UK Radio Research Articles

Reversing the tradition of the boy player: Female actors playing male children on British radio

Four hundred years ago, boy actors played the female characters on the British stage, but when UK radio was established a century ago, it was often the other way around: women played the boys. This continued almost until the turn of the millennium but has been a largely hidden history, with many of the actresses billed in such a way as to not reveal their gender. This article argues that these vocal performances are a specific adaptation technique and particularly focuses on its use in BBC Radio adaptations of Shakespeare plays. By examining contemporary accounts and existing audio recordings, it establishes what these women sounded like and the reaction of critics to their portrayals. It also compares these female performances in boys’ roles with productions where genuine children were used, exploring why producers frequently chose adult women over young boys to play these parts and why the public appears to have accepted their voices in these roles. This unacknowledged tradition of acting has taken place for generations in an organization where cross-gender casting in adult Shakespearean roles is very rare. This article reclaims these roles for the women who played them.

‘Actually given’ versus ‘presented as given’ and ‘actually new’ versus ‘presented as new’

Abstract This paper considers the relevance of various approaches to the study of ‘Given’ and ‘New’ to a number of practical problems: complaints from listeners to UK radio programmes that presenters place emphasis on the wrong words; inaudibility of openings of utterances in radio news bulletins; and ambiguity of pronouns. Approaches to ‘Given’ and ‘New’ to be discussed include those whose concerns are with intonation (e.g., Halliday & Matthiessen 2014), those who pay attention to definiteness/indefiniteness in the nominal group (e.g., Martin 1992), and those who are more concerned with what is in the minds of hearers and readers (e.g., Prince 1981; Lambrecht 1994). The underlying questions that are being investigated are: How free are speakers and writers to assign ‘Given’ or ‘New’ status to entities? Are there constraints on what they can do intonationally, or with definiteness, or with pronouns?

The Listening Project as caring public talk

Media discourse scholars have recently been giving much attention to the “belligerent” turn in contemporary nonfiction broadcasting, and this has been treated as the novelty against a tradition of sociability and formalities designed to keep tempers under control. This new belligerence is “synthetic”, a matter of organised performance professionally designed and managed to accomplish a diverse range of communicative goals, rather than emotional leakage and failures of anger management. Against this trend, The Listening Project (UK Radio 4, 2012-present) is interesting as a national radio series which is remarkably caring in its ethos, despite being a relatively new “public participation” format rather than professional or expert performance. This account show that the sincere “niceness” of the series is also “synthetic”, as an accomplishment of the broadcasters and the participants together.

‘Swansong’ and ‘ Losing Yourself’: meditations on life, death and the liminal

This article considers two very personal audio documentaries that reflect on love and identity via the liminal space between life and death. Swansong, by award-winning UK radio producer Hana Walker-Brown, is set in a hospital, as Hana and her father bear witness to her grandmother’s dying and celebrate her joyful life. Losing Yourself, by US producer Ibby Caputo, is a revelatory account of dealing with a cancer diagnosis. Swansong is a picture of a person fondly remembered but Hana elevates it beyond eulogy into a multi-layered meditation. Her grandmother Joan’s voice flutters in and out of ethereal recreations of the jazz hall parties of her youth. Waves of drone and sparkle transition us from one spirit world to the next. Rhythms are made of Joan’s breath, bringing us back to the body; to earth. In Losing Yourself, Ibby Caputo interweaves audio diaries and retrospective narration to create a vivid picture of a young person coping with the unexpected threat of imminent death. An audio diary objectively documents and leaves ample subjective space for the listener. And for that authenticity it remains one of the more powerful forms in radio. Whereas Swansong builds its experience through layers, the emotional intensity of Losing Yourself comes from its bareness. We are invited into an eavesdropping experience made all the more uncomfortable because of the stripped-down production of the piece: there are no music swells to escape into, no montages to distract. When all is stripped to the bone and made bare, we might indeed see/hear ourselves for who we actually are.

‘Swansong’ and ‘ Losing Yourself’: meditations on life, death and the liminal

This article considers two very personal audio documentaries that reflect on love and identity via the liminal space between life and death. Swansong, by award-winning UK radio producer Hana Walker-Brown, is set in a hospital, as Hana and her father bear witness to her grandmother’s dying and celebrate her joyful life. Losing Yourself, by US producer Ibby Caputo, is a revelatory account of dealing with a cancer diagnosis.

