Last week House of Representative Democrats voted 137-122 to replace John Dingell (D-MI 15th District) with Henry Waxman (D-CA 30th District, pictured at right) as the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell, the longest-serving member of the U.S. House, was considered by many progressive Democrats as standing in the way of key legislation, most notably auto industry reform. The Commerce Committee also oversees the telecommunications industry, and Dingell had stalled the Local Community Radio Act of 2007, which would have created thousands of new Low-Power FM stations around the country. Dingell was not one of the 99 co-sponsors in the House, and had kept the bill stuck in Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. Maybe that's because Dingell regularly takes large contributions from LPFM's biggest enemy -- the National Association of Broadcasters. Waxman, on the other hand, did co-sponsor the LPFM bill, and back in 2000, was the main opposition to the limits on the first LPFM bill Congress passed, while Dingell believed the since-disproved fake CD of alleged LPFM interference the NAB produced. Waxman's appointment as chair doesn't guarantee anything, but his past record indicates he is an LPFM supporter.

From Sesame Street:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxWGr8VhzQ&hl=en&fs=1]

Releases with top airplay on free103point9 Online Radio:

1. Evidence, Receiver (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 035)
2. Escape Mechanism, Emphasis Added (Recombinations)
From Jon Nelson of "Some Assembly Required."
3. Various artists, Autoradio-guide (Transit-Wellen)
With tracks from neuroTransmitter, Reboot.fm, Tetsuo Kogawa.
4. Various artists, Radio Action III (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 034)
With free103point9 Transmission Artists including Scanner, Joshua Fried, Anna Friz, Tianna Kennedy, LoVid, Todd Merrell, The Dust Dive, and others.
5. Eri Yamamoto, Duologue (Aum Fidelity)
6. Francisco Lopez, Conops (GD Stereo)
7. Asher-Ubeboet, Cell Memory (Winds Measure Recordings)
8. Windsor for the Derby, How We Lost (Secretly Canadian)
9. Black Taj, Beyonder (Amish)
10. Ricardo Arias + Miguel Frasconi + Keiko Uenishi, Object (eh?40)
11. Jack Wright + Alban Bailly, The Harmony of Contradictions (Sort Of)
12. Matmos, Supreme Balloon (Matador)
13. MV & EE, Ragas of the Culvert LP (Heroine Celestial Agriculture)
14. Jim McAuley, The Ultimate Frog (Drip Audio)
15. New York Society for Acoustic Ecology, Giant Ear))) Inside/Out NYC (free103point9 Audio Dispatch 036)
With tracks from Ben Owen, Michelle Nagai, Andrea Williams, Jonny Farrow, David Watson, Edmund Mooney, and others.
16. Liturgy, Immortal Life LP (Infinite Limbs)
17. Matt Weston, Not to Be Taken Away (7272music)
18. Miya Masaoka, While I Was Walking, I Heard a Sound... (Solitary B)
19. Bill Dixon, 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur (Aum Fidelity)
20. Sic Alps, A Long Way Around a Shortcut (Animal Disguise)
21. Embarker, Embarker LP (Malleablerec.com)
22. Brian Osborne + Marc Zajack, split LP (HRR/DF)
23. Tactical Sound #5, Voice(s) of God(s) (freematterfortheblind.com)
With Alexis Bhagat, Gregory Whitehead, Christopher DeLaurenti, Greta Byrum, and others.
24. Various artists, Introductions (thelandof.org)
With My Fun, Asher, others.
25. John Berndt, The Private Language Problem (Sort Of)
26. Shot x Shot, Let Nature Square (High Two)
27. Bird Show, Bird Show (Kranky)
28. Embarker, (the sayer) 3" CD (Heat Retention)
29. Jen Baker, Blue Dreams (Dilapidated Barns)
30. Cakes of Light, Save Your Self LP (Heat Retention)
31. Martin Hesselmeier + Karin Lingman, SARoskop (Kunsthochschule)
32. Cristian Amigo, Kingdom of Jones (Innova)
33. Barnyard Drama, I'm a Navvy (Barnyard Records)
34. Deerhunter, Microcastle (Kranky)
35. The Peggy Lee Band, New Code (Drip Audio)
36. Chubby Behemoth, Global DX 7" (Infinite Limbs)
37. Johann Johannsson, Fordlandia (4AD)
38. Raglani, Of Sirens Born (Kranky)
39. Gary War, New Raytheonport LP (Shwwply/Disaro)
40. Boduf Songs, How Shadows Chase the Balance (Kranky)

