Lockdown FM was started just over a month ago, launched from a childhood bedroom in rural Meath by creator Arianna Owens. Since then, it has broadcasted from all around Ireland, parts of Italy, and America. TN2 spoke with Lockdown FM director Arianna Owens and her collaborators to get their thoughts on this quarantine project:

 

Our aim as both a radio station and an art collective is to provide a place for creatives who have lost the spaces where they would usually develop or present their work, with the closure of third level institutions and the introduction of social distancing. 

Once I got over the initial shock of college closing and having to move back to Meath following the COVID-19 outbreak, I found myself crippled with boredom. I felt despondent as my academic year had been cut short, and I was unsure of when I would be able to see my friends in person again – of this I am still unsure. I found myself spending most of my days in bed, trying to manage my worry about the virus and my upset over not seeing my friends.

One of my favourite parts of my week in college was hosting my radio show on Trinity FM, The Arianna Hour. When college closed, I didn’t have that outlet anymore, as this was before TFM started their remote broadcasting schedule. I decided to try broadcasting my show from home, playing music and chatting to my friends. It gave my day structure, and something to look forward to when the days seemed to start melting into one another. This led to me talking to my friend Anika one night after a show and she said I should extend the broadcasting hours so that others could get involved. This conversation evolved into Lockdown FM becoming both an online radio station and a space for all the art that has been created during isolation. 

Since launching, Lockdown FM has been responsible for over 90 hours of radio content, a lot of which can be listened back to on our Mixcloud. Our presenters have broadcasted shows from Dublin, Limerick, Donegal, Meath, Westmeath, Louth, Kildare, Limerick, Clare, Mayo, Connecticut and North Carolina. While a lot of our radio contributors are Trinity students, we also have radio hosts from TUD, Sallynoggin, and DCU, with other universities such as NUIM hopefully getting involved in the near future. The radio station gives a platform to anyone who asks about it, regardless of their radio experience or the equipment they have at home. On the station, we provide a slot on Friday evenings at 7pm called the One-Off Slot. The slot is a time for those who wish to experiment in radio, to try out a format, or even just to wrap their heads around using the Mixlr controls and play some music. It is a space for everyone to broadcast whatever they wish!

We also have a slot on Saturdays at 9pm called out Saturday Session. This show is all about giving artists the opportunity to perform a live set. With public gatherings banned, the slot gives musicians and DJs the opportunity to perform for an audience once again, while the listener can somewhat emulate the gig experience at home. So far, we have had performances from Rebecca Locke, White Boy of the Month, Sammy Copley, and Rónán from Big Sleep, and DJ sets from Finghín Little and Pippa Moloney and Rory Sweeney from the Pink Cloud Collective. 

While the radio aspect of the project is extremely active, the presentation of art on our Instagram has proven extremely popular. We have uploaded art submissions from students in Trinity, RCSI, and NCAD, with future contributions coming from students in IADT. So far on Lockdown FM, we have shared illustrations, drawings, music videos, original songs, fashion designs, posters, and more. Each of the shows produces their own promotional poster, that reflects the theme s. Many of the shows change their posters each week, in response to the topic they will be discussing, or the genre of music they will be playing. As quarantine continues, we hope to increase the amount of art on the platform. This has allowed us to keep the Instagram account active and engaging, while also showing the essence of the kind of shows we have on Lockdown FM. 

It is difficult to manage the uploading of art and the running of the radio station while college is still expecting work to be submitted. Once the college examination period is over, the account will become more active, as students will have more time to focus on what they love to create. 

Lockdown FM has given more to me than I could ever contribute to it. It has provided me with endless hours of entertainment and fun. The station has allowed me to be able to listen to my friends, old and new, present shows about food, culture, classical music, PC music, and just general chats. It’s given me a chance to not only remain connected to my friends in a new, fun way, instead of just through zoom calls or messenger. I have also been able to see the vast range of creative projects that people can undertake, even in extremely challenging circumstances. I wanted Lockdown FM to be a place where all voices and artistic disciplines had a place to be shared, which I am glad to say it has become. It’s really inspiring to see all the creative work everyone is undertaking on both the airwaves and through art! (I also now have a platform to promote Girls Aloud’s “Biology”, the greatest pop song of all time).

Anyone can apply for a radio show, or submit a piece of their art to Lockdown FM, as we want to have the account and station to present as many creative voices as possible. Some of the contributors to Lockdown have shared their thoughts on the station and Instagram account below!

