Radio Net, 1977

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06 In the mid-1970s, sound artist Max Neuhaus came up with a creative use of NPR's Round Robin phone loop. Using this system (which allowed different affiliate stations to broadcast programs airing in other towns), he connected the phone-in banks of five stations, encouraged listeners to call in and whistle, and then looped these five cities of whistlers through a phase-shifter.

The result was a 2-hr long broadcast of a creepy, meandering, experimental soundscape that could have easily been mistaken as a takeover of earth's communications systems by alien overlords.

Listen to a sample snippet of the broadcast [MP3]

Watch a video about the project here (click on "A Look Behind the Scenes at Radio Net's Realization Process"), or read up on it here.

Originally posted on WFMU's Beware of the Blog by Rhizome