'Strangers in the Night’: The Falklands Conflict as a Radio War

Abstract

This article concentrates on the role of radio within and beyond the Falkland Islands. With radio as their primary communication technology, Falkland Islanders were part of a ‘sonic community’ framed around a complex radio environment. On the eve of the 1982 Argentine invasion, radio was to perform a vital strategic function in terms of alerting Islanders and wider communities (including the UK parliament) to the unfolding events. Using broadcast transcripts, interviews and published materials, this article reconstructs how, and with what consequences, broadcasting and listening conditioned the responses of Islanders to the seventy-four-day occupation, and also details Argentina's attempts to replace this Islander network. It is noted, by way of conclusion, that the official history of the Falklands campaign underplays this crucial sonic dimension.