Part of Grow FM
Grow FM Radio was a roaming community radio station, broadcasting online from 17 July to 21 August.
Taking inspiration from the DIY ethos of the pirate radio stations that proliferated in West London in the 1990s, becoming a catalyst for communities disenfranchised from mainstream media. Grow FM featured live conversations with broadcaster and DJ, Zakia Sewell, actor and mental health activist Danny Rahim, and artist Abbas Zahedi and more.
Our radio shows looked to respond to themes of community and mental health that enabled diverse points of view on our relationship to those themes. We broadcast live for six weeks over the summer of 2022, but you can listen back to some of the shows here, including a talk by Zakia Sewell at our launch event.
Listen to GrowFM:
Other highlight shows include: Music to Garden to by Hmurd, an hour of ambient music, perfect to dig, plant and weed to. Free Form Frequency with Daniel Oduntan, hosted a segment exploring sound design that related to mental well-being and the build environment. In conversation with Abbas Zahedi, a talk and conversation from 2022 Frieze Artist Award Winner, Abbas Zahedi, about his most recent collaborative project, the sonic support group.
We built a new team of young talented creatives looking for an opportunity to learn something new and lead the initiation of our radio station. We supported them on an 8-week-long educational programme led by technical producer Harry Murdoch to learn about what it takes to broadcast, record and edit their own radio shows.
You can find out more about our audio producers, Phoebe Cramer, James Douglas-Quarcoopome and Joshua Jeremiah Olumodi and what they had to say about radio as a medium:
Phoebe Cramer
Radio is in itself community, bringing listeners together to enjoy simultaneous, responsive experiences in an on-demand world. It lends itself perfectly to exploring well-being and community.
James Douglas-Quarcoopome
Radio represents a varied and interesting form of communication and GrowFM has been a great introduction and support in this.
Joshua Jeremiah Olumodi
Through radio, I feel like I can belong somewhere without being there, and that’s so magical to me.
Our creative collaborators:
We were able to relaise this ambitious project by working with some incredible creatives that aligned with our vision for the project, and can’t thank them enough. We comissioned a bespoke mobile radio booth that travelled across the site and borough, activating space with live recorded radio shows, specially designed and made by Outline Works. We invited numerous audio artisits to contribute to our radio programme of shows which included the likes of Nozomu Matsumoto, Rifke Sadleir, Free Form Frequence and Kim Cosmik. Learn more about them here.
Project Credits:
Curator / Producers: Yinka Danmole and Tadeo Lopez-Sendon
Technical and Learning Programme Production: Harry Murdoch
Trainee Audio Producers: James Douglas-Quarcoopome, Phoebe Cramer and Joshua Jeremiah Olumodi.
Radio booth design and fabrication: Outline Works
Grow FM identity: Taxi Cab Industries
Acknowledgements:
The Grow FM programme was generously supported and funded by the Hounslow Summer of Culture, Linbury Trust and Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
We would also like to thank our Patrons, friends of Chiswick House and Members whose donations and contributions made this work possible.
GrowFM
GrowFM was a season exploring the theme of ‘community as health’ throughout the summer of 2022.
Sanctuary
‘Sanctuary’ (2022), by DJ, writer and broadcaster, Zakia Sewell.
{Paradise in the Sun}
{Paradise in the Sun} Or a garden of all sorts of pleasant flowers, 2022 by affect lab.
