Resources
RADIO LAB
free103point9 Radio Labs provide participants with the technical skills and historical/theoretical grounding pertinent to transmission media in hopes of fostering creative expression within and with the transmission spectrum. Workshops are broken down into three main sections: the history of broadcasting; how transmitters work: and transmission arts as a creative medium. A core-curriculum textbook, Wave Guide, is available in hardcopy and on the free103point9 website as downloadable PDFs.
As the early use of radio as mass medium evolves into an era of millions of micro signals, radio communication is paradoxically becoming more archaic and more ubiquitous in our daily lives. While satellite radio companies argue for the retirement of FM and AM broadcasts, the newly diversified use of the radio spectrum is becoming more and more integral to today's wireless obsessed consumer culture. free103point9's Radio Labs teach students about the history of radio communications, about access and restrictions on the medium, and pass on important information about how radio works. Students are provided with the skills and context to make use of transmission mediums for creative and social expression whether it be local activism, sound sculpture, installation, or performance-based work.
free103point9's "Radio Lab" first manifested in 1999 as a free103point9 education program with youth from East Harlem's Kids Discover Radio, an after school science program in a housing project, and at El Puente, a Williamsburg-based neighborhood center in Brooklyn. free103point9 Radio Lab seminars have since been presented at educational and cultural institutions across New York and throughout the United States. Click here for a Comet antenna worksheet to tune an FM antenna.
To volunteer to help with free103point9's "Radio Lab," e-mail Tom Roe.
See list of future Radio Labs at top right.
UPCOMING RADIO LABS
ONLINE REFERENCE MATERIALS
- Glossary
- Resource Library
- Historical Transmission Works
- free103point9 Online Archive
- Wave Guide
- Intructions, Manuals, and Schematics
PAST RADIO LABS
2008
- Catskill Community Center Open House, May 10, 2008: 5:30 p.m. – 9 p.m.
- Radio Lab: What is Transmission Art?, April 14, 2008: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
- Radio Lab: Transmission Tools for Artists, March 10, 2008: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
- NYC Grassroots Media Conference 2008, March 2, 2008
- Radio Lab: Circuit Bending, Jan. 10, 2008: 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
2007
- Radio Lab: Bard College, Dec. 19, 2007: 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
- Lecture at The Neuberger Museum of Art, Dec. 5, 2007: 6:30 p.m.
- Lecture at Maryland Institute College of Art , Nov. 16, 2007: 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
- Radio Lab: Bard College at Wave Farm, Oct. 29, 2007: 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
- Podcasting workshop with the viBeSongMakers, Oct. 22, 2007: 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
- Radio Lab: Bard College, Oct. 22, 2007: 1:30 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
- Radio Lab: Bard College at Wave Farm, Oct. 16, 2007: 1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
- Radio Lab: transmission art, Sept. 20, 2007: 5 p.m. – 6 p.m.
- Radio Lab and Radio 4x4 for Untitled 2002 (he promised), Aug. 19, 2007: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
- Radio Lab: how FM transmitters work, May 17, 2007: 5 p.m. – 6 p.m.
2006
- Radio Lab at Project Space, Dec. 5, 2006: 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
- Radio Lab/Visiting Artist: Brown University, Nov. 28, 2006: 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
- Cornell College Radio Lab, April 27, 2006: 9 a.m. – April 28, 2006: noon
- RPI Radio Lab, April 10, 2006: noon – 4 p.m.
2005
- Mattress Factory Radio Lab, Dec. 3, 2005: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
- New York Network Radio Lab, Nov. 16, 2005: 8 p.m. – 10 p.m.
- apodio radio lab, Sept. 30, 2005: 7 p.m. – 11 p.m.
- Radio Lab at Brooklyn College, April 12, 2005: 3 p.m.
2004
- Radio Lab at Columbia University, Nov. 29, 2004: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- RNC Radio Lab, Aug. 22, 2004: 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
- Sous Les Pavas, La Radio! at Psy.Geo.Conflux 04, May 13, 2004 – May 16, 2004
- Psy.Geo.Conflux Radio Lab, May 13, 2004: 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
- Radio Lab at Columbia University, March 29, 2004: 6 p.m.