Update, and more."

The Sacremento Bee reports that 80 proposals related to radio-controlled drones in 39 statehouses across the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In New York, two Brooklyn Assemblymen introduced bills in Albany this past week. Christopher Robbins in Gothamist reports about Bronx Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda's bill, which prohibits drone use to gather evidence, "except when authorized under a warrant issued by a court of record or justified by lawful exception to the warrant requirement." Sepúlveda released a statement, saying that he plans several other drone bills, "Banning drones from being armed; clearly defining what constitutes a drone; restricting the use of drones by private citizens; and streamlining the mechanisms to secure permits for responsible drone usage concerning its commercial applications." Tom Precious in The Buffalo News reports that Assemblyman Nick Perry’s legislation, would “protect New York state residents from unwarranted and unauthorized use of drones or other unmanned aircrafts to conduct surveillance upon them inside their homes or place of worship or within the closed confines of their property or other locations where a person would have an expectation of privacy.’’ The Buffalo News says the bill exempts patrols along the Canadian border to prevent illegal entry of people or drugs and other substances, and to counter a "high risk of a terrorist attack by a specific individual or organization based on credible intelligence determined by the commissioner of homeland security and emergency services.'' His proposal includes individual use for "lawful purposes, including recreational or hobby purposes.''

The unanswered message, the unreturned call, the sound of miscommunication is explored in sound and song. April 3 is the 40th anniversary of the cell phone.

First performances of the Pierre Boulez (b. 1925) in the United States. March 31-April 3 1960 by New York Philharmoic with Leonard Bernstein, Music Director; Marni Nixon, Soprano; Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Pianist.

Sound effects, John Williams, epic dialogue, crunched in six layers all at once.

Michael Skelly, has a solution that he thinks will move us past the transmission obstacle and into an era of efficient wind power use and transfer. His company, Clean Line Energy Partners, believes it has a better way to transport wind energy, using a new technology based on the old standard direct current electricity: high voltage direct current transmission lines. From Pacifica Radio.

Do not call during rebroadcast. Off The Hook, from the hacker zine 2600, airs every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET in New York City on WBAI 99.5 FM, and is rebroadcast the next morning at 5 a.m. on WGXC and free103point9 Online Radio. It is simulcast online via streaming MP3 and via shortwave on WBCQ The Planet at 5110 KHz. Join #offthehook on irc.2600.net to chat during the show. Email show at oth [at] 2600.com Do not call during the 5 a.m. rebroadcast.

"Radio Theater Project," produced at KSVR Studios at the radio station KSVR-FM in Mount Vernon, Washington. The actors are from the Skagit Radio Repertory Company. The producer is Joseph C McGuire. Original story by David Van Meer. In a fantasy world a runaway princess and a would be magician and bard find each other. Together they face excitement and danger. Including a greedy dragon. A ironic, humorous fairy tale for grown ups. From Pacifica Radio.

WBAI's "Off The Hook" discusses release of Aaron Swartz, internet activist, legal documents.

New music is played.

Episode 03 of 2013 of two-hour free jazz show that airs on eight European radio stations and free103point9 Online Radio and WGXC 90.7-FM in the Hudson Valley, in New York, in the United States. Click on title to access the playlist. Episode 03 of 2013 of two-hour free jazz show that airs on eight European radio stations and free103point9 Online Radio and WGXC 90.7-FM in the Hudson Valley, in New York, in the United States. The playlist: loosetorque freeplay: nick stephens, b/ john corbett, tpt, valve tbn, fl/ tony marsh, perc; slam day for night at jack straw: david haney, p/ julian priester, tbn/ buell neidlinger, b + guests; renegade: esmond selwyn, g/ paul sawtell, keyb/ bill coleman, b/ tony richards, dr; aut the exit door leads in: alberto collodel, bcl/ davide lorenzon, as, ss/ ivan pilat, bari sax + guests; electrical landscapes: andrea laino, el g; hotcup slippery rock: mostly other people do the killing; latham fluidity: brian groder, tpt, flghrn/ tonino miano, p; cleanfeed spun tree: michael attias, ralph alessi, matt mitchell, sean conly, tom rainey; union: paradoxical frog umlaut composition no 6: pierre antoine badaroux & co.; emanem one four & two twos: john stevens, paul rutherford, evan parker, barry guy; drip invitation: peggy lee band; peeter uuskyla open secrets: peeter uuskyla, dr/ ove volquartz, ts, bcl.

