Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.11.2018, Page 35

A Fresh
Frequency
Útvarp 101 is changing the game in Icelandic radio
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen Photo: Timothée Lambrecq
Radio Station
Listen to Útvarp 101 in Iceland at
94.1 FM or online at 101.live
They say that video killed the radio
star, but a group of young Reykjavík
musicians, artists and tastemakers
are determined to prove that state-
ment untrue. On October 29th, the
bunch took the cultural landscape
of Iceland by storm with the reveal
of their new youth-led radio station,
Útvarp 101 (‘Radio 101’), on FM 94.1.
Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson,
known for his work in Retro Stefson
and record label Les Frères Stefson,
is one of the founders of the station.
Along with his brother Logi Pedro
Stefánsson, Aron Már Ólafsson,
Saga Garðarsdóttir, Svanhildur
Gréta Kristjánsdóttir, and more,
Unnsteinn has spent the last two
years working to get the station off
the ground.
The new normal
“I felt like there was this big gap in
Iceland regarding music and pro-
gramming,” Unnsteinn explains,
when asked what sparked the idea
for Útvarp 101. “In Iceland, we’ve
had a couple of youth stations, but
it was always the same people who
had been there since they were
20 and are now 60, and they were
playing music that had already
been popular for a few months in
the states.”
For Unnsteinn, the actual tastes
of young people weren’t being met,
and with that, many artists and
genres lacked the exposure they
deserved. “The voice of the young
people needed to be heard,” so we
made a pop music
station with a new
way of thinking.”
This new way of
thinking involves
challenging the sta-
tus quo of Icelandic
radio, and one of
the most groundbreaking ways
Útvarp 101 is doing so is through
representation. “Maybe we have a
Swedish song on the main list, then
an African one. It’s not all Ameri-
can,” Unnsteinn continues. More
importantly, the station is entirely
balanced regarding gender, mean-
ing that for every song by a male
artist, a female artist will be played.
“That was very important to us,”
Unnsteinn emphasises.
Cultural curation
While many might think that ra-
dio is a dying medium, Unnsteinn
explains that this is a common
misconception. “Radio has had
steady listener figures in Iceland,”
he explains. That said, Unnsteinn
does admit many young people have
since turned to Spotify for new mu-
sic. Changing this is one of Útvarp
101’s long-term goals. “Spotify, with
their algorithm, doesn’t surprise
you. It chooses songs based on what
you’ve heard before so it just dives
deeper into that line of music,” he
says. “We need curation and that’s
why we hope people tune in.”
But the station will be producing
much more than just on-air con-
tent. Cross-media marketing across
social platforms is the name of the
game. “Maybe Páll Óskar comes in
for an interview. We’d film the in-
terview with him and put it on You-
tube, post a quote
with some typog-
raphy on Facebook
and on Instagram,
do a behind-the-
scenes of him at the
station,” Unnsteinn
explains. “So a lot of
listeners will never tune in to the
FM frequency, but they will see it
on other platforms.”
For Unnsteinn, the station pro-
vides a voice long stifled in Icelan-
dic language media. “The Icelandic
media is a lot about politics. It can
be a huge echo chamber but with
often polarising views. Culture
and art get very little attention,”
he explains. “We can do a lot better
in regards to pop culture. We will
change that.”
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35The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 20— 2018
“The voice of the
young people
needed to be
heard.”
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