Radio, someone still loves you! Talkback radio and community emergence during disasters

Abstract

This article explores talkback radio programmes' creation of community during disasters. It examines how community is formed by the contributions audience members make to talkback radio during natural disasters, thus probing beyond the instrumental value of providing information on air as a disaster is unfolding. Normative theories of crisis communication situate authorities as the regulators of information provision through controlled media channels to the public when disasters occur. This article suggests that talkback radio programmes present a challenge to normative models of communication and governance during disasters. The public use talkback programmes to distribute information directly to audiences with whom they identify, not only augmenting but also actively subverting the control authorities have over public communication. Such bottom-up coordinative activity is similar but not identical to the recent uses of social media in popular uprisings as talkback radio still provides a measure of access control and editing.