Two Sound Objects
In this study, I examine two unique sound objects and ask how the variables of age and class shape their production, dissemination, and reception. They both explicitly affirm their links to the Balkan space with which they were first identified in my online research. The first, the “Momentum Radio Show” (“Momentum”) specializes in music with a strong retro or nostalgic feel and spans genres as diverse as jazz, rock, disco, world fusion, and contemporary sevdah (Bosnian urban music). The second, the satellite TV project “YU Planet” (also called “RTV YU Planet,” “Yu Planet Televizija,” “RTV Planet Beč” or simply “Planet”) broadcasts pop-folk and Roma music along with community-targeted advertising for grilled food and other gastronomic specialties, taxi services, and wedding and birthday party supplies. Both sound objects also have an online component that provides important parts of their programming for web users.
Momentum’s website is available in German as well as Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian (“BKS”) with a preference for the Serbian language standard typed in Latin alphabet. According to the description there, the program “specializes in old and forgotten sounds from the former Yugoslavia, including lesser-known tracks from the 1960s played directly from the vinyl through the gramophone needle.” The collective also prioritizes interviews with different music producers from the Balkans and reviews of their work. Momentum claims that its mission is to reduce the economic, social, and cultural differences between people of different national and religious allegiances. Momentum aims to draw listeners from the former Yugoslavia and the Balkans with its old-time hits while also introducing new audiences to a bygone musical era. It has a permanent slot every second Monday at 7:00 p.m. on one of Vienna’s radio stations (Orange 94.0). These broadcasts are produced from Momentum’s studio in Klosterneuburger Straße 1 in Vienna’s rather upscale second district.
Along similar lines, the Serbian language text on Planet’s website describes their TV station as “TV for all nations and all generations.” Based on information from Planet’s former website, the TV station previously broadcast live music shows every Tuesday along with pre-recorded music performances 24 hours a day. During the course of my research, this website was updated, and the latest version is unclear about the history (and current status) of the live broadcast. According to the older site, Planet launched in 2005 and was “the first Serbo-Croatian language program to air Europe-wide via Astra satellite and cable TV in Austria.” The site also quoted a 2015 study that noted the TV station’s number one position with Balkan audiences in Western Europe. The channel doubles as a radio station and purportedly reaches over one million users worldwide. It is not entirely clear where Planet’s studio is located. A Google search in early August 2021 yielded the address of Gorskistraße 14 on the southern outskirts (Liesing) of Vienna but neither the station’s website nor its social media confirm this information. The company behind Planet is registered as “Yu Planet Entertainment GmbH & Co KG” and located at Krugerstraße 2/10 in central Vienna.