To get airplay for your release send it to:
Wave Farm, 5662 Route 23, Acra, NY 12405

From Mediageek:

free103point9 is a transmission arts organization that started as a micropower radio station, moved online, and broadened its horizons to become a sponsor and creator of sonic art. Now the group is poised to return to the broadcast airwaves after receiving a full-power non-commercial FM broadcast license from the FCC. free103point9 program director Tom Roe joins to talk about the station and transmission arts. Listen to this episode of the Mediageek radio show here:
http://radio.mediageek.net/?p=358

Submissions due Nov. 25 for Radiator Festival, Jan. 13-18, 2009 in Nottingham, England. Since the abundant proliferation of digital communication technology, our (living) space has been expanded, transformed, reshaped. In our everyday lives we increasingly connect to mediated interfaces, be it consciously or without knowing. Digital media is increasingly integrated seamlessly into all areas of everyday life and work. The so-called “virtual worlds” created in this way are merging ever more dynamically with our physical environment generating new hybrid spaces, becoming a fixed part of our reality themselves. Our cities are increasingly pervaded by data networks, watched over by cameras, skinned by media facades, populated by users of mobile communication devices carried around with every step. “City” itself has become a media space, a complex fabric, in which an immaterial layer of data is augmenting the urban landscape, both merging ever more seamlessly. Radiator continues its investigation into the way that artists engage with locality and site, real and virtual urban space. The “Wireless City” brings deep cultural changes and our traditional spatial coordinates are gradually being superseded by an enhanced network. Sharing their inferences and conclusions, artists are invited to reflect upon the challenges facing our freedom, the poetry of resistance and also the opportunities the “Expanded City” has to offer. Radiator welcomes all forms of artistic expression aligned with the theme. The programme will provide multiple exhibition and display opportunities across the East Midlands:

* Gallery/ White Cube Spaces
* E.g. Going Underground Exhibition (For more information click here)
* City spaces/ Site-specific works
* Events
* Indoor/ Outdoor Screenings

HOW TO SUBMIT WORK

Submissions should include:

* Images/documentation/videofootage (supporting material in one of the following formats: as standard definition DVD or VHS, as a file on CD (SWF, Quicktime or Avi accepted, use standard codecs such as Sorenson, Cinepak or DivX). Any file that cannot be viewed using standard media players will be passed over.

* Description of work

* CV

* Submissions form, downloadable from here pdf or word doc.

(Also Available online at http://www.trampoline.org.uk)

Key points to consider in your proposal:

* From video, animation, installation, sculpture, performance, live music and web streaming we encourage all forms of new media expressions.
* We especially encourage the submission of participatory works, which promote a high degree of audience involvement.
* Please include an SAE if you would like your submission returned to you.

Submissions to be send to:

Radiator
Broadway Cinema
14-18 Broad Street
Nottingham
NG1 3AL
UK

Deadline for submissions: 25th Nov 2008.

The Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA (the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams MA) is an intense, visceral, hands-on immersion in contemporary adventurous contemporary music. We will write it. We will perform it. We will think about it and we will talk about it. The festival includes performance coaching, composition seminars, music business workshops, improvisation and more. There are daily performances in the museum galleries and free concerts in the North Adams community. The festival concludes with a six-hour blow-out Marathon Concert featuring performances by the student/faculty ensembles. Mail-in applications are now available for download on our website, and electronic applications will be available December 1st. Applications must be received by January 15, 2009. More information on the festival is available here. For more information on MASS MoCA, visit massmoca.org.

From Cory Doctorow at boingboing:

Obama's FCC transition team is to be headed up by two of the smartest, hardest-fighting Net Neutrality advocates I know: Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach. This bodes very very well indeed for American telcoms policy!

Ms. Crawford is a former partner of a Washington law firm that specializes in communications law and recently left the board of directors of ICANN, a group that oversees Internet domain-name registration. Mr. Werbach edited Release 1.0, a technology newsletter, and founded Supernova Group, a technology analysis and consulting firm.

The Obama transition team includes a number of former FCC officials, but under the conflict-of-interest rules adopted by the president-elect’s team, many may be barred from directly examining FCC issues.

