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    Radio and Audiovisual Design

    Uploaded by

    Daniel Gambaro

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Radio Relations: Policies and Aesthetics of the Medium Bait by Grazyna Stachyra, Tiziano Bonini and Madalena Oliveira Cambridge Scholars Publishing Radio Relations: Policies and Aesthetics ofthe Medium edited by Graéyna Stachyre, Tiziano Bonini and Madalena Oliveira ‘This book frst published 2018 Cambrige Scholars Publishing lady Stephenson Library, Neweastle upon Tyne, NES 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data ‘Acatalogue record for this book is allele from the British Library Copyright ©2018 by Gratyna Stachyra, Tiziano Bonin, ‘Madialena Oliveira and contributors Allrigts for this ook reserved. No part ofthis book may be reproduced, ‘toro ina setrieval system, or transmited, In any formorby any means, ‘elcorronic, mschanical, photocopying recordingor otherwise, without the prier permission ofthe copyright owner. ISBN (0):1-5275-1948-9 ISBN (19): 078-1-5275-1948-8 This book is dedicated in memory of Professor Guy Starkey — an outstanding radio Scholar, a great Teacher and a generous Friend. 56 Chapter Four Some provisional and optimistic conclusions ‘The role of radio in the digital world, in the Internet, and in social net- ‘works is agile and authoritative. Together they express a cteative, mobile, par- ticipatory, personal, interactive, simultaneous, immaterial culture of which radio was a forerunner, which it contributed to creating, and in which it feels at home. A certain distance, a gap, between radio and mainstream media has formed, even if radio (especially in Europe, above all in Public Service Brozdcasting) is still part of the mainstream, FM radio is undergoing a shift towards digital that will not be completed before 2025, allowing. a quality multiservice listening experience. In the meantime, all forward-looking FM broadcasters are providing online simulcasts, and their websites are increas- ingly becoming more like social networks. ‘Online radio is among the most creative of protagonists and, atleast in Europe, is something of a model to follow. No media today can have the ‘monopoly on anything, and even radio cannot have the monopoly on music or orality. Web radio with its sites, podcasts, and on-demand streaming ser- vices occupies a central position in the social function of spreading music and facilitating public discourse. Smartphones will increasingly become the emerging device for these services; digital receivers will be in our homes and domoties will ansfocm each room in the house into & music box. In the automotive sector, digital receivers connected to navigators and onboard instrumentation will become the norm. Radio operators ~ and many like me — will not underestimate or waste all this technology but will make use of it as an instrament of culture, formation, and interactive communication, always with the everyday user atits centre. Schools and universities will have to train and qualify station managers, news editors, anchors, sound specialists, and artists, without ne- selecting to study the history of radio, the bedrock of the present. We are ‘quite sure that radio, be it in its newest or its more traditional forms, will bbe able to express the Zeitgeist, the spirit ofthe times, of this century, as it did the last CHAPTER FIVE RAbIo AND AUDIOVISUAL DESIGN: ‘THE INCORPORATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES By RADIO PROGRAMMES THROUGH A NEw Process WORKFLOW DANIEL GAMBARO ‘University OF So PAULO, BRAZIL Birsancuas Crry Universtry, UK, DGAMBARO@USP.BR Abstract ‘The paper introduces the Audiovisual Design, a workflow of processes for planning the ereation, production and analysis of radio programmes under the light of new technologies of communication. This methodology results from the crossing of theories from the Audience Studies and the Computer Sciences, more specifically Human-Computer Interaction. New affordances provided by digital communication technologies challenge common, insti tutionalised concepts of radio, leading the industry and the academy into a discussion both about the maintenance of radio's characteristics and the incorporation of the emerging possibilities. It is assumed that the field of communication studies alone is not sufficient to fully explain the audience's ‘behaviours in relation to digital media environment. Using simulated and ‘eal examples, this study proposes the Audiovisual Design as a possible and Viable tool both for producers and researchers, helping in the development and the study of media-convergent and interactive radio productions. ‘Keywords: radio, new technologies, Design Audiovisual, social institution, radio production Introduction — The social institution of radio Radio is understood as a resilicnt medium in the digital contemporaneity. Many are the studies that make such an approach, stating thatthe radio industry is adapting to the challenges