Performance, Power & Production
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PERFORMANCE, POWER & PRODUCTION A SELECTIVE, CRITICAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE RADIO INTERVIEW Kathryn McDonald Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of Bournemouth University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2014 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material contained in, or derived from, this thesis. II ABSTRACT Title: Performance, Power & Production. A selective, critical and cultural history of the radio interview Author: Kathryn McDonald This thesis charts the historical evolution of the ‘personal’ radio interview, in order to understand its use as a speech device, a social relationship and a communicative genre. Four contrasting styles of interviewing have been chosen to illustrate key moments and to illuminate significant shifts in the history of UK broadcasting: Desert Island Discs (1942-1954), The Radio Ballads (1958-64 & 2006), the confessional style phone interview format on independent local radio (1975) and Prison Radio projects (1993-present). These cases draw together an assortment of live and pre-recorded material, across a variety of genres that encompass over seventy years of production output, granting an opportunity to demonstrate the specificities of each example, whilst also identifying any overarching themes or differences. Primary research has been carried out using an assortment of audio content and written archive, comprising of scripts, memos, letters, diaries, training documents, contracts, policies and guidelines, which give us a further sense of how this method of talk has developed over the decades. Power dynamics permeate all levels of broadcasting, so particular emphasis has been placed on how both ‘on air’ and ‘backstage’ interaction has been experienced by an institution, an interviewer and an interviewee. For instance, how might the interview have been used to serve, restrict or benefit the needs of a particular group, an individual or an institution? The different types of interaction that has taken place between participants before, during and after an interview exchange provide clues about the purpose, motivations and agendas of those who contribute towards on-air talk. So, while this thesis values the significance of broadcast audio and historical documentation, it also honours the experiences of individual figures, and seeks to highlight the relationship dynamics within production teams; all of which have an impact on the on-air interview exchange. As a result, research interviews have been conducted with industry practitioners, including editors, engineers, presenters, producers and phone operators. This study will not only start to develop our knowledge of the contextual history of interview production on commercial, public service and community radio in the UK, but also begin to lay the foundation for an expansion of our wider knowledge concerning the use of the mediated interview across other disciplines and throughout other countries. This thesis suggests that the on-air incarnation of interview talk, its ‘backstage’ production, and its principal position within speech radio genres all over the world, should be viewed as a powerful barometer of institutional, individual and national cultural hopes, desires and identities. III LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. List of calls to Capital Open Line. 05.03.1975 IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BBC WAC: BBC Written Archives Centre B.U.F.V.C: the British Universities Film and Video Council CA: Conversational Analysis Castaway: Name commonly given to the interviewee on Desert Island Discs IBA: Independent Broadcasting Authority ILR: Independent Local Radio NPR: National Prison Radio NOMS: National Offenders Management Service PasB: Programmes as Broadcast ‘Prof’ Button: Profanity Control PSB: Public Service Broadcasting PRA: Prison Radio Association ROTL: Release on Temporary Licence RSL: Restricted Service Licence SM: Studio Manager V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study was undertaken through a Studentship at Bournemouth University and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been granted this opportunity. There are countless people who have helped and supported me over the past three years. I would like to firstly thank my supervisors Professor Hugh Chignell and Dr Kristin Skoog for their invaluable guidance, feedback and encouragement. I remain so appreciative to all those who were kind enough to give up their time to be interviewed for this research – and those who have been generous enough to lend me their personal files or share their memories with me. Thanks are due to the helpful staff of various archives – Paul Wilson and his colleagues at the National Sound Archive in the British Library, those working at BBC Written Archives in Caversham, the Charles Parker Archive in Birmingham Central Library; and to the incredible team at The Sir Michael Cobham Library at Bournemouth University. I am very indebted to Helen, Rachel and Diane for their excellent transcribing skills. I would also like to express gratitude to our PGR administrator Jan Lewis, all members of the Centre for Media History at Bournemouth University and the EMHIS Network – Dr Tony Stoller in particular. I owe a lot to Nicolas, my family and friends for their love and patience - and to my thoughtful colleagues in TA120. This has been the most challenging of experiences, but also the most rewarding. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTORY NOTE & RATIONALE 1 1.1 PROJECT OBJECTIVES 4 1.2 CHAPTER OUTLINE 5 CHAPTER 2. METHODOLOGY 10 2.1 RESEARCHING MEDIA HISTORY 10 2.2 THROUGH THE LENS: EXPLORING THE ARCHIVE 15 2.3 DESERT ISLAND DISCS 17 2.4 THE RADIO BALLADS 20 2.5 THE ‘PROBLEM’ PHONE-IN 23 2.6 PRISON RADIO 26 CHAPTER 3. SCRIPTING THE INTERVIEW: DESERT ISLAND DISCS 31 3.1 AN EXCELLENT ADVERTISEMENT FOR OUR WAY OF LIFE 32 3.2 CENSORSHIP: BROADCASTS AS THE SELF-EXPRESSION OF A NATION 37 3.3 COCONUTS, SUN, SEA & SAND: ESCAPISM, NOSTALGIA & THE ISLAND 40 3.4 RETREATING INTO THE PAST: THE CELEBRITY CASTAWAY 44 3.5 MANY THANKS FOR BEING SO HELPFUL, ALSO COCKTAILS! 47 3.6 SCRIPTED STYLE 51 3.7 A TIMID APPROACH 55 3.8 THROUGH THE GLASS: THE PRODUCER & THE CONTROL ROOM 59 3.9 CONCLUDING NOTE 62 CHAPTER 4. THE INTERVIEW AND THE RADIO BALLADS 64 4.1 THE UNREHEARSED HITCH: VOCALISING THE QUOTIDIAN EXPERIENCE 66 4.2 PROFESSIONAL & PERSONAL NETWORKS 73 4.3 CAPTURING ACTUALITY 79 4.4 BURSTING THE BUBBLE: INTERVIEW TECHNIQUE 83 4.5 EDITING: CROSSING BOUNDARIES 90 4.6 TALKING TO TEENAGERS 92 4.7 THE CONTEMPORARY BALLADS 94 4.8 LISTENING TO THE MEN TALK: WOMEN AND THE BALLADS 98 4.9 CONCLUDING NOTE 101 CHAPTER 5. CONFESSIONS & THE CALL-IN 103 5.1 THE LAUNCH OF A NEW GENRE 104 5.2 MEDIATING PERSONAL, SEXUAL & EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS 111 VII 5.3 PROBLEM TALK 114 5.4 PERSONA 118 5.5 DO YOU HAVE YOUR RADIO ON? 126 5.6 THE SOUND & THREAT OF SILENCE 129 5.7 DIRECTING LIVENESS 131 5.8 SWEARING & SUICIDE: GATEKEEPING THE AIRWAVES 136 5.9 CONCLUDING NOTE 141 CHAPTER 6. THE PRISONER & THE INTERVIEW 143 6.1 PRISONER RADIO – BACKGROUND CONTEXT 144 6.2 REPRESENTATION & VOICE: THE PRISONER AS THE INTERVIEWEE 149 6.3 WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE, WE’VE ALL DONE IT: NATIONAL PRISON RADIO 153 6.4 TRAINING TO INTERVIEW 157 6.5 HELLO MR DJ 162 6.6 COMPLIANCE, ETHICS & GATEKEEPING 165 6.7 THEY LOCKED ME IN A TOILET 167 6.8 CONCLUDING NOTE 172 CHAPTER 7. FINAL REFLECTIONS 174 7.1 CONCLUDING REMARKS 175 SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY IX AUDIO, RADIO & TELEVISION XXVI PRIMARY SOURCES: FILES FROM ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS XXVIII PRIMARY SOURCES: CONTRIBUTORS TO RESEARCH PROJECT XXX APPENDICES XXXII CONTENTS XXXII VIII Chapter 1. Introductory Note & Rationale CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTORY NOTE & RATIONALE The issue of power is central to media and cultural studies yet it is something usually assumed but seldom proved. Scannell 2007, p.191 The radio interview began in the UK as a technique before the Second World War. Since then it has become a central source of programme material, used on a daily basis across public service, commercial and community networks. As a speech device, the interview has been an essential component of contemporary culture and society, where the act of questioning and answering remains central to our understanding of the experiences and motivations of both oneself and the other.1 The interview, in all its guises, can be viewed as a quest - for information, confirmation, action or reciprocity, and is conventionally grounded in responsive turns and symbolic exchange. As Bell and Leeuwen have observed, the interview has a deep connection to notions of knowledge, power and privacy. They view it as a crucial method of interaction, not only in social institutions such as court rooms, doctors surgery’s, classrooms and therapeutic situations, but it’s often underappreciated and underreported place in our histories of press, film and broadcasting.2 The popularity and dominance of the broadcast interview during the 20th century has been acknowledged; Silverman has declared that we now live in an ‘Interview Society’3 while Corner has commented that the broadcast interview ‘is now one of the most widely used and extensively developed formats for public communication in the world.’4 Yet no research, before now, has yet attempted to trace the evolution of the radio interview in the UK.5 There has also never been an attempt to produce a comprehensive account of the radio interview across contrasting periods of time, by looking at different institutions or a variety of genres.6 Within this small sphere of interview research, it is the more personal portrait (one-to-one) confessional or emotional interview that has been largely neglected, in comparison with the news, political and current affairs exchange.