Will the Real NPR Please Stand Up?
Neighborhood Public Radio
Monday April 14 | 8 pm
@UnionDocs
$5 suggested admission.
Meet the new NPR on the block: Neighborhood Public Radio. An artist run radio project now broadcasting live from a former shoe storefront at The Whitney Biennial, NPR provides an alternative media platform to community artists and musicians, activists, and local residents. By opening up the channels of communication through both internet streams and a micro-powered signal, Neighborhood Public Radio creates a kind of open radiophonic space: one free of FCC rules and regulations, corporate underwriters, and, well, any editorial involvement whatsoever. The motto for NPR is: “If it’s in the neighborhood and it makes noise .. we hope to put it on the air.”
For their current production, titled “American Life” in association with the Whitney Biennial, NPR broadcasts live from the Madison Avenue storefront and invites anyone passing by to tell stories, perform, interview, or just talk. They have also developed boxed broadcasting kits that they will distribute in cities across the country. NPR founders Lee Montgomery and Jon Brumit will be on hand to discuss their project, recall some memorable locally-produced radio moments and respond to a piece about them recently aired on that other NPR . They’ll also play audio from other recent community-based transmission arts projects including State of Mind Stations and Talking Homes.
After the presentation there will be a casual collaborative talk in the yard over snacks and beer about the future of transmission arts with free103point9 in Brooklyn, NY.
