This XMTR Radio Hour is a little different. Lucia speaks to Garry Hunter the director of arts and heritage organisation Fitzrovia Noir - and composer/violinist Jack Campbell about a new commission from the educational foundation that has grown out of the Tommy Flowers community pub in Poplar, East London. The pub’s namesake Tommy Flowers designed and built Colossus, the world’s first programmable electronic computer, to help decipher the encrypted messages sent by the German High Command during WW2. 23-year-old composer and musician Jack M.Campbell has recently written and extensively performed a piece inspired by Alan Turing’s Bombe. With a bursary from TFF, he has now composed a score responding to Colossus, the computer built by Tommy Flowers to greatly expedite the reading of Lorenz traffic. The code was cracked by mathematician Bill Tutte, who, after the war, went on to teach at two universities in Canada, Jack’s home country. Following the conversation about outsiders, music, algorithms and maths, is an exclusive rendition of this composition: ‘Colossus’ by Jack Campbell.

This XMTR Radio Hour is a compilation of short audio works that have been submitted to xmtr.fm over the past year. XMTR is an online portal championing and showcasing sonic storytelling in its many forms and genres. These short audio works represent the variety and scope of audio craft from both new and more seasoned audio makers from all over the world. No theme, just interesting uses of sound.

Works featured:

• The Box by Oliver Morris
• Slag Speaks by Emily Candela
• Echo Charmer by Xelis Del Toro
• Live or Dye by MariaConterno
• Offleash by Terry Halbert
• Are We Only Dreaming by Lily Sloan and Zara Zimbardo
• 1001 Stabs by Fari Al Meghari and Lina Prestwood
• The Well, The Bay, The Sea by Suzi Lamb
• The Graves in the Ocean Are Burning by Per Wilhelm Wahlroos.

In this XMTR (Transmitter) radio hour we are taken into the liminal audio apace that is Radio Limbo. This guided audio trip is an unusual quest through original music, collage, soundscapes, and disembodied voices. The show celebrates radio as a shape-shifting portal to other worlds, a wilderness of its own, and its unique qualities of companionship. Join Pete for this curation and performance of surreal scenes and sonic experiments, using local intrigue and lost histories as the jumping-off point. This was recorded live at the XMTR Audio Arts Festival in St Leonards-On-Sea.

Radio Limbo aka Pete Hazell is a music and audio artist based in Bristol. His various projects fall under the ‘Limbo’ umbrella, known for their signature blend of curious music, sound design, storytelling, and collage. His cassette label Limbo Tapes focuses on releasing music, monthly residency on Bristol’s Noods Radio. In 2024, Pete released the audio series Limbo Calling as a podcast, expanding the Limbo universe through character, voice work, and surreal audio fiction.