Garrett Kelly has been a creative inspiration and brother-in-arms for me since way back before I even moved to Seattle, which seems like a lifetime ago. One of Garrett’s passions is an online radio station he and his lady run, called Hollow Earth Radio. We’ve collaborated on some audio content in the past (and I would love to contribute more, hint hint), and we’ve also spent a good deal of time both online and “IRL” talking about the future of radio, technology, the paranormal, and authentic moments of being a human.

He vision of a future in which DIY audiophiles rummage through short-range signals for “signs of life” reminds me a great deal of our recent conversations regarding local networks and the “human internet.” Czech it out:

There will be a shift in the way people think about media distribution. One of the reasons the radio comeback will be interesting will be in the actual physical hunt to find it - as the majority of frequencies will be short range and inconsistent. Picture people roaming the streets with homemade cyberpunk radios seeking out weak signals in the forest. With the large catalog of music to select from on the internet, people will seek out a different thrill. The balance will shift and the importance will be heavy on mixing of genres and broadcast performance, locality, genuine human experience. Perhaps just in the unique experience of being in that geographical place and that time and possibly being the only one listening. And because commercial radio will become have so outdated as to have gone out of business, the citizen band will be extended and the only radio will be what we would now call ‘pirate.’”

Garrett’s work is truly worth exploring in whatever media format he presents it in (and he has mastered too many to list here).