Ab"original" Radio

In the modern era of mass media interconnectivity (as defined by interactive online publishing and social media tools like Facebook and Twiiter), the once prevalent media form of interactive, call-in radio has become a lesser part of how we create, imagine, and keep in touch with our communities. This is not the case, however, with aboriginal peoples of Canada and Northern Australia where radio stations and their shows (specifically “request-line” or “call-in” style shows) are integral to these groups’ ability to express and create their own communities and collective identities.

In the case of Fort McPherson, an Aboriginal-Canadian town well inside the Arctic Circle, the organic radio programming of their station, CBQM, provides a lens through which one might understand the principle values or characteristic of their community and, also, how they are using radio to extend and further shape such communal qualities. After viewing the NFB documentary on the station, the first apparent quality is its dedication to inclusivity. It is, very much so, listener created radio, from the local, bi-lingual DJs to the constant call-ins with dedications, requests, and direct messages to other members of the community. This latter characteristic, causes the station to operate more like a public switch-board than a traditional radio station. While they do play music and even have their own sort of political talk radio, most of the time they are using CBQM as a mouthpiece to invite friends over for tea, do some well-wishing to those they cannot get in touch with otherwise, and to advise other community members of things such as wolves in the area or ice thaws. This non-traditional form (at least from a modern North American perspective) is indicative of some of the communication difficulties inherent in living in such a remote locale. From what one can glean from the documentary, people in Fort McPherson do not use cell-phones and are not always in their homes either (whether they are out in trapping lodges, community centers, etc.). Thus—what one might imagine to be their only radio station—CBQM becomes the perfect way to reach someone or to post a mass bulletin. Much how modern communities of North America may share a person-to-person message with their entire community through something like a Facebook wall-post, so too the listeners of CBQM share similar messages in a similar fashion. This act of sharing messages is an integral reflection upon the inclusivity of the Fort McPherson community, while also being a practical solution to the communication difficulties present in the remote region.

The Aboriginal communities half-way around the world in Northern Australia are, interestingly enough, using radio in a similar manner to their counter-parts in Canada. Utilizing radio to connect with “rellies” (relatives) and to share with their communities. The major difference here, however, is the establishment of more comprehensive network not to simply to support connections within the community but to create links to other remote aboriginal groups across Australia. This makes their radio stations not only integral to their preservation of a self-defined community but also to their survival as a recognized political and ethnic group.

While neither of these stations seem overtly engaged in presenting traditional aboriginal programming (both, actually, seem to have a distinct affinity for country music of all kinds), they are still the mouthpieces of their distinctive groups and are capable of putting forth a new, more modern and perhaps more subtle aboriginal identity based on inclusivity.

Sources:




Allen, Dennis
           2010 CBQM. National Film Board of Canada.

Fisher, Daniel
           2009    Mediating Kinship: Country, Family, and Radio in Northern Australia. Cultural
                    Anthropology 24(2):280-312