Description: An examination of how activists combine political advocacy and technical practice in their promotion of the emancipatory potential of local low-power FM radio.
Brief description: Wiebe E. Bijker is Professor at Maastricht University and the author of Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change (MIT Press) and other books.
Review Quotes: Low Power to the People offers a richly detailed exploration of the struggle for low-power FM as it played out both at the grassroots level and in the halls of Washington... Dunbar-Hester offers a convincing argument that an 'old' medium like radio has the potential to be at least as open and democratic as does the Internet, and that we need to more critically examine claims about the intrinsic character of different communications technologies.--Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly--
[A] captivating narrative that reproduces the passion, emotions, and tensions of the field....
--New Media & Society--In Low Power to the People, Dunbar-Hester delivers a perceptive interrogation of [the] intricate entwinement of technology and politics, and the activist's 'labour of love' (embracing passionate and playful work) to enact inclusive ideals for social change, which is compelling and inspirational for scholars and activists alike working to further media democracy.
--Feminist Media Studies--