Radio books

The Radio Handbook

Carole Fleming
Routledge 3rd edition 2009
£24.99
ISBN-13: 978-0415445085

Radio Reader

Michele Hilmes and Jason Luiglio (eds)
Routledge 2001
£27.99
570pp
ISBN-13: 978-0415928212

On Air

Martin Shingler and Cindy Wieninga
Arnold 1998
£19.99
189pp
ISBN-13: 978-0340652312

A Concise History of British Radio

Sean Street
Kelly Publications 2002
£10.95
155pp
ISBN-13: 978-1903053140

It is claimed that the radio audience is once again larger than the TV audience, and this is certainly so if one considers the world population. Yet the study of radio is very much the Cinderella of media studies. However this situation is changing, at least at the University and College levels.

In the USA there has always been a concern with the electronic media, especially in the Mid Western universities. This is not surprising since the early development of radio in America was to a great extent pioneered by these colleges as part of their agricultural outreach commitment.

In the UK during the last ten years there has been an upsurge in radio studies at a number of tertiary institutions especially in radio drama at the University of Kent, Staffordshire, Bournemouth, City of London, Central Lancashire, in Scotland, Stirling and Bell College to name some of the most active. To a degree each of these tends to specialise. Drama at Canterbury, History at Preston, International Comparison at Stirling, and so on.

There is now an active association of those concerned – the Radio Studies Network with its own website and which helps to organise conferences including international conferences. Recent conferences in the UK include one on History at the University of Central Lancashire, and a fascinating one on Sound at the University of Staffordshire.

There is, therefore, a case to be made that radio as a recognisable study is gaining increasing acceptance in colleges and universities, in particular at the post graduate level. It is rather a different matter at school level. There are perhaps a number of reasons for this. For the students it is not as glamorous a subject as film/TV, and few young people listen to speech radio and are aware of, or are interested in what it does. There are of course exceptions, but in the main the local commercial radio fm station, perhaps Radio 1 and for the sports enthusiast Five Live is the limit of their familiarity with radio. It does not feature prominently in many curricula and such modules, as there are, tend to become rapidly dated, Although much cheaper than video equipment comparatively few institutions are as well equipped for sound. Also until relatively recently there has been a paucity of texts and resource material.

One of the attractive and interesting aspects of radio/sound is that it can overlap with aspects of so many other courses; for example with literature, drama, music and current affairs. The difficulty is that this strength in a way diminishes its identity as a separate ‘examinable’ subject/module. There is, indeed, a case to be made that by having a place for radio/audio in the schedule it can provide a stimulating and participatory introduction to the study of, and appreciation of, the basics of communication. Whilst there is still a shortage of resource packs for use in school courses there is, as already indicated, an increasing number of useful source books.

There has been, for a long time the standard books by MacLeish and Crissell. The latter is possibly the more useful, especially when the new and updated edition becomes available. Carole Fleming writes with the advantage of her practical experience, and for Scottish schools including examples of Scottish stations, but it, too, is rather dated even if it claims to be a revised edition.

As a brief introduction to the history of British Broadcasting, British Radio 1922-2002 is a good clear introduction.

In many ways the best and a convincingly substantial work is On Air by Martin Shingler and Cindy Wieringa. Cindy Wieringa’s case studies of working in Australia and Hong Kong give an added dimension to this study, but may seem irrelevant at a school level, but there is more than enough otherwise to justify this being in every school library.

Lastly, but designed for and more relevant to an American readership is A Radio Reader edited by Michele Hilmes and Lovigillo. This may not be relevant for the average British student but it is most stimulating collection for any and all teachers of radio broadcasting.

(John Gray worked in the GPOFilm Unit in the late 1930s and later at the BBC. His film, West Highland (1960), about the last days of steam, has been issued as a DVD (along with Night Mail) by Panamint Cinema.)

http://www.mediaed.org.uk/content/view/110/133/