 

Rob Quinn: Aside from giving us a reason to check what day of the week it is, Lockdown FM has been brilliant in giving a sense of normality to our lives during this pandemic. Our radio show on Trinity FM was something I loved to do and looked forward to it every week, having an opportunity to keep that show alive from home has been brilliant. It helps feel like we’re still in college. Our hourly show every Thursday has given us a chance to laugh and cringe and cry about anything we please, it feels just like home. 

 

Faye Curran: Before lockdown started, our weekly radio show was something that Rob, Ella and I based our week around. Whether it was the topic’s to be discussed that week or the difficult choice between an intro versus an outro song, it was the focal point of the majority of our conversations. Since having a show on Lockdown FM, it feels like we have been given back some normality in the midst of fantasy, and it seems that just for a little while, we’re all back together again. Lockdown FM gives young creatives a voice and makes radio an accessible platform for everyone, and it’s one of the most innovative creations I have seen emerge from quarantine. Coronavirus may have put an end to a lot of things for all of us, but it certainly has not killed the radio star.  

 

Ella Connolly: Our radio show is something I look forward to every week and having to come up with topics for discussion helps me to extract some meaning from the general meaningless mundanity of my days stuck in lockdown. Lockdown FM is such a brilliant and comforting platform as it makes me feel connected to my friends and my beloved Trinity College. Listening to other students discuss their new normal and other unrelated topics makes me feel less alone which is something I truly treasure in this gross and sad time. I’m very happy and proud to be part of such a groovy and cool platform as Lockdown FM!

 

Molly Donnery: Lockdown FM has really made a huge impact on my time in isolation and how I look at this weird position we are all in at the moment. My submission was a song I wrote alongside a very quickly edited video, very spur of the moment and is actually the first original song I have released in any form and I’m so grateful to Arianna for that as without lockdown I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to do so. That was very near the beginning of its creation and since then I have absolutely loved watching it grow, seeing the art my friends create and listening to all the shows. It is such an amazing way for us all to stay motivated and connected during a time where we would otherwise feel extremely alone, and I honestly look forward to seeing what it brings to my Instagram feed every day.

 

Cáit Murphy: Mildly Enthused (9pm-10pm, Thursdays)

Mildly Enthused celebrates all that is erotic and underground, taking you through music, cinema, and ideas from the ‘hothouse’. In this time of isolation, one way of releasing suppressed desires is to indulge in the art made by those who’ve desired the most. Five episodes in, I’ve read narrative vignettes in which I’m married to Richard Ayoade (in this scenario a tyrannical, womanising, neurotic auteur and not the lovely Richard of reality). I’ve also read my short screenplay written in rapid, solitary fury, Ag Bualadh Leathair, a homoerotic leather-tanning factory story, and curated DJ sets based on my Francophilia, playing music from ‘60s Yé-yé to now. I also curate mini documentaries with archival materials and music, the latest being a Swinging London episode with interviews with Twiggy, Julie Christie, Michael Caine, and Mary Quant, mixed with music by Herbie Hancock, The Kinks, Marianne Faithfull, and Jacques Dutronc.

 

Freya Merriman: Cherry Blossoming (7pm – 8pm, Tuesdays)

I’ve been involved with student radio since I started college but unfortunately, since taking the previous year out, I hadn’t had the chance to take part for a number of months. Understandably, I was nervous to pick up my microphone again but I managed to convince myself, and I’m very grateful that I did. 

Cherry Blossoming began as a show where I could discuss all the things going on in the world around me, that were completely unaware of the pandemic that was unfolding, namely, the arrival of Spring. Doing my weekly show has allowed me to remember the smaller things to be thankful for; my record collection, my dad, and the 70s. I’m not a classically creative person. I believed I didn’t have the talent to be, turns out I just didn’t have the time or the motivation. LockdownFM has given me the time, the push, and the feeling of returning home to a simpler time, when it was just me and my microphone on DCUfm. Really, the only difference is that it’s all from the comfort of my bedroom. 

 

Cormac Hallinan: I’ve enjoyed every second of being apart of lockdown_fm (the instagram account), I’ve never done anything like broadcasting on internet radio by myself before and I found it challenging at first to trying to think of something interesting worth listening to, thankfully I can always turn on some of my favourite songs and enjoy them with strangers and friends alike who are just looking for a distraction from how awful the world is right now. I can’t claim all the credit for why my show has been such a joy to make either, my boyfriend makes designs and draws the poster every week and I feel having him collaborate along with me is why Lockdown FM is such an amazing idea, people coming together to make fun and exciting content for everyone to enjoy. 

 

You can follow Lockdown FM on instagram @lockdown_fm or visit the mixlr www.mixlr.com/lockdown_fm.