Keep it locked (down): how Melbourne’s community radio stations performed scene functions in the context of the coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT While community radio scholars have been astute in documenting the democratic and socio-political value of community radio, there has been a lack of analysis towards its specifically musicalized role and the influence that has on local music scenes. Comparably, popular music research has tended to focus on physical, ‘bounded’ spaces such as band rooms and clubs. But what happens when these spaces cannot be accessed? By positioning Melbourne’s six COVID-19 response lockdowns as an ‘unbounded’ context, this article sets out to uncover which, and to what extent, scenic functions are performed by the city’s community radio stations. Focusing on three of the FM community broadcasters – PBS, 3RRR, and 3MBS – it draws on both community radio studies and scene theory to identify conceptual overlaps as well as a gap in pre-existing scholarship between the two. Scene and community are discussed in conjunction with the ideas of ‘space’ and ‘empowerment’, which I argue pertain equally to community radio studies and the scene concept. Based around these frameworks, an ethnographic study was conducted in order to collect qualitative data and best determine the scenic responsibilities upheld by community radio across Melbourne’s 267 days in lockdown.