President-elect Obama’s office said today that Ms. Crawford and Mr. Werbach are part of the Science, Tech, Space and Arts Team that will be directed by Tom Wheeler, a former president of National Cable and Telecommunications.

Source.

Since May 2005, the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology (NYSAE) has presented Giant Ear))) each Sunday on free103point9 Online Radio, webcasting field recordings, interviews, and compositions by sound artists and anyone who could get their hands on a recording device. "Inside/Out NYC" presents New York City sound works culled from approximently two years of Giant Ear))) shows. NYSAE is a membership organization that advocates listening and promotes public dialog about the urban sound environment. Members Andrea Callard, Jonny Farrow, Edmund Mooney, Andrea Polli, and Andrea Williams produced this CD.

Sending on behalf of Ingrid Lakey, MQ2 Talent Manager:

The finalists have been chosen to submit proposals for MQ2 – 30 exciting media makers from across a broad spectrum of craft and geography chosen by the MQ2 Talent Committee. They’ve been invited to propose how they’ll help excite public radio, and lead the industry and listeners through the shift to new platforms. They have until December 1 to give it their best shot. Final decisions will be announced in early March.

MQ2 was thrilled to receive an incredible array of nominations from 7 countries and virtually every region of the U.S. We were aiming for a mix from inside and outside the industry. Our first pass at the data we have shows 25% of the nominations came from public radio networks/shows or production houses, 30% of the nominations came from radio and TV stations, and 45% came from a far-ranging group of independent producers and those outside of public media. Nominees include straight ahead public radio journalists, serial entertainment producers, sound installationists, bit-heads, record producers, composers, and one big surprise was a nomination from musician Billy Bragg, of Dorset, Scotland.

Our selected makers are (drum roll please):

Jenny Asarnow, Rose Bianchini, Philip Blackburn, Jacob Brancasi, Kabir Carter, Julie Drizin, Alex Gallafent, Tim Halbur, Anyi Howell, Scotty Iseri, Josh Jackson, Anita Johnson, Tania Ketenjian, Queena Kim, Thomas Lopez, Pejk Malinovski, Kenny Malone, Paul McCarthy, Brendan Newnam, Kara Oehler, Lu Olkowski, Dmae Roberts, Ben Rubin, Shea Shackelford, Laura Starecheski, Nick van der Kolk, Gregory Warner, Veralyn Williams, Trent Wolbe, and Jamie York.

You’ll find information about the project, including a link to the press release, at http://www.MQ2.org

Join us in congratulating this fine group, and egging them on to great imaginings…

The MQ2 Team

===AIR is everywhere.===

www.mq2.org
www.airmedia.org

The Federal Communications Commission awarded non-profit arts group free103point9 a license for a 3,300-watt non-commercial FM radio station on 90.7-FM last week.

The new station, with studios envisioned in Cairo, Catskill, and Hudson, will broadcast local musicians and artists, as well as community news, and programs about local schools, history, agriculture, the environment, and more. An online version of the station will launch early next year and provide community members an opportunity to get involved while the FM station is in progress. The online radio broadcast will also feature local town meetings, high school sports championships, as well as local performances, lectures, workshops, and a broad spectrum of creative radio or radio art programs. Many local events will also be broadcast live on the FM station.

"Community radio is a unique volunteer-based media format," said Catskill resident and media educator Aliza Dichter, "This station will be a way for us to both boost our local economy and celebrate the diverse cultures in our area. We can deal with serious issues, have fun, and build bridges across our towns and across the two counties."

"We want to give members of the community a chance to take the microphone, go on the air, and talk about what is going on in Greene and Columbia counties," says free103point9 Program Director Tom Roe. "This is a special opportunity for this area, and all the talented artists, hard-working activists, and unique personalities here to become the local media."

During the day the station will feature weekly and monthly programs on topics such as gardening, hunting, schools, arts, music, politics, and other issues important to the community. There will be programs by youth and for children. Evenings will feature DJs and live broadcasts from events all over the two counties. Late nights and Saturdays will be filled with international radio art, experimental music, and special local broadcasts. "The week before elections we want to give every local candidate the chance to go on the air and give listeners specific reasons to vote for them," Roe says.

