LAPD Public Radio

2005 // Invention

LAPD Public Radio is a project that originally was located at Slauson and Western in what was formerly known as South Central Los Angeles. This specific area has a new mall with a Home Depot and Starbucks, but in 1993 it was almost completely burned and looted in the Los Angeles Riots.

The installation is made of two major components. Firstly, there is a didactic that explains a brief history of LAPD radio which was originally broadcast on AM 1712 where anyone with a conventional radio in one’s home or car could listen in. As technology became more advanced, public access began to dwindle but was largely open for all to hear until 2001 when the city went to an encrypted digital signal that required expensive equipment and technical sophistication to decode.

The second element, and the actual intervention, is a pedestal of electronic equipment that receives real time digitally encrypted radio, decodes it, and retransmits it on the original 1712 radio station that LAPD started publicly broadcasting on 70 years ago.

LAPD Public Radio
Radio installation
Signage dimensions 36’x36′