02/13 edition. Click on title for playlist, no business channels of consciousness: william hooker quintet; nasty & sweet: thomas borgmann/ wilber morris/ reggie nicholson; emanem bouquet: charlotte hug/ frédéric blondy; roguart three compositions: roscoe mitchell & co.; passages: alexandre pierrepont/didier petit; ictus east side banquet: confusion bleue; asuka kakitani bloom: asuka kakitani jazz orchestra; edgetone little bluedevil: bille noertker's moxie; new artists tranceformation: crothers, filiano, wolper; nottwo schmetterling: simon rose, sax solo simon rose; toondist coconut: eric boeren & band.

Guest 1: Dr. Seth Shostak, search for aliens in space; Guest 2: Dr. Ray Kurzweil, future of robots - will they take over? Host Dr. Michio Kaku. From Pacifica Radio.

Live webstream for this, and most, shows at Spotty Dog Books & Ale available from free103point9 and WGXC at http://comm.free103point9.org:8000/spottydog.mp3.m3u. This show will be rebroadcast on free103point9 Online Radio and WGXC 90.7-FM (later that night) at midnight, Sat., April 6.

Eastern European music, with between two and ten band members.

free103point9 welcomes Laura Hadden and Tennessee Watson to Wave Farm this spring as the 2013 season’s first Artists-in-Residence. The two were selected from a competitive international field of candidates for a two-month residency at Wave Farm in Acra. This residency marks an exciting partnership between free103point9 and The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR)’s Live Interactive program, encouraging experimentation with place-based media and the transmission spectrum in new ways.

Hadden and Watson’s project Wage/Working addresses the issues of income inequality and the concept of wage through a time-based transmission installation and a radio broadcast series on free103point9’s WGXC 90.7-FM. During their time in Greene County, these two accomplished radio producers and artists will be collecting stories and interviews with workers in Greene and Columbia counties regarding their jobs and their relationship to their work.

The stories will be edited to a length, which corresponds with the amount of time it takes each individual to earn $1, creating an inverse relationship between monetary value and time. Those who earn the least are given the most time to speak and the actual value of time can be experienced and internalized by those experiencing the installation, drawing attention to the contrast between the workers at the both ends of the range and profiling workers across the spectrum.

“We are deeply inspired by American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster Studs Terkel and imagine this project in many ways to be a modern, transmission-based adaptation of his efforts to bring the experiences of workers in conversation with one another. The content of our project draws from the oral history tradition that Terkel popularized, while simultaneously utilizing and problematizing the data-driven journalism that is popular today,” says Hadden and Watson.

Visit Laura and Tennessee's Wage Working blog at wageworking.com.

LOCAL STORIES AND PARTICIPANTS WANTED!
HADDEN AND WATSON ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING PARTICIPANTS TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR THEIR PROJECT WAGE/WORKING PROFILING THE DIVERSITY OF WORKERS IN THE GREENE AND COLUMBIA COUNTIES COMMUNITY. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE INCLUDED PLEASE CONTACT LAURA AND TENNESSEE AT WAGEWORKING@GMAIL.COM OR (518) 314-9675 (THAT’S 518-314-WORK).

About Laura Hadden and Tennessee Watson:
Hadden and Watson were cited in 2011 by the International Documentary Challenge in the Best Film and Best Directing categories for a previous joint project, Matthew 24:14. The collaborators have a diverse history working in documentary film and radio. Laura Hadden is an independent media producer who spent the last three years producing projects for the storytelling organization The Moth in New York City. Before that, she facilitated workshops at The Center for Digital Storytelling and was an apprentice and community media producer at KPFA in Berkeley, CA. Tennessee Watson is a multimedia producer based in Brooklyn, NY. Prior to moving to NY, she spent four years at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University producing documentaries, instructing courses and coordinating Youth Noise Network, a radio project for teens in Durham, North Carolina.

