Charlotte Bedford
University of Adelaide, Media, Adjunct
- I am an alternative and community media researcher and practitioner, and a commitment to exploring media as a means o... moreI am an alternative and community media researcher and practitioner, and a commitment to exploring media as a means of influencing social change has shaped both my personal and professional life. I produced my first community radio programme at the age of 15; was a DIY punk fanzine publisher, music promoter and performer throughout the 1990s; and worked for over 20 years with media charities in the UK developing education projects alongside diverse and disadvantaged groups. This involved a role in establishing the Prison Radio Association leading to the launch of the first national prison radio service. After immigrating to Australia, the experience formed the basis of my academic research, applying findings to the development of prisoner radio projects in a different setting. Other research interests include the link between DIY punk values and creative practice, a theme which relates to my own continued involvement in community radio as a producer, trainer and activist.edit
This article outlines the early history of the Australian community radio sector. It focuses on three of the country’s oldest stations – Radio Adelaide, 4ZZZ and 3CR – to document the establishment and growth of the sector over the past... more
This article outlines the early history of the Australian community radio sector. It focuses on three of the country’s oldest stations – Radio Adelaide, 4ZZZ and 3CR – to document the establishment and growth of the sector over the past 50 years. Two theoretical lenses are identified from the literature on Australian community broadcasting, loosely categorized as citizens’ media and empowerment media, and these are evident in the narratives of the case study stations. A third framework – social movement theory – is proposed for further understanding the value of community broadcasting and its contributions to the wider media landscape.
Research Interests:
The Australian community radio sector is a rich source of information for researchers, activists and practitioners working to support and develop community broadcasting worldwide. With a 46-year history, it represents an established and... more
The Australian community radio sector is a rich source of information for researchers, activists and practitioners working to support and develop community broadcasting worldwide. With a 46-year history, it represents an established and enduring third tier of independent local broadcasting with over 450 non-profit radio services legislated to provide opportunities for community engagement and participation. This article focuses on the political, economic and institutional factors involved in a change of ownership and management of Radio Adelaide, the country's longest running community radio station. The process illustrates the impact and effects of the non-profit industrial complex as stations struggle for financial survival and independence in an increasingly competitive, corporatized environment. It is a case study which questions the contemporary understanding of a strong and resilient sector, highlighting themes to inform community media research and practice internationally.
Research Interests:
The social, cultural and political significance of community media lies in its community development function (van Vuuren 2006), constructing and strengthening community identities through participation in the organisation, production and... more
The social, cultural and political significance of community media lies in its community development function (van Vuuren 2006), constructing and strengthening community identities through participation in the organisation, production and distribution of content (Meadows et al 2007). Traditionally, these have been primarily communal functions, based on the collective action of communities of interest or locality. However, as increasingly affordable and accessible digital technologies transform media production and distribution, radio making and listening practices are becoming more individualised and dispersed. Developing over almost half a century, the Australian community broadcasting sector has always been a space of change, disruption and innovation. Currently, stations are redefining their services to reflect the changing ways in which radio is made, distributed and listened to in the digital age (Dubber 2014), developing online reach through website live stream, listen again, and social media platforms. Through autoethnographic reflections on the production of a small sub-metro weekly alternative music program over an eight-year period, this paper discusses the changing ways in which broadcasters are engaging with audiences and considers the implications for how we understand the 'community' function of community radio online.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Incarceration rates are increasing almost everywhere and, while women and girls make up only a small percentage of the overall prison population, there has been a significant increase in their representation – especially over the past 20... more
Incarceration rates are increasing almost everywhere and, while women and girls make up only a small percentage of the overall prison population, there has been a significant increase in their representation – especially over the past 20 years (Carlton and Segrave, 2013). Despite the fact that societies are locking women up at increasingly high rates, the fundamental understandings regarding prison reform are based on a male norm, and do not meet the needs of female offenders (Walmsley, 2016). This article outlines the findings from the first stage of a grassroots action research project conducted with a support group for women of lived prison experience, based in Adelaide, South Australia, to investigate radio production as a means for supporting women in their transition to life outside of prison. The research found that empowerment manifested itself in a number of distinct ways, through both processes and the products of the project. Through the production of radio, women of prison experience recognised their own expertise and took ownership of their stories, while the radio products educated the wider public and validated the participants' experiences.
