Media memories: The case of Youth Radio DT64

Social networking sites (SNS) play many roles in the everyday lives of their users. A growing body of research suggests that platforms such as Facebook also fundamentally change the way memories are performed. This article takes the former East-German youth radio DT64 as a starting point to analyse how media are remembered and how practices of remembering by music audiences might be altered with social networking sites. Drawing on in-depth interviews with former listeners and an analysis of one Facebook group dedicated to the radio station, the article suggests that SNS offer new potentials for media memories that are collaborative and take place in public. The former listeners we interviewed remain, however, sceptical and confirm only limited participation in new forms of performing media memories online. Ultimately, the article discusses the changing nature of media memories in the context of a changing media landscape by looking at questions of identity, temporality and alternativity.