Piece Comment

Review of Revolutionary Community Radio, Venezuelan Style


Emily Howard has an interesting and important story to tell about the proliferation of community radio stations in Venezuela. The piece is well-written and -recorded, though Howard makes no secret of her political sympathies.

More problematic is the loose, tacked-together presentation. The narrator first appears in a host-like role, then as a reporter describing a scene (sans natural sound) as she makes her way to a radio station. She then disappears for minutes at a time as we hear the strung-together remarks of interviewees and translators. The result is a piece that feels shapeless and hard to stay with, at least for this listener. A story of this significance would benefit from a good, rigorous edit--a much tighter structure and about half the length.