PROPOSITIONS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE RADIO AS ATELIER: IMAGINING A NEW RADIO AND A NEW LISTENER IN THE LIFE OF THE ATELIER DE CRÉATION RADIOPHONIQUE OF RADIO FRANCE
PROPOSITIONS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE RADIO AS ATELIER: IMAGINING A NEW RADIO AND A NEW LISTENER IN THE LIFE OF THE ATELIER DE CRÉATION RADIOPHONIQUE OF RADIO FRANCE

Summary/Abstract: This article offers an encounter with one of twentieth century radio’s great artistic and exploratory sites, the Atelier de création radiophonique (ACR) of Radio France. This Atelier was envisaged from its outset as a program dedicated to experiment and research. According to the proposal, drafted in 1968 by Alain Trutat and Jean Tardieu (poet, Director, France Culture), a new space was required which might continue the (broken) tradition of experimentation established with the earlier Studio’ and Club d’Essai (1942–1960) from which Pierre Schaeffer developed his musique concrète. The ACR went to air on October 5, 1969 and its propositions to the listener and contributions to the world of radio would be fundamentally different. Already by the early 1970s, this ‘show’ was attracting interest internationally – its works were achieving critical acclaim. The ACR’s influence continued to grow as this chantier (building site) increased its interactions with the wider radio ecology, particularly within public service media circles. Yet, the impacts and legacies of the program have received insufficient critical attention, even as a new idea of the listener, the radio documentary and film sonore were proposed here by the program’s core producer-artist-thinkers – including Trutat, René Farabet, Yann Paranthoën and Kaye Mortley. This article offers an introduction to this program, providing an overview and contextualisation, while also highlighting the ways in which the ACR lived up to that initial challenge (1968): to be something “more” than “art”; to respond and explore in new ways, and with sound, the “key subjects of our time” (1968 Proposal). This atelier would participate in history as well as reflect upon it, creating “broadcast events” and acoustically rich works that would be original, surprising, provocative. This essay documents some of the distinguishing aspects of a project that evolved over a 30-year period, drawing on the author’s oral history interviews (with key figures), plus primary and other research conducted in France and in Australia from 2003 to 2017 – in many cases assisted by these same audio-visionaries.

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