basic.fm pushes the frontiers of creative radio with Airtime
Basic.fm is a broadcast art project developed as part of a larger digital media arts programme, the Pixel Palace. This programme is based in a specialist cinema, the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Basic.fm was developed as a curatorial platform, we use it more like a gallery space than a traditional radio station. We do play with the circumstance and traditions of radio, but we also like to break these and experiment. We have been running for over one year now with a programme that started in earnest with The Radio Boredcast Month, curated by artist Vicki Bennett (People Like Us), you can find the archive of that month here.
Basic.fm runs mostly via the passion and goodwill of participants. There are two of us who put the most work in. I curate the Pixel Palace Programme and developed Basic.fm and Craig Wilson who is the Station Programme Manager. Craig works with our artists, programming shows and providing the energy and glue that makes this project work. Then there are the countless contributions from participants based all over the world (whom we can't thank enough).
Airtime provides us with a unique, distributed system that makes all of this possible with scarce resources. We don't have a radio studio, we have one Mic, a laptop and a HD recorder! The server based system makes it possible for us to work in a massively distributed way. We do occasionally commission new work via open calls for artists and have had new work created for us by artists such as Larry Achiampong, Sarah Boothroyd (who's commissioned work 'Rabble Rousers' has just won a Silver Medal for Best Sound at the New York Festivals Radio Awards) and Mark Vernon to name just a few.
Basic.fm is increasingly breaking new ground for us, it provides a cohesive space to develop new partnerships and become an active player in the wider digital arts ecology. We get healthy listener numbers from all over the world and we are constantly surprised by the breadth and quality of the work we are offered. We are always very proud to be able to share it.
- Airtime 2.4 released this week offers new features like crossfading and waveform editors. Find out more about the latest release here.