David Rodigan – Radio Free

Legendary BBC broadcaster, Daivd Rodigan, shares his enthusiasm for the culture he worked to create and appreciate in this video released by Radio Free. Rodigan brings a new meaning to that antiquated term “DJ”, meant to abbreviate “disk jockey,” Rodigan is more of a “digital journalist” from an analog world, focusing on culture not found in the textbooks. Telling stories about a time before digital documentation is just as important as documenting the current period. With the passing of time we lose these stories if they are not documented and preserved, so we must encourage the documentation of all culture as an act of knowledge preservation regardless of circumstantial regulations which stand to erase culture through financial manipulation.

Rodigan, who is arguably the UK’s largest contribution to reggae music beyond the artists themselves, makes an interesting observation on the audience tuning in from the internet, which far outweighed the crowd in the Boiler Room. He puts into perspective how the power of music paired with the connectivity our still expanding internet infrastructure gives us, creates one of the most powerful forms of cultural communication ever known. With 40,000+ people tuning in live and millions more watching at their leisure long after the club had emptied, Rodigan along with the culture of reggae music will be relevant well into the future.