End of the Dial

radio documentary airs on CBC Radio 1, Feb 18, 2014 - 9PM by Garth Mullins and Lisa Hale

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Originally aired across Canada on World Radio Day 2014

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Quasi-autobiographical rumination on the life, death and rebirth of radio that aired on CBC Radio 1 on World Radio Day, Feb 13, 2014 Video was supposed to kill the radio star. Now we’re told the internet is going to finish it off. There are budget cuts, radio signals are dropping off the dial and transmitters are being mothballed. But Garth Mullins isn’t ready to pull the plug just yet. He’s been a radio-head from the start, listening to shortwave, working in community radio and now making programs and podcasts. And he’s hearing a radio renaissance. Garth talks to Elizabeth Hay, author of Late Nights On Air about radio in the north. Digital media scholar Ethan Zuckerman argues that radio is still important in a wired world. Garth also meets up with Ryan McMahon, Anishinaabe comedian and podcast media maker. Ira Glass, host of This American Life, asks if it’s really necessary to make “a radio show that says, aww, radio is great.” Well, this is that show. We hear the story of El Salvador's underground Radio Venceremos and the sounds of Cold War Era Shortwave (thanks to Paul Dougherty). Aljaz Pengov Bitenc from Slovenia’s Radio Kaos talks about WWII antifascist transmissions. Radio static art is provided by Anna Friz. Garth tunes into new online radio voices like 99% Invisible, The Memory Palace, How Sound, Radiolab and Curious City. Natural radio recordist Stephen P. McGreevy warns of the continuing need for old-school, terrestrial radio, so that we can talk to each other when the grid goes down.

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More editing at CBC - even a few more "squirrel takes" - you'll get it when you hear the show

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Air date countdown

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In End of the Dial, I use a few seconds on this episode of Roman Mars' tiny radio show about design. If you tune around on a shortwave radio, you might stumble across a voice reciting an endless stream of numbers. Just numbers, all day, everyday. These so-called “numbers stations,” say nothing about where they are transmitting from or who they are trying to reach, but they can be heard in Spanish, English, German, Russian, Chinese, and any number of other languages from around the world.

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Thanks to Jacob Dryden, my friend for years, and his band for the extro music for End of the Dial. Jacob mixed a custom instrumental version of "This Town" off Quickness' first record "Songs for your Ghettoblaster." He has been my rehearsal space roommate for years and has acted as engineer on many recordings of my band, Legally Blind.

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End of the Dial uses part of this radiophonic piece that was originally a live performance, radio intervention, and broadcast as an ersatz radio play. When my friend, Anna Friz was young she half-believed that there were little people living inside the radio. In this piece, Anna imagines what happens when the little radio people decide to try to communicate with one another when we, the Ears, are asleep. What do they do when we turn off the radio? This version created in 2002, remixed in 2011. For more info check out nicelittlestatic.com

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My friend from back in the day, Anna Friz made some of the static noise art sounds heard in End of the Dial. Check out her work at nicelittlestatic.com.

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Radiolab is one of the podcasts we refer to in “End of the Dial”

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Lisa and Yvonne, behind the glass in the control room: "nope, take it again"

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Had to retake a few lines today at CBC. Some just didn’t sound right. Some were a tiny bit inaccurate. And in one, Lisa pointed out that I used the word “pernicious” incorrectly. I had said “radio signals are pernicious” and I really meant “radio signals are hard to stamp out” - which is a good thing in most cases.

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Getting the section on Ethan Zuckerman just right. He’s an internet activist that loves radio. There was a debate when I read the script as to whether CBC listeners would understand the term “LOLcatz” or if we would need to say “laugh out loud cats.” I just said no, can’t do it.