The Radio Quarantine was a Bangalore-based internet community radio launched on 26 March and operated by a network of independent composers and instrument makers.

History

The Radio Quarantine was launched in the city of

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

on 26 March 2020, a day after the launch of Radio Quarantine Kolkata and was operated by a network of independent

composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Classical music, Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. E ...

and

instrument makers Instrument maker can refer to: *A maker of scientific instruments *A maker of musical instruments **A luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "lut ...

called the Indian Sonic Research Organisation. It went live every night from 9 p.m. onwards and its programs were primarily run by the musician

Yashas Shetty Yashas Shetty is an Indian contemporary artist. He is most well known for his work with (Art)ScienceBLR and the Indian Sonic Research Organization (ISRO). In 2009 he founded Hackteria, with the artists Andy Gracie and the biohacker Marc Dusseiller ...

, one of the members of the network. The radio was hosted on the website radio.artscienceblr.org and operated out of Shetty's residence in Benson Town, Bangalore. Within the first 21 days, the station had attracted a significant audience of listeners both locally and internationally. The station broadcast music on episodes with specific lockdown related themes such as ''Isolation'', ''Taking a Break'', ''Dancing on Your Own'', etc and hosted discussion shows about ongoing political and social issues in India. The songs featured on the station including a wide rage of genres and time periods, and were compared with those on Radio Quarantine Kolkata in terms of their eclecticism. The genres included both eastern and western classical compositions, contemporary Japanese musicians and Hindi and English pop from the 1980s. The station also accepted song requests and listeners were encouraged to make submissions. The political ecologist Savita Vijayakumar had collaborated with the station and arranged invitations for a number of guest speakers on its discussion shows, which were hosted by Shetty. The shows have featured discussions on the dangers posed by science with the cosmologist Martin Rees, on the crisis faced by migrants and other workers in midst of the pandemic with the activist and unionist

Kavita Krishnan Kavita Krishnan is a women's rights activist who has publicised the problem of violence against women following the 2012 Delhi gang rape of Nirbhaya. Krishnan was also a politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Lib ...

, and on various other topics with individuals such as the sound engineer Umashankar Mantravadi and writer Arshia Sattar, among others.

References

Educational podcasts Radio stations in Kolkata Radio stations established in 2020 2020 podcast debuts {{DEFAULTSORT:Radio Quarantine