Radio Happy Isles Media and Politics at Play in the Pacific

Traveling throughout the Pacific over a period of six years, Robert Seward listened to radio wherever he went. From the Solomon Islands to Vanuatu to Fiji to Tonga to Hawaii, he tuned in and listened. He recorded broadcasts, he sat in radio stations and newsrooms, he met the people who ran them, and he talked to folks who listened. The result is Radio Happy Isles, a highly readable, insightful, and unexpected look at the mediascape of the Pacific. What Seward discovered is surprising: in an era of satellite downloads and globe-circling communication empires, radio-the forgotten medium-is alive and well in the Pacific. Subject to political pressures and calls for privatization, its role is in constant evolution. But one thing is clear: the media rules of metropolitan dominance have not played out according to script here. Media in the Pacific has been active, not passive, in shaping its own local narratives.