{"id":747,"date":"2013-04-30T18:58:50","date_gmt":"2013-04-30T17:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theculture.net\/radio\/?p=747"},"modified":"2023-10-11T04:22:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T03:22:25","slug":"the-voice-of-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/the-voice-of-london\/","title":{"rendered":"the voice of london? pardon?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"timeoutreso1small\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018We wanted to provide an alternative to the universal formula of mainstream broadcasting,\u2019 says Ed Baxter, one of Resonance\u2019s founders, \u2018a laboratory for wild experimentation that\u2019s available to the widest possible range of practitioners, no matter who they are. Our policy is hospitality, inviting differing perspectives that really reflect the complexity of London as the crossroads of ideology, opinion and society.\u2019 If that sounds a tad remote and highbrow, check out \u2018Sicknotes\u2019 on a Saturday night, a raucous slew of youthful energy where a load of teenage DJs introduce listeners to the best of underground hip hop amid general combative banter.<\/p>\n

\n
Harry Haward presents ‘Calling All Pensioners’ on Resonance FM\u00c2\u00a9 Celia Topping<\/cite><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

\u2018It’s abuse-free radio, not the sonic battering you get on most commercial stations\u001d\u2019<\/h2>\n

Resonance started life as an arts project, and that\u2019s still at its heart. Many of its shows are uncategorisable forays into the unknown that stretch listeners\u2019 boundaries, summon unexpected genius and occasionally confuse the hell out of you. The station is a magnet for London eccentrics, with many of its DJs broadcasting from their homes, studios and hideaways all over the capital.<\/p>\n

One such broadcaster is Simon Tyszko, who records his show beneath a replica of a Dakota aeroplane wing which cuts right through his Fulham council flat. \u2018Phlight\u2019 is an art project that he installed in 2007. I meet him in its shadow as he reads aloud from a book about Joseph Pujol, the late nineteenth-century French entertainer who entranced Parisian high society as Le P\u00c3\u00a9tomane: \u2018An extraordinary case of rectal breathing and musical anus.\u2019 In other words, he farted tunes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Giggling between paragraphs, Tyszko exclaims \u2018This is great, I\u2019m going to use this\u2019 \u2013 which pretty much sums up his style of broadcasting: taking samples from his vast collection of obscure radio ephemera and mixing them with spoken word, music, noise and found sounds to create what he calls his \u2018sonic detour programme\u2019, \u2018Isotopica\u2019.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018With any other radio station, you know what you\u2019re getting,\u2019 he says. \u2018But with Resonance you never know what to expect. I can\u2019t imagine not being surprised from one day to the next.\u2019 Over the seven years he\u2019s been on air, Tyszko has taught his listeners how to build a \u2018Hackintosh\u2019 computer against a soundtrack of a wildly reworked Vivaldi piece, make the perfect dry martini with interventions from surreal filmmaker Luis Bu\u00c3\u00b1uel and interviewed Dudley Sutton of \u2018Lovejoy\u2019. \u2018It\u2019s abuse-free radio,\u2019 he says. \u2018It\u2019s not the sonic battering you get on most commercial radio stations.\u2019\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

fundraiser last year along with cult comic storyteller Daniel Kitson, who has his own
\nlate-night show. \u2018Resonance shows are hosted by people who really know their stuff,\u2019 says Lee, \u2018and its occasional rawness and chaos reminds you that it is real radio, and isn\u2019t following the \u00c2\u00ad\u00c2\u00ad\u00c2\u00ad\u00c2\u00adtransparent commercial, political or religious agendas of most other London radio stations.\u2019 Resonance is financially independent: it\u2019s funded by the Arts Council and patrons such as Grayson Perry. It\u2019s these values that keep half a million Londoners tuning in every week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u2018If you don’t like what you hear, send us an email and do it better\u2019<\/h2>\n
\"VeronicaVeronica Zubic-Nahvi \u2013 aka Ronnie \u2013 presents ‘Zubricant’ on Resonance FM\u00c2\u00a9 Celia Topping<\/cite><\/div>\n