Research Interests:
There is a nexus where radio and prisons meet that is yet to be explored to its full potential, both in practice and in academia. This article consolidates two separate bodies of knowledge, examining ‘prisoners’ radio’ (usually broadcast... more
There is a nexus where radio and prisons meet that is yet to be explored to its full potential, both in practice and in academia. This article consolidates two separate bodies of knowledge, examining ‘prisoners’ radio’ (usually broadcast to the general public on community radio or the Internet) and ‘prison radio’ (broadcast to a prison audience within a prison setting), to propose a theoretical framework that incorporates both. It draws on two case studies from the United Kingdom and Australia and is informed by the seminal work of alternative media theorists Clemencia Rodriguez, John Downing and Chris Atton.
Research Interests:
The accessible, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) nature of radio technology lends itself to innovation and activism (Douglas 1999 p.357), contributing to its status as the “epitome of alternative media” (Waltz 2005 p.36). Radioactive International is... more
The accessible, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) nature of radio technology lends itself to innovation and activism (Douglas 1999 p.357), contributing to its status as the “epitome of alternative media” (Waltz 2005 p.36). Radioactive International is an online radio station providing over 1750 hours of free, on demand, alternative radio and hosting almost forty independently produced programmes from around the world. Developing from the 1990s Dublin anarcho-punk scene, it remains grounded in the DIY ethos of anti-capitalist freedom of expression. Radioactive International is one example from a growing number of DIY radio programmes and formats produced by original participants of 1980s and 1990s anarcho-punk, now in their forties and fifties. This research draws on interviews with individual producers to explore the links between punk and radio amongst older DIY activists. Making radio is considered as a natural extension of ongoing multiplatform DIY punk practice, demonstrating a lifetime commitment to DIY politics and values.
Research Interests:
Through the Prison Radio Association (PRA) in the UK, radio programming for and by prisoners has been affecting the lives of individual prisoners and improving communication across the wider prison community, showing radio as a powerful... more
Through the Prison Radio Association (PRA) in the
UK, radio programming for and by prisoners has
been affecting the lives of individual prisoners and
improving communication across the wider prison
community, showing radio as a powerful tool for
offender rehabilitation and prison reform. The pattern
is replicated within a different model in Australia where
there is a strong history of community broadcasting for
prisoners helping to maintain the family and community
links vital for rehabilitation. Now current pilot projects
in South Australia are exploring the potential to build
on, combine and adapt different models within the
Australian Corrections sector.
UK, radio programming for and by prisoners has
been affecting the lives of individual prisoners and
improving communication across the wider prison
community, showing radio as a powerful tool for
offender rehabilitation and prison reform. The pattern
is replicated within a different model in Australia where
there is a strong history of community broadcasting for
prisoners helping to maintain the family and community
links vital for rehabilitation. Now current pilot projects
in South Australia are exploring the potential to build
on, combine and adapt different models within the
Australian Corrections sector.
Research Interests:
Prison radio is a particularly valuable contribution to the investigation of opportunities for social activism and the potential of radio for social change, able to support prisoners through their sentences and contribute to reducing... more
Prison radio is a particularly valuable contribution to the investigation of opportunities for social activism and the potential of radio for social change, able to support prisoners through their sentences and contribute to reducing re-offending. This study is the first to document the growth of UK prison radio, focusing on the accounts of the people involved in the formation of the Prison Radio Association (PRA). Established in 2006, the PRA was the first organisation of its kind internationally. Initially set up to network and support individual prison radio projects, it has now grown to the extent of creating and managing the world’s first National Prison Radio service. This research outlines the process through which relatively small-scale media activism, based on prisoners’ rights, came to be an intrinsic part of prison culture, playing a central role in institutional operations. It considers prison radio growth within the context of the economic reworking of broadcasting, prisons, and social activism in post-Thatcher Britain, acknowledging the emergence of the PRA as both a product of New Labour technologies of governance and of the counter-discursive opportunities they produced. Against a backdrop of public service privatisation and media commercialisation, the development of the PRA illustrates the complex processes of working in partnership with institutions and agencies to develop a prisoner-led service. It is a story which highlights the enduring importance of social values in broadcasting, represents new opportunities for social activism, and presents radio as a powerful force for social change.
