Media fans! We are looking for your radio show proposals, to launch Fanon Radio with a grand celebration! The goal is to fill 24-hours with a schedule of live broadcasts by media fans.

• Date & time: 4th of July, 10:00 AM CEST
• Broadcasting location: In person (Rotterdam, NL) & remote (fanon.radio)

CALL IS OPEN UNTIL THE 10TH OF JUNE

Broadcasting Transformative Fandom

What is Transformative Fandom?

In 2009, on a Dreamwidth post, user obsession_inc proposed the definitions for two aspects of fan practices, the affirmational (or curatorial) and the transformative (or transformational). Affirmational fandom centers its practice around re-stating the source material, without questioning it. They focus on the technical aspects of canon and gathering information on the characters and how the fictional universe works. Transformative fandom prefers to play around with the source material— to reread and subvert it so as to create new narratives that best fit their purposes and interests. Henry Jenkins, on the publication Textual Poachers, proposes the idea of "poaching" contents of the original text, taking on the role of "active producers and manipulators of meaning". Some examples of transformative fan practices are fanfiction, fanart, podfics, filk songs, etc.

Why Broadcasting?

Fandom online is experienced through visual and textual interactions, while orality remains in the sidelines. Podfics for example is a beloved, but rather overlooked fandom practice. On Podfic: Queer structures of sound, researcher Olivia Johnston Riley examines how podfics are sources of queer expression and potential in fandom. On the same note, we recognize similar potential in radio; it creates a temporal connection between host and listener, while highlighting layers of queerness and decolonizing fandom through the presence of accents. Liveness can lead to new sets of fan practices and fan connections.

What we are looking for

As transformative fans, you are invited to host your own shows, to share your experiences in fan circles, experiment with alternative ways of creating fan projects and build meaningful connections. Don't know how you could contribute to the project? Here are some ideas to get you inspired! Be as open, fun, weird and experimental as you want!

• Talk about a fan event or project you're organizing; document one from the past.
• Host a discussion about fandom practices and community meta.
• Perform your favourite work of fanfiction live, instead of recording a podfic.
• Turn fanfiction into a tabletop roleplaying session with your friends. One takes the role of the "ficmaster" and the players portray media characters.
• Curate a filk song playlist
• Interview your fan artist friends on their craft

Who is behind this?

The project is run by Eleni FIli, a Greek media artist and designer located in Rotterdam, NL. She has been a part of fandom for as long as she's had access to the internet and through her practice, she wants to reciprocate the love she has received.

Why is she doing this?

Transformative fandom has experienced waves of online adversity. Our art has been purged and censored in the name of monetization, we have been moving from platform to platform as our spaces get acquired by far-right personalities. Organization of transformative works, the founding group of Archive of our Own, changed the game by proposing that to have safe fan spaces, fans should own their infrastructure. Inspired by OTWs principles, yet critical of their massive scale and the issues it produces, she decided to focus on creating solidary networks of online fan spaces instead of gathering all fan production in one place.

How is she doing this?

The project is hosted on a raspberry pi 5, located on Eleni's windowsill. Somewhat self-taught, she has been building the server using free, libre and open source software, following the teachings of feminist servers. She is excited to share her process on the Fanon Radio Wiki and future radio shows!

Selection Process

The main goal of the event is experimentation, so the selection process will not be strict or hyper-selective. There are, however, some basic principles that need to be respected on Fanon Radio.

AI Generated content

No part of your show is allowed to be generated by, or with the help of, an LLM. Please, respect this rule, your community and your craft.

Boycotting

Specific original creators are to be engaged with only critically, and so will their works. For example, J.K. Rowling's political war against the trans community will not be given a platform on the project— not even indirectly, by discussing her works at length. However, fans are more than welcome to speak about how Rowling's practices have affected their life and experiences.

Ethics

There will be no romanticization of incest and child pornography, no hate speech and topics like misogyny, racism and homophobia are to be engaged with critically.

APPLY HERE ↗

Some further resources

• fan archives of the pre-collapse society, by eleni (x)(x)(x)
• Media Fan Oral History Project
• Piracy is the Future of Culture, by Abigail De Kosnik
• Fanon Radio Wiki
• FAN/SERVICE: reanimating fandom online practices by embodying feminist server approaches (TBA)