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Back to the Future MIT’s Henry Jenkins Teaches Radio’s Lessons for the
Digital Age Being in Broadcasting today is like being in the typewriter business 15 years ago – at least according to many of the "Digerati", the promoters and prophets of the New Media. They expect the Internet’s recent exponential growth to continue. Participatory online communications, they say, will make broadcasting and other mass media obsolete. But Henry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, disagrees. He believes such speculation about the future overlooks the past. The Internet is more likely to co-exist than to conquer. For Jenkins, if you want to look ahead to the Internet Age, look back at when radio was the "New Media". Recently, he put the study of the History of Radio back into MIT’s curriculum. Understanding radio’s evolution puts today’s "Digital Revolution" in a very different light. . Just after the start of the 20th Century, predictions about radio could come out of the current issue of WIRED magazine. "Hugo Gurnbeck , the Great Prophet of Amateur Radio, was saying much of what others are saying today – Global Communities reaching out, transforming society," says Jenkins. In this initial phase, radio was a participatory medium. Idea of having a receiver without a transmitter seemed odd. Proponents proclaimed that this inherently democratic medium gave voice to everyday people. Centralized media would be swept away. Of course, that’s not what happened. Radio’s impact was enormous – but not as anticipated. Despite obvious parallels, Jenkins is amazed how radio’s transformation into a broadcast media is all-but-forgotten today. "This history has been completely erased from popular memory – and from the debates over New Media". Jenkin’s comparative studies put the present confusion into context. "There’s never been a time in Human History when there’s only one media in play. Media’s always been used in relation to each other. I envision a world where the Internet doesn’t compete or displace (broadcasting), but co-exists with it". This makes for what he calls a "cultural convergence". Broadcasting's place in this "convergence" depends on how broadcasters take advantage of the inherent qualities their particular medium. While newspapers and television have seen ominous drops in viewers and readers, radio remains robust. "We engage with radio in an entirely different way. My son’s often online and listening to radio simultaneously. Also, you drive and listen. Radio is something you do in relation to other activities". Portability, too, will differentiate radio from webcasting for some time, though not forever. "My friends in the (MIT) Media Lab are developing wearable computers. But we’re not going to be using those anytime soon. We’ll keep our pocket radios instead. There’s still a lot of value to the airwaves – at least for the foreseeable future". Perhaps radio’s most important quality is its local connection. "The crucial thing for radio is thinking through the local/national nexus. I have a Bosnian student who listens to a Bosnian station on the Internet. Because it’s local, yet internationally available, those kinds of relationships are possible." Local programming is the key to radio’s future? Today’s economies created by automation and national programming seem irresistible - today. But what happens when "netcasters" start competing head-to-head? "Do you really need a local top 40 radio station, or can a net-based one take its place? The only difference is the local elements injected. I may be better served by some of these CD jukeboxes on the Web. Unless the local station offers a compelling reason, why not?" That leaves radio programmers with a major problem: how to justify (much less generate a return on) investments in local programming? The answer, according to Jenkins, is two-fold. First, "localization" offers something listeners within the transmitter’s range can’t find elsewhere on the Net. This defensive strategy fends off intrusions into current market share. But savvy marketers will also use local programming to go on the offensive, looking for new opportunities via webcasting. This differs depending on format. As a news/talk "junkie", Jenkens knows firsthand that "becoming the voice of the local community can create an ancillary market on a national level. I find it’s interesting to survey talk stations after major new events. One website I connect to has links to some 40 local talk stations nationwide. You can sample across the country to get a taste, and create a national picture after looking at the local response". Music formats, too, can turn regional "flavor" into a national taste. According to Jenkins, the managerial challenge is finding the local/national connections. "Can you do some of this programming in the local area with a local constituency that’s distinctive enough, regionally identifiable enough, so that it’s salable on the web?" An example would be niche markets for Zydeco or Polka music. They aren’t enough to support viable, full-time on air formats. But a specialty program broadcast a few hours weekly can translate into an attractive websites. The shift in programming also impacts sales. "As you move to the web, it makes sense to look for national advertisers – or local advertisers looking for a national presence. For example, a maple syrup company in Vermont could do very well" with this broadcast/webcast hybrid. Some Internet advocates would argue against radio’s local edge. For them, the Net is the "ultimate localization". But there is a difference between local and individual. Jenkins points out that broadcasting can build consensus and community. "Narrowcasting" tends to serve individual interests and tastes. "If we keep heading towards a more personalized media, we’re creating a Tower of Babel society where no one understands each other because we’ve destroyed the cement, the social glue that holds communities together". With all the speculation and uncertainly, Jenkins’ sees Radio’s past as proof that there is still much history ahead. "Radio has changed its core function, and even its status, multiple times in its history. It’s adaptable to survive and readjust to whatever changes. Even when wearable computers are ubiquitous, broadcasting will continue to be important". *** |
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