Research Interests:
The traditional model of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is under threat from the spread of marketisation and managerialism. Within a context of increased commercialism and concentration of media power on the one hand and media... more
The traditional model of Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is under threat from the spread of marketisation and managerialism. Within a context of increased commercialism and concentration of media power on the one hand and media democratisation on the other, the survival and continued relevance of PSB is bought into question. Through the case study of UK prison radio this paper presents a new model of partnership working which redefines PSB within a fragmented and dispersed mediascape. These observations stem from wider research into the origins and development of the UK Prison Radio Association (PRA) and draw upon the accounts of those involved in the development of the organisation, focusing in particular on the BBC role in the process, and concluding that alternative media projects have a significant role to play in reconfiguring and redefining the concept of PSB.
Research Interests:
The accessible, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) nature of radio technology lends itself to innovation and activism (Douglas 1999: 357), leading to its description as the ‘epitome of alternative media’ (Waltz 2005: 36). Radioactive International is... more
The accessible, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) nature of radio technology lends itself to innovation and activism (Douglas 1999: 357), leading to its description as the ‘epitome of alternative media’ (Waltz 2005: 36). Radioactive International is an online radio station providing over 1750 hours of free, on demand, alternative radio, hosting over 40 independently produced programmes from around the world. Developing from the 1990s Dublin punk scene, it remains grounded in the DIY ethos of anti-capitalist freedom of expression. This chapter focuses on Radioactive International as one case study amid a growing number of DIY punk radio programmes and formats.
Research Interests:
Radio produced and broadcast behind prison walls is redefining traditional meanings of ‘public service broadcasting’ and disrupting traditional power structures within the prison system. Focusing on one of the most interesting... more
Radio produced and broadcast behind prison walls is redefining traditional meanings of ‘public service broadcasting’ and disrupting traditional power structures within the prison system.
Focusing on one of the most interesting developments in UK prisons over the past 10 years, this book examines the early history of the Prison Radio Association and the formation of the first national radio station for prisoners.
Highlighting the enduring importance of social values in broadcasting this book shows how radio can be used as a powerful force for social change. It will be of interest to those involved in media, criminal justice and social activism.
Focusing on one of the most interesting developments in UK prisons over the past 10 years, this book examines the early history of the Prison Radio Association and the formation of the first national radio station for prisoners.
Highlighting the enduring importance of social values in broadcasting this book shows how radio can be used as a powerful force for social change. It will be of interest to those involved in media, criminal justice and social activism.
Research Interests:
The third KISMIF International Conference “Keep It Simple, Make It Fast! (KISMIF) DIY Cultures, Spaces and Places” was help in Porto, Portugal, between 18th July and 21st July 2016. This edition was once again focused on underground... more
The third KISMIF International Conference “Keep It Simple, Make It Fast! (KISMIF) DIY Cultures, Spaces and Places” was help in Porto, Portugal, between 18th July and 21st July 2016. This edition was once again focused on underground music, but directing its attention this time towards the analysis of DIY cultures’ relationship to space and places. Thus, we challenged students, junior and senior teachers/researchers, as well as artists and activists, to come to the KISMIF International Conference and present works which explore the potential of the theoretical and analytical development of the intersection of music scenes, DIY culture and space under a multidimensional and multifaceted vision. Our intention was to enrich the underground scenes and DIY cultures analysis by producing innovative social theory on various spheres and levels, as well as focusing on the role of DIY culture in late modernity. Indeed, the role of music and DIY cultures is once more an important question — taking place in a world of piecemealed yet ever-present change. The space, spaces, places, borders, zones of DIY music scenes are critical variables in approaching contemporary cultures, their sounds, their practices (artistic, cultural, economic and social), their actors and their contexts. From a postcolonial and glocalized perspective, it is important to consider the changes in artistic and musical practices with an underground and/or oppositional nature in order to draw symbolic boundaries between their operating modalities and those of advanced capitalism. Territorialization and deterritorialization are indelible marks of the artistic and musical scenes in the present; they are related to immediate cosmopolitanisms, to conflicting diasporas, new power relations, gender and ethnicity.