Making of “20:30 Bruxsels Talks”
A Future Fiction Story
Dutch translation will follow shortly
In response to BrusselAVenir’s current exploration, ‘How will the climate transition be just for everyone in Brussels in 2030?’, we are in the process of making of a future fictional story. “20:30 Bruxsels Talks” will inform Brusseleirs on how climate transition can be beneficial for all. For this reason, we at BrusselAVenir have partnered with BNA-BBOT, a Brussels-based organisation that explores and presents the history and progression of sound as an integral part of the city’s fabric, to design a workshop dedicated to the future of radio.
A variety of citizens were invited to BNA-BBOT headquarters, from lecturers of futures studies, to sound engineers, to students of innovation. This diverse crowd was selected from our far-reaching network to offer a multitude of different perspectives on how radio will evolve based on its history, current trends and future desires. These bright minds convened to envisage what the role of radio will be within the future media landscape of the year 2030, considering how the medium will formulate itself in this city specifically, while also taking eco-social sustainability goals into account.
But why radio?
In an era where fake and real news are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish, verified qualitative media channels, such as radio, are critically important for the sharing of reliable public information. These channels have the ability to positively inform people about the changes that are happening or need to happen in society, as well as offering the support necessary to accompany and galvanise relevant societal transitions. To quote Séverine Janssen of BNA-BBOT,
‘Sound is a major vector of history that allows for an invisible reality which is both shared and hyper-personal.’
So, while it is important for pressing issues such as climate change and social equality to be at the forefront of societal discourse, it is also important that we consider the mediums through which we share and discuss information on these topics. Due to its dual-capability of captivating individual listeners while also opening a platform for interpersonal engagement, it is obvious that radio will have a considerable role to play in our development of a collective future and how we progress as a society.
Mediating the past, the future and current trends
When discussing what the future beholds for radio, we considered a multitude of mitigating factors that are likely to influence the evolution of the medium. These range from a number of perspectives, such as contemporary industry demands, technological developments, the historical status of radio in Brussels, purpose of use, local context and financial backing, as well as many more. For the purpose of the workshop, we decided to implement a foresight methodology tool, known as the ‘Futures Triangle’, to help in identifying and purporting plausible futures. The Futures Triangle breaks down the plenitude of influential factors, such as those mentioned above, into three distinctive classifications:
The pull of our future imagining, the push of modern-day contextual factors, and the weight of historical barriers and traditional limitations. By cross-analysing the contents of each of these classifications, our workshop participants were equipped with the necessary information to envisage the plausible scenarios for radio.
Our brainstorming participants rolled out an inspiring myriad of creative and insightful ideas. From the scientific pulls of automated quantum waves that will allow radio broadcasts to be directly transmitted into our brains, to inter-personalised radio channels that will rely on a wide array of Artificial Intelligence data mining to provide a trusted voice and thus enable and encourage niche communities to connect with one another, the future conceptions of radio were highly impressive. There are also the significant pulls of the need for a credible reference and trusted voice in future society. While media may always struggle to be trusted as this, perhaps future radio will open the relevant discourse and debate around topics and, thus, enable citizens to contemplate and realise what outlets can be trusted based on credibility of debate.
Various push factors of today provided inspiration as to how these technological advancements will be implemented in the future. The modern popularity of on-demand playback apps and library archives has created an expectancy for autonomy and choice amongst consumers today, something that could potentially be transcribed over to the realm of live radio broadcast, opening doors for unprecedented choice and variety of how we consume radio. The boundaries between radio and television are also becoming progressively more blurred, as videos of radio broadcasts are becoming increasingly popular due to multimedia platforms. What impact will this have on radio production in the year 2030? Perhaps the rise of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) shall ultimately shape how we consume radio in the future due to its capability of multimedia broadcasting and its widespread accessibility and democratization of broadcasting. In addition to this, channel content must also be considered. Not only must we envisage how radio will broadcast, but we must also think about what will be broadcast. We are currently living in a world of unverified viral voice notes and anonymous audio memes.
Can radio perhaps become an official platform for discussion and, thus, verification of such virality? Could radio grow to be the most dominant influencer and battleground for societal discourse to flex and consider all pertinent issues of contemporary debate?
While all of these pull and push factors for radio propose an exciting future for the medium, certain conditions, particularly at a local level, may perhaps create limitations or barriers for these prospects. Here in Brussels, we have a remarkable medley of languages and cultural divides. How will our all-inclusive cross-interactive, multi-denominational radio channels of the future overcome this potential challenge? Or what about political influence? Radio is already such a competitive industry, will there still be an opportunity for ill-meaning agendas and propaganda to subliminally influence the masses by contributing considerable financial support? If so, then surely this will detract people from relying on radio as non-partisan source of information
Snippets of the future
What will be the role of radio in the media landscape of 2030?
