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A JOURNEY THROUGH MEMORY: AUDIENCE RESPONSE TO REELING IN THE YEARS THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE BA (HONS) FILM, LITERATURE AND DRAMA DUBLIN BUSINESS SCHOOL GILLIAN BYRNE SUPERVISORS: ANN-MARIE MURRAY AND PAUL HOLLYWOOD 30/05/2013 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... 3 Table of figures ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Background to the Study ............................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Motivation for the Study ............................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................... 11 2.1 The Television Audience ............................................................................................................ 11 2.2 The Research Audience .............................................................................................................. 14 2.2.1 The Effects and Uses and Gratifications Models ................................................................. 14 2.2.2 Towards a Qualitative Approach ......................................................................................... 15 2.3 Individual Memories ................................................................................................................... 17 2.4 Collective Memories ................................................................................................................... 19 2.5 Memories and Television ............................................................................................................ 19 2.6 Television and Nostalgia ............................................................................................................. 20 2.7 Memory Work and Prosthetic Memories .................................................................................... 21 2.8 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 22 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY ................................................................ 24 3.1 Research Objective ..................................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Case Study .................................................................................................................................. 25 3.3 Sample Design ............................................................................................................................ 26 3.4 Study Design ............................................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER FOUR: DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................... 29 4.1 Online Questionnaire .................................................................................................................. 30 4.2 Observation of Collective Viewing ............................................................................................. 34 4.3 Results of Survey ........................................................................................................................ 35 4.4 The Interviews ............................................................................................................................ 40 4.5 A Reflection of Memories .......................................................................................................... 41 4.5.1 Reflecting Individual Memories .......................................................................................... 41 4.5.2 Reflecting Collective Memories .......................................................................................... 44 4.5.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 46 4.6 A Construction of Memories....................................................................................................... 47 4.6.1 Constructing Individual Memories ...................................................................................... 47 2 4.6.2 Constructing Collective Memories ...................................................................................... 48 4.6.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 51 4.7 Nostalgia ..................................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 55 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 60 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................................... 64 Appendix 1 – Broadcast Industry ratings system and Reeling in the Years ratings. ......................... 64 Appendix 2 – Online Questionnaire .................................................................................................. 73 Appendix 3 – Three stages of the Interview Process ........................................................................ 77 Appendix 4 – Reeling in the Years 1981 Survey .............................................................................. 79 3 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisors, Ann-Marie Murray and Paul Hollywood, for their support and guidance throughout this project. I would also like to thank Colin O’Keefe from the DBS Library and Lara Harte and Michael Talty from the RTÉ Reference Library, who tirelessly sought and retained material which was invaluable to my research for this thesis. I am extremely grateful to Jim Booth, Anne Harte, Brendan Hayes, John Lauritsch and Niamh McCole; their unwavering advice and encouragement sustained me throughout the long and what at times seemed like a never-ending road to completion. I salute you all! Special thanks to Andrew Fitzpatrick, Director of Scheduling RTÉ and John O’Regan, Producer of Reeling in the Years, for kindly agreeing to be interviewed for this research project. I am also indebted to Gareth Ivory and Imelda Allen, audience researchers in RTÉ, who explained the audience measurement system and provided ratings statistics upon which my analysis relied. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to all the respondents who not only gave up their time to assist in this research project but also allowed me a look into the window of their past, their experiences and their memories. Without them, this project could never have been realised. Most of all though, I wish to thank my mother, Mary Byrne and my wonderful, beautiful daughter, Leah Byrne, for the endless cups of tea, words of encouragement, patience, kindness and loads of hugs. Your constant presence and support is an inspiration to me, thank you so much. 4 Table of figures Figure 1 Table of events depicted in Reeling in the Years 1981. ......................................................... 25 Figure 2 Respondents attitudes to watching historically based programmes........................................ 30 Figure 3 Respondents’ general attitudes to Reeling in the Years ......................................................... 31 Figure 4 Respondents’ attitudes to Reeling in the Years ...................................................................... 32 Figure 5 Profile of Group A respondents and events they wished to discuss ....................................... 35 Figure 6 Profile of Group B respondents and events they wished to discuss ....................................... 36 Figure 7 Profile of Group C respondents and events they wished to discuss ....................................... 37 Figure 8 Profile of Group D respondents and events they wished to discuss ....................................... 38 Figure 9 Profile of Group E respondents and events they wished to discuss ........................................ 39 Figure 10 Ratings for first run episodes of Reeling in the Years (TAM Ireland Ltd. 2012b)............... 69 Figure 11 Ratings for repeat episodes of Reeling in the Years from 2009 to 2012 (TAM Ireland Ltd. 2013) ..................................................................................................................................................... 70 Figure 12 Ratings for scheduling slots from 2009 to 2012 (TAM Ireland Ltd. 2012b) ........................ 72 Figure 13 Survey of events in Reeling in the Years 1981 given to respondents ................................... 79 5 Abstract This thesis sets out to explore why Reeling in the Years, one of RTÉ’s most successful archive programmes, is