We just got word that the Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force will be holding another conference in Washington, D.C. this fall. With the theme “Radio History: From Archive to Classroom,” the official event will take place on November 3 and 4 at the Library of Congress. A special pre-conference session on Cold War Communication will be held at the Smithsonian Wilson International Center for Scholars on November 1.
Serving as a follow-up to last year’s inaugural Radio Preservation Task Force conference (see my recap for Radio World), this year’s event will be “more focused on goal-based actions, such as preservation planning, as well as future grantwriting, digitization, curation, and future classroom and curricular implementation,” according to Josh Shepperd, the Director of the Radio Preservation Task Force.
A special plenary event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act is also in the works, being hosted by NPR. The conference program is in development by scholars and archival organizations, with invited speakers to address a number of topics related to radio history. Shepperd writes that, “We’ll have sessions dedicated to multiple issues related to the ‘state of the union’ of radio preservation, content areas for research, accessibility, curation, and grantwriting.”
As co-chair of the Radio Preservation Task Force’s College, Community & Educational Radio Caucus, I’m eagerly anticipating the conference. We’ll continue to provide details on Radio Survivor as they become available and hope to have additional coverage about the conference content in the fall.
