Radio Rethink: Art, Sound and Transmission

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public relations
consultant.

Amid the cacophony and confusion of the information superhighway, it is
a pleasant respite to contemplate the past, present, and future of that
old-fashioned medium, radio. This collection of essays is the result of
a week-long symposium organized by Daina Augaitis, Director, Visual
Arts, and Chief Curator of the Banff Centre for the Arts. Canadian and
international participants were invited to share their views on
radio’s history and on its present and future role in the community.

Economic factors are shown to be less relevant for radio than for
television, while the concerns of women and Native or minority groups
are shown to be more effectively addressed on radio due to the intimacy
and frugality of the medium. Radio appears to be more protective of
national culture, because it is “shaped by and functions for its
participants and breaks from the unidirectional voice of authority.”

Radio Rethink is an excellent and creative study of the background of
Marconi’s great invention as it relates to art, community, philosophy,
gender, politics, and culture in our daily lives.