Sounds of Whiteness: Local Radio, Racial Formation, and Public Culture in Chicago, 1921-1935

What's Local? Localism as a Discursive Boundary Object in Low-Power Radio Policymaking

“…11 (Of course, the FCC does indeed have a history of favoring some content over other content-specifically, commercial content that the FCC deems a ''value-neutral'' use of the airwaves, vs. noncommercial content that the FCC regards as ''partisan'' or representing ''special interests''-and this has been widely noted by media scholars. See Streeter, 1996;Vaillant, 2002. ) Further comments filed at the FCC echoed this notion of localism as embodied in local news reporting.…”

Identities and Subjectivities

“…An interesting place to start is Vaillant's (2002) consideration of local radio in Chicago between 1921 and 1935. According to the author, during the 1920s, local broadcasting transcended a "radio imaginary" or an "imagined community," instead promoting face-to-face community life, for instance, by encouraging listeners to participate in programs or by organizing community socials.…”

“…Vaillant (2002) is quoted at length here because he evokes an image of radio broadcasting and listening as a community per se and pays homage to the importance of community radio in presenting local voices. Vaillant (2002) is quoted at length here because he evokes an image of radio broadcasting and listening as a community per se and pays homage to the importance of community radio in presenting local voices.…”

Celebrating the chaos

“…There are many justifications, starting from the fact that the city's population ensured it to be a practicable environment for radio almost from the very beginning of the medium. As Vaillant (2002a) notes, broadcasters in Chicago "took an early lead in obtaining licenses and developing the potential of the medium." (p. 27) The corresponding interest among listeners was evidenced by the numerous replies to station surveys (some of which I observed firsthand within the Commerce Papers at the Hoover Presidential Library), and the widespread sales of radio kits and formations of radio clubs.…”

“…The dissertation "hears" mediated commentary about radio programming, and the larger issue of radio itself, as a prime example of vernacular public discourse before the official discourse of the commercial networks was broadcast as the normalization of the airtime schedule. The socio-cultural diversity of broadcasters which included churches, educational institutions (Rinks, 2002), labor unions (Godfried, 1997), urban ethnic communities (Vaillant, 2002a), and political movements (Gullifor & Carlson, 1997) ensured a pluralism of voices that juxtaposed together on the bandwidth created situations of rhetorical persuasiveness and expressions of socio-cultural difference perceived by (especially) urban radio listeners. While it may be the case that many listeners only tuned to stations and broadcasters they were sure to enjoy or agree with, it may also equally be the case that many listeners were intrigued enough by the communicative possibilities of the new mass medium that they actively sought out new local broadcasting experiences; this is part of what Douglas (1999) means by "exploratory listening" as an early mode of the popular appreciation of radio.…”