Committee Blog // Concepts of 'De-Centralising' The Station

So this blog post is inspired by a piece of work done by 'Shaun Fae Solar', a really great figure in student radio who has been instrumental in how Subcity has developed as a station in the last few years. If you have any interest in the radio industry, design and general cool, you should check out his blog.

The talk he has put together outlines how Subcity is currently undergoing, or has already undergone, transformations in the structures of its content - which you can check out at http://sl.subcity.org/decentralise. This blog post is both raising awareness of this work, but also reacting to it from our station's perspective. I'm going to begin with a simple explanation of the basic idea, before moving on to what this means for Fresh Air, highlighting how our station is changing in response to the challenges of new media. 

The Basic Concept of De-centralised Content

De-centralisation is not an idea exclusive to innovative student radio. The internet is itself fundamentally about this process of de-centralisation, moving information from centrally located hubs and instead locating these into a dispersed crowd. This affects every aspect of online life, both in real and theoretical terms; the internet is created and maintained by a global community, but this idea has meant we have had to re-evaluate traditional hierarchies and outside of the virtual world.  

There are a number of influential ideas in this regard, one of which is Clay Shirky (I know, what a name right?) and the idea of Cognitive Surplus (Guardian Book Review), which highlights the role that people have played in computer design, most prominently in something like Wikipedia. As an infrastructure, Wikipedia is created and maintained by volunteers who have created a space that permits users to create and edit a crowd-sourced encyclopedia. Importantly, the user-led contributions of wikipedia has meant challenging the traditional encyclopedia, and even the essential structures of knowledge itself.

It is the essential quality of the internet and de-centralisation that has meant reconsidering traditional structures of power - but what this means can be better understood by looking at the role of the internet in broadcast media. Traditionally, broadcasting was reserved for those who could afford it, and thus reliant on a few major institutions to make and distribute content. As technology has become cheaper and more powerful, the opportunity to create and broadcast content has become available for virtually everyone, and indeed everyone, virtually.

As part of the more traditional media hierarchy of course, fewer broadcasts meant more control over what was and was not seen, with a few individuals given an editorial role equivalent to a, potentially self-interested, gatekeeper. Without this structure, the variety of media available has expanded exponentially, meaning that the more diverse interests of communities and individuals are no longer ignored. Though this is clearly beneficial for some audiences and indeed for many more in providing opportunities for content creation, it does mean that there are fewer guarantees of quality within the content produced, and that audiences have been fragmented significantly.

What This Means For Fresh Air

The advantages for student and community media, are significant - five years ago, Fresh Air moved from an FM broadcast to a live internet stream, changing our limited exposure from the 2 or 3 mile radius from the aerial in our studio (or something equally absurd) to the now global domination that we currently enjoy. However, this shift was only the beginning in what this de-centralisation implies.

Technically speaking, Subcity are far in advance of Fresh Air. They moved to 'listen again' functionality in 2004 - a service we are only now catching up with, and even then, we are having to rely on other services to cover these, such as mixcloud. However, the question of de-centralisation in Subcity's content boils down to a problem of branding, as the infrastructure they have for making content is already suited to each show broadcasting, blogging and other interaction. 

Our move towards de-centralisation is in a sense our website catching up with Subcity and other radio stations. Traditionally, we have had three teams - music, news and arts - which have created the majority of our content. However, the process for getting a review, feature or interview published has relied on content being edited, commissioned and filtered by the appropriate member of the committee. This has meant the website has occasionally suffered as being fairly static, relying on the work of a few individuals to guarantee that things get updated. With the new website, we want shows to be able to make content that can supplement their radio shows, which will in turn flow into our front page, making the station output far more 'fluid' in nature.

