Securing the aural border: fieldwork and interference in post-war BBC audio nationalism

Western, Tom

doi:10.1080/20551940.2015.1079074

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Marie Slocombe served to reinforce her gatekeeping role in determining which voices, musics and sounds were worthy of recording and archiving (Birdsall 2017). In the post-war era, Slocombe continued to be interested in regional accents, dialects and musical forms, due to her involvement in the BBC Folk Music and Dialect Recording Scheme (as well as the International Folk Music Council), but she also acted here as a 'gatekeeper' in determining which field recordings would be acceptable enough to fit the criteria of 'broadcast quality' (Western 2015).…”

Section: Selection Principles and The Archive As 'Memory Actor'mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The conclusion will synthesize the findings of this case study and critically reflect on the need for further transnational research about radio sound archiving that goes beyond the limitations of the single case study presented here, one whose Eurocentric orientation risks reinforcing the centrality of the imperial metropole, if not other East-West and North-South divisions (Stoler and Cooper 1997;Shohat and Stam 2014;Scales 2013). I will therefore point to the significance of investigating other models, sites and historical periods for radio archival praxis, particularly those that might provide alternatives or challenges to the "audio nationalism" (Western 2015) and "technological imperialism" (Taylor 2002;Yang 2010) in evidence in the case study introduced here.…”

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Worlding the Archive: Radio Collections, Heritage Frameworks, and Selection Principles

Birdsall¹

2018

Edition Medienwissenschaft

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In this case study, I develop critical perspectives on institutional radio collections, in the form of sound recordings or other print-based materials. While the institutional practice of recording, editing and archiving radio soundsprevalent in European broadcasting from around 1930 onwards-largely took place within a framework of national significance, these collections were also governed by aspirations to capture and order the sounds of the world. The present article attends to this 'worldly' (if not universalist) scope-and the 'worldmaking' qualities of archival practice (Ong 2011; Cook 2013)-for radio collections that often had a dual focus on long-term historic preservation as well as the needs of program production. The main case study examined here will be the BBC, in Great Britain, whose documentation and information activities-in the form of libraries and archives-swelled from their modest beginnings to large and elaborate operations during World War II (1939-1945) and afterwards. While a range of departments were responsible for the recording, editing and archiving of radio sound, sound archiving at the BBC is usually credited to a number of pioneers. Most prominent among these are the early members of the Recorded Programmes department, such as Lynton Fletcher, Timothy Eckersley, and Marie Slocombe (Rooks 2012). While Slocombe is popularly known as the 'founder' of the BBC sound archive, having initiated the Permanent Library or 'historic archive' from 1937 to the early 1970s, this essay draws on recent archival research that highlights both Slocombe's influential role in compiling, classifying and curating recorded sound as well as issues of gendered agency evidenced in the limitations and frustrations experienced by Slocombe and many of the female library and archival staff (Birdsall 2017). The transnational perspective on archival collections and practices will be articulated through three sections, which will emphasize the global and imperial background to (sound) recording technologies and archival praxis, and how

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Section: Selection Principles and The Archive As 'Memory Actor'mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%