The space created through radio is also a contested space. Some have to struggle and fight to maintain this platform, whereas others can readily access it. Depending on whether it is run by the government or a small group of people pursuing a particular aim and also depending on whom it is meant to serve, radio can either serve alternative causes or be employed towards national, mainstream ends. At any rate, it reacts to already existing structures thus being largely influenced by as well as reflecting the very nature of the community it is indebted to. But does it in return also (re)create this community? How does it affect and effect the communal sense of belonging?
In The Songs of the Siren: Engineering National Time on Israeli Radio, Danny Kaplan explains how Israeli radio stations “generat[e] collective rhythms of daily schedules and annual and special events through which a sense of national belonging is sustained” (2009:315). In a country that introduced radio in 1936, i.e. twelve years before it actually became a state in 1948, the broadcast medium has always been key in educating the public (2009:316). Through this involvement in the organization and production of the everyday present, the radio reiterates and reaffirms the very repository of traditional ways of life it drew its inspiration from in the first place. Although there was an initiative in the 1990s to set up local radio stations that focus on regional and communal issues and content, most of these eventually emulated the program of the national radio broadcasting companies; something which is testimonial to the significance of radio for the nation as a whole (2009:317-318). One of the most striking examples of how the radio manages and impacts people's lives for Kaplan is the news jingle: “This pulse generates a singular moment where people bring their individual activities to a momentary standstill and participate in a collective ritual of reflection on current events” (2009:316). The jingle is seen as the tangible effect of what Benedict Anderson calls simultaneity-in-time – in contrast to simultaneity-along-time, a cyclic understanding of history that prompts people to relate themselves to their ancestors or historic past in general rather than their fellow citizens (2009:314). Due to a changed understanding of the nature of time itself – measurements of time are arbitrarily assigned; something that allows for a multitude of interpretations of different moments in time – as well as because of advances in technology, especially print, simultaneity-in-time allows people to “imagine themselves living their lives in parallel to fellow readers, sharing a strong sense of common identity and destiny” (2009:314).
Interestingly enough, it is exactly the idea of “assigning new meaning to an otherwise homogenous-empty time” (Kaplan 2009:314) characteristic of the concept of simultaneity-in-time and thus crucial in shaping a national identity that, so I would argue, can also be used as a means to subvert the status quo. Feminist radio programs in Guatemala try and use the fact that radio is capable of imposing on the public a “uniform pace to collectively engage with the unfolding of events” (2009:316) to their own advantage.
By means of the medium radio, feminists try to create alternative spaces within the public space that is mainstream radio in order to infiltrate and thus subvert the patriarchal structures that govern Guatemalan society. Programs such as Women's Time that are broadcast around noon and that address issues such as particular notions of femininity, domestic violence, but also the recent economic crisis (Nitsan 2011: in-class talk) bear witness to that: To a certain extent these educational shows reflect the community they serve, namely the Guatemalan society, insofar as they make use of the aforementioned preexisting structure – it is no coincidence that Women's Time goes on air around 12 PM. Their aim is to motivate and empower those housewives listening while doing their laundry or preparing lunch and in this way to get them out of their daily routine (Nitsan 2011). Just like the Israeli news jingle, then, Women's Time “generates a singular moment where [women] [...] bring their individual activities to a momentary standstill and participate in a collective ritual of reflection on current events” (2009:316). In this way, the program does, indeed, become part of the listener's daily routine. But instead of affirming this order it questions its very nature thus raising awareness for certain issues in everyday life and slowly undermining traditional gender roles. In case of the Guatemalan feminist programs, then, the radio hosts disrupt an already existing collective identity; they highjack the shared, but nonetheless ideologically loaded space that is mainstream radio. Interestingly enough, feminist programs first of all follow this daily routine imposed by the national identity, for it is only via this detour that they can in fact impact on society itself. Eventually, then, these radio shows may trigger the creation of a new community: an informed female public and a changed Guatemalan society.
In Israel as well as in Guatemala, radio is crucial in creating and serving the community. The extent to which a genuinely 'informed' community is created, however, differs. While in Israel radio is used to perpetuate the status quo, it is meant to subvert the existing order in the Guatemalan example.
References Cited
Kaplan, Danny
2009 Songs of the Siren. Engineering National Time on Israeli Radio. Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 24, Issue 2: 313–345.
Nitsan, Tal
In-class talk, March 4th 2011.
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