The need to preserve commercial radio: a report from the Radio Preservation Task Force commercial caucus meeting in Washington D.C. in 2017

Michael J. Socolow

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Commercial broadcasting has been a dominant force in the US radio history. As the Radio Preservation Task Force (RPTF) developed in 2015, a caucus was organized to focus specifically on commercial radio preservation. For the 2017 RPTF conference, panelists were invited to discuss historic audio recordings and other archival materials produced by commercial entities in their research and radio production work. The panel brought together representatives from the commercial broadcasting industry (CBS), the Broadcast Education Association (BEA), and scholars whose work intersects with commercial broadcasting organizations. The discussion that followed initial presentations also proved fruitful, and this essay details the outcomes of the caucus meeting and offers a road map for going forward with efforts to preserve commercial radio recordings. These recordings are vital to broadcast history, as Michele Hilmes has said, commercialism provided radio ‘an avenue of access to the popular,’ making it freely available to large national audience (Hilmes 1997, 18). Commercial radio, since its inception, has been deeply intertwined with American popular culture, making the work of the RPTF’s commercial caucus historically significant.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)441-445
Number of pages5
JournalNew Review of Film and Television Studies
Volume16
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Oct 2018
Externally publishedYes

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