Critical support from this project began in 2007 with interest from local agencies and community leaders; small donations from individuals and families across the region made it possible to conduct the initial legal and engineering work for the application. Planning for the radio station is now underway with leadership from a Community Council that includes Haines Fall's Dharma Dailey (Ethos Wireless); Hudson artist Max Goldfarb; Hosneara Kader (Hudson Family Literacy); Debra Kamecke (Cairo Public Library); free103point9's Tom Roe; Alan Skerrett (Columbia County NAACP); Hudson Talbot (Catskill Community Center); and Andy Turner (Cornell Cooperative Extension Agroforestry Resource Center). Aliza Dichter (Catskill Community Center), Galen Joseph-Hunter (free103point9) and Kaya Weidmann (Germantown Community Farm) have also provided crucial efforts and support for the station project.

Based in an area between the huge New York City media market to the south and the Capitol District to the North, the villages and rural communities of Greene and Columbia Counties have little in the way of local broadcast media, with only occasional coverage in regional news. As a valuable complement to our various daily/weekly town papers, this Greene Columbia community radio station will be a unique forum for discussions, news, culture, and emergency information across our two Counties.

Artists and activists lack a central network here for letting people know about their work. Live performances from local venues will sometimes be featured in the evenings on the online web streams and the FM radio station. "We are looking forward to collaborating with the many extraordinary organizations in our area, and providing an opportunity for their programs to be on the air," says free103point9 Executive Director, Galen Joseph-Hunter.

"We've spent the year since we applied for the station building relationships with cultural, civic, and economic groups across the listening area. Partnering with groups that are already providing important services to our community is a key part of our strategy for getting the most value to the community out of having a new radio station," says Dharma Dailey. "The station will support media literacy and media production for groups like the Catskill Community Center and the Agroforestry Center, as well as schools, libraries, and local businesses. We are also interested in working with other broadcasters and news outlets to improve news coverage throughout Columbia and Greene counties."

free103point9 is a non-profit arts organization focused on establishing and cultivating the genre Transmission Arts. free103point9 activities support and promote artists exploring the many forms of "radio art" including works about the idea of transmission or using the physical properties of the electromagnetic spectrum. free103point9's programs include public performances and exhibitions, an online radio station, the free103point9 Transmission Artists, an artist residency program, grant opportunities, a distribution label, a sculpture garden, and an education initiative including a study center and online archive. This FM station will be the first radio station in the U.S. to focus on radio art (many stations in Europe and Canada do).

free103point9 will webcast a performance by avant folk musicians MV & EE with the Golden Road and local musician Jeremy Kelly at 9 p.m. Fri. Nov. 7 at The Spotty Dog Books & Ale at 440 Warren St. in Hudson, NY, and will be giving out more information about the new FM station at the performance. Admission is $5.

Initial fundraising and planning for the station, which should be on the air in 2010, will begin this winter. A series of workshops to train citizen journalists and reporters are planned next year at the Cairo Public Library, Catskill Community Center, Germantown Community Farm, and other locations. Please contact Tom Roe at tr@free103point9.org or 518-622-2598 to get involved, or for more information.

More information:
http://free103point9.org/communityradio/

La Superette 2008 is looking for: Survival crafters, conceptual product makers, DIY game producers, micro distributors, fashion hackers, electro-gadget inventors. La Superette is an annual hybrid event mixing art, shopping, music, and community spirit. La Superette is not an ordinary exhibition or craft fair. La Superette wants to promote and sell commodities made by artists and designers of all career levels; to offer shoppers unique superettenly affordable items; to incite and inspire participation, collaboration, and conversation. La Superette 2008 is happy to announce that this year's event is supported by LMCC. Deadline for online submission is November 10. All products must be delivered to La Superette by December 1. La Superette will be held on December 13 and 14 in Manhattan. Please visit our website http://lasuperette.org/call.php to complete your application and carefully read all guidelines.

Sending on behalf of Ingrid Lakey, MQ2 Talent Manager (ingrid@airmedia.org):

We've opened the gates to Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0! MQ2 is a new initiative from AIR (www.airmedia.org), the Association of Independents in Radio, that builds on public radio's 2007 Talent Quest (www.cpb.org/talentquest). This time, we want you to let us know about a brilliant producer, reporter, or sound artist you think has the potential to stretch public radio beyond current broadcast boundaries. We’ll reward 12 of the nominees with $20,000-$40,000 each to experiment. Who do you know who can most surprise us by harnessing emerging digital tools and distribution channels to give new shape to the sound of public radio? And if you have an idea we need to know about, go on and find someone to nominate you.

