New Books Network Laura Garbes, "Listeners Like Who?: Exclusion and Resistance in the Public Radio Industry" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Sep 13, 2025
Laura Garbes, a sociologist and assistant professor at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, tackles the pressing issues of exclusion and resistance within the public radio industry. She explores the historical dominance of whiteness in public media, critiquing the persistent lack of diverse representation. Garbes highlights the challenges faced by professionals of color, including tokenization and financial hurdles. The conversation also delves into the evolving landscape of public media and its future, especially in light of technological changes and funding dynamics.
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Radio Reveals The Sonic Color Line
- Radio removes visual cues, revealing how listening is racially conditioned along a "sonic color line."
- Laura Garbes argues radio is ideal to study who is allowed to speak in public spaces.
Institutional Whiteness Shapes Authority
- A white institutional space privileges institutions and credentials tied to white dominance, not just white individuals.
- That framing defines who counts as a legitimate expert and reproduces exclusion even amid surface diversity.
Public Radio Built On Segregated Roots
- Public radio grew from educational radio rooted in Jim Crow-era universities and white control.
- Garbes shows NPR wasn't a blank slate in 1967 but inherited exclusionary infrastructure.
