Speech presented at EBU Culture Group Plenary meeting, Berlin, 23 october 2009

1. Cultural Radio
changes trains
New platforms,
new technologies,
old audiences
EBU Culture Group
Plenary meeting
Berlin, 23 october 2009
Tiziano Bonini, Iulm University of Milan

2. Brecht Radio Theory revisited
An imaginary Brechtian road map for a 2.0 version
of cultural radio
I have always been fascinated by German radio history, by early debates on radiogenìe
(what is good to broadcast and what is not), by the theories of Arnheim (who wrote his book about radio
while in exile in Italy), Benjamin and Brecht.
Here in Berlin, in 1927, radio producer Walter Ruttmann made the first radio documentary,
“Weekend – symphony of a great city”.
While preparing this speech I thought I had to start from here, from Germany. So I discovered that Brecht
still has two or three interesting things to say about cultural radio and new media.
Drawing from his theories, I tried to organize today’s speech as an “imaginary Brechtian road map” for
the embodiment of new media into radio:
1) contents
2) listening platforms
3) interaction forms
Berlin, 23 oct 09

3. 1) Contents
A man who has something important to say but no one listening to him, has a hard life.
But even worst is the condition of listeners who don't find anything worth to be listened to
(Brecht, Radio Theory, 1927-1932)
Multiply contents
Digital (DAB/DAB+/Drm/streaming...whatever) radio: opportunity for carving different niches,
for serving different audiences and cultures.
Some examples:
- historical archive radio (drama channel)
- traditional art & culture channel
- young art & culture channel, made by young producers
- new drama channel
- user generated contents channel
- thematic music channel (classic, jazz, nu jazz...)
FOCUS on public radio’s unique contents (high quality music, drama, cultural debates) and
REPURPOSE them in different formats, on different platforms, at different times
CONCEIVE new programmes as multimedia projects of which the radio side
is (for the moment) still the predominant aspect but not the only one.
Berlin, 23 oct 09

4. 2) Listening platforms
Radio is an incredibly ancient tool, an antediluvian invention
(Brecht, Radio Theory, 1927)
“For all the changes they are making to distribution channels, the digital initiatives they
are developing and the creativity they are injecting into new programming formats, radio
operators must realize that adopting the virtues of the digital world implies a profound
and constantly evolving adaptive strategy. The new mediacosm requires radio to be a
vibrant participant, one which dynamically responds to the ever increasing options that
consumers have at their disposal”
(Pierre C. Bélanger, former New media director of CBC/Radio Canada)
Key word: ADAPT!
Listening experiences are becoming increasingly more personal and private
Multiply listening platforms in order to serve changing listening habits:
- empower podcasting and adapt radio contents to it (not just an mp3 copy of a radio broadcast; more
specialised podcasts)
- empower mobile phone radio listening and services (e.g. new version of iPod touch: radio rec and pause)
- empower radio website contents
Berlin, 23 oct 09

5. 3) interaction forms
Radio should shift from a means of distribution of contents to a real communication tool.
It should be able not only to transmit but also to receive, not only to let the audience listen to
something but also to let the listener speak, not only to isolate him, but also to link him to the others.
Let the listener provide contents to radio.
(Brecht, Radio Theory, 1932)
Multiply interaction forms
- empower social network usage
“I think that as people socialize, share information and collaboration in social network "spaces"
(Facebook, SharePoint, Domino, etc) and also have more real-time / near-time communication tools
(e.g., instant messaging, VoIP, XML feeds), the reliance on e-mail as the killer Collaboration 1.0 tool
will incrementally diminish over time (I'm talking years and years)”.
(Collaborative thinking Blog, 28 june 2007)
- empower sms interaction
- empower chat and comments on the web (e.g. Service public, France Inter)
Berlin, 23 oct 09

6. Berlin, 23 oct 09

7. CONCLUSION #1
Technology beats contents
Perhaps it could be said that I have devoted too much attention to technology.
You could argue that a good cultural radio producer should focus more on content quality
rather than on platforms and digital challenges. I think we should think about both, I think
we should ask ourselves what is radiogenic and what is not. In my opinion to be radiogenic
today is not only a matter of finding high quality contents, but it is above all a matter of
giving them a multimedia shape.
The question should be: how do I translate this content for radio, internet, podcasts, mobile phones?
You could argue that cultural radio audiences are more traditional than others, that their
average age is higher than in the case of other public channels.
However, you might be surprised to learn that podcasts of the third Italian channel, the public
station devoted to cultural issues, are among the most downloaded ones, because podcast
listening is very attentive and personal, and high quality cultural contents are ideally suited for
re-listening (radio drama could be revived by podcasts).
We should think of the cultural radio audience of tomorrow: a generation of people grown up
in the Internet era, the first BIT generation.
Traditional radio will not die, but it has to hybridize with new media.
Berlin, 23 oct 09

8. CONCLUSION #2
Technology serves contents
Example of the English listener on the Pyreneé
And when we cannot go home? When we are on the move, displaced by wars, politics
or just by the desire for a better life? We can, with our media, take something of home with us.
Secure in them we can dream.
(Roger Silverstone, Why study the media, 1999)
Drawing from Silverstone’s thoughts, my theory is that media provide users with a frame
within which they can feel, temporarily, at home. Among all media, radio is the one with the most
powerful potential for “domesticity”.
“Feeling at home” for me is not only feeling re-territorialized. When I listen to high quality music,
drama, debates and brilliant radio speakers that enrich my thoughts and social life I feel at
home, I feel that special sense of warmness, that kind of closeness that I experience when
I am with my friends and the people I love.
Let new media enrich this potential!
Berlin, 23 oct 09