You'll find nomination forms, guidelines, and a profile of our illustrious Talent Committee… everything you need to take the next step with MQ2 is here (www.mq2.org).

Time is short. Nominations are due October 31 at midnight. So before you go shopping for a Sarah Palin or Barack Obama mask or begin fashioning a sheet into a spooky ghost costume, see what the excitement is all about. And do join us in this exciting pursuit.


Ingrid Lakey, Talent Manager
www.mq2.org
215-435-8525
ingrid@airmedia.org

++ AIR is everywhere ++


Links:
AIR: http://www.airmedia.org
Talent Quest: http://www.cpb.org/talentquest/
MQ2 website: http://www.mq2.org
See excitement: http://www.airmedia.org/PageInfo.php?PageID=426

From Matthew Lasar in Ars Technica:

The New York City Council heard testimony about the dangers and prospects of unlicensed "white space" devices on Tuesday. Speakers pro and con discussed the question of whether allowing unlicensed applications to tap into unused TV channels would pose a threat to the wireless microphone systems that Broadway production companies depend on. As Ars readers know, this debate normally rages at the Federal Communications Commission's HQ in nearby Washington, D.C. But the Big Apple's government is considering a fairly mild resolution opposing the technology.

"Resolved," it reads, "That the Council of the City of New York urges the Federal Communications Commission to refrain from implementing proposed regulatory amendments that would allow portable devices to operate on the 'white space' radio spectrum without ensuring that such amendments will not negatively impact television broadcasters, performing artists, professional sports leagues, and all incumbent wireless microphone users."

This language is not far from the stated intentions of the FCC, as all of the Commissioners agree that, before the service is authorized on an unlicensed basis, strong precautions must be taken to make sure that it does not interfere with these systems. But the city's resolution is preceded by a tall pile of "whereas"-es that recount the litany of potential harms nay sayers warn will come with the devices.

If the FCC gives the green light to unlicensed use, "live theatre, the performing arts, film and television production companies will be unable to prevent constant interference with microphone systems, devastating those industries within the City of New York," one line concludes.

As Broadcasting and Cable reports, prominent opponents of unlicensed use testified before the Council, including David Donovan of the Association of Maximum Service Television, who warned of "devastating" interference to broadcast reception if these whitespace devices were unleashed. Wireless mics could be reduced to a state where they're "randomly functional," if they performed as poorly in actual use as they did during recent FCC tests, a Shure microphone official claimed.

Boosters of unlicensed broadband use focused on the technology's potential. Free Press Director Timothy Karr estimated that a fifth of the TV band in New York City will be "sitting idle" after the DTV transition and said that unlicensed apps "can and will meet acceptable and certifiable standards of non-interference."

A host of local supporters of unlicensed use testified as well. Dana Spiegel of NYC Wireless promised that white space devices could "amplify" the achievements of WiFi, "enabling larger scale internet broadcast, providing inexpensive or free access to whole neighborhoods from the central anchor of a park." Joshua Breitbart of the People's Production House regretted that an "otherwise forward-thinking group of legislators" had proposed a resolution "so filled with fear and confusion," but added that he wasn't surprised. "The only thing the major broadcasters and wireless microphone companies have on their side [on this issue] is fear."

And indeed, while New York City has no shortage of pro-white space activists, politically, it is starting to build a reputation as an anti-white space town. Case in point: The New York City Council item is sponsored by a hefty eleven members of the 51 person legislative body. The majority of these sponsors come from Brooklyn and Manhattan.

In fact, New York can boast of having the only member of the House of Representatives to publish an op-ed piece against unlicensed use in the New York Times. Jerrold Nadler, whose Eighth Congressional District covers very theatrical slices of Manhattan and Brooklyn, warned in February that, if unlicensed white spaces win the day, "a person walking down the block looking up an address in his new P.D.A. could easily cause a television set to go blank or silence the wireless microphones worn by performers in a Broadway musical."

On the other hand, there's also a letter by eight Congressional representatives sent to the FCC in August, which urges the agency to fast track unlicensed use. The list of signers not surprisingly includes Mike Honda (D-CA) of Silicon Valley. But it features a strong New York contingent as well, including Yvette Clark of the 11th District and Gregory Meeks of the 6th. The areas they represent, however, are a fairly long subway ride from Broadway.

