Monday, February 4, 2013

Zine Review: How To Make It In Radio



How to Make It In Radio
$4 / PO Box 11544
Portland OR 97211

This slim zine is written by Julie from Public Radio show Destination DIY. Having been involved with radio off & on since 1974 and steadily since 2000, zines like this always grab my attention. There is some radio production terminology explained in this zine, and interviews with various individuals about how they broke into the field of broadcasting and what they create. There are a few words of advice and a section of online resources.

The downside: the zine focuses too heavily on the insular world of “public radio” which, in my experience, is a cliquish world, impossible to approach, and generally panders to the wealthy corporations and individuals who can support the station. Public in public radio means publicly funded, not public access. I would have appreciated more about community radio or pirate radio. Also, the focus seems to be on coming up with a marketable product, i.e. “a story”, and neglects other aspects of radio production. The price is a little hefty for such a small zine, and in the end, you could find the resources listed online for free by doing a search. Julie’s earlier zine How to Make Radio seemed to have much more practical information. 

1 comment:

Ray Palm (Ray X) said...

"Public in public radio means publicly funded, not public access."

Which reminded me of this controversy:

http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/04/nprs-war-on-low-power-fm-the-laws-of-physics-vs-politics/