placed by new technologies of production and distribution (Herreros 2008; Bonini et al 2014; Berry 2015; Ferraretto 2016) 58 Chapter Five and by new habits of the audience (Esteban 2011; Dubber 2013; Gallego 2015; Kischinhevsky 2016). A great part of those changes is not treated ‘anymore as possibilities, but as facts, ongoing processes of transformation of practices and content, so many researchers started to question what cart be called ‘radio’. The debate around audio on-demand in the form of podcast is a good example, to which Berry (2016, 9) provides a respectable response bby suggesting that “a radio programme can be both a broadeast artefact and ‘a podcast”, and given their characteristics, “one might be able to prise radio ‘and podcasting apart, as related but increasingly divergent forms” Questions about “what radio is’ lead to the comprehension of what constitutes the knowledge about radio, thats, the institutionalised discourses about radio that state old patterns are rooted in the technological and social transformation of the medium. Radio functions as a social institution differently in different contexts, which means that time and place of the emergence of a discourse must be considered. Its institutionslisation, then, can be explained by the identification of what has been determined throughout the history of the medium that leads to its existence in the current form. In Foucault’s (2010) words, itis to determine the elements of the ‘discursive formation” that, through the ‘regularity of practice’, defines the operating system of rules enabling an object to be transformed, a statement to appear, ‘8 concept to be developed, metamorphosed or adapted, and a theoretical strategy to be changed. To illustrate in a non-exhaustive way using radio as a reference, we may name as objects the technologies (valve transmitter and receptor, AM and FM, transistor systems, streaming radio and MP3), the shows, the model of programme scheduling (vertical/horizontal, modular, on-demand), the social agents (audience, producer, manager, presenter etc). Obviously, we are not talking about the elements per se but the implications surrounding, these elements dispersed in time. From the relations among the objects ‘we can specify some enunciation modalities, such as the audience and reception studies, legal regulations, the marketplace auto-definition and self-promotion, academic studies related to production formats, technology developments towards quality of reception etc. The varied relations between these statements produce concepts such as portability, sensorium capabilities, immediacy and instantancity of the content, commercial, community ‘and public station models, content time-shifting ete. In its turn, they are ‘combined in theoretical strategies defending or criticising aspects of the ‘medium: radio as a companionship to lonely people, journalism and public service as the core functions of radio, the almost-death caused by competition and the retur of radio, maintenance of the format of production over new Aistribution platforms ei. ‘The institutionalisation ofradiois a more-or-less fixed definitionregarding, the actual and expected social uses of radio. Itis not something defined from top to bottom, but a collection of meanings and applications defined and Radio and Audiovisual Design 3 incorporated by different sectors in a society. A linear historicization ofthe ‘medium erases the discontinuities inthe radio history — what Bourdicu (1989) ‘would call ‘possibilities’ arisen in cach moment and their ‘probabilities’ of being adopted as an actual practice. Possibilities are the variables resulting from the antagonist disputes drawn in each field. Once one path is assumed, the less probable possibilities cease existence until recovered by the study of that specific point in time where it was the object of dispute, Breaking old, insttutionalised perspectives is notan casy task. In general, radio stations take for granted new technologies to produce and distribute radio content because their professionals are habituated to known (therefore rooted) methods. Radio researchers and producers cannot be conditioned only by a fixed posture determined by the existing discourse. Questioning what we know about radio will open possibilities to understand how it ean better serve socicty, how the fick’ political and economic. forces ean be (te) configured, and, most important, how socictics can appropriate and use what is delivered as radio. Although tangible, these propositions require to know the diversity of behaviours that can be observed in relation to radio ~ determined by contexts of listening, habits, types of content, available tools, etc. Fist, itis necessary to relativize the simple, institutionalised explanations about Fadio (such as “daily companion’ providing ‘information and entertainment’). For instance, according to Bonini 2015, 14), in today’s network society radio has “networked listeners’, some of whom may perform a ‘connected