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| Hybrid-Radio Workshop |
| Cluj, Romania :: Sept 30 - Oct 3, by Derek Holzer |
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| From Sept 30 to Oct 3, I worked at the Tranzit House with students from the local technical university and Joanne Richardson to create Radio Fara Frecventa [Radio without Frequncy]: an experiment in microFM and net.streaming hybrid broadcasting. |
Participants were taught the following:
1) Basic digital audio recording and editing.
2) Use of the free Shoutcast plug for Winamp, which allows easy MP3 streaming.
3) Theory and construction of a half-wave dipole antenna suitable for micro-power FM broadcasting at a single, given frequency.
4) Maintenance, tuning and operation of a 1 Watt Monophonic FM transmitter [generously donated by Micz Flor!]
The end goal of this workshop was that these students would be equipped with the necessary knowledge to start and operate their own microFM radio station, and to use interet streaming to share content between different nodes of a grassroots broadcasting network [between, for example, independent radios in Cluj and Bucharest, or with Tilos Radio in Budapest].
Due to the general technical and bandwidth limitations in Romania, internet streaming was never considered as an "end-user" friendly system. The bottom line is that there are more radios than all the computers, televisions and telephones in the world combined, and radio was seen as the most accessable means of delivering locally-oriented content to the city of Cluj.
Almost immediately on being asked what they would like to broadcast, the students began interviewing each other and their friends about the inadequacies of the Romanian educational system. One of the most poigniant testimonies came from a SouthEast Asian man, who was told he could complete his medical education in Cluj in English, only to arrive and find all the coursework and lectures in Romanian! Other interviewees focused on an obviously corrupt system of grading and on the bad housing conditions the students are forced to live in. Out of these interviews, a series of edited clips were produced for broadcast.
The antenna-building section of the workshop provided some of the more interesting challenges. One whole day was spent driving between various construction and plumbing stores all over town, looking for such common materials as duct tape, copper tubing and PVC pipe. Three days were spent waiting for a drill [during which time, every request for the tool was met with the reply "but we are not technical people!"], and when it finally arrived, it came with three VERY large drywall and concrete bits! The last two days were spent negotiating our way around perhaps the most ridiculous and self-indulgent art installation I have ever seen, in which every square centimeter of the space was filled by a Swiss artist and
some tar and wire birds he constructed. Despite these and other setbacks, everything seemed to come together in the last possible second, and by the end of the workshop, we were ready to make our "experiment".
The last day was spent mounting the antenna on the roof of the neighbor's house. This action was very heartwarming, and reminded me of a traditional "barn-raising": out of nowhere, suddenly there were at least 20 hands ready to help. Even the local 5 year old hooligans, who had been around to harrass me for colas and play with my laptop, lent a hand [see photos].
For "security reasons", I cannot give many specific details of the broadcast. [Reading the "Radio FF Press Release" on these pages will explain why.] What I can say is that we set up the transmitter and antenna to the point that it was capable of broadcasting, and that the broadcast was streamed over the internet, using a remote server graciously provided by Freeteam in Holland, and with the use of a mobile phone lent by Zapp Mobile RO. This mobile promised a higher data compression rate than the usual GSM [which it delivered], and is being marketed in Romania as an alternative to copper-based dialup service, as DSL is extremely expensive and difficult to arrange. During the two hour broadcast, the pre-produced clips were played alongside live commentary and a highly eclectic mix of classic rock, dub and [to the students great amusement] Romanian and gypsy folk music.
Perhaps the things I myself learned out of this workshop are just as valuable as what the Romanian students learned: how to arrange a somewhat technical operation in difficult local conditions, how to cope with a VERY different sense of time :-), and also how to entrust a project to a group of new friends once it's time to leave. The Radio Fara Frecventa continues on in my absence [their latest internet transmission took place the night before this writing], along with a new video and TV project. I am deeply curious to see what it will lead to, and extend my continuing support to those involved.
Derek Holzer Nov 21, 2002
This workshop would have been impossible without the assistance of the European Cultural Foundation. |
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