Although Resonance has an open-door policy, it still seems to occasionally fall back to radio\u2019s default position of \u2018bloke plays records\u2019. If it\u2019s going to appeal to younger listeners, it needs more DJs like Veronica Zubic-Nahvi, or Ronnie, who I meet as she takes the mic for her weekly show \u2018Zubricant\u2019, a mish-mash of music, comment and interviews.<\/p>\n

Of Croatian descent, 17-year-old Ronnie revels in radio as the medium to express herself. \u2018Radio isn\u2019t new,\u2019 she says. \u2018It doesn\u2019t have a high status, it\u2019s established and stable, which gives you so much room for creativity that might otherwise be restricted on TV or in print. I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d be doing if I wasn\u2019t doing this\u2026 wandering around Bluewater with my hood up, stealing lipstick.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We want more young women,\u2019 says Baxter, \u2018and old women actually\u2026 and middle-aged women\u2026 all women!\u2019 he laughs. He is also working with the Migrant Resource Centre to make Resonance less English. \u2018There are around 350 languages spoken in London,\u2019 says Baxter, \u2018and we only broadcast in six so far. We want to appeal to every community. Radio is an empowering way for everyone to fully participate in society.\u2019<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thinking behind \u2018The Clear Spot\u2019, a weekly 8pm slot for anyone who has an idea, a gig to advertise, a drama to play out, a point to make, a discussion to discuss or a campaign to air. Baxter opens it up to anyone: newbies and aspiring broadcasters everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u2018If you don\u2019t like what you hear, send us an email and do it better,\u2019 he says. \u2018Everyone should do a radio programme at least once in their life. It\u2019s like punk rock.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Nice to meet ya,\u2019 growls Harry Haward. His gnarled hand encloses mine in a powerful grip. For an 80-year-old, he does a pretty good line in intimidation. So he should: Haward is a former mucker of the Krays\u2019, an ex-boxer, an ex-jailbird (\u2018I tried to do a coupla banks but wasn\u2019t no good at it\u2019) and now a broadcaster. In fact, he is mid-broadcast or, more accurately, mid-tirade \u2013 a scourging rant directed at Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt for his plans to downgrade Harry\u2019s local A&E department at Lewisham Hospital. \u2018You should be ashamed of yourself, Hunt,\u2019 he spits. \u2018You\u2019ve got two weeks to do something about it, or we\u2019ll come round your house\u2026 and I\u2019ll hit you so hard you\u2019ll be nicked for speeding!\u2019 Magic FM this is not.<\/p>\n

\"Harry<\/p>\n

Harry\u2019s robust style of broadcasting on his show \u2018Calling All Pensioners\u2019 is typical of\u00c2\u00a0Resonance FM<\/a>\u2019s approach to radio. As \u2018the world\u2019s first radio art station\u2019, Resonance has provided audio snapshots of real London and real Londoners for 11 years. Uninterrupted by adverts, traffic and weather reports, news bulletins, tired playlists and tireder DJs, it truly is a broadcaster for the people, with all their quirks, passions and oddities.<\/p>\n

Take \u2018Rock \u2019n\u2019 Roll Fishing\u2019, which invited musicians including The Libertines to discuss their love of music and piscine leisure activities. Or \u2018Tunnel Vision\u2019, a panel discussion conducted entirely from the depths of London\u2019s sewers. Or \u2018Make Your Own Damn Music\u2019, an irreverent look at the worlds of art and music through the eyes of London artist Bob and Roberta Smith.<\/p>\n

Listen to Resonance at 104.4FM or\u00c2\u00a0www.resonancefm.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  \u2018We wanted to provide an alternative to the universal formula of mainstream broadcasting,\u2019 says Ed Baxter, one of Resonance\u2019s founders, \u2018a laboratory for wild experimentation that\u2019s available to the widest possible range of practitioners, no matter who they are.…<\/p>\n

Tune in to this episodethe voice of london? pardon?<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":738,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sonic-detours-with-simon-tyszko-on-resonance-fm-londons-premiere-arts-station","excerpt","zoom","even","excerpt-0"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theculture.net\/radio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}