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“WHEN I GET THERE I TEND TO LIVE THERE”: HOME AND COMMUNITY IN RADIO CYBERSPACE ON CBC RADIO 3 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies University of Regina by Elizabeth Judith Dewar Curry Regina, Saskatchewan April 2012 Copyright 2012, Elizabeth Curry UNIVERSITY OF REGINA FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH SUPERVISORY AND EXAMINING COMMITTEE Elizabeth Judith Dewar Curry, candidate for the degree of Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, has presented a thesis titled, “When I Get There I Tend to Live There”: Home and Community in Radio Cyberspace on CBC Radio 3, in an oral examination held on April 13, 2012. The following committee members have found the thesis acceptable in form and content, and that the candidate demonstrated satisfactory knowledge of the subject material. External Examiner: *Dr. Christine Baade, McMaster University Co-Supervisor: Dr. Randal Rogers, Interdisciplinary Studies Co-Supervisor: Dr. Charity Marsh, Media Production & Studies Committee Member: Dr. Sheila Petty, Media Production & Studies Committee Member: Dr. Rebecca Caines, Theatre Department Chair of Defense: Dr. Carmen Robertson,Visual Arts *Not present at defense ABSTRACT TheRadioHead, long-time member, user, blog participant and listener of CBC Radio 3 (R3) describes the music service as “a place where I will find the nurturing that I need” (TheRadioHead June 2010). This “place” can be found on the website http://radio3.cbc.ca and is further located through daily live webcasts (that are also broadcast on satellite radio), weekly podcasts, music streams and on-demand tracks from thousands of Canadian artists. Through the blogs that accompany the live webcasts, R3 users interact with one another and create what they experience as “community” and “family.” This thesis uses R3 as a case study for examining the ways in which radio and cyberspace intersect, especially in the context of a “networked public” (boyd 2011) where relationships and fandom are solidified and yet also “distributed” (Baym 2007). In order to argue for a conception of radio online that is distinct from other music services online, I put forward the concept of “radio cyberspace.” In the case of R3, this necessitates an awareness of the role of the CBC in Canada, an acknowledgement of the goals of public media, and an analysis of how radio is perceived and used. While the relationship building of sites such as R3 appear to meet the goals of public media, the commercial affiliations of social network sites puts into question how these relationships enter into the realm of marketability and privatization. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This degree was accomplished with the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council as well as the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. My extreme gratitude goes to the Faculty of Fine Arts, my “home” at the University of Regina since 2002. Sincere thanks to Sheila Hamilton, whose hard work and knowledge has aided me throughout my time at the U of R. Thank you to Dr. Charity Marsh, as Canada Research Chair in Interactive Media and Performance, for supporting this research and giving me a “home” in the Interactive Media and Performance (IMP) Labs at the U of R. I am grateful for the patience and guidance of my co-supervisors, Dr. Randal Rogers and Dr. Charity Marsh. Their simultaneous arrival at the University of Regina six years ago was fortuitous for me, sparking the academic passion that eventually led to this work. Thanks also to the rest of my committee – Dr. Sheila Petty, Dr. Rebecca Caines and Dr. Christina Baade – who invested important time and energy to provide me with insightful guidance and feedback. I would also like to thank the other academic mentors that have helped me along the way. Particular gratitude to Dr. Carmen Robertson and Dr. Carol Schick who aided in my critical approaches to the CBC as well as Dr. Christine Ramsay for her work with me on public space and the relationship of radio to urbanization. I am indebted to all of the scholars whose work has aided my research. Specifically, this thesis would have been much more difficult to write and much less informative to read if not for the work of Dr. Jody Berland on cultural technologies in Canada and Anu Sahota’s 2006 thesis on CBC Radio 3. ii DEDICATION My neverending gratitude and love goes to my family – Bill Curry, Dale Dewar, Ntara Curry, Shauna Curry and Lenore Price. Their support and enthusiasm for all that I do allows me to be joyful in my pursuits. Distinct nods to my great-uncle Johnny Esaw, whose career in radio in the 1940s has given me special incentive for my studies on the history of radio in Canada, and to our dear