WSIU Public Broadcasting in collaboration with the SIU College of Arts and Media School of Media Arts held a public lecture on the history of public broadcasting in the United States and the current effort to preserve the history of radio sound within the Library of Congress.
Dr. Josh Shepperd, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, and the Director of the Sound Submission Project for the Library of Congress, presented his research and talked about his new book Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting during his presentation at SIU Carbondale’s Morris Library Guyon Auditorium. Approximately 15 people attended the lecture consisting of SIU students, faculty, and general community members.
Dr. Shepperd discussed the emergence of public broadcasting within the regulatory framework of the Communications Act of 1934 and the Public Broadcasting act of 1967 and how that lead to the creation of NPR and PBS. He also talked about the importance of preserving local radio broadcasts as part of preserving local cultural history. Dr. Shepperd stated that recordings of more than 75% of radio’s broadcast history in the United States have already been destroyed. He discussed the 13-step process required by the Library of Congress to preserve an individual audio recording. He said most of this work is done on a volunteer basis or through grant projects and individual stations. Dr Sheppard also shared how the Music Modernization Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act have helped make it easier to archive radio broadcasts. Dr. Shepperd also discussed how FCC changes in radio ownership rules during the 1990’s has resulted in a significant reduction in the artistic diversity of broadcast formats.
A question and answer session followed the presentation.
