Although in the past we have featured only online radio broadcasting, this time we look at a station still doing it on the airwaves in London. Resonance104.4fm makes public those artworks that have no place in traditional broadcasting. A radio station like no other, that is an archive of the new, the undiscovered, the forgotten, the impossible. It is an invisible gallery, a virtual arts centre whose location is at once local, global and timeless. And that is itself a work of art. Imagine a radio station that responds rapidly to new initiatives, has time to draw breath and reflect. A laboratory for experimentation, that by virtue of its uniqueness brings into being a new audience of listeners and creators. All this and more, Resonance104.4fm aims to make London’s airwaves available to the widest possible range of practitioners of contemporary art.

The service includes “radio artworks” made especially for and exploring the medium of radio. The music based output places an emphasis on alternative and experimental music with a bias towards the avant-garde (how many broadcasters are willing to devote programming to found sounds and field recordings?). The speech based output includes discussion, alternative news, documentary and literary spoken word. Subjects covered include anything from cultural theory to pensioners’ rights and mental health to visual arts. The station provides a service for practising artists and engaged consumers whose interests fall outside the mainstream media or for those whose access to media is restricted or limited due to cultural bias or lack of formal training. The multicultural service transcends age barriers, it’s youngest regular broadcasters are 16, it’s oldest 77, from communities as diverse as Brazilian, Serbian and Congolese who are encouraged to initiate and realise their own programming.

You can hear nonsense sound poetry recorded halfway up a mountain on the Isle of Jura, a preacher in Glasgow or a Babylonian Jewish Choir, a huge variety of unique spoken word radio basically. That’s not to mention great specific music shows such as Is Black Music, featuring maverick black musicians who are involed in non-commerial, alternative outside of the industry mainstream. The program broadcasts Black folk, country, avant-garde, classical and rock music. It encourages the promotion of unusual black music such as Urb Alt and Afro Punk, and is a good way to challenge industry, artist and consumer stereotypes.

Resonance104.4fm started broadcasting on May 1st 2002, established by London Musicians’ Collective. Its brief? To provide a radical alternative to the universal formulae of mainstream broadcasting. Resonance 104.4 fm features programmes made by musicians, artists and critics who represent the diversity of London’s arts scenes, with regular weekly contributions from nearly two hundred musicians, artists, thinkers, critics, activists and instigators. You can also listen online or download one of their various podcasts for maximum aural pleasure.