About The Association of Independents in Radio (AIR):
Boston-based AIR (www.AIRmedia.org) is a vibrant, tightly networked association of more than 900 journalists, documentarians, technicians, media entrepreneurs, and sound artists working at the front edge of public media reinvention. Its programs are designed to identify, cultivate, and deploy gifted talent for the benefit of citizens across the world.

AIR’s Live Interactive Residency Program is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

Radio and media headlines.

Episode 159 of mash-up show hosted by Jon Nelson. Featuring the Some Assembly Required interview with Mr. Dibbs, along with 7 tracks by the artist, and one in collaboration with 1200 Hobos.

DJ $mall ¢hange at free103point9 events at SmackMellonin Brooklyn Aug. 2, 2003.

Selected songs and sounds from Negativland.

Two hours of shortwave radio-oriented programming, starting with solar weather, news on meteor showers and ham radio, and other reports. Other reports include:

5:15 a.m.: "The RAIN Report: "Visually impaired ham Greg Rosenberg, AB9MZ, strategies for emergency preparedness for the disabled."

5:30 a.m., "The Shortwave Report" with host Dan Roberts and international news via shortwave radio. This week's show features stories from NHK World Radio Japan, Radio Deutsche-Welle, Radio Havana Cuba, the Voice of Russia, and Spanish National Radio.

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

6:30 a.m.: "Amateur Radio Newsline" This week: "The FCC says it is reviewing RF exposure limits in all radio services; a look at the possible candidates to be the next FCC Chairman; a UK ham's signal is heard 2000 Kilometers away with only 10 milliwatts from a Raspberry Pi transmitter; the tiny Baofeng HT becomes a paradise for makers and hackers and the story of how ham radio help to stop a civil war.

Prince, and others sing about April.

"Please Assist Us With Transmission." Anyone can contribute to the show in many ways on "Open Air." Matt Bua hosts live transmission art show about local transmissions from the Catskill Community Center. You make up the show with stories, phone calls, messages, requests, further information, and more. Please help be a part of the show. Stop by the Catskill Community Center in person. Call in at 518-219-WGXC. Tweet requests @WGXC. Skype calls at WGXCfm. Talk on Channel 6 on CB radio, we are tuning in. Features include solar weather, shortwave news, and more.

Call 518-219-WGXC or Skype calls at WGXCfm to talk on the air.

"Radia" is a group of international radio stations, including WGXC/free103point9, interested in new and forgotten ways of making radio. Each week, one station makes a show that the rest air. This week: "Fuer Giesela" by Lasse-Marc Riek. listen. closely. fall in love with the ants hurrying over the ground. the wind. and the rain. the sounds. and their own music. that is everywhere. full of memories. of the past. of the present. and the future. yes: this is a love song. perhaps not the one you’ve expected. but then: listen. again. closely. to the sounds. and their own music. that is everywhere. and giesela? who knows. she might be out there. im gruenen. les hommes n’en sauront rien… LASSE-MARC RIEK is an artist mainly working in the field of sound art, acoustic ecology and related interdisciplinary research, including cooperations with other artists as well as scientist. He is also the co-founder of GRUENREKORDER, Find out more about his projects at www.lasse-marc-riek.de and about GRUENREKORDER at www.gruenrekorder.de

This regular edition features Mathias Delplanque, Adrian Dziewanski, Seth Chrisman, Barry Cullen, and tracks from the new framework:seasonal spring 2013 edition, issue #4, by Yannick Dauby & Olivier Féraud, Stefan Paulun, and Francisco Lopez.

free103point9 interviews and performances from Pauline Oliveros, and C Lavender. Oliveros runs the Deep Listening Institute in Kingston, NY, and is an internationally recognized composer. C Lavender is a Hudson-based sound artist currently working with Oliveros at Deep Listening. Included here is a recent episode of "Roots, Runners, Rhizomes," that included C Lavender.

