Post written by Christine Ehrick, University of Louisville

On November 2-4, 2017, the second national meeting of the Radio Preservation Task Force took place in Washington D.C. Created in 2014, the Radio Preservation Task Force (RPTF) is a project of the Library of Congress’s National Recording Preservation Board, tasked with locating, assessing, and facilitating the preservation of archival radio. In the past few years, the RPTF has grown into a wide-ranging association, comprised of hundreds of professors, archivists, collectors, and practitioners. The Task Force also has many affiliates and institutional partners, including the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, the International Communication Association, and the National Council on Public History.

Public Broadcasting at 50 – RPTF Conference 2017. Photo by Christine Ehrick

Organized around the theme “From Archive to Classroom,” the 2017 conference brought collectors, archivists, scholars, and practitioners together to discuss preservation strategies, grant writing opportunities, and best practices for bringing more archival radio into the classroom. The conference also featured special sessions of the Cold War Media Project, sponsored and partially hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Hoover Institution, and a discussion of the history of National Public Radio with one of its founders, Bill Siemering. Participants were also invited to attend a panel discussion on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act, featuring well-known public broadcasting veterans like Jim Lehrer, Cokie Roberts, and Dick Cavett. Working sessions covered a broad range of radio history and preservation topics, including panels on Native American and Spanish Language/Multilingual Radio, Podcasting, and Journalism. As opposed to a more traditional academic conference, with speakers presenting the results of past and current research projects, the November gathering was structured as a working conference: participants were encouraged to share experiences and discuss strategies for advancing the work of radio preservation in the US and beyond. With the New Year, the Task Force has begun to implement some of the plans made in November.

Of particular interest to this blog is perhaps the Endangered Collections panel, which focused on the challenges and opportunities facing endangered radio collections. Some of the main challenges:  radio still takes a back seat to media like film when it comes to archival preservation priorities; continued concerns and caution about intellectual property issues, especially among “risk averse” institutions such as university libraries; and significant shelf space limitations even among institutions who might otherwise be willing to accept endangered radio archives. Collections most likely to overcome the above obstacles, it seems, are those documenting the experience of marginalized communities (indigenous and other communities of color; broadcasts from the LGBTQ community). Task Force members were encouraged to engage in more aggressive marketing of its work and radio preservation generally. Among other things, raising awareness of the importance and fragility of this piece of the nation’s cultural history may help change the calculation (and allocation) of archival shelf space and collection priorities, hopefully without pitting endangered media against each other. The RPTF was encouraged to participate in wider conversations about the ethics (and ecology) of preservation and ongoing conversations about copyright and audiovisual preservation and access. The Endangered Collections group is currently working to identify collections and identify partnerships with academic institutions and educators, with the goal of facilitating the preservation, access, and use of endangered collections.

Even where there may be institutional support (and shelf space) for the preservation of archival radio, budget constraints can make places like university libraries hesitant to take on radio preservation projects.  Grant writing will thus be another important feature of this next phase of RPTF work. The Caribbean caucus for example, is working hard to find financial support and an institutional partner to preserve an endangered archive of a long-running Haitian-American radio program out of New York City. Thus in addition to documenting collections, Task Force members are encouraged to identify and pursue grants and other funding sources that can help these collections find a good archival home.

Finally, a key component of raising the profile of radio preservation is the expanded used of radio archives in the classroom. This was the main focus of the conference’s combined Education Sessions, which focused on three interrelated questions: how to promote the study of sound and radio history across a range of disciplines; how to devise effective assignments and learning materials that center on sound and make use of archival materials; and how to identify and address the challenges to integrating the study of radio and sound into curricula. In this large, informal session, participants shared their experiences with using archival radio in the classroom and discussed strategies for expanding that use into a variety of educational settings at a variety of levels.  Following up on the conference discussion, the RPTF Education Group has issued a Call for Materials asking group members to contribute syllabi, assignments, and other related educational materials that “promote and enhance the study of radio history and sound at all levels of the curriculum and across multiple disciplines.”  The RPTF will collect, organize and distribute to relevant professional associations. The group also plans to develop course templates for university and K-12 classrooms (on media history, U.S. history, and other relevant topics) using RPTF materials and raising awareness about and encouraging the use of archival radio in a variety of pedagogical settings.

The second conference of the Radio Preservation Task Force, in sum, was an inspiring and historic encounter of the varied individual and institutional components of any viable preservation strategy. Participants asked challenging questions, discussed innovative strategies, and made productive connections. The task in 2018 is to put this all this work into practice in order to continue and expand the RPTF’s urgent work to save a vital yet rapidly deteriorating piece of our collective cultural heritage. For updates about ongoing RPTF projects, please follow the official Twitter or join the join the discussion on Facebook.

Christine Ehrick is the Communications Director for the RPTF. Thanks to Alejandra Bronfman, Allison Perlman, Derek Vaillant, and Josh Shepperd for their input.