Get To Know: Kafka Radio

In the ever changing landscape of Bristol independent radio, Kafka Radio appeared seemingly out of the blue right at the tail end of summer, sweeping up a plethora of Bristol’s top underground DJs and MCs, inviting them to their swanky studio and dazzling them with fancy lighting, recording equipment, and of course, a friendly smile.

Over the past few months, they’ve only grown from strength to strength. Run by friends Lauren (station manager, front facing, deals with residents) and Tom (studio manager, behind the scenes, hands in the guts stuff), I wanted to find out the story behind the station – where it’s taken them so far, and where they see it taking them in the future.

What I found was that – not to my surprise – the duo behind this illusive and incredibly exciting project are as knowledgeable as they are passionate, both about the music and the medium itself. Its safe to say that, if things continue as they are, its looking like Kafka to the moon.

How the devil are you?

Lauren: “Busy! But doing well thanks.”

To start off, for the uninitiated, could you sum up what Kafka is? Both in a literal and more metaphorical sense.

Lauren: “In a literal sense, Kafka Radio is an independent community oriented radio station based in Bristol. We live stream audio visual shows every Thursday and Sunday evenings. Each show is unique and we try to give hosts as much freedom as we can. While there is a wide variety of shows on the station, all share a passion for underground music and culture.

“In a metaphorical sense, Kafka Radio is a co-operative project that tries to provide a platform for a shared community voice. It’s a DIY project in its essence, and really just a space for those who want to be involved to share their music and culture.”

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What drew you to radio, instead of starting a label, or any other music discovery platform?

Lauren: “We kind of fell into it at first. We both moved into halls in lockdown and there wasn’t too much to do so we started this radio show on the uni radio every Friday night. It was more of an excuse to have a mix and drink with our flatmates. The first shows were awful and if you look hard enough on Soundcloud you might have the luck of finding one. After a while and *some* improvement, Tom came to me and asked if we might want to do this whole radio thing ourselves.”

Tom: “I feel like radio has a unique community aspect to it. There’s something I always liked about tuning in for a curation of music: presented, mixed, narrated or reloaded: by someone who loves the music just as much as you do. Not only is it a chance for the hosts to share their music with everyone locked in, but the listeners also get to share the experience with everyone else all listening to the same sounds, live. I think that the live broadcast experience is something very special.”

Your studio setup is amazing. I love its DIY nature and the love that you guys have clearly put into its creation. Could you tell us the story behind the making of the studio and its past iterations?

Lauren: “When we first started the radio, the uni studio was closed which left us trying to record the shows through my laptop microphone. Predictably, it sounded awful, which is where Tom came in to solve all my tech problems. I remember carrying boom arms, compressors and all sorts of devices I still don’t fully understand around bedrooms in halls to broadcast the shows. At this point we were just organizing a weekly show on BURST Radio each Friday, where DJs would curate mixes of and chat about the history and culture of different genres each week. It was from this that the idea of setting up our own station where we could broadcast as often as we wanted took off.”

Tom: “It wasn’t for another 12 months or so that the new Kafka Radio was able to launch as a station in itself. Perhaps the longest part of the whole process was trying to finish the task on budget. Every piece of equipment had to be acquired at the cheapest possible price from second hand sellers, while any money saving ‘trick’ had to be followed. Much of the ‘staging’ is made with waste plumbers piping and a surprising amount is held together with double-sided tape. But I hope that this all adds to the charm. After setting up the studio for the first time in spring, we then relaunched in a new location near Stokes Croft in September. With the whole process already organised, setting up the second time was much easier and it has allowed us to improve the studio in lots of ways. I can say with confidence that the studio is at the moment the best it’s ever been.”

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Sophia: “If we go back to the time when chickens first arrived: how do you think that happened? I suppose a chicken didn’t just appear out of thin air, years of breeding and evolution led to the chicken’s creation. When the first ‘chicken’ (as we know them today) was birthed after years of genetic evolution, it hatched from an egg! Its birdlike parents did what they do best and laid a big egg, then came the chicken.”

As well as live-streaming the audio from all of your residents’ sets, you also live-stream the video which is then made available to view on YouTube after the show has ended. Why did you decide to do this?

Tom: “I think we were trying to create a fully immersive ‘radio’ experience, where the live curation could be expanded beyond just the sounds. By using cameras, stage-lights, projectors and decorative backgrounds, we try to give our residents the chance to broadcast the most complete performance they can.”

Lauren: “Plus, these days you seem to have to hit all the senses at once to even have a chance in grabbing anyone’s attention. Adding video at least gives us a bit more of a fighting chance.”

Bristol radio is going through a period of massive change. With SWU FM being forced to close down and talk of other stations dropping in listener numbers, it’s an interesting time to be entering the space. So did you sabotage SWU from the inside? And how does it feel entering the radio space at such an uncertain time?

Lauren: “Depends who’s asking! Although seriously, RIP SWU. It was a real shame to see them go. They were the exact kind of organisation I think the music world and the wider community needs more of.”

