🚀 go-pugleaf

>I would hope that a discussion about the difference between audio and
video
 >and their impact on audience--what makes radio listening "active" and
 >television "passive".  As a radio professional, I never hear that
topic
 >seriously addressed and it has such important ramifications for the
survivla
 >of radio in a video-ized world.

I think active/passive have less to do with the nature of a medium and
more to do with the programming content and its intent. Commercial
Television has a tendency to engage in mystification by using the power
of the image to seduce or lull viewers into a pasive state of
consumption. Most special effects and graphic techniques can be
qualified this way too - their intent is to capture the viewer's
attention, not to inform or educate, but instead to hold an audience
captive for the sake of the advertising. Commercial radio also commits
these sins of the spectacle, but with different audio and content based
sensationalist stategies.

I have no fears about the survival of radio though. Here in the US,
non-commercial and community based microbroadcasting is spreading wildly
despite it's illegal status. Part of the attraction is that it is
cheaper and easier to produce radio than video - but probably more
importantly is that radio can be much more participatory for more
people. Fewer technical skills are needed and people new to media
production have a greater comfort level in front of a microphone rather
than a camera. It's also easier with radio to produce more hours of
programming on a daily basis and with a greater ease of community
participation and support.

I don't totally discount video as an authentic tool for communication,
and many public access centers in the US have demonstrated that
television can be made into a medium just as accessable and
participatory for communities and individuals as that of community
radio. But the learning curve is higher and there is a greater tendency
for new producers to mimic the manipulative production techniques that
they are familiar with from watching commercial television. Media
literacy is a key component for any media production, and those access
centers with the more radical programs of education tend to have the
most engaging and relevant programs. Nonetheless, I think radio has been
proven to be more successful in community development and real
participation in more parts of the world, I just hope that equally
democratic applications of television will persist and spread as well.

>I'm not too sure about these terms. I hear them thrown around and they seem
>to me to be a bastardisation of McLuhan's ideas.

I've personally never given McLuhan much seriuos thought. I've always
felt he ignored and depoliticized the political economy of media by
concentrating on what he felt was a universal truth (or an interesting
series of adecdotes) about the 'psychic' nature of various mediums. In
practice, I'm less concerned if a particular medium is hot or cool -
just who owns and controls it and for what purpose.

michael

By the way - if you're in the NYC area, we're planning a free series of
microbroadcasting workshops in Harlem and the Bronx (Feb. 20-22 ).
For more info, see:
http://artcon.rutgers.edu/papertiger/nyfma/default.html
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Paper Tiger Television
339 Lafayette Street                       fax: (212) 420-8223
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phone: (212) 420-9045           web: http://www.papertiger.org
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Paper Tiger TV is a non-profit volunteer collective that has
been pioneering media criticism though video since 1981. The
diverse series of over 260 programs addresses issues of demo-
cratic communications, media representation and the economics
of the information industry. The tapes are broadcast in NYC
and across the U.S. The tapes are also distributed by PTTV
to universities, libraries, and media art centers worldwide.
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