Ever wondered how a talk show with a Chain Radio style would be? In a Chain Radio talk show, one particular topic of discussion will be initiated that best represents and reflects pressing issues within society. This topic would then be allowed to evolve as we explore its multiple facets by involving a multitude of people from varying levels of society. The futuristic radio model of choice and selection would also enable the listener to follow one particular thread that interests them the most. Thus, from the beginning of the show, each listener would follow a different path of discussion, linked together by coinciding and contrasting arguments, agreements and disagreements.
This concept of Chain Radio would not necessarily rely on pre-ordained coding algorithms, like what we have in today’s discovery tools and suggestion menus for our contemporary applications. Instead, it would rely on listeners to decide their own path based on whatever content is currently being broadcast. The methodology behind this could rely on a multitude of technological advancements, from voice recognition and control, to brain wave and emotional analytics, thus creating a kind of multi-connected stream or network of consciousness, an exciting and prosperous technological evolution from our current methods of radio broadcast.
While the merits of Chain Radio were undeniably attractive, there was still debate over how it would be managed. Some of our participants were keen on having it as a completely citizen controlled hotbed of debate and discussion that had no particular agenda or curator. This bottom-up approach would better expose the true beliefs and silent consensuses of the societies in which we live in. However, other participants were more in favour of at least having a moderator or directive production team controlling the debate to a certain extent. The argument behind this was that, while some of the proposed bottom-up autonomy would be sacrificed, it would be worth doing so to maintain a certain level of carefully selected content as well as direction to prevent cyclical arguments and reducing the potential for hate-speech, profanity and conspiracy. But still, perhaps the role of a moderator or production team would only increase the opportunity for propaganda and even, considering the proposed technology of brain wave interaction, hyper-induced brain-washing techniques to indoctrinate and control the public at a scale even more intense than we are seeing today. Needless to say, there are still a few creases to be smoothed out for Chain Radio between now and 2030, but it is undeniably an exciting prospect for radio’s future.
What will Brussels radio be like in 2030?
In answering the question of how radio will formulate itself in Brussels in 2030, the group came up with the idea of ‘Station Cooperation’. In addressing the aforementioned challenges of language divides and parallel cultures, the Station Cooperation intends on creating opportunities to unite Brussels as a city. Assuming that Brussels will still be a city of great diversity in 2030, it will be a medium where a multi-cultural dialect would be given the space to develop and people would be encouraged to learn new languages and interact with people and music outside of their own usual remits. Every community with its own identity will have its own radio station that best represents them. However, each of these stations will belong to one cooperation of shared programming and a shared channel. Here they will share topics and content. Citizens can then choose to listen to the local or the shared radio station, changing the angles and perspectives of the content being broadcasted. The concept would also encourage local citizens to participate in radio, which would create increased learning opportunities for listeners as they tune in to hear the many different perspectives of the city they live in.
The content of the Station Cooperation would be influenced by a number of different sources, particularly artists, public figures, influencers and relevant citizens of interest. Each of these storytellers would be able to inspire new topics for debate, discussion and cultural and artistic appreciation. This concept of radio being a social platform of citizen ownership still presents similar issues to those previously mentioned. Who is ultimately in control of this station and is there a need for a top-down sense of direction, or should it be completely bottom-up, with citizens left to their own devices on the airwaves? While both groups had difficulty in finding a solution to this question, it was agreed on that the Station Cooperation could of course implement the methodology of Chain Radio to great effect, as topics of focus could move through and engage with the different strata Brussels’ civil society. The channel could also be utilized to promote all things relevant to Brussels, such as local businesses and economies, as well as important issues spanning from political developments to protests and mass organisation. The Station Cooperation would ultimately play upon the methodology of interactive radio to connect Brussels’ citizens on a variety of different levels and topics.
With all of these questions and influences in mind, the results produced by each group were not only exciting, but also happened to complement each other in satisfyingly rhythmic fashion. Interestingly, both groups conceived the future of radio as being a platform of inclusivity and interactiveness, moving away from the traditional concept of radio being a typically one-sided medium of producer and consumer. It was also intriguing to note that both groups tended to focus more on the discussion aspect of radio, where talk shows and debate were paramount over music. Ultimately, our workshop successfully empowered its participants to reflect on and discuss the multiple possibilities for radio’s future. While we were still left with a number of open-ended questions and challenges, we did manage to open the lid and peer into what the future might potentially have in store for radio in Brussels.
LIVE SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT
“20:30 Bruxsels Talks” is a scripted talk show produced by BrusselAVenir and BNA-BBOT set in the year 2030. It will be performed by actors and produced in a format of the future.
The show will be broadcast on BX1 in front of a live audience at Beurscafé on the 23rd of January at 20:30.
Language : Multilingual with summaries in FR/NL
Duration : 1h30
Reserve your tickets here and check out our Facebook event for more information
