Radio Activism

The United States ushered in a new era of small-scale broadcasting in 2000 when it began issuing low-power FM (LPFM) licenses for noncommercial radio stations around the country. Over the next decade, several hundred of these newly created low-wattage stations took to the airwaves. This book describes the practices of an activist organization focused on LPFM during this era.--Publisher's description.

This unique book draws on the narratives of women participants in community radio, using intersectionality, feminist, critical psychological and community development frameworks to explore how this highly symbolic, creative dimension of activism can unmute marginalised women and enrich corporate media. Over a period of four years, twelve female radio project volunteers offer their experiences which they analyse, together as part of the RRG (Radio Research Group), alongside a conceptual and contextual framework to produce insights on the gendered nature of silence, voice and empowerment, and the wider potential of radio activism. Employing literature from a variety of fields, from bell hooks to Stuart Hall, the book foregrounds evidence from the majority world to argue the empowerment potential of community radio and the barriers to radio participation. Through this analysis community radio emerges as a site of development, from which diverse identities transpire through laughter, dialogue, raised consciousness and solidarity, but it also exposes the conflicts of empowerment by recognising inherent tensions in womanhood and in communities. Centering on the global, hegemonic challenge of empowering women, and relevant across multiple disciplines and professions, this is fascinating reading for academics, students and professionals in psychology, gender studies, media studies, development and related areas.

Micro Radio became a lightening rod for the emerging Media Activism and Reform Movement. Like the environmental movement in the 1960s and 70s that focused on specific issues like nuclear power, the Media Activism Movement discovered a significant formative issue in micro radio at the turn of the millennium. This book is a close examination of the struggle over micro radio. Throughout this research micro radio is viewed as a site of social activity, a unique cultural and historical bond where ideas about the relationship between media and democracy are explored. This work is the first to spotlight this emerging social movement and uses critical historical analysis to provide a description of it. The information in this book shows the struggle over micro radio as the most recent manifestation of a growing social movement, a movement of media activism and reform. As local people took to the airwaves, illegally broadcasting the frivolous to the serious, theoretical concepts such as localism and public access suddenly became grounded in a real world radio show. Micro radio broadcasters were able to demonstrate what is left out of most mainstream media. They showed what could happen when a diverse public is allowed to access the most universal telecommunications of the day. This look at micro radio will be valuable to communications students who are interested in the strategies behind media and social movements, alternative media, and news media practices.

Radio Active tells the story of how radio listeners at the American mid-century were active in their listening practices. While cultural historians have seen this period as one of failed reform—focusing on the failure of activists to win significant changes for commercial radio—Kathy M. Newman argues that the 1930s witnessed the emergence of a symbiotic relationship between advertising and activism. Advertising helped to kindle the consumer activism of union members affiliated with the CIO, middle-class club women, and working-class housewives. Once provoked, these activists became determined to influence—and in some cases eliminate—radio advertising. As one example of how radio consumption was an active rather than a passive process, Newman cites The Hucksters, Frederick Wakeman's 1946 radio spoof that skewered eccentric sponsors, neurotic account executives, and grating radio jingles. The book sold over 700,000 copies in its first six months and convinced broadcast executives that Americans were unhappy with radio advertising. The Hucksters left its mark on the radio age, showing that radio could inspire collective action and not just passive conformity.

The growing subfield of media activism studies has gained wide attention in recent years, but little consensus exists regarding its central questions and concerns. This book begins to chart an evolving research agenda by providing a cross-section of provocative work in this area. Victor Pickard and Guobin Yang have assembled essays by leading scholars and activists to provide case studies of feminist, technological, and political interventions during different historical periods and at local, national, and global levels. Looking at the underlying theories, histories, politics, ideologies, tactics, strategies and aesthetics, the book takes an expansive view of media activism. It explores how varieties of activism are mediated through communication technologies, how activists deploy strategies for changing the structures of media systems, and how governments and corporations seek to police media activism. From memes to zines, hacktivism to artivism, this volume considers activist practices involving both older kinds of media and newer digital, social, and network-based forms. The book captures an exciting moment in the evolution of media activism studies and offers an invaluable guide to a vibrant and evolving field of research.

Academic study of social activism and social movements has become increasingly prevalent over the years; this is due in large part to the fact that activists have captured public imagination and gained substantial influence in political discourse. For instance, Occupy Wall Street activists, Tea Party activists, and activists affiliated with the Arab Spring have transformed political debates and have become the focus of mainstream news media coverage about a variety of different political topics. Journey into Social Activism explicates the philosophical foundations of the study of activism and illustrates four different research sites in which activism can be observed and studied: organizations, networks, events, and alternative media. The book will introduce students and scholars to important qualitative approaches to the study of social activism within these four research sites, which is based entirely on successful research projects that have been conducted and published in recent years. Ultimately, this book will prove integral to any students and scholars who wish to use qualitative methods for their research endeavors concerning social activism in contemporary society.

In South Korea, the contentious debate over relations with the North transcends traditional considerations of physical and economic security, and political activists play a critical role in shaping the discussion of these issues as they pursue the separate yet connected agendas of democracy, human rights, and unification. Providing international observers with a better understanding of policymakers' management of inter-Korean relations, Danielle L. Chubb traces the development of various policy disputes and perspectives from the 1970s through South Korea's democratic transition. Focusing on four case studies -- the 1980 Kwangju uprising, the June 1987 uprising, the move toward democracy in the 1990s, and the decade of "progressive" government that began with the election of Kim Dae Jung in 1997 -- she tracks activists' complex views on reunification along with the rise and fall of more radical voices encouraging the adoption of a North Korean--style form of socialism. While these specific arguments have dissipated over the years, their vestiges can still be found in recent discussions over how to engage with North Korea and bring security and peace to the peninsula. Extending beyond the South Korean example, this examination shows how the historical trajectory of norms and beliefs can have a significant effect on a state's threat perception and security policy. It also reveals how political activists, in their role as discursive agents, play an important part in the creation of the norms and beliefs directing public debate over a state's approach to the ethical and practical demands of its foreign policy.

Radio Active tells the story of Joe’s decades of activism, from his childhood in a segregated neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio, to interviewing Barack Obama in the Oval Office. It’s a delightful tale, a call to action and an eye-opening commentary on the racial divide that persists in America today.