Liveness and Recording in the Media: 8 (Key Concerns in Media Studies) - Softcover

Crisell, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0230282229 ISBN 13: 9780230282223

Publisher: Palgrave, 2012

Synopsis

We think of radio and television as live media. Yet much of their output is pre-recorded. And if we value liveness so highly, why do we often consume their output some time after it has been broadcast? This book provides some unexpected answers about the meaning of 'liveness' and 'recording', the complexity of their relationship, and their significance not just for television and radio but the popular music which is radio's mainstay.

Written in a clear and lively style, the book sets television and radio in the context of other media and traces the history of liveness and recording. To the relationship between these qualities it ascribes the rise of the serial programmes that characterise so much broadcasting. Citing well-known examples of broadcast output and making extensive use of BBC 1 as a case-study, it supports its arguments by taking illustrations and parallels from theatre, philosophical writing and even poetry.

About this title

About the Author

ANDREW CRISELL is Professor of Broadcasting Studies at Sunderland University, UK.

From the Back Cover

Radio and television are often thought of and valued as live media. The great innovation and distinctive appeal of radio and television was its introduction of liveness into mass communication. So why does so much broadcast output consist of programmes that are pre-recorded and/or time-shifted - consumed by the audience after they have been transmitted?

Andrew Crisell considers why, despite the value we place on liveness, we so often consume pre-recorded media. He also provides some unexpected answers about the meaning of 'liveness' and 'recording'; their significance, not only for television and radio but also for popular music, and the complexity of the relationship between liveness and recording.

This engaging discussion includes diverse and well-known examples of broadcast output such as the1954 television adaptation of George Orwell's novel 1984, which was performed twice within a single week, Skyping on The Graham Norton Show and the television news coverage of the Bloody Sunday inquiry, and provides an in-depth case study of BBC One. Setting television and radio in the context of other media, it traces the history of liveness and recording, ascribing the rise of the serial to the relationship between the two.

Andrew Crisell is Professor of Broadcasting Studies at the Media Centre, University of Sunderland. He edited Radio: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, vols 1-3 (2008) and is the author of A Study of Modern Television: Thinking Inside the Box (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), More than a Music Box: Radio Cultures and Communities in a Multimedia World (2004), An Introductory History of British Broadcasting, Second Edition (2002) and Understanding Radio, Second Edition (1994).

Edition details

• Publisher: Palgrave
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0230282229
• ISBN 13: 9780230282223
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128