Performance: August 30th, Sankofa Square, 1 Dundas St. E 8PM.

Panel Discussion: August 31st, 918 Bathurst Centre For Culture and Arts, 3PM. Featuring Judy Perry (moderator), Phil Vassell, DTS, David Dacks.

A Radio Active Community is David Dacks’ personal journey back to the heady days of Toronto’s campus radio in the early 1990s in the form of an improvised 45-60 minute audiovisual experience.

David, who volunteered at CIUT for 25 years, digs deep into his digitized cassette library of his own and his colleagues’ airchecks from all three Toronto campus radio stations to create a sound collage of music, commercials, custom station IDs, interviews, technical bloopers and above all, many voices making radio history in defining and unifying the city’s underground sounds. From illegal booze-can broadcasts to unhinged live dub sessions, it was a time for experimentation on radio which witnessed the rise of hip hop and African music scenes, the continued strength of reggae and dancehall, and collisions with rock, jazz, and experimental sounds to create a unique historical and artistic circumstance. This era resonates strongly in contemporary Toronto sounds and scenes.

It was a messy, sometimes painful struggle to get this cultural shift to air. The following day sees a panel discussion exploring this context, conflicts, triumphs and legacy of that era.

A Radio Active Community is presented by Intersection Festival, and in association with the Canada Black Music Archives (CBMA).

For more information and updates visit https://intersectionfestival.org/ or contact [email protected].