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Social Science Media Studies

Islands of Resistance

Pirate Radio in Canada

edited by Andrea Langlois, Ron Sakolsky & Marian van der Zon

Publisher
New Star Books
Initial publish date
May 2010
Category
Media Studies, Anarchism, Telecommunications
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781554200504
    Publish Date
    May 2010
    List Price
    $21.00

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Description

Since radio's invention, some Canadians have been concerned about the increasingly commercialized and centralized nature of medium. Sometimes working alone, more often in teams, and always illegally, these activists represent islands of resistance within the ocean of homogenous frequencies, pirating radio signals for personal, political and artistic expression. In the first book published on the subject, Islands of Resistance gives you a view from the crowsnest of the phenomenon of pirate radio in Canada. Here is a collection of seventeen activist manifestos, artistic treatises of intent, historical essays on the development of radio and its regulatory bodies, sociological examination of pirate radio's application in new social movements, and personal anecdotes from behind the eyepatch. Just as the new media ostenibly renders the old obsolete, Islands of Resistance unveils the existance of a thriving clandestine counterculture. An invaluable addition to an unscrutinized subject in Canadian media studies, Islands of Resistance appeals to the anarchist, anti-authoritarian impulses in all of us.

CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: Setting Sail: Navigating Pirate Radio Waves in Canada, Ron Sakolsky, Marian van der Zon & Andrea Langlois CHAPTER 2: Latitudes of Rebellion: Free Radio in an International Context. Stephen Dunifer CHAPTER 3: Resistance to Regulation Among Early Canadian Broadcasters and Listeners, Anne MacLennan CHAPTER 4: Freedom Soundz: A Programmer's Journey Beyond Licenced Community Radio, Sheila Nopper CHAPTER 5: Secwepemc Radio: Reclamation of Our Common Property, Neskie Manuel CHAPTER 6: Awakening the "Voice of the Forest": Radio Barriere Lake, Charles Mostoller CHAPTER 7: Squatting the Airwaves: Pirate Radio as Anarchy in Action, Ron Sakolsky CHAPTER 8: Amplifying Resistance: Pirate Radio as Protest Tactic, Andrea Langlois & Gretchen King CHAPTER 9: The Care and Feeding of Temporary Autonomous Radio, Marian van der Zon CHAPTER 10: The Voyage of a Gender Pirate & Her Toolbox, Bobbi Kozinuk CHAPTER 11: Pirate Radio & Manoeuvre: Radical Artistic Practices in Quebec, André Éric Létourneau (translation by Clara Gabriel) CHAPTER 12: Touch That Dial: Creating Radio Transcending the Regulatory Body, Christof Migone CHAPTER 13: The Art of Unstable Radio, Anna Friz CHAPTER 14: Repurposed and Reassembled: Waking Up the Radio, Kristen Roos CHAPTER 15: Radio Ballroom Halifax, Stephen Kelly & Eleanor King (with Marian van der Zon) CHAPTER 16: The Power of Small: Integrating Low-Power Radio and Sound Art, Kathy Kennedy CHAPTER 17: Voices in a Public Place: A Docudrama in Seven Acts on/for Micro-Radio in Canada, Roger Farr.

Visit the A href="http://islandsofresistance.ca/" target=_blank>Islands of Resistance website for more about the book and to hear audio clips of pirate radio.

About the authors

Andrea Langlois was a member of the Indymedia movement (CMAQ.net). Autonomous Media: Activating Resistance and Dissent, co-edited with Frederic Dubois, documents uses of media by social justice movements in Canada. She lives in Victoria.

Ron Sakolsky has been a radio pirate for over twenty years in both the States and Canada, and with Stephen Dunifer co-edited Seizing the Airwaves: A Free Radio Handbook. He lives on Denman Island, BC.

Marian van der Zon founded a pirate radio station (TAR: Temporary Autonomous Radio) in 2003, a station that is still active. A media activist and musician, van der Zon teaches in the Media Studies and Women's Studies departments at Vancouver Island University.

Andrea Langlois' profile page

Ron Sakolsky's profile page

Marian van der Zon's profile page