Re-Sounding Feminist Radio

Abstract

Digital archives of women's radio programming document histories of feminist activism across different eras in multiple global contexts. Mitchell surveys the ongoing development of these archives, examining their role in “re-sounding” women into history. Women's radio can be a place for individual empowerment, expression and creativity, as well as a space for collective and transnational feminist campaigning and activism. A case study of Fem FM women's community radio archive in the UK demonstrates how archives of feminist radio activism become both a repository and a maker of cultural memory.

Queering the Community Music Archive

“…That is, there is a common desire for autonomy, independence and self-determination -to do it themselves, on their own terms (Cooper 2015;Withers , 2015aKumbier 2014;Freedman 2012;DiVeglia 2012). There is widespread distrust towards capitalist, patriarchal institutions (whether that be the publishing industry, music industry, or the academy) because of how these establishments have so rigorously excluded, oppressed and marginalised them (Mitchell 2015;Cooper 2015;Kumbier 2014;Wakimoto et al 2013;DiVeglia 2012;Eichhorn 2010;Cvetkovich 2003;Thistlethwaite 1998;Nestle 1990). Thus, there is a common desire to operate outside of these institutional constraints.…”

“…Work on archives of queer popular music is largely peripheral. Eichhorn's (2010 work deals with feminist collections associated with zines and Riot Grrrl; Withers ( , 2015aWithers ( , 2015b) focuses on music-making during the UK Women's Liberation Movement, and its digital archive which she co-founded; Mitchell (2015) examines Fem FM, the UK's first women's community radio, and the archive which she helped establish to document it; and Reitsamer (2015) draws on a range of examples of DIY feminist archives, both physical and digital. Common among the feminist music cultures explored in these works are independent, DIY forms of cultural production, whether through making music (Withers 2015b), radio (Mitchell 2015) or zines .…”

“…That is, despite what generational metanarratives might imply, the ideas, values, practices and goals of feminists at any given time are varied and can traverse multiple eras (Withers 2015b). Archives, as accumulations of bits from the scrap heap, are spaces which draw together artefacts from different times, elucidate continuities with the past and foster dialogue and alliances between generations of feminists (Mitchell 2015;Reitsamer 2015;. In this way, the archive has the power to undo generational logics and promote new, fluid narratives of feminism (Reitsamer 2015;.…”

“…Preservation is not the only concern for community-based archives like the WLMA -by placing the archive in the digital realm, the archivists are re-circulating and transmitting feminism's past so that it can be used (Mitchell 2015;. They are making traditions, practices and knowledges available to be re-interpreted, re-enacted and transformed in the present and into the future.…”

“…Since they aim to be resources to support feminist activism, there is also a shared emphasis on accessibility and outreach (Reitsamer 2015). Mitchell (2015) reflects on similar approaches in her case study of the Fem FM community radio archive -materials were digitised and placed online to improve access, raise awareness of the radio station's history, and to encourage participation and collaboration among interested women. As each of the examples above highlight, feminist music archives are simultaneously concerned with preservation, nostalgia, education, scholarship, community-building, and promoting activism.…”