Daddy Artfag Makes the Turnaround In a High C Median and Fakes early 90s Dance Steps on a Mammary Gland. Samples included: cathy's curse, sound cosmodel, cindy and donna, wrong way, h. tical, twins of evil, gianni ferrio, the ninth configuration, tomorrowland, double exposure of holly, black moon, america exposed, venus in furs, glenn back with pat robertson, camp fear, illuminati project, lobsang rampo, the morning after, hydra, the time travelers, the devils hand, zoo, bizarre, mondo bizarro, blood, satellite clouds, the party, mutant, the real life hannibal lecters, bye bye monkey, the great american snuff film, split image, jonathan bells, my bloody valentine, patchwork orchestra, malatesta's carnival of blood, deadbeat at dawn, c ptak, a reflection of fear, toolbox murders, giovanotti mondani, behind convent walls, magdalena, wham bam thank you spaceman, ilsa the wicked warden

Curated by Jeremy Kelly this week. Alan Goraguer - Deshominisation (I); Raime - The Last Foundry; Holly Herndon - Fade; Nurse With Wound - Lunar Cement Sidewalk; Swans - Her Mouth Is Filled With Honey; Laurie Spiegel - Old Wave; Daphne Oram - Costain Suite; Chlorgeschlecht - Unyoga; Eric Lanham - No Ordinates.

Wave Farm Artist-in-residence Laura Hadden and Tennessee Watson discuss their public workshop April 28 at Cairo Library. We tune in the National Conference for Media Reform, and other shortwave radio news.

"PiratesWeek" is off the air this week, so after the Weekly Presidential Radio Address, this special on pirate radio airs, with interviews of Kids Discover Radio, WFAT, Steal This Radio, WJMZ, and others. Also, Secret Agent K7's radio play "Illegal Use of Radio" is included. Plus songs from The Toasters, The Ramones, John Hiatt, and Mojo Nixon.

Congress reported its findings on the "London Whale" scandal; a trader who racked up more than 6 billion dollars in losses for federally insured JP Morgan Chase bank. So what happened? Also, Congress held hearings on HSBC, the bank that laundered nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and others. So what happened? And why haven't you heard about this before? Hosted by Paul Fischer. Playlists: Feels Like We Only Go Backwards Tame Impala Lonerism. Modular 2012 03:13 Too Hard Kurt Vile Wakin On A Pretty Daze. Matador 2013 08:00 Track ID Anyone? DJ Koze ft. Caribou Amygdala. Pampa 2013 04:39 Diane Young Vampire Weekend Modern Vampires of the City. XL 2013 02:44 Machineries of Joy British Sea Power Machineries of Joy. Rough Trade 2013 03:48 Full of Fire The Knife Shaking The Habitual. Rabid 2013 09:18 Your Life, Your Call Junip Junip. Mute 2013 04:07 Under The Earth Yeah Yeah Yeahs Mosquito. Interscope 2013 04:13 Dilemna Edwyn Collins Understated. Norman 2013 03:26 46 Satires The Besnard Lakes Until In Excess,Imperceptible UFO. Jagjaguwar 2013 06:44 Way I Feel Atu Pictures on Silence. Soulection 2013 02:37 Quest Vondelpark Seabed. R&S 2013 03:36 Bury Bury Bury Another Rilo Kiley rkives. Little Record Company 2013 03:29 Additional Credits This program contains soundbites..including Sen. Elizabeth Warren grilling federal bank regulators, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon tells Congress about the London Whale scandal. in 2012 testimony to Congress.. Now, Senators McCain and Levin report new findings of investigation into 6 billion dollars in trading losses from the London Whale scandal at .JP Morgan Chase. Senate Committee Q and A with JP Morgan trading officials about those findings. Sen. Elizabeth Warren questions Treasury and other fed regulators about money laundering by HSBC bank.....from C-Span, political and media websites...for illustrative, analysis and commentary purposes

An electric Nikola Tesla mixdown featuring music from They Might Be Giants, The Handsome Family, Bright Eyes, David Bowie, Johnny Marr, Rae & Christian with Bobby Womack, Devandra Banhart, Frank Black, and The Black Keys. Hosted by Peter Bochan. From Pacifica Radio.

Two episodes of the cassette show "Tabs Out." Click on title for playlist. Monthly cassette show. In a "Tabs Out" exclusive we reveal the identity of Noise Park. We also play a ZX Spectrum video game cassette and other jams from Alan Gesso, Giant Claw, Raw Thug, Somnaphon, Potpourri, Deadmoths, Orchard Thief, Bang Bros, Ouxatil 95, Abortus Fever, William Clay Martin, Pierrot Lunaire, Charles Barabé, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Birds of Passage.

