Andrea Langlois et al - Islands of Resistance - Pirate Radio in Canada

Setting Sail • 13
might best be viewed as one element within an ensemble of autonomous
media.
As articulated by Christina Dunbar-Hester in her 2008 examination
of gender, identity and activism with regards to low-power radio:
Radio itself is viewed by some as a unique media technology, making
access to it very appealing: radio does not require producers or
listeners to be literate; it can reach a small, local community or area;
production and broadcast technologies are relatively inexpensive and
easy to use; radio is very inexpensive to receive; and it is easier and
cheaper to provide programming in an aural-only medium than in
a tele-visual one. In spite of charges of radio being a dead or dying
medium, both activists and corporate broadcasters view the FM band
as valuable. 16
The importance of such accessibility is illustrated in Charles
Mostoller’s essay about Radio Barriere Lake (Chapter 6), an indigenous
community where radios are a central feature of communication and
the radio station serves to link members of the community together
culturally. In a similar vein, Stephen Dunifer’s essay (Chapter 2) on
pirate radio activism among indigenous groups in Oaxaca serves to
place the Canadian experience in an international context. Even with
the advent of digital radio, we can assume that analog radio receivers
will not disappear, but might become a liberating alternative, or even a
counter-hegemonic force, in relation to the mass media model of communication.
Some hope that in the move to digital radio the FM band
will be abandoned by corporate and state interests. Others fear that it
will instead be auctioned off to the highest bidder, leaving less space
between stations than currently exists, which means that pirates will
have difficulties finding empty spots on the FM dial.
Radio Art with a Pirate Twist
Historically, one of the longest running above ground Canadian pirate
radio micro stations has been the 1-watt voice of Radio 90 narrowcasting
from the Banff Centre’s New Media Institute in Alberta. Because
radios can be used as a mobile sound system, the airwaves can become
an artistic tool for creating interactive spaces and experiences as Kathy
Kennedy, Kristen Roos, Christof Migone, André Éric Létourneau,
Anna Friz, Stephen Kelly and Eleanor King, and Marian van der Zon