listening’, which corresponds to an ‘augmented listening’ overlapped with ‘discussions, comments and the production of content on the social networks connected to the radio. ‘Tomake feasible the analysis and creation ofa production chain connected to the various possible relations of the audience with the radio content it is necessary to have a methodological tool capable of foreseeing and including a wider range of behaviours the individuals present today during media consumption in general. Without leaving thcradio’sscopes, itmeansto include the affordances and influences of today's media environment (Dubber 2013). Accordingly, we must assume that other collection of discourses related to media consumption are taking place for the last 20 years, in which prevail notions of media convergence and audience participation (.g. Jenkins 2008). ‘To help with this matter, the workflow of Audiovisual Design’ (AD) is proposed as a viable processual system for both produetion and analysis of content. The methodology originated from the encounter of theories related to Audience Studies and the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Each field provides knowledge, tools and methods that ean be incorporated ‘throughout the processes of creation, production and fruition of content. Since this new theorisation is still undergoing revisions and alterations, there may be some flaws to be considered regarding its full adoption. By ‘encompassing interdisciplinary means, it is expected that the AD will help 6 Chapter Five to surpass the traditional boundaries used for examination and creation of ‘mediatic content (Becker, Gambaro, and Ramos 2017). ‘The purpose of this essay is to proposc examples of where and how the AD methodology can be applied. By using samples extracted from the two radio markets — Brazil and UK ~ it is expected to demonstrate how AD may help in the planning of radio programmes and interfaces in different contexts. We part from the assumption that the examples given are conditioned by institutional discourses of radio, but due to constraints ‘of space the observations of the historical processes of institutionalisation will be reduced. By differentiating roles assumed by individuals that compose the radio audience, the workfiow helps to plan programmes that can, at the same time, correspond to insttutionalised forms of radio and question the established status quo of production and constmption. In the following chapter, the AD methodology is briefly defined, Following, the examples are presented to show the AD current known limitations and possibilit Methodology — The Audiovisual Design ‘The AD considers four different main roles assumed by individuals while getting involved with mediatic content: Audience, Synthesiser, Modifier, Producer, and the enhanced role Player. The graphic workflow (Fig. 1) is depicted in the model of ‘sets’ so one group of individuals may be understood to be contained by the previous. Four Lines of Design connect these sets and promote the change of role: Content, Identity, Motivation and Experience (Becker, Gambaro, and Ramos 2017). The Line of Content refers to the sound or video production and the interfaces? through which the individual will access and consume it. The Line of Identity covers how the individuals create meaning through the content; how they personally relate to the message provided and how the content gives substance to the private construction of the self The Line of Motivation, on the other hand, refers to the reasons, actions and tools used by the individuals to project their self-identity to others, seeking for legitimation within a group. We may talk about the motives to engage in a collaborative activity. Finally, the Line af Experience refers to how a media system and its contents are appropriated by people; how the content and interfaces are experienced: learned, used and even modified by the individuals. Radio and Audiovisual Design 61 Graph 5-1: Audiovisual Design Workflow Source: Audiovisual Design Research Group A person can assume different roles, according to the moment oF the content: Audience: it refers to individuals who remain within the most basic activity spectrum (before they change into another role), being their relation to the content ‘passive” or ‘inert, They can be associated to the public that consume content in the Broadcast communication model (Jenkin, Ford, and Green, 2013). Their activities ate restricted to search, choose and watch or listen to content in any available platform, with sporadic commentary directed to the Producer in a private or semi-private manner. The products aiming people in this role must be delivered focusing the individual, the personal and private connections that a content may construct. Radio in particular exercises a “role in shaping our senses of pleasure and horror, its capacity to provide reassurance, guidance and advice alongside its creation of a significant sense of an ” (Bainbridge and Yates, 2013, 9), Therefore, the