One Year Anniversary Show! Robert Turman, Gut Nose, Royal Tropical Institute, Teamm Jordann, Merzbow, Ala Vjiior, Roman Cross, Wolf Eyes, Tiger Village, Swamp Leather, Material Sequence, Jeph Jerman and Greg Davis, The Haters, Sundrips, Daniel Wyche, Regress, and Imaginary Softwoods.

IEEE Spectrum Magazine's Eliza Strickland takes listeners through her personal journey explaining what genome-sequencing is, and how this technology could shape the future of medical care. From Pacifica Radio.

Filmmakers Christopher Oscar and Doug Hecker talk about their new documentary about Project Censored, and the film's broader critique of U-S corporate media. Then, three guests call in from the National Conference on Media Reform in Denver: Sara Van Gelder of Yes magazine, independent video journalist Josh Wolf, and Vermont Commons editor Rob Williams. From Pacifica Radio.

Sat., April 6, 2013 edition of "Radio Wonderland" by Joshua Fried.

This is the 20th year of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's media analysis radio show, hosted by Janine Jackson, Steve Rendall, and Peter Hart. This week: Tim Shorrock on North Korea, Lee Fang on State Policy Network.

The Federal Communications Commission reconsiders rules around radio frequency exposure limits.

Futuristic, idealistic visions of what radio can be from Gregory Whitehead, Brian Dewan, others.

Sometimes it is how you say it, not what you say. This show explores vocal artists such as Jaap Blonk, Gregory Whitehead, Anna Friz, and others.

Classic radio clips from Jack Benny, others.

New York and other states consider privacy laws about radio-controlled drones. Prometheus Radio maps out where new LPFM stations may get created in the United States. The Brooklyn transmitter farmer Aereo can keep its thousands of mini-TV antennae tuned to local television. WBAI's "Off The Hook" discusses release of Aaron Swartz, internet activist, legal documents. And more. The Sacremento Bee reports that 80 proposals related to radio-controlled drones in 39 statehouses across the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In New York, two Brooklyn Assemblymen introduced bills in Albany this past week. Christopher Robbins in Gothamist reports about Bronx Assemblyman Luis Sepúlveda's bill, which prohibits drone use to gather evidence, "except when authorized under a warrant issued by a court of record or justified by lawful exception to the warrant requirement." Sepúlveda released a statement, saying that he plans several other drone bills, "Banning drones from being armed; clearly defining what constitutes a drone; restricting the use of drones by private citizens; and streamlining the mechanisms to secure permits for responsible drone usage concerning its commercial applications." Tom Precious in The Buffalo News reports that Assemblyman Nick Perry’s legislation, would “protect New York state residents from unwarranted and unauthorized use of drones or other unmanned aircrafts to conduct surveillance upon them inside their homes or place of worship or within the closed confines of their property or other locations where a person would have an expectation of privacy.’’ The Buffalo News says the bill exempts patrols along the Canadian border to prevent illegal entry of people or drugs and other substances, and to counter a "high risk of a terrorist attack by a specific individual or organization based on credible intelligence determined by the commissioner of homeland security and emergency services.'' His proposal includes individual use for "lawful purposes, including recreational or hobby purposes.''

Philadelphia-based radio access advocacy group Prometheus Radio Project says there might be 21 new low-power FM radio frequencies available in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy market. There's an October deadline for non-profit organizations to apply for low-power FM licenses that can cover entire towns. "Not all channels are usable in real-world conditions, and not all channels are in locations with actual demand for community radio," the group says. "These numbers are not gospel -- they are informed guesses made by the Prometheus technical team using FCC tools." In New York State, here are some possibilities: Rochester, up to 32 new stations; Catskill, one; Hudson, two, Kingston, four; Saugerties, three. See more information at Prometheus Radio Project.

The Brooklyn transmitter farmer Aereo can keep its thousands of mini-TV antennae tuned to local television. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York affirmed Mon., April 1 an earlier ruling allowing the company's business plan to continue. Subscribers rent out a mini-antenna, and can tune in it via an online hook-up instead of purchasing cable television.

