Tag: radio

Community Arts Final Paper

Assignment Description

This 15 page case study research should extend a theoretical position articulated in a reading, and utilize an in-depth literature review to explore a question. With instructor approval, students will select a community arts organization, to research that addresses the question: How is theory applied in practice? The analysis should be grounded in one of the articles or approaches we study in class, or from the reference list (in other words, a published scholarly article or book), and provide examples from the program or organization you are analyzing. Students must clearly state a research question related to praxis, which is explored in the paper, and draw upon publications in established journals, books, and reports, as well as interview. It should clearly state why are you are analyzing this CBO, and contextual the organization or program (historically, or within a field of practice – ie, arts-based civic engagement, out of school time, creativity and aging, etc).

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to apply theory to practice, by examining the organization Youth Radio within the context of the youth arts, community cultural development and arts-based civic engagement fields. Youth Radio is a media production organization that trains youth in media literacy skills through work-based learning opportunities, but they do so much more than that. They help youth become active agents in the media by not only giving them access to media tools, but also the skills to leverage those tools. This is a process they refer to as converged literacy: the convergence of skills that help youth claim their right to participate in society and act as agents of their own lives. In order for Youth Radio to reach this goal, they have instilled a unique educational framework into their programming known as collegial pedagogy. This is the idea that youth and adults are not treated as teachers and students, but as colleagues with mutual respect and shared responsibility/authority. This paper looks at how Youth Radio uses collegial pedagogy to build trust between adults and youth and how that in turn fosters converged literacy. These methodoligies are described in this paper as a way to demonstrate how trust is integral to the community arts field.

Final Paper

Research Reading: Week 4

This past weekend I went to the What is Radio? Conference in Portland. I attended about 16 hours of panel presentations on a range of topics including: radio’s past, radio in India, community radio, college radio, radio education, radio theory, cultural representations in radio, news radio, new forms of radio, web radio, the difference between radio and audio and finally radio’s future. It was a lot to take in one weekend, but this conference will definitely be a shifting point in my career, though unfortunately not because I found a perfect fit for my interests in collaborative storytelling. In fact, this conference actually proved that I should not be looking into radio, or at least the classic radio paradigm. There was very little discussion of collaboration at this conference and it seems that there is a definite divide between broadcast transistor radio that favors the professional producer and podcasts that can be easily made by community members. Since my interest is in community cultural development, I a more interested in using the tool of audio recording to create projects like storytelling podcasts. I did not meet or hear of anyone involved in this kind of work at the conference. Most of the presenters were either academics who study radio or radio hosts who’ve worked in news. There was some cross over with community radio and web radio, but those weren’t storytelling based. Thus, while I don’t know if I’ll be using any of the presentations directly for my research, I do think this conference has shaped how I see the radio field. I now know where not to look and that my interests in storytelling community projects could be an emergent form of radio, but not generally supported by the field. I also heard some ideas that I think will shape how I approach looking at collaborative projects:

  • Community radio is focused more on locality than quality: “Production values don’t matter in the face of connection to local community”
  • Western society tends to value performance of participation above all else regardless if people are listening – Kate Lacey
  • It is difficult to translate small localized community radio to an urban landscape
  • Social media can be used as a way to create dialogue and reciprocity from radio broadcasts
  • Transistor radio is still more accessible to a larger audience than internet radio
  • Increased autonomy in production has lead to more competition and less distribution: too crowded to hear
  • Podcasts are seen as disruptive media (fragmented, delayed); Live broadcast radio as public good (collective, simultaneous)
  • Younger generation does not see streaming audio as radio although they are listening to the same content (NOT ME)
  • Radio art happens where it is heard, not where it is made
  • Radio as conversation ender; audio as conversation starter
  • Radio takes us out of our me-egotism and into a collective experience – John Durham Peters

I’ve also been collecting more materials as can be seen in my Diigo list. I’ve discovered some storytelling organizations that have lists of ethics for how they do collaborative projects. These will be perfect for forming an understanding of best practices. I have also worked on a conceptual framework which I will be posting soon. When I post that I will explain the direction my research process is taking including my methodologies, scope and question.

Collect and Analyze Materials: Examples of TV/Radio commercials and Public Service Announcements

So, when I think of my favorite commercials, I immediately think of the Old Spice commercials with Isaiah Mustafa and I don’t believe I am alone.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE[/youtube]

This youtube video alone has 44 million views (already generating some revenue for Old Spice). When the first commercial came out, I remember everyone talking about it. It was the definition of going viral. And then they came out with the 2nd commercial, which was also an instant success. These commercials rock-stared Mustafa into instant stardom and even got him his first big movie deal. Then Old Spice launched a series of short videos in which Mustafa answered questions submitted through the internet. I remember some guy even had Mustafa propose to his girlfriend. Needless to say, these commercials were a marketing success. Everyone was talking about them and in my opinion, you would have to have no sense of humor not to enjoy them. But, then I heard a rumor that the commercials didn’t actually have big effect on Old Spice’s profit, so I investigated:

“The Old Spice campaign is considered a huge social media win, one that hundreds of social media experts have praised, but here’s where the story takes a bit of a surprising turn. I was sure that Old Spice planned to use the information it has on its almost 120,000 Twitter followers to start engaging with each and every one of them on a personal, meaningful level… As of September 2010, almost two months after Old Spice ambushed Twitter, the Old Spice account has tweeted only twenty-three times, and not one of the tweets talks or interacts with an actual person or user of the brand. Ad Age published an article that begins “Old Spice Fades Into History”… To me, it looks like Old Spice is a sprinter stuck in a traditional marketing mind-set, not a marathon runner living in the Thank You Economy. – Gary Vaynerchuk, March 2011, Fast Company: http://bit.ly/PD6lZm

So, while the rumor I heard was wrong: Old Spice sales rose by 107% after the 2nd commercial, they did not fully capitalize on their new-found internet glory. They had done everything right, but then forgot to maintain their fandom. According to Vaynerchuk, this lack of attention sends the message to consumers that:

“They’re glad that I, and thousands of others, spent our money with them, and now they’re just going to sit back on their laurels, enjoy the spike in revenue, and move on to a new campaign.” Old Spice may have had a short success, but they did not build a lasting relationship with their customers that would spark loyalty.

 

So, I don’t have a good example of a public service announcement, but I do have a great example of radio marketing: Radiolab.

All of Radiolab’s credits are either read by their listeners or people they interview. This tactic not only provides an opportunity for listeners to be involved in the show and actually hear their voice on the radio, but also keeps people listening during the commercials. It is true that they don’t let everyone read the credits, but it’s great way to build excitement over something that people usually wouldn’t care about. I think this would be an interesting model for a local public radio station to use. The station could post the PSAs on their website and people could call in and record their reading of the PSAs over a voicemail. Then people would listen for the PSAs in hopes of hearing themselves on the radio! Plus, it would save work for the station. I say, the more people are involved, the more they are invested.