RADIO DAYS

The rise of independent radio in Japan in the 1980s

In the early 1980s, there were many “mini FM radio stations” active in Japan. These broadcasts, using weak FM radio waves, had a limited range and couldn't attract many listeners, but they quickly became popular all over Japan.

(Around 1985, in my home studio)

When I was a student at art school, I started an independent radio station with some friends, and we broadcasted a show once a week, playing our favorite music and talking about whatever we wanted.

However, there were quite a few independent radio stations that broadcast at excessively high output, and before long, the Japanese Radio Regulatory Bureau began to crack down on such activities, and the radio waves we could use were further weakened by amendments to the Radio Law. And so we were forced to leave our paradise. Then, I was put into a long slumber until PODCAST appeared about 20 years later.

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