2011
Archival Sound recording, documentary on Radio Net and misc. archival materials.
Courtesy : The Estate of Max Neuhaus
This work was a sound piece meant, in part, to expand concepts about what constitutes music and how it is created. With Radio Net, Neuhaus networked NPR radio stations and wired the studio he was in for multiple live phone calls. Neuhaus instructed callers to phone in and whistle and then filtered the sounds through an audio system he created. Neuhaus elaborates: “ As I continued with these [networking] ideas I began to implement two concepts which have proved important. One was to have the sounds phoned in activate instruments, instruments played by the voice. The other was to remove myself from the role of moderator and implement this function as an autonomous system. This was accomplished in Radio Net (1977) for the whole of the United States. I formed the National Public Radio network with its 190 radio stations into a vast cross country instrument played by callers’ sounds autonomously.” He called the music produced from these networks “loops.” In 1977, radio stations did not yet have the technology to take listeners calls so Neuhaus needed to configure the technology that allowed for audience participation. As part of this, Neuhaus also convinced censors that people would not call the station cursing or make inappropriate comments.