Classic FM’s place within the tradition of UK classical music radio 1992–1995

Abstract This article considers whether the UK’s classical music radio station, Classic FM that launched in September 1992, should be regarded as having been during the mid-1990s within the tradition of classical music broadcasting on UK radio established by the BBC. The history of classical music radio in the United Kingdom since 1945 was characterized by a series of efforts to widen the franchise, to attract a continuing middlebrow and middle-class audience alongside more elite programming. The introduction of Classic FM, happening at much the same time as BBC Radio 3 was recast in order to attract a wider audience, comprises the most recent such attempt. Drawing on a new database of programme output, and supported by audience data, the changes introduced by Radio 3 from the beginning of the 1990s are shown to be a deliberate attempt to create a more diverse network, soundly based in the established canonic repertoire of classical music radio, but willing to test of the margins of that repertoire. The history of the arrival of Classic FM shows that it came about in a relatively unplanned way. Far from being a natural progression from the earlier Independent Local Radio services, it arrived almost by chance into the broadcasting ecology. The station’s output was dominated by relatively undemanding sequence programming, but was based on the same central canonic repertoire as Radio 3, with Classic FM striking downwards towards greater popularity, whereas the BBC station ascertained upwards towards presenting this genre of music at times as high art. Nevertheless, the two occupied substantially the same cultural ground, and Classic FM notably displayed programming ambition outside peak times, placing it firmly within the longer tradition of UK radio. The common ground shared by the two stations is further demonstrated by the similarity of their audience profiles, and the extent of shared listening, with one million listeners tuning in to both stations each week in the mid-1990s. Classic FM and Radio 3 between them reawakened the substantial middle-class, middlebrow audience for classical music radio in the United Kingdom. It is correct to locate Classic FM within the continuing tradition of British classical music radio, and to regard it as comprising and extending UK public service radio broadcasting accordingly.

The detection of cheating in multiple choice examinations

Cheating in examinations is acknowledged by an increasing number of organizations to be widespread. We examine two different approaches to assess their effectiveness at detecting anomalous results, suggestive of collusion, using data taken from a number of multiple-choice examinations organized by the UK Radio Communication Foundation. Analysis of student pair overlaps of correct answers is shown to give results consistent with more orthodox statistical correlations for which confidence limits as opposed to the less familiar “Bonferroni method” can be used. A simulation approach is also developed which confirms the interpretation of the empirical approach.

A Survey of Iranian EFL Teachers’ and Learners’ Perceptions Toward Authentic Listening Materials at University Level

This study intends to deal with attitudes of teachers and learners toward authentic listening materials at pre- intermediate level. Studies have indicated the positive effect of authentic listening materials on motivation and listening comprehension ability in learners of English as a foreign language (Nuttall, 1996; Peacock, 1997; Miller, 2005; Field, 2008). It focused on EFL teachers and students at pre intermediate proficiency level. Participants included 60 students, from both gender; male and female university students studying at Rodaki Higher Institute Education in the fields of: Accounting, Computer Engineering and Commercial Management and also 30 teachers who taught listening at Rodaki Higher Institute Education. The students were randomly selected and assigned to two groups. Then, Oxford Placement test as a standard test was administered to the participant in order to determine their proficiency level. Then, the participants were divided into two groups of control and experiment. The experiment group received the listening materials taken from UK radio program whereas the other group received simplified listening materials taken from the authentic listening materials. Afterwards, to be sure that they know what authentic materials are, they were exposed to both of related materials, then the questionnaire was distributed among them, the results taken from the questionnaire showed that the participants of this study prefer authentic materials and have positive attitudes toward using them. By the same token, the analysis of teachers’ questionnaire also showed their satisfaction with authentic listening materials. These findings can have implications for language learning/teaching, and curriculum development paving the way for educational policy makers, teachers and learners to introduce authentic listening materials to EFL learners at pre- intermediate proficiency level.

UK's radio telescopes face closure

UK's radio telescopes face closure

The Future of journalism in the advanced democracies

Contents: Part 1 The Key Issues Facing Journalism in the Advanced Democracies: Introduction, Peter J. Anderson (with Geoff Ward) The changing world of journalism, Peter J. Anderson and Anthony Weymouth (with Geoff Ward) Competing models of journalism and democracy, Peter J. Anderson Challenges for journalism, Peter J. Anderson. Part 2 UK Case Studies: UK national newspapers, Geoff Ward UK regional and local newspapers, Julie Freer UK radio journalism, John Drury Online journalism, FranA ois Nel, Mike Ward and Alan Rawlinson UK television news, Robert Beers and Paul Egglestone The changing face of sports journalism and its relationship with hard news, Guy Hodgson. Part 3 Comparative Perspectives from the Other Large Advanced Democracies: Journalism in Japan, Yoshikazu Yada Journalism in Germany, Knut Hickethier Jounalism in the United States of America, Heinz Brandenburg Jounalism in Italy, Paolo Mancini Jounalism in France, Raymond Kuhn Conclusions, Peter J. Anderson Appendix - Edited interview with Helen Boaden, Head of BBC News and Current Affairs, January 4, 2006, John Drury Index.

