Neighborhood Public Radio

American pirate radio station and arts collective

Neighborhood Public Radio

Programming
Format| Pirate radio station
History

First air date

| 2004 (2004)

Neighborhood Public Radio (NPR) was an independent arts collective and roving pirate radio station.[1][2][3] Between 2004 and 2011, it broadcast intermittently from various locations in the United States and in Europe, as a very low-power, unlicensed FM station.[1][4][5]

Its motto was, "If it's in the neighborhood and it makes noise ... we hope to put it on the air."[5]

## Background

[edit]

Neighborhood Public Radio was founded by Lee Montgomery, Michael Trigilio, and Jon Brumit in 2004.[1][3] Lee Montgomery was a professor at Diablo Valley College who had experience with public radio as a DJ at KALX, broadcasting from the University of California at Berkeley, and had experimented with radio transmitters.[1][4] He invited artist Jon Brumit to bring ideas on working with sound and public interaction.[1] Multimedia artist Trigilio was a colleague of Montgomery's at Diablo Valley College, and had built his own radio transmitter previously.[1]

Although Neighborhood Public Radio used a modified version of the National Public Radio logo and introduced its own series called "American Life" which evoked This American Life – the founders insisted that parody was not the main objective of the project.[1]

Nevertheless, Neighborhood Public Radio often critiqued the state of public (and commercial) radio.[1] For example, Montgomery once edited together a recording of every time NPR thanked one of its sponsors within a 24-hour period.[1] The segment was 12 minutes long and the top sponsor was identified as Burger King.[1]

## Projects

[edit]

Its first broadcast in 2004 was a five-day run at 21 Grant gallery in Oakland, California.[1][2] Since then, it took to the airwaves in a series of locations across the United States, including San Francisco; San Jose, California; Chicago; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and New York.[2][6] It also broadcast from Serbia and Hamburg, Germany.[1]

NPR had a long-standing partnership with the Southern Exposure gallery in San Francisco's Mission District.[1] The project, which relied on interactions with passers-by in the neighborhood, often occupied the storefront of Artists' Television Access on the corner of 21st and Valencia Street.[1]

Around 2007, Neighborhood Public Radio received $35,000 grant from the Creative Work Fund to finance its Radio Cartography project.[2]

In 2008, it broadcast in Manhattan on 91.9 FM, with "hyperlocal" programs focusing on music, art, and public affairs.[2] The FM signal could reach only 4,600 people within a three-square-block radius.[2] It was featured as part of that year's Whitney Biennial.[4]

In 2010, it was part of an exhibition at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.[3]

## Content

[edit]

Programs on Neighborhood Public Radio were typically 30 to 60 minutes long.[2] Content ranged in quality.[4] Topics included local residents exchanging recipes and discussing their worst-ever neighbors.[4] The format of the segments varied – from live band performances to man-on-the-street interviews, and roundtables of artists discussing their work.[1]

## Collaborations

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Along with many self-initiated projects, NPR collaborated on works with many non-profit arts spaces, museums, festivals, and fellow artist collaboratives such as:

* Southern Exposure
* Artists' Television Access
* 21 Grand
* of Novi Sad
* Serbia
* Whitney Museum of American Art
* ZeroOne Festival
* Red 76
* Hasan Elahi

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harmanci, Reyhan (December 28, 2007). "Art and radio collide at NPR, but not the one you're thinking of". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
2. ^ a b c d e f g Seckler, Valerie (2008). "New Voices in a High-Rent District". Women's Wear Daily. Vol. 15, no. 65\. ProQuest 231243491. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
3. ^ a b c Brown, Sloane (January 24, 2010). "Contemporary Museum Winter Party". The Baltimore Sun. ProQuest 406246959. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
4. ^ a b c d e "Another 'NPR' Crops Up at Whitney Biennial". Weekend Edition. NPR (National Public Radio). March 22, 2008. ProQuest 189916734. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
5. ^ a b "About Neighborhood Public Radio". Neighborhood Public Radio. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
6. ^ Gullard, Marie (January 17, 2010). "Baltimore beckons with contemporary, visionary art museum". Washington Examiner. ProQuest 442947490. Retrieved November 24, 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Neighborhood Public Radio