Radio Dials is an interactive art installation that recalls the beauty and loss of analogue radios through memory, soundscape and digital print. Created by artist Diana Scarborough it was exhibited in Cambridge in 2012.  As analogue radio transmission is superseded by digital networks, the radio become ‘extinct’ and the places on the radio dials, with their iconic fonts, have little relevance except in people’s minds.

The installation recalls a golden era of innovation for Britain with companies such as Marconi and Cambridge–based PYE pushing the boundaries in design and technology. From pre-war days to the 50’s, radio listening was a collective experience and the warmth of tone or a reception crackle did not detract from the intensity of the listening experience. ‘Radio Dials’ is a selection of soundscapes that combine the crackly of tuning into a station and morse code with stories of an analogue radio memory.

The digital portraits of the narrators became part of the work.. The design of the installation recalls the physicality and sounds of ‘tuning in’ to find a radio station. Soundscapes are initiated by the visitors who carry a ‘dial’ which triggers the sound space when they access an invisible ‘mapped’ shape’ in 3D space. It uses the Real Time Location System technology (RTLS) to create the audience triggered ‘radio stations’. suppled and adapted by a Cambridge hi-tech company Ubisense – (https://ubisense.com). I would like to exhibit this work again so contact me via my artist website www.dianascarborough.co.uk with any opportunities. Thank you to everyone who shared their stories, showed me their favourite radio and their passion for their past analogue experience.