On a cold April night in 1912, my great-grandfather sat next to a shortwave radio in Ohio, listening to the distress signals of the R.M.S. Titanic, hundreds of miles away in the dark Atlantic. Helpless to do anything, he was nevertheless at the forefront of a new technology — one that would help save many lives in the years to come.

Today, bloggers may be getting most of the press, but shortwave (”ham”) radio operators are quietly continuing a tradition of public engagement and service that is nearly a hundred years old. The recent tsunami spotlighted their continuing role as vital cogs in the flow of communication.

While it’s a bit harder to become a ham-radio operator than to start a blog (for one thing, you need a license), the principles are familiar: Ordinary people are well equipped to relay news, information, gossip and opinions to their fellow citizens. All they need is a platform.

So what does all this have to do with Free Culture? Well, as we continue to talk to our friends, families, co-workers and legislators about Free Culture issues, it’s important to emphasize how much these principles are already bound up in our daily lives.

In this case, it’s the principle that airwaves belong to the public. And while the big media conglomerates get the lion’s share, it’s worth remembering that for nearly 100 years, we’ve carved out a slice of the spectrum for regular people to have a voice. From truck drivers to hobbyists, from young folks to old, and regardless of physical disability, ham radio has provided thousands of opportunities for people to participate in creating and sustaining their own culture. It’s a tradition worth noting, and carrying onward with each new generation of media tools.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 6th, 2005 at 11:10 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.