From Jose Fritz Oct. 2 in Arcane Radio Trivia:

In New York City, inside a 5-block square is an area referred to by locals as the Automotive Bermuda Triangle. It is the five block square around the Empire State Building. It is an area where vehicles mysteriously die. The specific borders of the area are unclear but even AAA recognizes that it exists.

“We get about 10 to 15 cars stuck near there every day...You pull the car four or five blocks to the west or east and the car starts right up...." -Isaac Leviev, (Manager of Citywide Towing, the AAA’s exclusive roadside assistance provider from 42nd St. to the Battery)

There are a number of oogie boogie explanations for this of course, but the big theory is that it has a little something to do with it's main 200-foot tower and more specifically the antennas all over it. AAA reports that 10 to 15 cars die on that square every day, an average of 3,000 stalls a year.

So here's the theory. Most of these cars have remote keyless entry. Remote keyless entry systems operate on licensed wavelengths as provided for by the FCC. Some engineers have hypothesized that broadcasts from the Empire State Building can interfere with the remote keyless entry systems of cars. It's like radio jamming. ...And there is some support for this thesis.

Keyless entry does emit a signal from the key fob on your key chain. The RKE system broadcasts an ean encrypted data stream which can instruct your over-priced luxury vehicle to start, stop run the defrost or any number of things. But it does so in the 300 MHZ range, that's the top end of the VHF range. This range happens to include FM radio, TV and Aviation. At least two of those three broadcast from 350 Fifth Ave. Which one(s) are interfering which which keyless entry cars I do not know. I only have proof of concept.

I understand that the FCC governs channel assignments to prevent these problems. But I also know that they also fine people for violating their licenses and must change laws over time. The FCC reports no complaintsregarding RFI around midtown. Many dismiss the phenomena. But it's interesting and it's possible to do by accident. On purpose it'd be downright easy.

From Ben Sisario Oct. 1 in The New York Times:

Internet radio services are breathing a sigh of relief after the Senate approved a bill on Tuesday that would allow them to renegotiate a royalty rate that Web broadcasters say is too high. By law, Web sites like Pandora.com and Live365.com have to pay the performers and owners of the recordings they broadcast, and have been in a tug-of-war with record companies over the size of these payments. (Songwriters and music publishers are paid a royalty by radio stations and Web broadcasters; Web broadcasters also pay the performer.) Under the terms of the Webcaster Settlement Act, which was passed by the House on Saturday and now goes to President Bush for his signature, Web broadcasters have until Feb. 15 to negotiate with SoundExchange, the agency that collects and distributes the royalty. Under the current rate set by federal statute last year, said Tim Westergren, one of Pandora’s founders, his site has had to pay 70 percent of its gross revenue for this performance royalty, and will have to shut down if it is not reduced.

The Change You Want To See Gallery is pleased to host a film series and workshop on transmission arts, sound performance, and radical radio. Join us this Thursday for a screening of "Work Slowly - Radio Alice", an account of an Italian pirate radio station run by the so-called "Mao-Dadaist" wing of the Autonomia movement. Then on Saturday we'll host free103point9's Radio Lab: Art Activism Seminar, with a screening of "A Little Bit of So Much Truth", a film that documents the 2006 popular uprising in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the people's takeover of 14 radio stations and 1 television station to coordinate organizing efforts. A hands-on workshop on transmitter-building will follow. Presenters include freeradio103point9, Prometheus Radio Project, and Germantown Community Farm.

84 Havemeyer Street, at Metropolitan Ave
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
http://www.thechangeyouwanttosee.org
L to Bedford, G to Metropolitan, J/M/Z to Marcy

Thursday, September 25
7:30pm - 9:30pm: Screening of "Work Slowly - Radio Alice" (Lavorare con Lentezza). Discussion to follow.

Saturday, September 27
Radio Lab: Art/Activism Seminar
12pm - 3pm: Screening of "A Little Bit of So Much Truth" (Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad). Discussion to follow, snacks provided.

3pm - 6pm: Presentation and transmitter-building workshop with free103point9, Prometheus Radio Project, and Germantown Community Farm.

free103point9 Radio Labs provide students with technical skills and contextual background to consider and utilize the transmission spectrum for creative expression. Workshops address four main topics: the history of broadcasting; how transmitters work; online transmission tools; and transmission arts as a creative medium.

