Editor's Remarks: Sound Matters Across the World: Rehearing Radio as an Extension of Practice and Potential

Abstract

In this themed issue, ‘‘Sound Matters,’’ we ask the reader to rehear the sounds that comprise radio, from a historical lens to the practical exercise of everyday listening and staying connected as a community of listeners. Sound is critical to every aspect of radio programming, be it the subtle intonation of a voice to the inclusion of ambient noise at a particular site or event to the aural representation of diversity as espoused through the needs and interests of listeners living out their lives. This issue begins with two invited essays, engaging an interesting discussion on sound and listening culture, drawn from Danish as well as Dutch, German, Belgian and United States radio broadcasts, respectively, and extending it into the larger context of radio history internationally. Often forgotten are the deep roots of what appear unique trends in contemporary radio practice. Consider that Jacob Kreutzfeldt’s ‘‘Unidentified Sounds: Radio Reporting from Copenhagen 1931– 1949’’ presents a unique listening opportunity from inside the Danish Broadcasting Corporation archive for some early examples of crafting and implications of sound in news stories during the 1930s. Dating back to a similar time period, Karin Bijsterveld and Marith Dieker, in ‘‘A Captive Audience: Traffic Radio as Guard and Escape,’’ investigate how traffic radio has had a significant role in broadcasting, and still does so today contributing to intellectual and sensory sonic navigation research and practice internationally. The original research section takes us around the world for a variety of perspectives on radio. From Italy, Hong Kong, Thailand, Latin America to the United States, one begins to appreciate the diversity of radio, from its early models of conception to its online presence. Gabriele Balbi and Simone Natale, in ‘‘The Double Birth of Wireless: Italian Radio Amateurs and the Interpretative Flexibility of New Media,’’ offer a historical framework for understanding radio as re-invention (as well as media technologies, more generally), ultimately provoking speculation toward potential directions and applications in the future. Dennis K. K. Leung’s ‘‘The Rise of Alternative Net Radio in Hong Kong: The Historic Case of One Pioneering Station’’ depicts the short-lived legacy of the pioneering People’s Radio