mediageek library

These are books on various topics relating to grassroots and independent media that I personally recommend. The link for each book takes you to more information at Powells.com where you can also buy the book. I get a small commission from every book purchased through this site which helps to offset the hosting and bandwidth costs of running it--all at no extra cost to you.

I picked Powells.com rather than Amazon or another high-profile on-line bookseller because Powells is still very much an independent bookseller that is concerned about and focused on books. Powells got their start in Portland, OR and now their store, the "City of Books," takes up several city blocks downtown. Simply, Powells approach and philosophy is consistent with my own and those of this site.

Topic Areas: Radio (General), Community and Public Radio, Pirate & Free Radio, Political Economy of the Media, Reference

Radio (General)

The Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio, edited by Michele Hilmes and Jason Loviglio.
This is an expansive volume that intends to reinvigorate and document the vitality of radio studies. The Radio Reader covers issues from early radio forms like the soap opera and game shows to contemporary controversies like low-power FM. I contributed a chapter on the history of low-power FM and the recent fight to see it legalized and licensed once again.

Community and Public Radio

Pacifica Radio; the Rise of an Alternative Network, by Matthew Lasar, Publisher: Sage
In this fine history Lasar charts the formation and rise of the Pacifica Network, from a band of pacifist conscientious dissenters in Richmond, CA, to creation of the first community radio station, KPFA in Berkeley, to a five-station network spanning the continent. He uncovers the political and social roots of the network, and shows how conflicts between the originators' "free-speech" pacifism collided with the more radical leftism and social movements that arose in the 1950s and 60s--conflicts which have left their mark on the embattled network to this day. This book is a thorough work of scholarship and love that provides a strong basis from which to understand the roles and challenges for Pacifica and all of community radio today.

Pirate & Free Radio:

Pirate Radio: Civil Disobedience, Activism, and Empowerment, by Greg Ruggiero, Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Another fine entry in the Open Media Pamphlet series, in this volume Ruggiero provides a thorough introduction and overview of the unlicensed micropower radio movement in the US. Especially useful to readers who are new to the subject, it's a also good for enthusiasts and scholars of pirate radio, as it is a well-written and relatively complete introduction.

Seizing the Airwaves: A Free Radio Handbook, edited by Stephen Dunifer and Ron Sakolsky, Publisher: AK Press
A great anthology of essays, how-tos and analysis--you don't need to be an unlicensed broadcaster to get great use out of this book. Instead of writing a "definitive" book on free radio, editors Dunifer and Sakolsy have asked those who operate stations to speak for themselves through essays and interviews. A great overview and history of the free radio movement in the US, the book includes interviews of Mbanna Kantako and Napoleon Williams, and pieces by the editors and Robert McChesney. Co-editor Stephen Dunifer is the prime motivator behind Free Radio Berkeley, the free radio station that first took the FCC to court in the name of free speech. Ron Sakolsky is a professor at the University of Illinois-Springfield (formerly Sangamon State University) and a scholar of radio and progressive movements in radio and music.

Political Economy of the Media:

Corporate Media and the Threat to Democracy, by Robert W. McChesney, Publisher: Seven Stories Press
In this pamplet McChesney clearly and unambiguously lays out his argument that the corporate press has become an anti-democratic force that you don't need to be a scholar to understand. A good introduction to the ideas, issues and evidence that drives those who seek to reform or revolutionize the media--McChesney also gives good ideas for concrete change. Part of Seven Stories Press' Open Media Pamphlet series, which provides great short titles that introduce and explore important issues about the role of media in our modern world.

Manufacturing Consent, by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, Publisher: Pantheon Books
A seminal work that dissects how and why journalists and media organization report on some stories and not others. Herman and Chomsky provide a simple but powerful framework for understanding the forces and incentives that influence the news. Without a doubt this is a book every media maker, activist, student and consumer should read.

The Media Monopoly, by Ben Bagdikian, Publisher: Beacon Press
Twenty years ago with the first edition of his book Bagdikian, himself a former journalist, was the first to identify and call critical attention to the process of media consolidation, with fewer and fewer large companies coming to own most of the mass media. Now, the situation is arguably more dim, with fewer companies and more densely concentrated media landscape, Bagdikian's analysis of the causes and affects was never more necessary. Another book that is an absolute read for anyone trying to get a handle on the modern media--especially if you have any hope for change.

Rich Media, Poor Democracy, by Robert W. McChesney, Publisher: University of Illinois Press
McChesney is a professor of communications at the University of Illinois, but more importantly he is one of the most incisive and clearly spoken scholars and critics of the modern media industry. This book is a collection of essays analyzing how different forces of media, from TV to the Internet, have become anti-democratic forces in the US, rather then fulfilling their mission as a check on state power.

Reference:

Passport to World Band Radio 2001 by Lawrence Magne, Publisher: International Broadcasting Services Ltd.
A good directory to stations by country and frequency, with lots of hints and tips for things like listening, setting up an antenna and choosing a radio. This is the book I use to help my shorwave listening.

Other Media books at Powell's.

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