Join Tianna Kennedy (free103point9 and Lang alumna); and Maka Kotto (Prometheus Radio Project), and Kaya Weisman (Germantown Community Farm) for a screening of "Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad" (Corrugated Films), discussion, and transmitter building workshop.



About "Work Slowly - Radio Alice"
11 March 1977, Bologna. During the violent clashes between police and youths that end up with the intervention of armored vehicles, a Carabiniere kills the student Francesco Lo Russo. 12 March 1977. The brief history of Radio Alice, accused of having directed the battle by radio, ends with the Carabinieri breaking in. It is the first time in the history of the Italian republic that a radio station was closed down by military hands.

Radio Alice, run by the "creative wing" (the so-called Mao-Dadaists") of the radical Autonomia movement, was one of the most singular and original experiments on language and communication that ever took hold in Italy. Lacking a proper newsroom and even less a program schedule, the Bologna broadcaster made spontaneity and linguistic contamination something more than just a flag to wave. It was a project where political, artistic and existential petitions blended in the common denominator of radio space. Today, after more than a quarter of a century, maybe we can start to talk about Alice again, to try to understand if there was something in that voice that could be used again today.

Radio Alice has won several awards and prizes at movie festivals all over Europe, including the Marcello Mastroianni Award for the Best Young Actors at the 2004 Venice Film Festival and the First Prize at the 2005 Festival de Cinema Politic in Barcelona, Spain.

Bolgna-based Wu Ming, a collective of anonymous authors, are credited as co-writers for the Italian film, along with writer/director Guido Chiesa, a film director and rock critic who has directed with Jim Jarmusch, Amos Poe, and Michael Cimino. During the 1990's, the main subject of Chiesa's works was the hertitage and memory of anti-fascist Resistance. Sonic Youth named a song after him ("Guido", from the "Dirty" album, Deluxe edition, cd 2, track #10).

About "Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad"
In the summer of 2006, a broad-based, non-violent, popular uprising exploded in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Some compared it to the Paris Commune, while others called it the first Latin American revolution of the 21st century. But it was the people’s use of the media that truly made history in Oaxaca.

A 90-minute documentary, "A Little Bit of So Much Truth" captures the unprecedented media phenomenon that emerged when tens of thousands of school teachers, housewives, indigenous communities, health workers, farmers, and students in Oaxaca, Mexico took 14 radio stations and one TV station into their own hands, using them to organize, mobilize, and ultimately defend their grassroots struggle for social, cultural, and economic justice.

Filmmaker, Jill Freidberg, had already spent two years in Oaxaca, producing her previous film, Granito de Arena. She returned to Oaxaca, in 2006, and joined forces with Oaxacan media collective, Mal de Ojo TV, to tell the story of the people who put their lives on the line to give a voice to their struggle. Narrated almost entirely with recordings from the occupied media outlets, A Little Bit of So Much Truth delivers a breathtaking, intimate account of the revolution that WAS televised.

About the Presenters
free103point9 is a New York State-based nonprofit arts organization establishing and cultivating the genre Transmission Arts by promoting artists who explore the idea of transmission or the physical properties of the electromagnetic spectrum for creative expression. free103point9 programs include public performances and exhibitions, an experimental music series, an online radio station and distribution label, an education initiative, and an artist residency program and study center.

The Prometheus Radio Project is a non-profit organization founded by a small group of radio activists in 1998. We believe that a free, diverse, and democratic media is critical to the political and cultural health of our nation, yet we see unprecedented levels of consolidation, homogenization, and restriction in the media landscape. We work toward a future characterized by easy access to media outlets and a broad, exciting selection of cultural and informative media resources.

Germantown Community Farm is a small farm and homestead stewarded by a collective in New York's Hudson Valley. GCF is the response of local food activists, artists, and farmers to global systems of exploitation and oppression. We work to build and support a just regenerative local economy and create vital community.

