The Postgraduate Networking Project

Kate Coyer Department of Media and Communication Goldsmiths College, University of London Nationality: American Self-Funded Full-Time Registration: September 2001 Transfer to PhD: June 2004 Completion: November 2005 Director of Studies: Des Freedman The aim of the PhD In a transnational era, necessary and important focus has been given to the future of digital, satellite and Internet radio as a means of increasing flows of information and culture irrespective of geographic boundaries. At the same time, radio is primarily a local experience. This research examines the phenomenon of community radio through case studies in Britain and the United States. The contested site of audio broadcasting lies both beyond the national framework via new technologies and, at the same time, is rooted locally. The political impetus for this project emerges out of the current media reform movements in both countries for the expansion of low power community radio and their connection to broader concerns and actions around media democracy. My research questions are as follows: - What are the core features of community radio? Can community radio be considered a distinct phenomenon? How are these characteristics challenged in practice? - To what extent is there both continuity and difference in the development of community radio sectors in Britain and the United States? How is a comparative analysis between the two systems useful to the larger field of study? - Why does local radio matter? How is radio both de-linked from geography and rooted in locality, even when produced for a global or transnational audience? - Does community radio embody potential as a participatory and democratic means of communication? In order to investigate these questions, the research considers both content production and internal organisational structure among selected stations, representing different models of community radio; examines the impact of technology on radio as a local space; and considers questions of media and democracy raised by community radio projects. What this thesis attempts to do, then, is to explore some specific models of community radio in practice to examine the kinds of issues arising out of them and explore what it means to talk about community broadcasting. Experience in stages towards the PhD This is perhaps a difficult question for me to answer. Though they were indeed discreet periods of time, so much of the actual work of writing the phd was done in fits and spurts, thus it’s difficult to reflect on in a coherent and analytically useful way. Like most of us, I spent most of the first year, narrowing my research topic, focussing my research questions, and writing the first draft of my Lit Review. In terms of field research (which my project was heavy on and included around 30 interviews), I basically wrote up as I went. Conduct research and interviews for one chapter, write it up. I think I would have found it too overwhelming to have mountains of research all unwritten. There was, however, one case study chapter (out of 4 total) that I did the research for and did not write up until almost 18 months later. I regret that because some of the nuances and my instincts on the subject I could not fully recall, and I waited so long that a lot of things had changed and I had to conduct a few last minute interviews to fill in the gaps and keep up to date – interviews I would have done anyhow, but it made it more difficult to mesh together without the foundation already written. The benefit was the different perspectives over time. Though the crux of my project did not change much past the first few months in year 1, the composition of my case studies did. I conducted an additional 10 interviews that I did not end up using as a result. I feel a bit guilty about this in terms of the amount of time people gave me during the process, and hope to use the material in the future, but I suppose they did help me find the clarity I needed to hone in on my final case studies, and thus, the structure of the research. Another thing I did that I wish I had done differently is that I wrote my chapters completely out of sync with each other. I wrote the case studies in the order I did based on opportunities to present findings at conferences not because it made sense to my project to do it in that order! I also put off writing my historical chapter until the bitter end, which was an avoidable stress to have at a time when I should have been focussing on the case studies only. Part of it was written as the basis for publication in a book, but the second part I left until my final year. That said, publishing and presenting papers not only made me write up my case studies in a timely manner, it gave me the opportunity for feedback along the way from unexpected sources and challenge my thinking around key ideas. The main body of my lit review stayed pretty similar to what it began as my first year, though a lot was added and amended at various stages along the way. The revisions I made before my upgrade were very useful and I’m glad I spent the time to come back to the lit review at various stages along the way, especially since it was the piece my examiners and I spent the most amount of time discussing during my viva. While I found the process of going back to it at times tedious, especially when compared with the far more exciting and dynamic nature of the case studies, it was crucial I did. In fact, I should have gone back to it more – and spent more time on it during the last months of final revisions. Looking back, the middle years are a bit of a blur and I feel like I did very little compared with what I wrote in the last year, and even in the final months. I don’t think ‘pacing’ was exactly my forte in this process! To that end, I found the final two months really difficult. Some people have a grace about themselves under such pressure. I did not. I can honestly say it took everything I had in me to actually hand it in. My mantra was a