Which came first, the audience or the content? Did
broadcasters (Zemanek,[1]
Mitchell,[2]
Price,[3]
Jones,[4]
Sandilands,[5]
Stern,[6]
etc) have an audience in mind when they first started their diatribe? Or did
they cowtow to management, grow their audience with “nice” commentary, then become
controversial? Who fed them the information about which they were broadcasting?
As a former broadcaster, we had a segment on late-night
community radio, “Stuie’s Spiel” wherein my co-host, Stuart “Mr Radio” Minchin[7],
would comment about a topic that got him riled. He pre-wrote then read live-to-air,
followed by an appropriate track, rhyming couplets which tended toward his view
on the subject. Ours was only a small audience: we wouldn't have had 1000
listeners; and we never really got feed back. We were out there, enjoying our
time in the moonlight.
I made my own controversy when my Friday-night Australian
new-music programme was shifted to a Saturday afternoon.[8]
I only had an hour but they insisted I play the Macquarie News and weather at
the top of the hour. I called for a protest: ring or fax in with a slogan,
which gained more support than Stuie’s Spiel ever did, but I got cancelled for
it. Here, the audience existed, and responded to my call to action (see also
Gail Phillips (2007)[9]).
So, your so-called shock jocks. What spurred them into
action? Hayes & Zechowski suggest that shock-jocks like Howard Stern drew
on a “tradition” of intimate and aggressive talk over radio, broadcasting about
taboo subjects like sex, bodily functions, and politics. So here, catering to
an audience thought to already exist. [10]
Podcasts also cater to an audience that already exists as
well as to the audience that has grown with the programme. Kyle Sandilands and
Jackie O were breakfast announcers on 2DayFM in Sydney between 1999-2013, moving to KIIS 106.5FM for incredible amounts of money.[11]
Sandilands is known for his commentary,[12]
and is now fronting a TV show[13]
based on the American CBS TV-format Judge Judy,[14]
without the same qualifications as Judge Judith Scheindlin. This is a broadcaster
seeking to recoup its investment and giving its audience another means to
access its star performer. But Kyle and Jackie’s radio show, like many other popular
broadcasters around the world, is also recorded and made available as a podcast
so the audience can keep the show, or replay it.[15]
So have I answered the question? Which came first, the
audience or the broadcaster? It really depends on the era in which they
started. Old-style radio broadcasters like John Laws[16]
grew with their audience. New style podcasters grow their audience.
The journals suggest it is an area that hasn’t had much
scholarly coverage. See what you think:
Further reading
-
Ehrlich, Matthew, & Contractor, Noshir
(1998): “‘Shock’ meets community service:
J.C. Corcoran at KMOX”, Journal of Radio Studies 5 (1), 5/06/1998, online
at https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529809384527
-
Hayes, Joy Elizabeth, & Zechowski, Sharon
(2014): “Shock Jocks and Their Legacy:
Introduction”. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 21:2, 199-201; online at
https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2014.950142
-
Phillips, Gail (2007): “The Interactive Audience: A Radio Experiment in Community-building”.
Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy 122 (1),
174-185, 2007; online at https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X0712200120
-
Soley, Laurence (2007): “Sex and Shock Jocks: An Analysis of the Howard Stern and Bob & Tom
Shows”. Journal Of Promotion Management, 13 (1-2), 21/10/2008, online at https://doi.org/10.1300/J057v13n01_06
-
Turner, Graeme (2009): “Politics, radio and journalism in Australia: The influence of
'talkback'”. Journalism, Volume 10, Issue 4, 15/7/2009, online at https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884909104948
1 - 3 November 2019
[1] Google
(undated): Stan Zemanek 1947-2007. https://g.co/kgs/vEsoHa
[2] Google
(undated): Neil Mitchell. https://g.co/kgs/zqyZYm
[3] Google
(undated): Steven WIlliam Price. https://g.co/kgs/Mr7wgF
[4] Google
(undated): Alan Belford Jones. https://g.co/kgs/xumaAY
[5] Google
(undated): Kyle Dalton Sandilands. https://g.co/kgs/V9WeMK
[6] Google
(undated): Howard Allan Stern. https://g.co/kgs/8mgAXH
[7]
Stuart and I hosted “The Odd Couple”
and other music and current-affairs radio programmes on 2RRRfm during 1987 and
1988, and “The Fast Lane” on 2CCRfm
in the 1990s. These were community radio stations. Stuart keeps a low profile
now, not having updated his Facebook account since October 2014. “Mr Radio” is
a term used on a Facebook post by a “Friend” after he’d left 2RRR. Recordings
of some of these radio programmes are available from the author.
[8] I
hosted a number of programmes on 2CCRfm in the 1990s. Recordings of some of these
programmes are available from the author.
[9] Phillips
(2007): The Interactive Audience: A Radio Experiment in Community-building.
[10] Hayes
& Zechowski (2014): Shock Jocks and Their Legacy: Introduction.
[11]
On Kyle & Jackie O’s move from 2DayFM, see https://www.mamamia.com.au/kyle-and-jackie-o-news/;
https://mumbrella.com.au/jackie-o-reveals-kyle-sandilands-orchestrated-kiis-rebrand-and-resignation-from-2day-fm-behind-her-back-599392;
and http://www.arn.com.au/defining-audio/our-talent/kyle-sandilands/.
On their contract renewals at KIIS FM see https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/kyle-sandilands-jackie-o-henderson-sign-40-million-contracts-with-kiis-fm-20160731-gqhjzs.html
and https://www.smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/kiis-fm-locks-in-kyle-and-jackie-o-until-2022-20191017-p531iu.html
[12]
Google (undated): Kyle Dalton Sandilands, op.cit.
[13] Network
Ten (undated): Trial By Kyle, online at https://10play.com.au/trial-by-kyle,
accessed 3/11/2019.
[14] Google
(undated): Judge Judy, online at https://g.co/kgs/FTK8RL,
accessed 3/11/2019.
[15] KIIS
106.5.com.au (undated): Kyle & Jackie
O Podcasts, online at https://www.kiis1065.com.au/shows/kyle-jackie-o/,
accessed 3/11/2019.
[16] Google
(undated): Richard John Sinclair “Lawsie”
Laws, online at https://g.co/kgs/HLbbNF,
accessed 3/11/2019.
