Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0284 - Powerful Frequencies: Cultural History of Radio, Sound, and Power

The first commercial radio broadcasting in the U.S. was on November 2, 1920, when Pittsburgh's KDKA announced the result of the presidential election, cutting out the newspaper. The date was deliberately chosen to demonstrate the power of radio over print media. In March 2024, presenting her eighth album Cowboy Carter in a frame of fictional country music radio station, KNTRY Radio Texas, Beyonce problematized the Americana narrative of country music as well as racial politics on air. Since its inception, radio has been deeply integrated into our political life, shaping voices, telling stories, and feeding spatiotemporal imaginations.?This course explores cultural history and the enduring impacts of radio as tools of both political violence and resistance. We investigate technological and material cultures of radio equipment, radio programming as politics, and sonic territorialization and grassroots resilience among other issues. Case studies cover diverse geographical areas and the times from 1920 to the present Keywords:Radio, sound, voice, politics, media

Media and Technology The content of this course deals with issues of race and power Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time