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NARR: A few doors down from the museum is a new NPR studio. That's Neighborhood Public Radio, a conceptual art piece by Lee Montgomery, Michael Trigilio, and Jon Brumit of Oakland, California. The studio's doors are open to the public.
NAT: Hey, how you doing? How's it going? It's going pretty well.
So what's your name? I'm Seth. I'm Lee. Ali. Roger. You guys wanna do a radio show? ...
What does doing a show mean?
NARR: At Neighborhood Public Radio, it means walking in off the street and putting on a radio show.
NARR: NPR is both a spoof of and an alternative to the original NPR. The artists say that National Public Radio isn't quite public enough. Since 2004, they've been setting up impromptu radio studios in cities across the country, and inviting members of the public to produce their own radio shows. Artist Lee Montgomery says that the shows can consist of pretty much anything.
LEE: We have the motto "if it's in the neighborhood and it makes noise, we want to put it on the air."
NARR: Montgomery says that National Public Radio's independence is compromised by corporate sponsorship. During the first broadcast of Neighborhood Public Radio, the artists edited down 24 hours of programming from their local NPR affiliate, KQED in San Francisco.
LEE: We cut out everything but the sponsorship messages, and it was still like 12 minutes, and this is, I'm sorry, they're not sponsors, they're underwriters, or something, I don't know.
NARR: Montgomery also complains about NPR's demographics, which skew towards the older, more educated, and wealthier segments of the population.
LEE: As you make more money, you listen to National Public Radio. So, which public is being served?
NARR: Neighborhood Public Radio uses transmitters that are within the limits set by the FCC, so the signal can only be picked up within a few blocks of the studio. To expand their reach, they distribute inexpensive transmitters to fans who pick up and re-transmit the signal. They refer to one of these transmitters as a portable radio instrument, or PRI.
NARR: The programming is…varied.
LEAL: I have a show coming up on the topic of freedom and I'm interviewing a surfer who is now a quadriplegic, a former surfer, and a bank robber.
NARR: She's been on Neighborhood Public Radio before.
LEAL: I was a guest on a wonderful little show, hosted by Sarah Wagner, called cat chat, which is basically a forum for people to talk about their cats…
NARR: Neighborhood Public Radio will be broadcasting from now until the close of the Whitney Biennial on June 1st. NPR is streaming live at www.neighborhoodpublicradio.org. If you're in the neighborhood of the Whitney, you might be able to pick up a signal at 91.9 FM, and you can also drop by the studio at 941 Madison and produce a show.
Lauren Feeney, Columbia Radio News.