friend and inspiration Marcello Solervicens, who took time to share his thoughts about public and community radio with me. This work is truly dedicated to the participants in the research, to whom I am indebted for sharing their experiences with me. A distinct thank you to Grant Lawrence, John Paolozzi and Steve Pratt who were consistently available to respond to my queries and immensely generous with sharing their thoughts and their time. Many thanks and many wine glasses raised to the friendship and solidarity of my cohort at the University of Regina – Krista Baliko, Jamie Cooper, Leisha Grebinski, Michelle LaVallee. This thesis would not have been possible without the open doors of Nikko Snyder and Jeremy Sauer who gave me a “haven in a heartless world” wherein I gained the solitary space I needed to write this thesis. A heartfelt thank-you to Melanie Hankewich (Belle Plaine), who has provided me with the right amount of musical love, road misadventures and solid encouragement to get the final stages of this thesis done. Finally, none of this work would have been possible without the daily support and nurturing of Erin Laing, whose boundless love has enriched my work and provided me with the confidence necessary to tackle this project. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract_______________________________________________________ i Acknowledgments_______________________________________________ ii Dedication_____________________________________________________ iii Table of Contents________________________________________________ iv List of Appendices_______________________________________________ vi Introduction_____________________________________________________ 1 1. R3 as Radio Cyberspace_________________________________________ 23 1.1. Public Radio in Canada__________________________________ 26 1.2. Web Radio and the “Networked Public”: Radio Cyberspace as Distinct from Radio Broadcasting 31 1.3. R3 Listening Habits and Live Radio Programming____________ 37 2. R3 as Online Music Community__________________________________ 46 2.1. “The Community Here”: R3 as a Distributed Community_______ 47 2.2. “Facebook is Magic”: R3 in the Networked Public_____________ 52 2.3. Perceptions of R3 as “Community”: Music, Live Shows, Blog Discussions, and the CBC Ideology________________________ 58 3. R3 as Home___________________________________________________ 66 3.1. Location: The Placing of R3_______________________________ 67 3.2. Relationships and Fandom_________________________________ 71 3.3. “Who Knows About Your Affair with Radio 3?”: Perceptions of Others_________________________________________ 78 3.4. Collective Cultural Experience______________________________ 82 iv Conclusion_______________________________________________________ 88 List of References and Interviews_____________________________________ 93 Appendices_______________________________________________________ 108 v LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A (p. 108) – Ethics Approval APPENDIX B (p. 109-110) – Interview Request Sample APPENDIX C (p. 111-112) – Sample of Consent Form APPENDIX D (p. 113-114) – Sample of Interview Questions APPENDIX E (p. 115-118) – Images of R3 Fandom on Profile Pages APPENDIX F (p. 119-125) – Creative Commons License vi INTRODUCTION Although it is often remarked on as a technology of the past, radio is an intensely present medium. As Jody Berland (2009) states, “radio is mutually interdependent with the daily life for which it provides a soundtrack” (204). Alarm clocks are set to national and provincial news stations, waking sleepers to headlines, sports and weather. Cyclists bike to work with their earphones bringing them giddy morning show hosts answering calls and telling dim-witted jokes in between new pop songs. Dishes get washed and meals get prepared to the spontaneous and rough playlists of community radio, with their random collage of ads from whatever community event or business is willing to support it. Motorists roar down the highway to the pre-programmed and genre-centred stations of their satellite radio. In the middle of major protests, a pirate radio station squirms into the sketchy leftover call numbers of the radio dial to warn of police tactics. Truck drivers greet each other over shortwave radio as they pass each other on the highway. Rural radio stations broadcast wolf sightings and community bingos. New radio sets by online radio companies allow self-programming with thumbs up and thumbs down buttons to personalize streams of seemingly infinite numbers of songs. Earbuds plug into computers while the webpage for CBC Radio 3 (R3) is hidden behind spreadsheets and other documents, playing Canadian music curated into live shows and genre streams. All of these radio experiences share elements,