The History of Radio

UMAR 390-81

University College

Department of Media Arts

Fall 2003

Tuesdays, 6:00 – 8:40 p.m., Elmwood

Scott McCraw

E-mail: scott@amroutes.org

Overview:

This course examines the past one hundred years of radio with an emphasis on the effect it has had on our culture. We will also see how cultural forces have shaped, and reshaped, radio. Through reading, discussion, and critical listening of various formats of radio we will learn about radio icons and iconoclasts and address questions such as:

How does radio address cultural voices? How has radio dealt with the building of audiences? How do people listen to or interact with different types of radio? Using guests and (at least one) field trip we'll look at what's going on in radio locally and see some of it in action.

Required Texts:

Only Connect: A Cultural History of Broadcasting, Michele Hilmes

Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio, ed. Michele Hilmes and Jason Loviglio

Radio: An Illustrated Guide, Ira Glass and Jessica Abel

Other readings will be made available:

electronically through the Tulane Library website on Net Library; on e-reserve (http://eres.library.tulane.edu/, password: RADIO--all caps); given in the form of handouts, or (as seldom as possible); as traditional reserve items at the Howard-Tilton Library.

If you've never used Net Library or e-reserve, ask me. It's really easy and much easier than actually going to the library itself.

Blackboard:

This class uses Blackboard, which is accessible online at http://blackboard.tulane.edu. Search for the class by instructor (McCraw) and use your Tulane password and user name. The site will have course updates, links to online reading and listening assignments, etc. Nothing will be thrown at you in the last minute, but you are expected to be up on any assignments or changes posted on Blackboard.

Assignments and Grades:

Students are expected to attend class regularly and be on time. Two or more unexcused absences will result in the lowering of a letter grade.

Final grades will be calculated as follows:

Class participation (10%) - All students are expected to not only attend class, but take part in the discussion. This will include having read and/or listened to assignments prior to class.

Oral Presentations (5%) - These will be ten-minute presentations on a particular radio program. This is not to be a description of the program. Instead, it should be placed in context of its type (comedy, serial, documentary, etc.), era, and production.

Quizzes/Journals/At-home Assignments (25%) - Quizzes will be on previous assignments and class discussion. Quizzes will be unannounced. Missed quizzes count as a zero and cannot be made up. Listening journals will be done in-class, in response to listening assignments and cannot be made up.

Mid-term Exam (20%) - This will be an in-class, written exam based on previous reading assignments and class discussions. No make up mid-terms will be given.

Research Paper (20%) – The final project will be a 6-8 page paper examining any aspect of radio history or culture. Serious research will be required for this paper. We'll talk about the form, citations, and my expectations well in advance. Creative options for the final project involving a similar amount of research will be entertained. Students must turn in a one-page prospectus and receive approval for the topic.

Final Exam (20%) – The final will be a cumulative exam asking students to be responsible for all readings and class discussions. No make up finals will be given.

Due Dates:

Following are the due dates for the major assignments throughout the semester. Other assignments are listed within the week below and will be on the assignments section of Blackboard:

10/21: Mid-term Exam

11/04: Oral Presentations

12/02: Final Project Due

12/09: Final Exam

Weekly Schedule (subject to change):

9/02: Introduction, Syllabus, Etc.

9/09: Early Radio and Precursors

View (in-class): Radio: Out of Thin Air;

Readings: Only Connect (OC), preface, ch. 1-2 (xv-34);

Radio Reader (RR), “Rethinking Radio,” Michele Hilmes;

At home listening assignment: for next week, visit the website for the series Honky-tonks, Hymns and the Blues (http://www.honkytonks.org/showpages/carterfamily.htm) and listen to the web-only program on Border Radio, Dr. Brinkley, and the Carter Family. For the following class (9/16), prepare a one-page, double-spaced report on Dr. Brinkley and border radio.

9/16: Radio and Ethnicity

Listen (in-class): Origins of Black Radio (Radio Smithsonian), Amos ‘n’ Andy, and Life with Luigi;

Readings:OC, ch. 3 (35-61);

RR, “Radio and the Political Discourse of Racial Equality,” Barbara Savage (p. 231-255);

Net Library: Voice Over, “’I’se Regusted’: Blackface Radio,” William Barlow (p. 13-46).

9/23: Comedy and Drama

Listen (in-class): War of the Worlds; Suspense

OC, ch. 4-5 (62-116); and

RR, “Scary Women and Scarred Men,” Allison McCracken

(p. 183-207).

9/30: Radio Journalism and Radio at War

OC, ch. 6 (118-149); and

RR, “Expatriate American Radio Propagandists in the Employ of the Axis Powers,” William O’Connor (p. 277-300).

10/07: R&B and Rock and Roll

Listen (in-class): Black Radio Project by Radio Smithsonian;

Real reserve: Listening In, Susan Douglas (p. 219-255);

Net Library: Voice Over, William Barlow (p. 155-193).

10/14: The Rise of FM and Top 40

RR, “Turn On…Tune In: The Rise and Demise of Commercial Underground Radio,” Michael Keith (p. 389-404);

Real reserve: Listening In, Susan Douglas (p. 256-283);

Net Library: Voice Over, Barlow (p. 226-241).

10/21: Mid-term exam

10/28: Non-commercial radio

Listen (in-class): Best of NPR: An Eyewitness to History; and Lost and Found Sound;

RR, “Lead Us Not Into Temptation: American Public Radio in a World of Infinite Possibilities,” Jack Mitchell (p. 405-422);

11/04: Oral presentations

11/11: Radio Documentaries and Talk Radio

View (in-class): A History of Talk Radio;

Listen (in-class): This American Life; Frontiers of the Sea; Let the Good Times Roll: The Life and Times of Earl King;

RR, “Letting the Boys Be Boys: Talk Radio, Male Hysteria, and Political Discourse in the 1980s,” Susan Douglas (p. 485-504);

Radio: An Illustrated Guide, Ira Glass;

At home assignment: Visit the This American Life website (www.thislife.org) where every episode of the show is accessible for free over Real Audio. Listen to the segment discussed in the reading (1999, Episode 126, Do-Gooders show, Act One). The shows are grouped by year in the left hand column. Go to “99” and look for Episode 126.

Paper prospectus due.

11/18: Field Trip!

We'll go downtown to visit two bastions of local, non-commercial radio--the studio of American Routes, and community radio station, WWOZ.

At home assignment: Visit the websites of American Routes (www.americanroutes.org) and WWOZ (www.wwoz.org) and familiarize yourself with them. American Routes is a weekly syndicated program while WWOZ is a local station—but they are both non-commercial radio. Write a one-page, double-spaced report on either American Routes or WWOZ—talk about what it is, what they play, where one can hear it, etc. Since the following class is cancelled, e-mail this report to me as a Word attachment any time prior to 11/25.

11/25: No Class--Happy pre-Thanksgiving.

At home assignment: Visit the website Transom (http://www.transom.org); go to the Shows section, then the Shows Archive section. Choose and listen to any one of the archived documentaries. For the following class (12/02), write a one-page, double-spaced report on the show, based on our in-class conversations on radio documentaries.

12/02: Radio in the 21st Century

Exam Review (in-class);

Readings: RR, “Radio’s Digital Future: Preserving the Public Interest in the Age of New Media,” Michael McCauley (p. 505- 530);

RR, “Radio by and for the People: Death and Resurrection of Low-Power FM Radio,” Samuel Riismandel (p.423-450)

Final paper due.

12/09: Final Exam