The Audio Legacy of Finnish Radio: An Exploration of Key Factors in the Preservation of Radio Sound Collections

In this article, I chart the development of Finland’s national broadcaster Yleisradio Oy in its media historical context, with a focus on key factors and events that have affected the long-term preservation and archiving of radio and related sound recordings in Finland. In order to understand the historical development of sound archiving I propose to apply a framework comprising three main parts. I also propose that the archival history of recorded sound collections is best understood through a chronological approach that reveals sequential, often overlapping periods in the company’s historic timeline. Such periods of overlap are found with the use of lacquer discs in radio production long after the introduction of magnetic reel tapes in 1939, but also in the 1990s with the simultaneous use of analogue and digital technology. I conclude with an analysis of factors enabling and preventing long-term preservation of the national broadcaster’s audio heritage, with attention to the many ‘little things’ that have allowed the historical sounds of past radio to be available in the archive today.