Archiving Trash Radio in Québec City: The Soundwork of the Coalition Sortons les radios-poubelles

Québec City’s talk radio stations have been the subject of controversy for decades. For nearly 10 years now, consistent grassroots efforts have been made to regulate the media discourse that circulates in the city. The coalition Sortons les radios-poubelles (which can be translated as Let’s Take Out the Trash Radios) has created an online archive that compiles thousands of audio documents about this controversial radio style. With a few postings per day both on its website and on social media, the coalition’s media activists put into context—sometimes with a mocking, ironic, and provoking tone—the deprecating remarks of radio hosts. In the course of recent events, these activists are now being prosecuted for their criticism of the trash radio culture. This commentary highlights the main aspects of the archival practice of these media activists. It seems important to recognize these alternative archival practices for social justice, for media regulation, as well as for understanding a social phenomenon over time.