The Federal Communications Commission is asking the public for input on its indecency rules.

Wave Farm Artist-in-residence Laura Hadden and Tennessee Watson discuss their residency project, interviewing local residents about work and wages. Wave Farm Artist-in-residence Laura Hadden and Tennessee Watson for this public workshop April 28 at the Cairo Library focused on the concept of vox populi in association with WGXC's Town Recorder initiative. Other interviewing examples are cited on this show.

Songs on April theme from Patti Smith, Prince, Stephen Merritt, Julie London, Soul Asylum, and others.

French radio broadcasts of "Déserts - Présentation pour la première modiale," "Déserts - 1950-54 - for orchestra and tape - World première with Hermann Scherchen," and others, including "Poème Electronique." The first performance of the combined orchestral and tape sound composition was given at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on December 2, 1954, with Hermann Scherchen conducting and Pierre Henry in charge of the tape part. This performance was part of an ORTF broadcast concert, in front of a totally unprepared and mainly conservative audience, with Déserts wedged between pieces by Mozart and Tchaikovsky. It received a vitriolic reaction from both the audience and the press. Varèse, Edgard - Déserts - 1950-54 - for orchestra and tape - With Ricardo Chailly Varèse, Edgard - Poème Electronique – 1958

Max Neuhaus work. "Having made this vocally played instrument for Chicago led me to think about having the callers also do the mixing and grouping for themselves. Obviously I could not be in these five places mixing and grouping at once; so I decided to remove myself completely from that process and implement it as an autonomous electronic system...." In 'Radio Net', the mixing was done with what could be seen as a special case of time-division multiplexing. Although heard as a conventional mix of input signals, the output was actually being switched very quickly from input to input. The perceived level of an input in the mix depended on how long the output lingered on it. The technique allowed automatic mixing according to an analysis of each signal; the criterion I used here was that the highest pitched signal at any given instant won the output for that particular fraction of a second. A week before the broadcast, I shipped these self-mixers to the engineers at the stations in each of the call-in cities and hooked up and debugged them over the phone. In those days radio programs on NPR were distributed by what they called a Round Robin - telephone lines connecting all two hundred stations into a large loop stretching across the country. Any station in the system could broadcast a program on all the others by opening the loop and feeding the program around it. I saw that it was possible to make the loop itself into a sound-transformation circuit and tried a few things with it in several preliminary studies in 1974 For the broadcast I decided to configure it into five loops, one for each call-in city, all entering and leaving the NPR studios In Washington. Instead of being open loops as usual during a broadcast, though, I wanted to close them and insert a frequency shifter in each so that the sounds would circulate; it created a sound-transformation 'box' that was literally fifteen hundred miles wide by three thousand miles long with five ins and five outs emerging in Washington We had a "dress rehearsal" the day before the broadcast so I could get a feel for things. It is touchy when you put a wire that long in a loop; even if you do have a frequency shifter and gain control, each loop was in a sense a living thing - they could get out of hand very quickly. During the broadcast I was on a conference call with the five engineers and could listen to each loop and ask them for changes in shift and gain at any time. My role was holding the balance of this big five-looped animal with as little movement as possible. In all the previous works I had left the nature of the sounds phoned in for each caller to decide. Here I wanted to provide an indication to try and move them past the "Listen, it's my voice on the radio" stage and towards listening to one another. The question was what kind of indication - how does one indicate something to perhaps half a million people with their diverse backgrounds, intentions, and ways of interpreting? I decided to ask them simply to whistle. The results of asking half a million people to do anything, even something as simple as whistling, of course will be diverse. Some will do it; others won't. Those who do will choose how or what to whistle. Even though it may seem a very specific request, for me it was a broad indicator to provide a body of pitched material in the work. During the broadcast, the sounds phoned into each city passed through its self-mixer and started looping. With each cross-country pass, each sound made another layer, overlapping itself at different pitches until it gradually died away. It was quite a beautiful Sunday afternoon - two hours over which ten thousand people found their way into the work and made sounds.

The latest news and opinions about radio-controlled drones are explored.

International radio and media news.