Chronic persistent cough in the community: a questionnaire survey

BackgroundChronic cough is a common symptom which causes significant levels of morbidity. It is becoming increasingly well characterised by research taking place in specialist cough clinics, where successful treatment rates are high. However, there is a paucity of data regarding the symptom complex of chronic cough in the community. This report details the results of a postal questionnaire survey sent to individuals requesting further information on chronic cough.Methods856 chronic cough questionnaires were sent out to members of the public who requested an information sheet following a national UK radio broadcast. Information regarding demography, history of cough, previous treatment and physical, psychological and social effects of the cough was elicited.Results373 completed questionnaires were returned. Mean age was 65.3 years (SD 12.0, range 9–88 years). 73% were female and 2% current smokers. Median duration of cough was 6.5 years. 66% had no other coexisting respiratory diagnosis, whilst 24% reported asthma. Of those who responded, 91% had consulted a general practitioner regarding the cough and of them, 85% had been prescribed some sort of treatment. 61% had seen at least one hospital specialist. Commonly reported associated physical symptoms included breathlessness (55%), wheeze (37%), fatigue (72%) and disturbed sleep (70%). Incontinence occurred in 55% of women. Similarly, the majority reported psychological effects such as anger or frustration (83%), anxiety (69%) and depression (55%). 64% felt that the cough interfered with their social life.ConclusionChronic cough causes a high level of morbidity in the community, which results in a correspondingly high rate of healthcare utilisation. Demography and symptomatology seems to be similar to that reported from specialist centres, but successful treatment of the cough was uncommon, despite a high number of medical consultations in both primary and secondary care. If understanding of this debilitating but eminently treatable condition is enhanced, management of chronic cough will improve and many patients will be helped.

Surviving hurricane Wilma

Surviving hurricane Wilma

The Development of DAB Digital Radio in the UK

This article examines the cultural, economic and political pressures and influences that determined the adoption of the ‘European’ technical system of digital radio in the UK. Debates over the potential of the new technology to expand both programming content and the range of individuals, companies and organizations with access to radio broadcasting were curtailed in favour of a bureaucratic and technocratic approach to media policy and a desire by the European Commission to establish a new product for the consumer electronics market that would be developed and made in Europe. The article shows that the development of the new system resulted in a ‘forced marriage’ between the BBC and the commercial sector and that the convergence between DAB and other ‘platforms’ has profound implications for the relationship between public service broadcaster, government and industry. Furthermore, in order to encourage the larger commercial radio groups to commit themselves to the new technology, they were granted new and unprecedented control over content regulation. This had the effect of further consolidating the hold of dominant interests in the UK radio sector and stifling new initiatives and approaches to the medium. Finally, the article analyses the extent to which DAB digital radio has succeeded in establishing itself in the UK media landscape against strong competition from other, converging technologies.

Teleology on Television?

Wildlife and nature programmes are a popular and profitable genre. To test an impression that these programmes’ references to evolution tend to be teleological, the authors collected a sample of UK radio and television (both terrestrial and cable/satellite) output over a two-month period. Analysis suggests that they fall into seven subgenres but the very high-cost ‘blue chip’ and, conversely, the supposedly cheap and cheerful ‘presenterled’ categories accounted for over half the programmes. Counterintuitively, the most expensive and elaborate programmes seem to be most inclined to treat evolution teleologically. By contrast, the less respected presenter-led subgenre seems to allow more ‘space’ for explanatory complexity. We argue that, as in other subgenres, this is because the assumed audience demand for strong narrative drive can be met by borrowing from other programme genres, action movies and whodunits, for example.

US Voices on UK Radio

This article explores the reasons for the frequent use of US voices for station identifications and promotional announcements on youth-oriented commercial radio throughout the UK. Interviews with radio station executives established that US accents are used in order to distinguish station promotional announcements from other audio material, to evoke associations with US popular culture, and because they are a historical remnant of the early days of British `pirate' radio and commercial broadcasting. US accents also bypass the class distinctions carried by UK accents. Finally, an aggressive US style of vocal delivery has taken on glamorous associations. This `international pop speak' indexes youth, modernity and contemporary popular culture. The study considers the implications of the use of `international pop speak' on UK radio in terms of concerns about the consequences of international media flows, and concludes that British traditions are not endangered by the US influence on broadcasting.

Developing a Location Database for the UK Radio Data System – Traffic Messaging Channel Service

This paper deals with the development of a location database compatible for use with the proposed Radio Data System – Traffic Messaging Channel for Great Britain. It looks at the needs for such a database and the technical difficulties that have been overcome in developing a cost-effective, automatic, production system that provides the most detailed roads location database in Great Britain.

Letter from Europe UK radio & television intelligence sources

Letter from Europe UK radio & television intelligence sources

The chilbolton 25m steerable aerial

The design of the UK Radio & Space Research Station's 25 m-diameter steerable aerial at Chilbolton incorporates many special features which relate to the requirements for radiowave-propagation research.