Tom: “While I know it’s not really what you’re asking, I want to mention that since we broadcast in an unconventional way with video and cater to a specific music taste and culture in just one city, there’s not really anyone we consider ‘competition’ in the normal sense. Rather, we are in a lucky position where we can consider everyone else involved in the same scene and communities as potential collaborators. We’ve been very fortunate to be able to have a cooperative rather than competitive outlook on the industry.”

Lauren: “We heard on the grapevine there’s some talk of some BBC radio being privatised in the next five to eight years. Much of the variety of British music culture is thanks to the BBC. In the case of it being privatised it’s more important than ever to have independent / community radio or all people will be hearing on the airwaves is repetitive TikTok type songs.”

Tom: “It’s definitely an uncertain time at the moment. This year also saw Goat Shed close their streaming studio so as to focus on other projects. It also wasn’t long ago that Berlin Community Radio went off air. On the other hand I’ve been beyond pleased with the response we’ve had and it’s left me very confident in the value of community media. Seeing the success of stations like Sable Radio in Leeds and of course giants like HÖR, keep me optimistic that the desire is there for creative community broadcasting.”

Shout out two or three of your residents who you think really embody the Kafka spirit.

Lauren: “Um, Belters, obviously! But otherwise I don’t think any resident can really embody the Kafka spirit.”

Tom: “Everyone brings something different to the station and I think it’s that that makes up the Kafka spirit.”

Is it acceptable to wear your pyjamas to the shop?

Lauren: “Yes, but only in Crocs. On a serious note it is obviously always okay to wear PJs anywhere.”

Tom: “One place it’s definitely okay is on the DJs in PJs Show on Kafka. In fact, I think it’s mandatory.”

You recently hosted your first event at the Crown in St Nick’s Market. How is promoting? Is it easier or harder than running the station?

Tom: “The two are very different. Generally I would say radio takes more preparation in advance. Building the studio, programming the lights, engineering the audio, setting up the cameras and the stream. Not to mention all of the scheduling that goes on around it.”

Lauren: “Radio is also very continuous. You’re broadcasting twice a week so it’s really a pretty constant cycle of broadcasting, editing, uploading and promoting. Trying to keep this afloat requires a lot of flexibility, communication and organisation.”

Tom: “On the other hand, events are normally more intense in the moment. Working up to an event it has  largely been a case of booking the artists, organising the venue and promoting the event.”

Lauren: “That said, we’ve recently been bringing our sound system (Echo Sound System) to the venue with us and plan on doing this as much as we can; we’ve also been filming and recording our events, and hope to get into streaming some as well. However, even if the preparation for an event grows for us a bit, I’d still expect most of the stress to happen in the moment.”

Tom: “When it’s not just the artists and their friends, but a whole crowd in the room the pressure feels very different. For us an event feels more like one insane night while the radio feels like a two-year project.”

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Of course I’m not going to expose you guys (then I’d be out of a show) but what are the potential ramifications if the location of the studio becomes public? Is it similar to the golden years of pirate radio or is it not a legal issue at all?

Tom: “Legally, the only similarity we have with the pirates is that we’re not technically allowed to run the station from where it is. That’s the only reason we have to keep the address private.”

Lauren: “The landlord came round for an inspection at one point and we thought for a second it might be the end of Kafka. Luckily and extremely surprisingly, they loved what we were doing!”

Tom: “Other than that, it’s all completely above board. No dodgy business going on here!”

Lauren: “One thing that’s particularly important to us is paying our music licensing fees. For what we’re trying to do at Kafka it’s a good way to make sure artists are rewarded for their work; particularly since a lot of music played on the station is from small artists and independent labels.”

Lauren: “That said, we strive to make Kafka an inclusive and welcoming environment for all and see keeping the DIY nature of pirate radio culture alive a good way of doing this.”

What’s up next for Bristol’s hottest new radio station?

Lauren: “Long term, I see us looking more in the direction of utter world domination. But in the more immediate sense we’re mostly just looking to get better at what we’re doing.”

Tom: “We’re going to keep working on our DIY studio, with some turntables and new microphones coming in soon. We’re also experimenting more with projectors and curated visual overlays, as well as introducing tape recordings, instruments, synths and drum machines to the studio. At the moment it’s all about trying to provide the best platform we can for the residents so as to build the strongest community we can around the station.”

Lauren: “Outside the studio, we’re getting involved in filming events to publish as full length shows. Our recordings of Neffa T, Mixtress, Fixate and DJ Ammi for The Constitution at Thekla should be coming out soon, and we’ve got similar projects in the works. Not to mention more of our own events.”

Tom: “We’re also looking to properly launch our website, which will provide a way to navigate all of our content. Including a community space for members to chat, create profiles and share content.”

Lauren: “Attached to the website we’re also looking to have a portal where up-and-coming producers looking for radio plays can submit their tracks to our residents. Also planned is a written or visual side to the station, perhaps like a blog or magazine.”

Go on, give us a little closing statement.

Tom: “If you’re interested, go have a look, either on our YouTube or live on Mixcloud from 6pm ’til 10pm Thursdays and Sundays.”

Lauren: “Tune in!”

Main photo: Kafka Radio

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