quote from a friend that the best PhD is a finished PhD. The act of actually letting it go when I knew there was so much more that could be done was difficult and I’m told everyone goes through it, though I’m sure there are those who come more naturally to the process than I do. So reminding myself it was not the embodiment of my life’s work was important to keeping the whole thing in perspective, even as personal a project as it is. Finally, in terms of the process throughout, I’d say I had a real difficulty balancing family / home / personal life with my student / PhD life in London. I was living between two places for a lot of the time, keeping me from feel properly rooted in either. My personal life suffered as a result and the at times isolating process of writing a PhD became even more so. However, I have no regrets over having done it, I am already envious of the privileged existence of being a full-time student. Despite the financial stress, insecurity and often subsistence living, the freedom and flexibility that comes with it is something I wish I had taken advantage of more by working more productively during term time throughout. I think I remember now where the ‘lost years’ of year 2-3 went – I was busy volunteering and conducting workshops in my area (radio production) and helping build radio stations when I should have been writing up faster. Oh for the life! Support I can honestly say I would not have gotten through without the ongoing support of my supervisor, especially towards the end where he struck an important balance between positive reinforcement and pressure to push the work further (and moreover, to push the work to be done!) As I struggled quite a bit at the end, my supervisor (and a few friends) played instrumental roles in keeping me from loosing the plot. The support I received even in the final days with the last minute queries and panic questions were invaluable and kept me from feeling I was on my own in the process. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Goldsmiths and have come away feeling very positive about my experience there, especially within my department where I maintained a relatively high level of involvement in and participation with, something I’m certain contributed to my positive experience. The support staff in the department has also been incredibly supportive and helpful. I have a small, informal group of friends who’ve supported each other throughout, support that is as immeasurable as it is conducted over curries. I have also enjoyed really strong support from people I met along the way, either people I interviewed, or people I met while volunteering, or people in some way involved or interested in community media and progressive activism. Funding Self-funded through US federal government loan and money earned through teaching throughout PhD. Applied but did not receive ORS. If I was a financially sound-minded person, I would have put the phd on hold and tried for ORS again, or gone back to work to earn money, but as a returning student in my mid-30’s, I just didn’t feel I had the time to wait. Or the patience. What you would suggest to a new PhD student... not available Abstract of the Thesis: Click here to open/download a chapter of the thesis Publications and Papers Book publication Alternative Media Handbook, Routledge Media Practice Series, London, co-authored with Tony Dowmunt and Alan Fountain, forthcoming 2006 Book Chapter Publications “If It Leads, It Bleeds: The Participatory Newsmaking of the Independent Media Centre,” in Alternative Media and Social Movements, edited by Wilma de Jong et al, Pluto, London, 2005 “A Radio Station In Your Hands Is Worth 500 Channels of Mush! The Role of Community Radio in the Struggle Against Corporate Domination of Media,” co-authored with Pete Tridish, in News Incorporated: Corporate Media Ownership and its Threat to Democracy, edited by Elliot Cohen, Prometheus Books, 2005 Journal articles “Community Radio Licensing and Policy: An Overview”, Policy Review, Global Media and Communications, Sage, forthcoming 2006 “Where the ’Hyper Local’ and ‘Hyper Global’ Meet: Case Study of Indymedia Radio”, Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, University of Westminster, June 2005 “‘I Broadcast, Therefore I Am’ - Radio Adventures at Indymedia Cancun”, Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, Spring 2004 Review of “The Changing Faces of Television” Conference held at Goldsmiths College, Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies, January 2004 Magazine article publication “Build It and They Will Come…Help Build It! Community Radio Barnraisings, Airflash, Community Media Association, Sheffield, co-authored with Amy L. Dalton, forthcoming, January 2006 Conference papers presented Grassroots Radio Conference, Northampton, MA, “Social Movements and Media Reform”, August 2005 UK Radio Studies Network Annual Meeting, Bournemouth University, Birmingham, “The Movement for Low Power Radio in the US”, April 2005 Örebro (Sweden) / Goldsmiths (UK) Exchange, Goldsmiths College, London, “Internet Radio: Where the Global and Local Meet”, October 2003 The Radio Conference: A Transnational Forum, University of Wisconsin, Madison, “Local Radio in Context: Iranian Broadcasting in Los Angeles”, July 2003 OURMedia / NUESTROSMedios III Annual Conference, Universidad Del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia, “Social Movements on Air: Radio and the Indymedia Collective”, May 2003 Westminster / Goldsmiths PhD Symposium, University of Westminster, London, “Methods of Media Research: Researching Alternative Media”, May 2002 MeCCSA (Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association) Annual Conference, University of Westminster, London, “The Anti-Capitalist Movement and Participatory Media Networks: A Case Study of the Independent Media Center”, January 2002 Current Job Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley, fulltime temporary post, Spring Semester 2006 Contact details not available