Lost Media: Unearthing Forgotten Stories

This will be all about the creation of my show, Lost Media!

My friend Gg and I wanted to start a Radio show at UIC, and when applying, we saw that our show had to have a theme. We tossed around a few ideas but struggled to choose something that we would find fun and engaging. Then, a light bulb was lit when my friend remembered she had a box of VHS tapes she bought from a horror convention earlier this year. It was a trove of eerie and random videos from various unknown sources. We thought we could go into the world of lost media!

She suggested that each week we could explore one of these mysterious tapes, unraveling their stories and talking about where we think they originated from. I was immediately hooked and saw a lot of potential topics we could cover such as media in a specific decade, we do not want to become lost media, and so much more. And just like that, Lost Media was born, a show dedicated to covering content of the past, present, and potentially the future!

What is Lost Media? This is a question I asked days after my conversation with my co-host. When you google the definition of Lost Media, it says, "Lost media are any media that are believed to no longer exist in any format, or for which no copies can be located.” This simple explanation opened up a world of possibilities. Lost Media isn’t just about obscure horror tapes but a topic that can cover a variety of avenues.

For instance, I thought about the countless artist who poured their hearts into creating music, just for them to vanish into the deep archives of the internet.  These songs, albums, and even entire careers fade into nothing. I thought I could help alleviate this burden by covering artists with less than 100k streams on Spotify, giving them a spotlight where one is needed. At the same time download their songs so their media truly won’t become lost, and a new segment covering artists unknown to many but know to us was added!

Through Lost Media, we discovered that uncovering the past isn’t just about a feeling of nostalgia, but about preserving stories and celebrating human creativity so that they won't be forgotten. Whether it’s an obscure video game, a long-lost film, or a mysterious audio recording, every piece of lost media tells its own story, and we want to give them a stage to show their story!

If you find this interesting, you can listen to Lost Media from 8:00-9:00 pm every Friday!