Radio Vox Populi: Talk Radio from the Romantic to the Anglo-Saxon

(Hardback)

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Talk radio is broadcast discourse expressing under ideal circumstances the mediums full potential as a vox Populi megaphone. Talk radio creates a virtual arena (a Coliseum!) in which topics of public relevance, and most specifically of current affairs, are treated with both expert voices and the continuous contributions of the man on the street the vox Populi. This vox Populi is expressed within the mainstream media context. Radio broadcasters anticipate the active participation of listeners and make them engines of the on-air discussions. Talk radio programs become instruments for intervening in public opinion and, via opinions of the public, intervene in the public agenda. Talk radio and its vox populi amplify the importance of political issues and social issues.

Reviews

This book brings together an international community of radio scholars to explore the role talk radio plays in everyday life and does so in a new and original way. It brilliantly captures and describes the ambivalence of talk radio, both as a community aggregator and as a means of polarizing public opinion. It will certainly be a reference book for the burgeoning community of radio, media and communication studies Professor Tiziano Bonini, University of Siena.

By highlighting the voices of ordinary people, call-in talk radio helped democratize the media before the internet and podcasts. But it also poisoned politics and laid the foundation for todays polarized media landscape. Despite the genres vast influence, precious little scholarship has looked at the rise of call-in shows. Finally, here is a book that takes us inside the magic of the industry and shows how that magic continues to fuel its broad impact, for good and ill. The thought-provoking, entertaining and important stories told in Radio Vox Populi will interest everyone from academics to general-interest readers Public radio talk show executive producer Dan Zoll at KQED in San Francisco.

A wonderfully rich collection of chapters by talk radio practitioners and scholars from the United States, Italy and elsewhere on talk radios past(s), present(s) and future(s). The book explores talk radios relation to culture, economy, listeners (and listening) and politics. The chapters illuminate not only the national and regional contexts and topics discussed but also the complex implications of talking on radio for community, democracy and conviviality in our global present with its dominant concerns over political polarization, its destabilizing experience of the Covid pandemic and fears that we live in an age of inattention Dr. Neil Washbourne, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, School of Cultural Studies and Humanities, Leeds Beckett University.

Peter Laufer is like a literary flashlightwhatever subject he tackles, he illuminates it with a piercing, but always warm, glare. With his Sapienza partner Christian Ruggiero, the two media scholars gathered a distinguished coterie of experts to help readers better understand the international role of talk radio.Radio Vox Populienjoys a distinct value-add with Laufer as an editor: Here is someone who has forgotten more about this subject than most will ever know Nick Ferrari,longtime LBC London talk radio breakfast presenter.

Radio Vox Populitraces the history of radio as an agora, as an arena for discussion and opinions. It does so with a sharp and contemporary analysis that highlights how radio isand has always beenan extraordinary engine of innovation, capable of anticipating change and shaping the future Federica Gentile,radio and television host (RAI, RTL 102.6), artistic director of Radio Zeta.

Radio is the voice of the people par excellence. The movie or TV star is distant from the people; he is a star. The radio talk host, on the other hand, by nature perfectly embodies the thinking of the man on the street. That is why if you are one of the 35 million Italians who turn on the radio for at least 5 minutes every day, you absolutely must read this book: it is the opera omnia of world talk radio Nicola Savino,radio and TV host, director and author, one of the leading figures of commercial radio in Italy.

There are opinions expressed in this industrious book with which I personally and professionally disagree. But thats okay. Talk radio of the late 20th and early 21st centuries is all about disagreementincluding the irksome reality that scholars, listeners, broadcasters, politicians and journalists alike are not able to arrive anywhere close to a consensus as to what the term talk radio even means. I support democracy and the First Amendment but recognize they are extremely untidy affairs. The international flavor of this collection adds even more sizzle to its combustible content. Ive always taken Peter Laufer seriously although I could argue with him for hours. If you are interested in the transitional influence of spoken word radio for better or worse, check this book out! Michael Harrison,publisher,Talkersmagazine, an industry journal dedicated to talk radio.

Despite disruptive forces ranging from technological advances to a pandemic, the medium of radio has maintained a healthy, but declining, share of audio consumers. Research indicates thatpersonalitiesappeal to listeners more thanmusic. Thus, this edited volume of international scholars, ontalk radio, is well timed! It provides readers with a keen understanding of the evolution and current status of the industry John Allen Hendricks, Stephen F. AustinState University (Texas) communications professor and editor of thePalgrave Handbook of Global Radio.

Radio has undergone metamorphoses and even radical changes in its history, but it has never lost the centrality of speech.Radio Vox Populifocuses on its ability to create listening communities, analyzes its changes and how the power of new media and the crisis of traditional ways of forming public opinion represent a new challenge for radio. For practitioners, insiders and citizens interested in the health of democracies, this book is a useful and brilliant reference point` Marino Sinibaldi,former RaiRadio3 Director.

Author Bio

Peter Laufer, long-time journalist, is the James Wallace Chair Professor of Journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication and visiting professor at the Sapienza University of Rome Department of Communication and Social Research.

Christian Ruggiero is Associate Professor in Sociology of cultural and communicative processes at the Department of Communication and Social Research, Sapienza University of Rome.