L'Histoire de Radio Volta

During the 2000 Republican Convention (dubbed "R2K"), the audio team of the Philadelphia Independent Media Center, called WR2K, produced a live audio stream. It functioned as a communications hub for activists, journalists and listeners. Our live call-in line made WR2K the first to hear and pass on most of the breaking news from the streets; the widespread dissemination of the phone number and our flexible programming outline made it possible for anyone with 35 cents or a cell phone to become an instant reporter. Our studio became a first stop for activists returning from actions or recently released from police custody.

A sampling of programs produced by WR2K during the convention:

• No Son of a Bush in the White House, interviews and news pieces and commentary by Ken Heard of the Black Radical Congress and CPUSA;
• Institute for Social Ecology faculty member & public intellectual Cindy Milstein speaks on direct democracy and moving from protest to popular power;
• The Hillbilly Anarchist, music and commentary with Duff McIntosh;
• Susan Philips hosts six young local poets reading live in the studio;
• The Artist Formerly Known as Condom Lady talks reproductive health & harm reduction & plays psych & punk hits

Segments of WR2K were picked up locally by WKDU, WHAT-AM, WPEB and a pirate operating in Philly for the week only. To our knowledge, it was also picked up by a dozen or so community- based stations around the country.

After the convention drew to a close, the activists left town, and the lease on the IMC space ran out, WR2K became a piece of history itself. Yet as August wore into September and the numbers of activists being charged by the city of Philadelphia stayed above 400, we realized that it was not enough to provide a blitz of progressive media during the big protest event and then disband, because the corporate media never desists--there is a dire need for ongoing non-mainstream commentary.

Radio Volta came together to fill this need. Instead of waiting to find all the perfect equipment, we borrowed as much as possible on a short-term basis figuring that the energy for the project would multiply only if it was put into gear quickly. There were already several local stations we knew of - WKDU of Drexel University (FM 91.7) and WHAT (1340 AM talk radio), for example - that had enjoyed carrying WR2K during the convention and were hungry to carry more indymedia content, particularly news.

Our first successful broadcast on Election Day consisted of music, anarchist poetry, and a lively and prescient debate about the role of the vote in America's indirect democracy.

As of this writing (Jan. 16, 2001), we are broadcasting 7 evenings a week of live programming. During the day, we are broadcasting recordings made during R2K. We just got a second computer to use for monitoring, MP3 downloading, live e-mails and downloading news reports and audio feeds from other indymedia centers, as well as uploading locally generated news broadcasts for other indymedia centers to rebroadcast. This second computer should make it possible for us to soon start webcasting 24/7.

News, outreach and fundraising committees are starting to coalesce and our first benefit concert is planned for mid-February, featuring spoken word and music by local bands. We hope that once we raise some funds, we can return borrowed equipment and purchase our own.

Our studio is located in a multi-racial, multi-income neighborhood that is also home to a vibrant and extended anarchist community, the members of which work to incorporate anti-oppression work into every corner of their lives. Radio Volta, made up of Philadelphians from all sorts of lifestyles and ages, is lucky to be situated in this environment, and we are committed to taking full advantage of it. Outreach and collaboration will be a continual and integral part of our efforts. At this point, Radio Volta is about 80% white, about 70% poor, half men and half women, with a variety of sexual lifestyles and a unanimous consensus of people's rights to choose their own path. We have no people with disabilities working with us yet and we are limited at this point, with several exceptions, to 20- and 30-somethingers. Embedded in this project is a hope to reach beyond the unfortunately de-facto in-group of white, middle-class activists that has controlled most of the IMCs.

We already have personal connections and political alliances with many groups that serve poor people and people of color communities in this city (such as ACT UP Philadelphia, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, and the Pennsylvania Abolitionists), with groups that serve children and families (e.g. the Pentridge Children's Garden), with groups that serve women and older pople (e.g. the Wise Woman Center). Our long- term vision is to flesh these contacts out into powerful and grassroots programming that redefines "news" to be literally how we are working together as a community - globally and locally - to address systemic problems.