Sounds of the Strait
Radio listenership in Ireland remains resilient amid an earthquake in just about every other aspect of media consumption. A notable trend in Irish listening habits is that a majority of the public are tuned into their local stations, while radio reviews in newspapers like the Independent and Irish Times instead focus exclusively on a handful of shows fronted by wealthy broadcasters in Dublin. The concerns and conversations taking place among people in the republic let alone those over the border simply do not figure.
The Radio Garden App allows users to browse a map of the globe in real time. Each green dot scattered across the landscape represents a live broadcast, over 40,000 in total, simply click on one station and listen.
Originating from the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in 2016, the app is an entirely refreshing road to discovery and comprehension. It is fascinating to search stations in some of the most remote part of world and find communities listening to Sean Paul on a Wednesday afternoon. Radio remains a route of escape from algorithm. Radio does not demand eyeballs. You can do the dishes. Radio has been recognised by guerillas, priests, miners, fascists, trade unionists, feminists, cops. They are all to be found on the airwaves still.
A single broadcast persisted in Gaza throughout recent years. One defiant green dot alone on the map each morning. As of November 2026, two more stations have appeared in the city. There is still a message and people to hear it.
Spin the globe further south to the Persian Gulf. Over 6000 workers, seafarers, remain idle on ships seeking passage through the Straits of Hormuz and Aden. They linger at one of the most dangerous places on earth minding somebody else’s cargo. The world’s advanced economies depend on them succeeding, their wages have increased four fold and they can go nowhere.
Nothing happens for weeks at a time but nobody can predict moment to moment.
VHF radio waves are still integral to global marine travel from ship to ship and shore to shore but what about when trade stops moving. For this exercise we think about radio as a window to the world beyond and a companion.
We imagine ourselves in the shoes of a radio operator aboard the A4Sound. The 87 ton vessel has been parked somewhere off the Omani coast for something approaching 260 days. On the wireless he can access broadcasts from right round the Arabian Sea and up the straits near Kuwait and Suez. Vacuous daytime chatter from the Emirates sits alongside preaching and traffic updates. Rival navies exchange threat and counter threat. Propaganda lurks on every frequency.
From Sudan and the Malian diaspora he picks up glorious Wassoulou bangers. His wages have increased four fold. He has no idea if he will ever get home to spend it.
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Credits
Thanks: Gerald Donald, James Stinson, Jerry Bruckheimer & Laura O’Connell
Original Music: Rail Band, Astan Kida, Josh Warry, Scan7, Sali Sidibe, Marcus Fisher, N’na Diakité, Simon Scott, Nayanka Bell, Les Soeurs Sidibe, Jolie Diabate & Terre Thaemiltz. All other audio ripped from internet.