Radio Uprising by CMP
Local radio continues to inspire and push new boundaries.
by Anne Pyburn Craig
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| Mia Chin was a student throughout the program's early years. |
Radio, early in its second century of existence, still has room for
rebels. Ever since the early 1920s, when broadcasting began, the power of an
individual being able to broadcast over the airwaves has been changing our
world; even with the development of television and Internet, radio remains
unique in that all a listener needs is a simple, inexpensive device and a
couple of batteries (or a hand crank) to access information and entertainment.
This democratic, near-universal access on the receiving end has allowed
radio some interesting moments. Franklin Delano Roosevelt began using radio to
forge a direct connection to the citizenry while he was still governor of New
York, reaching over the heads of the opposition and straight to the people. In
1938, thousands of minds were blown when a dramatic broadcast of H.G. Wells’
War of the Worlds was mistaken for a news bulletin announcing an actual Martian
invasion. Drama and comedy, live and on the air, created a cultural common
denominator and frame of reference on a scale never before seen—by the time
television arrived on the scene, 82 percent of Americans were listening to the
radio.
As educational director of the Poughkeepsie-based Children’s Media
Project, Mary Ellen Iatropoulos is helping to nurture the next generation of
communicators. As a Vassar College grad, she found herself uniquely positioned
to give them a voice in the community.
“As a Vassar student, I managed WVKR, the college radio station,” she
says. “When I came to CMP, I stayed in touch with people there—and I remembered
that they didn’t have any youth programming.” WVKR (91.3 FM) extends an open
invitation to members of the community to propose programming, and when
Iatropoulos approached them about an audio version of CMP’s high-energy,
high-quality DROP TV format, she found ample enthusiasm.
“This May will be the fifth birthday of our Radio Uprising show,” she
says, “and I continue to be amazed by what our youth producers come up with. We
talk about space exploration, the future, uses of Twitter and Facebook—we run
the gamut from controversial to tame.
“Radio is my personal favorite medium. It has the immediacy of TV
without the need to always be at your most dolled up and polished—you can be in
sweats in the studio and still deliver a moving, effective show. Getting in
front of the camera can be nerve-wracking; the mike, not so much. It’s very
freeing. People come out of their comfort zones in ways many of them couldn’t
on TV.”
Even after video ended its golden age of dominance, radio has continued
to cast a potent spell. DJs like Wolfman Jack and Cousin Brucie provided a lot
of people with their first exposure to mind-expanding music. Personalities like
Imus and Howard Stern became cultural icons. Right wing talk radio shows stroke
the egos and stoke the xenophobic fears of like-minded dittoheads. Millions
tune in to Christian stations to feel educated and guided in their spiritual
journeys. Radio has bred scandals and reached behind enemy lines in wartime.
And it remains a powerful tool, for propaganda or enlightenment. Unlike
visual media, we can listen to the radio while driving or working at other
tasks, which may give its messages a certain stealth access to semi-conscious
levels of thought and certainly broadens its reach. Iatropoulos believes that
when young people become involved in media production, they’re empowered by a
much deeper understanding of the constant barrage of messages coming at them.
“Young people are constantly being targeted as consumers of media,” she
says, “but we don’t validate them much as producers. They have an enormous
amount to add to the conversation. And in order to navigate life, it’s
important for them to understand how media is created and how it affects
people.”
Radio Uprising’s weekly hour-long show offers a refreshing antidote to
the kind of agenda-driven echo chambers that the mainstream media breeds. The
kids are honest, fresh, and unafraid.
“Right after the assassination of Osama Bin Laden,” Iatropoulos recalls,
“we had two young men on the air who had diametrically opposing views. One
perceived it as the day freedom won, a glorious day for American ideals.
Another student believed no government should assassinate anyone.” This is, of
course, the exact sort of territory that provokes acrimonious swearing fits
from so-called “adults” from sea to shining sea, all over airwaves and Internet
alike—but the kids, says Iatropoulos, took it to another level. “We debated
what it means to be patriotic. Nobody was judged. And why not let youth debate?
They get shut down a lot. We need to let them learn civil discourse. We live in
a society that rewards win/lose conversation, zingers, and one-liners—we get
conditioned to go for the joke instead of the deep thoughtful comment. That
kills intellectual discussion, which involves mental muscles that need to be
exercised. Raising questions, talking about subjects without judgment—that’s
how you do that, and it had better not become a lost art.”
Despite the consolidation and homogeneity of the airwaves—Clear Channel
owns 850 broadcast stations, Cumulus Media about 525—radio remains a refuge for
independent voices. Satellite and Internet radio allow almost infinite variety,
but the terrestrial variety—the kind that still requires only the most basic
equipment for access—would be in grave danger of fading into a wasteland of
syndicated sameness if it weren’t for the passion of local heroes who keep it
real.
The Hudson Valley is blessed with several good independent stations that
have found commercial success without knuckling under to control by corporate
conglomerates. WDST (100.1) and WKZE (98.1) are both locally owned and dearly
loved. Then there are the listener-supported community gems: WJFF in Sullivan
County (90.5), besides rebroadcasting public radio content, fills 50 percent of
its time slots with locally produced individual content. Kingston Community
Radio takes over the WGHQ (920 AM) airwaves five mornings a week for local
guest hosts and call-in sessions during which local political and other
officials and personalities can connect directly with listeners in their homes,
cars and workplaces.
And they do. Research shows that despite our ever-increasing menu of
media options, over 75 percent of people listen to the radio at least a little
every day, and over 90 percent at least once a week. The first video on MTV, Video Killed the Radio Star, has turned
out to be more fantasy than prophecy.
When reporter
Gary Lycan of the Orange County Register
asked radio personality Tim Conway Jr. about radio’s relevance, he had a quick
and impressive answer. "Radio broke the name Christopher Dorner, carried
live interviews from crippled cruise ship Triumph,
and bested TV in reporting the asteroid that hit Russia…The Today Show even
gave KFI credit for being the first media outlet to talk to the Big Bear
resident that was carjacked by Christopher Dorner."
Meanwhile, at
WVKR, kids rule their Thursday afternoon time slot, opening with a
pulse-quickening theme created by Delswan Madden in collaboration with the Turn
It Up youth radio—a joint project of CMP and Mill Street Loft. And they’re
getting educated by the experience in all sorts of ways.
“We have a few
songs we play just to get a breather,” says Iatropoulos, “but it’s really hard
for the kids to find music that’s not owned or subsidized by a major label,
and the rules are strict—there’s no playing Katie Perry or Kanye West. The same
major companies control Lady Gaga and P Diddy—it’s an illusion of choice that these
corporations go to lengths to create. So the Radio Uprising youth learn to seek
out more organic, local, underground stuff. First they’re dumbfounded, then
they’re pissed—and motivated.”
Posted by Chris Hewitt
on 11:52 AM.
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