By Hans Kuiper
Moritz Ebinger and I had a discussion whether it would make still sense to
stream radio with knowing almost for sure that there will not be a large audience at the actual moment of streaming.
Next to solving the technical problems facing streaming, which appear not to be that complex nowadays, although you have to be somewhat
tech savvy, is it worth all the effort and costs?
The budget for the
radio station (can we still use this name or should we use the words
podcast station?) is so low that first we could not
broadcast in a
traditional way (yes we could have, but who will pay and how) and second we are only able to communicate the project mainly in social media.
Another solution is then to do the
interviews,
live,
record them and
put them online afterwards. Then you can communicate it as an archive of interviews with artists and performance
registrations.
So, the focus becomes twofold: first the event as a performative event, in a hall with public and guests that do performances and second putting the podcasts online. The traditional '
radio concept' (so traditional ethereal broadcasting or even streaming online radio) is
subverted, it also seems outdated more and more, as people don't tend to listen to programs that long anymore.
I did some resarch and interviews with
how people use radio nowadays. In the Netherlands, most people only
listen to radio in their car, while driving. Then they, next to listening to services like
Spottify on their media player, also listen to
a selection of stations,
pre selections to be more specific. As a
newcomer you don't seem to have much chance if you are not able to generate advertising or better communicative power to get your message accross that you are actually making radio on the spot.
Well, an illussion less? No, the project only transforms. First in our minds, second, during the actual project, that will take 4 weeks. Capitalism dictates the conditions of production also here? Or is that a rather simple way of blaming others in stead of taking your own responsibility and work a little harder? Online radio still faces challenges of really reaching a public, combined with making
interesting content so they will come back.
We will have fun anyhow, but building a streamin or even ethereal
art radio station that really attracts a steady public requires a huge amount of energy, people and...yes,
money.
PS
Our podcast can be listned directly via our
SOUNDCLOUD PAGE
