Bit
1 | |
Introduction
Talk radio is the term used to refer to those radio programmes that allow members of the public to participate in on-air debate and discussion. It allows the audience an audible presence on-air and so creates at least an illusion of access to the airwaves. In this paper I draw on my PhD research (O'Sullivan, 2000), a qualitative case study of an Irish talk radio show The Gerry Ryan Show (go to www.2fm.ie to hear today’s show). A key feature of The Gerry Ryan Show is the access it offers to the audience. The audience are continuously addressed by the host as potential callers. Before nearly every advertising or music break he repeats his ‘catch-phrase’ “1850 85 22 22 the RyanLine is Open”.
|
Bit
2 | |
The major component of the show is caller’s stories about themselves and their everyday lives. Topics cover both mundane and extraordinary aspects of everyday experience. Routine activities like going to the supermarket or the dentist, driving and getting up in the morning are all packaged into entertaining stories by callers to the show. This involves the ‘entrepreneurship of the self’, that is monitoring one’s own everyday experience for stories suitable for The Gerry Ryan Show, getting through to the show and successfully selling the story to the production team, and finally performing the story live on-air when called upon to do so. These stories also include more bizarre topics, for example “my pet is crazy... he eats concrete slabs” and “I was abducted by aliens”, stories which are easier to perform.
|
Bit
3 | |
Many commentators have argued that talk radio performs an important democratic function because of the access offered to ‘ordinary’ citizens who can participate in on-air debate and discussion (see for example Wright, Crittenden, Hofstetter et al, Annenberg Public Policy Center). The resultant forum has been described as ‘perhaps, the epitome of participatory democracy’ (Rehm 70). More recently a public sphere framework has been used by some writers to understand the possible contribution made to democratic debate and discussion by talk radio and talk television shows (see for example O’Sullivan, 1997; Page and Tannenbaun, Livingstone and Lunt).
|
Bit
4 | |
Habermas (158-62) identifies a move from a culture-debating to a culture-consuming public where involvement replaces discussion. The public sphere becomes a mass and people withdraw into private sphere (Habermas 159). The “transmogrified” public sphere becomes a sphere of cultural consumption. Subjectivity is shaped by leisure activities rather than debate and discussion in the private sphere. Critical discussion gives way to “exchanges about tastes and preferences” (Habermas 171). The press no longer transmits “the rational-critical debate of private people assembled into a public” but shapes the debate from the outset (Habermas 188). The result is a “staged display”; “even arguments are transmuted into symbols to which again one cannot respond by arguing but only by identifying with them” (Habermas 206).
|
Bit
5 | |
The Gerry Ryan Show exhibits many features of a transmogrified public sphere. Rather than communication and understanding there is performance and publicity; appearance is more important than rational-critical debate. The audience are positioned as, and respond as consumers rather than citizens. The production team limit and control access to The Gerry Ryan Show, despite the illusion of open access. Callers use The Gerry Ryan Show for self-presentation rather than any critical discussion of social and political issues. Performativity is a factor here, as in any public forum.
|
Bit
6 | |
The production team exercise control over the content of The Gerry Ryan Show in a number of ways. Topics are usually pre-defined rather than open-ended. Calls are pre-selected and there is limited access to the airways available. Getting on-air requires an understanding of the style of The Gerry Ryan Show, and orienting your contribution accordingly. A key issue is to be entertaining and to avoid being boring. Callers are aware of these requirements and are also aware of the constraints or limitations to the participation offered by the show. The power of the host is another key factor (see Moss and Higgins 1981, Moss and Higgins 1992, Liddicoat et al).
|
Bit
7 | |
Performative Aspect of Calling
All public sphere fora involve an audience. This holds whether you are talking about the bourgeois public sphere of the eighteenth century, or contemporary talk radio shows. Interaction involves the presentation of the self (Goffman). Callers to The Gerry Ryan Show orient to the transmogrified public sphere as an arena for self-presentation, that is as a stage. Goffman argues that individuals use both defensive and protective techniques to safeguard the impressions they give off. Goffman (43) also argues that in different circumstances individuals will be more or less concerned ‘to make an effective showing’. In relation to a public forum like The Gerry Ryan Show it would appear to be likely that an individual would be concerned about their on-air performance given the presence of a large audience.
| | | | |
Bit
8 | |
However a good performance is difficult. First of all the institutional nature of on-air talk means that there are external factors affecting the performance that are out of the individual’s control. The setting is ‘fixed’. For the majority of callers, going on-air is a new part that has to be performed. A concern about errors and mistakes is seen as central to the performance (Goffman 52). It is not surprising to find that, for some respondents, calling the show created anxiety. Callers were very aware of the public nature of their call to the show and calling was seen as potentially dangerous to the self.