Line of Design should be that of dentiry, resulting in that individual meaning and memory are central concepts to be considered a Chapter Five by the Producer. The non-specific data from audience ratings and mumber of access to digital content are the main feedback to help the Producer measure the efficiency of the product, ‘Synthesiser: Google's vice-president Bradley Horowitz (2006) suggested the word ‘synthesisers’ to define people who might active participate in an interactive platform such as an internet forum, We are using this terminology toclassify who commentand share content, especially when available through social media, mostly audience members who feel comfortable to publicise their thoughts about the programme. The transformation from Audience to a Synthesiser occurs through the Line of Identity, but the Producer must bear in mind also the Line of Motivation. In other words, the individuals will use the show to construct not only their personal identities, but to connect to others in a social network — such as a fandom — or even to create an online “performed identity’. Also, the content of radio programme must not stand alone as something to be broadcast, it must also foresee ways of commenting and sharing by the audience. Of course, these activities can (and will) be spontaneously undertaken, but the Producer shall have alittle more control if they are predicted during the content design. The feedback to the Producer is, complemented by an analysis of the comments, the most shared content, the evaluations made (For instance, in fan blogs) ete. ‘Modifier: Thisis the group of individuals that appropriate and transform the content to express something about themselves. The over-engaged hardcore fans shall acquire competences to perform this role. The Producer rust be concerned with their Experience, since they must have some domain of tools o transform the content. There are proposed three activities of Modifiers, although it might be possible to nominate more: Remiving, the Improving and the Participation. The first one appropriates the content to create something new, connected or not to the original idea (e.g. memes, fan music videos, protest material, etc,). Iniproving, on the other hand, is ‘more valuable to Producers because the individuals use the original content to amend something they dislike about it, altering the original meaning or result of narrative (€.., fanfics, ‘recuts? of audio or vitco content, ci ‘The new significances implied by the transformed work is the feedback that will reach the Producer. We consider Participation when a person interacts with and transforms the show (live or recorded) while itis being ‘produced, thus altering the output and becoming a temporary co-producer’. Player: Itis nota separate role, but the small proportion of people inside each role who adopt the technology and have the competencies to basically put into test the totality of available tools. They can only be named in conjunction with the other group they belong. For instance, an Audience Player who is accessing an interactive sound software will listen to cach bit ‘of sound, explore everything within the interface, but will not share it with ‘or make comments to anybody. The Synthesiser-Player will engage with a transtnedia narrative by accessing every piece of information, by taking Radio and Audiovisual Design a part in every fandom activity, but won't transform or produce new content Gerived from the beloved one. Players are important in the AD workflow because they represent those who can test and provide a reliable response about novelties introduced with new technologies. Producer. the person or group of people, whether independent or linked to.amedia corporation, responsible for the design of the content. A Modifier ‘changes his or her role into Producer when they have means to make relatively independent content. The Producers must have the necessary competencies to analyse the set of data acquired from audience (ratings, personal evaluations, modifications tothe content and its meanings, ete), 0 they can alter ongoing shows, or correct the structures of future prodiuetions. ‘They also must master, individually or as a group, not only the content, but the software and interfaces that will enable the content to reach the audicnee. ‘The two arrows atthe bottom of the graphic represent how the Audience Studies and HCI observe the development of an interactive production. The first one refers to the use of tools from HCI to develop audiovisual content, while the other is connected to how audiences use the content (the attributed meanings, the cultural appropriations, the symbolie values). ‘The tools and methodologies from the Audience Studies are most commonly associated with current, average productions. The reading of audience ratings determines format of shows and broadcast outputs in accordance to their relative success or failure. However, considering the

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