Radioscapes
Reimagining the Contours of Community Through Complex Broadcasting Systems
Dissertation completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the Indiana University Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology.
Submitted and accepted June 2026.
Detailed Table of Contents
0. Introduction: “Radical Left Monsters”
0.2. Coincidences and Complexities
0.2.3. Interconnected Social Systems
0.2.3.3. Complex Adaptive Systems
0.2.4.1.1. Performance Geographies
0.2.4.2. Critical Urban Theory (and its Limitations)
0.3.1.2. Participatory Action Research
1. Radio as Lightning Rod: Drawing Ire and Fire for the Public Good
1.3. Filling Gaps: Radio Experimentation in the U.S.
1.3.1. The Pacifica Model: Collective Pacifism and Open Dialogue
1.3.2. The KRAB Nebula: Artistry in the 'Precious Aether'
1.3.3. Free-Form Radio: Programming for People
1.4. “Semi-Organized Chaos”: WFHB and the Changing U.S. Mediascape
2. Radio as Resonance Chamber: Remapping and Unmapping Bloomington
2.2. Notes on the Resonance Chamber
2.3. Radiophonic Aural Imaginaries
2.5.1.1. Scenes from the Northern Lights
2.5.2.4. A “Global Citizen” on Local Radio
3.1.1. Improvisatory Implications
3.2. Collective Improvisation as Crisis Response
3.2.1.2.1. Concerns of Space and Time
3.2.1.2.2. Technological Diversity
3.2.2. Radiophonic Aesthetics of Care
4.2. The Social Life of Sound in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
4.3.1. Radiophonic Archival Systems
4.3.1.1.1. The Vrabely Collection
4.3.1.1.2. The WFHB Community Archive
4.3.1.2. Live Broadcast Events
4.3.1.2.1. Health Break, January 1, 1998
4.3.1.2.2. The Postcard Zone, May 28, 1997
4.4. Critical Metacommunicative Archival Phenomena
4.4.1. (De/Re)contextualization
4.4.2.1. WFHB Past and Present
4.4.2.1.1. “A Light in the Darkness”
5. Radio as Community: Follies, Fundraising, and Places of the Possible
5.1. “We Have to Give Them the Chance”
6. Appendix A: WFHB Rewind Archive Section Transcripts
6.2. “Authority and U: On the Anti-Democratic Campus.”
6.3. “The Mask of the Public Good: What the University Costs Community.”
6.4. “How Economics Affect Universities.”
7. Appendix B: WFHB Past and Present Archive Listening Station
7.1. Listening Station Segments
8. Appendix C: WFHB Past and Present Host Monologues
8.2. Speech Before Final Performance from Indianapolis-based Band Wishy