Overview

A century ago, the emergence of radio, along with organized systems of broadcasting, sparked a global fascination with the ‘wonder’ of sound transmission and reception. The thrilling experience of tuning in to the live sounds of this new medium prompted strong affective responses in its listeners. This book introduces a new concept of radiophilia, defined as the attachment to, or even a love of radio. Treating radiophilia as a dynamic cultural phenomenon, it unpacks the various pleasures associated with radio and its sounds, the desire to discover and learn new things via radio, and efforts to record, re-experience, and share radio. Surveying 100 years of radio from early wireless through to digital audio formats like podcasting, the book engages in debates about fandom, audience participation, listening experience, material culture, and how media relate to affect and emotions.

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9781501374975

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Reviews

Carolyn Birdsall has provided a brilliant and extremely original way of understanding the affect and emotional engagement with radio, at the intersection of media cultural history, cultural studies, fan and sound studies. The book offers a refined analysis of the different forms of affection towards radio and provides a new key to understanding the social uses of radio. No scholar had ever written such an accurate analysis and such a thick description of how we love, know, save and share radio. * Tiziano Bonini, Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Siena, Italy *

An inspiring example of how to resist entrenched narratives. Birdsall’s study issues a rallying cry for work that is intermedial and interdisciplinary, crossing boundaries of geography and history in order to love radio better. * Sound Studies * Carolyn Birdsall has provided a brilliant and extremely original way of understanding the affective and emotional engagement with radio at the intersection of media cultural history, cultural studies, fan and sound studies. The book offers a refined analysis of the different forms of affection towards radio and provides a new key to understanding the social uses of radio. No scholar has ever written such an accurate analysis or comprehensive description of how we love, know, save and share radio. * Tiziano Bonini, Associate Professor of Sociology of culture and communication, University of Siena, Italy * Ranging from the collection of merchandise to the conservation of infrastructure, Radiophilia is a brilliant analysis of how radio matters to people. Detailing how affective practices have moved between professional broadcasters, archivists and listeners, and how crossover fandom has connected radio and music fans, this book is itself a superb bridging of radio/fan studies. Carolyn Birdsall skilfully explores the material, multisensorial and intermedial dimensions of radiophilia: any reader interested in radio’s history, preservation and present-day energy will find a lot to love here. * Matt Hills, Professor of Fandom Studies, University of Huddersfield, UK * Radiophilia provides an original and compelling investigation of how radio – as a medium, a practice, an idea, an object of desire, an institution – has entered into our lives along a shifting variety of axes across the last hundred years, changing the way we both experience and respond to the world around us. A wonderful addition to the field. * Michele Hilmes, Professor Emerita of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA *

Carolyn Birdsall has provided a brilliant and extremely original way of understanding the effect and emotional engagement with radio at the intersection of media cultural history, cultural studies, fan and sound studies. The book offers a refined analysis of the different forms of affection towards radio and provides a new key to understanding the social uses of radio. No scholar has ever written such an accurate analysis or thick description of how we love, know, save and share radio. * Tiziano Bonini, Associate Professor of Sociology of culture and communication, University of Siena, Italy * Ranging from the collection of merchandise to the conservation of infrastructure, Radiophilia is a brilliant analysis of how radio matters to people. Detailing how affective practices have moved between professional broadcasters, archivists and listeners, and how crossover fandom has connected radio and music fans, this book is itself a superb bridging of radio/fan studies. Carolyn Birdsall skilfully explores the material, multisensorial and intermedial dimensions of radiophilia: any reader interested in radio’s history, preservation and present-day energy will find a lot to love here. * Matt Hills, Professor of Fandom Studies, University of Huddersfield, UK * Radiophilia provides an original and compelling investigation of how radio – as a medium, a practice, an idea, an object of desire, an institution – has entered into our lives along a shifting variety of axes across the last hundred years, changing the way we both experience and respond to the world around us. A wonderful addition to the field. * Michele Hilmes, Professor Emerita of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA *

Author Information

Carolyn Birdsall is Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her publications include Nazi Soundscapes (2012) and “Listening to the Archives” (2019, ed. with Viktoria Tkaczyk). She currently leads the research project TRACE (Tracking Radio Archival Collections in Europe, 1930–1960), funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

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