Alternative Media in Alternative Sport: Platforming Working Conditions in Professional Skateboarding

Abstract

Alternative media enable marginalized people to voice their experiences, challenge dominant ideologies, and circumvent mainstream gatekeepers. Podcasts are an alternative medium that can be counterhegemonic, foregrounding such issues as antiracism, Indigeneity, LGBTQ rights, socialism, and workers’ perspectives. This article expands on alternative-media research by transporting it to the skateboarding subculture. I first depict the skateboard outlets Thrasher Magazine (1981) and The Berrics (2007) website as hegemonic and mainstream. By contrast, I depict podcasts The Bunt (2016) and Vent City (2019) as counterhegemonic and alternative. I then ask: To what degree do skate podcasts acknowledge professional skateboarders as workers? And: Do such shows allow skaters to express grievances with their industry? A discourse analysis of Thrasher and The Berrics demonstrates that they often mystify freelance work, class, and skaters’ working conditions. An analysis of The Bunt and Vent City suggests that podcasts offer unique and radical perspectives, though attention to working conditions is uneven. I find there may be too much overlap between the case studies for an alternative/mainstream distinction to be meaningful. Political currents within skateboarding are still promising, however, and digital media will be essential in making the subculture and industry more inclusive.