New Adventures in Sound Art invites artists of all ages and nationalities to submit works on the theme Ecology: Water, Air, Sound for consideration in 2009 future programming for the annual Deep Wireless, Sound Travels, and SOUNDplay festivals, produced by New Adventures in Sound Art in Toronto, Canada. Artists may submit works in one or all of the following four categories: 1) Radio Art, 2) Electroacoustic Music, 3) Videomusic and 4) Installation Art. Individual interpretations or variations on the theme are encouraged: Ecology: Water, Air, and/or sound could be done entirely in sound, an audio journal, a soundscape portrait, sound mapping, a visualization of a sound and so on. All submitted works must respond in some way to the theme Ecology: Water, Air, Sound in order to be considered for 2009 NAISA programming. Deadline for Submissions is September 30, 2008.

31 Down will perform "Assember Dilator" starring Caitlin McDonough-Thayer on Thu. Oct. 16, the first night of free103point9's Radio Festival at the Ontological Theater, with music from Japanther and Killer Dreamer. Admission is free.

free103point9 presents a fall festival of radio art and experimentation presented during three nights and one afternoon featuring radio theater, poetics, presentations, and noise with live video web streams. Radio Festival NYC 2008 is produced in association with The Ontological-Hysteric Incubator.

Radio Theater
Thursday, October 16, 8 p.m., free admission
31 Down
Japanther
Part of Free Night of Theater 2008

Radio Poetics
Friday, October 17, 8 p.m., $7-10 sliding scale.
Curated by Danny Snelson.
With Alexis Bhagat (free103point9 Transmission Artist)
Kareem Estefan (Host of 'Ceptuetics, an avant-garde poetry show on WNYU.)
and others.

Radio Talks
Saturday, October 18, 2 p.m., free admission.
Artist Presentations from Judy Dunaway and Laura Vitale.

Radio Noise
Saturday, October 18, 8 p.m., $7-10 sliding scale.
Neg-Fi
Noveller
Tom Roe
Twisty Cat: Ed Bear + Lea Bertucci + Tianna Kennedy

Performance and Presentation Details:
Radio Theater
Thursday, October 16, 8 p.m., free admission

31 Down radio theater: "An eye doctor and his assistant become lab rats in their search for xray vision through experimental eye drops."

Japanther: "It's not like they haven't the feigned art-world legitimacy of the "experimental" tag—they once composed a live puppet opera that later ended up as the basis of a video piece in last year's Whitney Biennial—but they also have a sense of humor. As in: their fist-pumping singalong, "River Phoenix." As in: they once bashed out this Young Indy ode while synchronized swimmers calling themselves Aquadoom splash-kicked in time with the beat." -- The Village Voice.

Radio Poetics
Friday, October 17, 8 p.m., $7-10 sliding scale.

Curated by Danny Snelson.

With Alexis Bhagat: free103point9 Transmission Artist.

Kareem Estefan: Host of 'Ceptuetics, an avant-garde poetry show on WNYU.

and others.

Radio Talks
Saturday, October 18, 2 p.m., free admission.

Judy Dunaway will present Sex Workers’ Internet Radio Lounge (S.W.I.R.L.). Connected to the idea of “O-ton,” radio artists in 1970’s Germany who recorded and edited the voices of workers and prisoners to be aired on state radio programs, sound artist Judy Dunaway founded “Sex Workers’ Internet Radio Lounge” (S.W.I.R.L.) a not-for-profit 24/7 webstream of audio art and activism by sex workers. The stream was broadcast from January 2007 to May 2008. It featured stories, poetry, interviews, speeches, panel discussions, original music, and other audio art created by current and former sex workers. In August 2008 SWIRL was converted to an audio archive, which may be accessed at: http://www.jeweltone16.org/swirl/

Artist Laura Vitale will present works that illustrate her exploration so far of literary, painterly, and musical themes in radio. She will also play works from which she has drawn inspiration.

Radio Noise
Saturday, October 18, 8 p.m., $7-10 sliding scale.

Neg-Fi: Minimalist metalloid duets played with severely detuned guitars and walkie talkies.

Noveller: Utilizing the pick-ups on her double-necked guitar, Noveller will explore the interaction between the stringed instrument and several electronic devices, including a hand-held radio, a tape player, and ebows.

Tom Roe: Performs with walkie-talkies, scanners, FM radios, and other receivers and transmitters, to craft noisescapes that sample pop culture.

Twisty Cat: Ed Bear + Lea Bertucci + Tianna Kennedy


Oct. 16, 2008 – Oct. 18, 2008

Ontological Theater
St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery
131 E. 10th St.
Manhattan, NY 10003
United States
212-533-4650