You’re aware that other people are em listening to you [(yeah)] (…) so from that point of view it is intimidating. You’re not, you’re not always going to come across with the perfect English or express yourself as you would in a totally relaxed setting, you know [(uhum, uhum)] (…) you are afraid because you’re on national radio you are afraid that there are people listening to it that you do know [(uhum)] that you’re going to say something thick.
| | | | |
Bit
9 | |
Conclusion
The Gerry Ryan Show exhibits many features of a transmogrified public sphere. The audience are positioned as, and respond as consumers rather than citizens. The production team limit and control access to The Gerry Ryan Show, despite the illusion of open access. Callers use The Gerry Ryan Show for self-presentation rather than any critical discussion of social and political issues. Performativity is a factor here, as in any public forum.
| | | | |
Bit
10 | |
Talk radio can provide a unique space for audience participation. However talk shows exist primarily to attract and maintain large audiences. Market criteria require callers’ stories to be entertaining or they will not make it through the screening process. Callers have to monitor and survey their biographies for suitable material. Callers also have to know how to package them in the appropriate manner. I would argue that this limits the participation offered by talk radio.
| | | | |
Bit
11 | | Works Cited
Annenberg Public Policy Center. Call-In Political Talk Radio: Background, Content, Audiences, Portrayal in Mainstream Media under the direction of Joseph N. Capella, Joseph Turow and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, presented at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, California, 1996.
Crittenden, J. “Democratic Functions of the Open Mike Radio Forum.” Public Opinion Quarterly 35.2 (1971): 200-10.
Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life. London: Pelican, 1971
Habermas, Jurgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society translated by Thomas Burger. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1989.
Hofstetter, C.R., M.C. Donovan, M.R. Klauber, A. Cole, C.J. Huie and T. Yuasa. “Political Talk Radio: A Stereotype Reconsidered.” Political Research Quarterly 47.2 (1994): 467-79.
Liddicoat, Anthony, Susanne Dopke, Kristina Love and Anne Brown. “Presenting a point of view: Callers’ contributions to talkback radio in Australia.” Journal of Pragmatics 22 (1994): 139-56.
Livingstone, Sonia and Peter Lunt. Talk on Television: Audience Participation and Public Debate. London and New York: Routledge, 1994
Moss, Peter and Christine Higgins. “A Discourse Analysis of Talk-Back Radio: Some Cultural Implications.” Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 4 (1981): 32-47.
Moss, Peter and Christine Higgins. Sounds Real: Radio in Everyday Life. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1982.
O’Sullivan, Sara. “The Ryanline is Now Open.” pp. 167-90 in Mary J. Kelly and Barbara O’Connor (eds.) Media Audiences in Ireland: Power and Cultural Identity. Dublin: UCD Press, 1997.
O’Sullivan, Sara.Understanding Irish Talk Radio: A Qualitative Case Study of The Gerry Ryan Show. Unpublished PhD thesis, 2000.
Page, Benjamin I. and Jason Tannenbaum. “Populistic Deliberation and Talk Radio.” Journal of Communication, Spring (1996): 33-54.
Rehm, Diane. “Talking Over America’s Electronic Backyard fence.” pp. 69-73 in Edward C. Pease and Everette E. Dennis (eds.), Radio: The Forgotten Medium. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1995.
Wright, Anthony. Local Radio and Local Democracy: A Study in Political Education. London: IBA. 1983.
| | | | |
Bit
12 | | Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Sara O'Sullivan. "The Illusion of Consumer Participation: The Case of Talk Radio" M/C Reviews 25 Oct. 01. [your date of access] <http://www.media-culture.org.au/reviews/features/interactive/sosullivan.html>.
Chicago style:
Sara O'Sullivan, "The Illusion of Consumer Participation: The Case of Talk Radio," M/C Reviews 25 Oct. 01, <http://www.media-culture.org.au/reviews/features/interactive/sosullivan.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Sara O'Sullivan. (2001) The Illusion of Consumer Participation: The Case of Talk Radio. M/C Reviews 25 Oct. 01. <http://www.media-culture.org.au/reviews/features/interactive/sosullivan.html> ([your date of access]). | |
|
![[image]](http://www.2fm.ie/ryanshow/images/logo.gif){kind=logo}