Unfairly reductive on my part, the question as I have understood it for Subcity is whether to continue with centrally produced 'Subcity' branded shows and other content. The brand is well respected in Glasgow and further afield, as culturally aware of the Scottish scene, and an authority in alternative music and exotic sub genres. Part of this reputation is built upon its status for specialist music and unique shows that would not find a space elsewhere - the power of its identity being derived from its multiplicity, by the work of a community with irreplaceable knowledge in very specific areas. You only have to browse their shows to understand from where their reputation comes.

Conversely for Fresh Air, our brand is different. Certainly as a station we have built on the reputation of the great endeavors of our members, but we are considerably more mainstream than Subcity, positioned on the fringe of mainstream media interests, but still providing a platform for presenters who aspire to a sound not unlike 6Music. One of the greatest assets of our station is a uniquely curated playlist, which support our daytime output, and ensure a strong listenership overnight who enjoy our taste in music. Fresh Air relies on a certain centralised authority, and as such the specific shift that Subcity is suggesting is not one which Fresh Air will likely turn in the near future. This may sound contrary to the rest of this post, but there is some logic that is being followed.

Our responsibility as a station is to facilitate as much innovation, experimentation and creativity as possible. As part of the process of de-centralisation for us that, we must try to help guarantee an audience as a station, and promote expertise to help create professional sounding radio.  We won't ever have the shows that Subcity attracts, with the requisite technical and specialist skills not often at the heart of the kind of student Edinburgh University attracts. It is therefore up to the committee to fill this gap, and so the question of de-centralisation for us is therefore about keeping pace with innovations in new media, and ensuring that the services we offer our members are as much in line with current trends as possible.

As part of this we will continue to rely on the positive environment that our music team provide (and indeed of the other HUB show teams) for creating quality radio, and for maintaining good relationships with record labels and local bands. It is through Fresh Air Sessions, curated playlists and our official fresh air branded content, that we will attain professionalism and quality that our audiences enjoy. But this is not to say that we won't adapt to the challenges we are facing - the change for us in response to de-centralisation remains in innovation elsewhere.

Wiki-Wiki Wah

One strand of innovation at our station is the Fresh Air Wiki. The basic idea being to compensate for the loss of knowledge that seems to plague our station each year, as each committee moves on, and a new generation replaces them. Building a station as we have done, on the shoulders of student radio giants, it makes sense to cement the experience and understanding of our members in some form of documentation online, to help make the best possible radio, and to continue to maintain the high standards of broadcasting without damaging potential experimentation.

In our 20th year as an Edinburgh University society it seems apt that we try to re-establish ourselves as some sort of cultural authority within student radio while also celebrating our heritage. Officially launching in 2012 as a social hub for Fresh Air Alumni, you can get access to it now and start to document anything about the station. From this space you will be able to do all manner of things - keep records of your shows, which bands have played in the studio, recount memories from festival interviews, whatever it is you desire - while also housing a significant resource of expertise and technical knowledge associated with any changes to the society as part of the new website and studio renovation.

This exists as part of other renovations in the station - particularly in the workflow of the studio and in our more networked website which will move emphasis onto the shows of our members as part of our station. Combine this with our new wiki, de-centralisation is being encouraged at the very heart of for what this station stands. Until this latest iteration of the website, we were an online radio station - but now, we can begin to become a community. 

What Next?

The next significant shift will be in the very production of content itself. For now, radio shows rely far too much on immediate listeners, suggesting that shows are only heard as they are broadcast, but as our shows eventually become heard on-demand, as and when the audience chooses, the content produced may have to change. Radio shows must rely less on the immediate present and instead audiences want to hear that which can be understood and enjoyed outside the restrictions of previous knowledge or temporal location. 

Another important question being posed by Shaun for Subcity is the question of archiving old content. By moving away from centrally created content, old shows that have this branding begin to exist in isolation. Should these be archived as artifacts, or should this branding be updated somehow to reflect this change? Though this question is not one we need to ask immediately for Fresh Air, technology might change the way that advertising and branding exist within the ways content is presented, especially given the inevitable move into a player outside of the fresh air website.