War of the Worlds

Narrative and background

War of the Worlds, a science-fiction novel by author HG Wells, was first published in 1898. It is a story of alien invasion and war between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race from Mars.

In terms of historical context, War of the Worlds was broadcasted a year before the beginning of World War 2, In the same year, Nazi Germany invaded both Austria and Czechoslovakia sparking fear of Invasion and war. The majority of the public recieved information on current affairs through radio. At

At the time War of the Worlds was broadcasted, the public didn’t know much about the idea of hybrid genres and was unfamiliar with it especially with radio.

Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBC) , An American broadcasting television and radio company, still around in the present day.

Shirky, The public audience is changing over time, passive to act on areas as technology changes more people can participate.

Hesmondhalgh, the idea of a risky business within media, “the cultural industries constitute a particularly risky business“

LIFE HACKS

Audiences: Life hacksradio 1 product has a public service status as part of BBC

Industries: Life Hacks shows how industry targets niche audiences

Life Hacks reflects acceptance of diversity and degree of openness in contemporary culture around personal, social and identity issues

Identification of funding for Radio 1 through license fee, concept of hypothecated tax

How are the programmes constructed to appeal to a youth audience?

The content that is presented within the show is mainly focused on topics that are conflicted within a younger generation- such as: depression, anxiety, stress with exams as well as university and student life. Also, the presenters would allow the audience to gain a personal relationship with them due to the fact that the audience has an insight on their personal life which would allow them to respond in a positive and relatable  way.

AUDIENCE:

1) What is the target audience for BBC Radio 1?The target audience is 15-29 year olds.

2) Who is the actual audience for BBC Radio 1?

Only 41% are in the target audience age range

their median age is 32.90% are white.

58% ABC1

Population average 55%

3) What audience pleasures are offered by Life Hacks? Apply Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory

Diversion: listening to different podcasts( reflecting what you are going through)- able to escape from what you are going through by seeking help and allowing yourself to listen to other people’s stories etc.

Personal identity: Being able to relate to stories being told and seeing your character reflected in the different topics mentioned.

Personal relationships: the feeling of support that is experienced as a result of knowing that there is an area/space for advice and help- knowing that people are going through the same thing as you. 

Follows the story of an alien attack on New Jersey in 1938,

In terms of historical context, War of the Worlds was broadcasted a year before the beginning of World War 2, In the same year, Nazi Germany invaded both Austria and Czechoslovakia sparking fear of Invasion and war. The majority of the public recieved information on current affairs through radio. At

At the time War of the Worlds was broadcasted, the public didn’t know much about the idea of hybrid genres and was unfamiliar with it especially with radio.

Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBC) , An American broadcasting television and radio company, still around in the present day.

Shirky, The public audience is changing over time, passive to act on areas as technology changes more people can participate.

Hesmondhalgh, the idea of a risky business within media, “the cultural industries constitute a particularly risky business“

LIFE HACKS

Audiences: Life hacks radio 1 product has a public service status as part of BBC

Industries: Life Hacks shows how industry targets niche audiences

Life Hacks reflects acceptance of diversity and degree of openness in contemporary culture around personal, social and identity issues

Identification of funding for Radio 1 through license fee, concept of hypothecated tax

WAR OF THE WORLDS

War of the Worlds holds important historic context that suggests alien invasion represents something from 1930s such as Hitler, Stalin or start of World War 2

Performed and directed on radio by Orson Wells

War of the Worlds broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBS) – institution still in existence today

Andrew Crissel wrote book about radio language and understanding radio, he said “Radio is a blind medium” meaning you can’t see it

THEORIES TO CONSIDER:

RECEPTION THEORY – STUART HALL:

END OF AUDIENCE THEORY – CLAY SHIRKY:

Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology

Life hacks–

Media Industries– Radio 1 product and therefore has a public service statusas part of the BBC. The need to represent the nation. Arguments over the need for addressing a youth audience. The influence of new technology on media industries – Life Hacks as multi – platform media product.

Media Audiences– targets a niche audience, cultivation theory including Gerbner and reception theory including Hall. Targets a young audience, life hacks is involved in audience interaction through texts and calls.

War of the worlds–

Episode of the American radio drama anthology series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, directed and narrated by Orson Welles

Media Industries– War of the Worlds was broadcast byColumbia Broadcasting Company, It was broadcasted live as a halloween special at 8pm on Sunday 30 October 1938,Regulation – radio broadcasting was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission and it investigated the broadcast to see if it had broken any laws.

Uses and Gratifications theory:

Life Hacks:

Personal relationships: the feeling of support that is experienced as a result of knowing that there is an area/space for advice and help- knowing that people are going through the same thing as you. 

Personal identity: Being able to relate to stories being told and seeing your character reflected in the different topics mentioned.

Education: learning about different ways of handling problems etc.

Diversion: listening to different podcasts( reflecting what you are going through)- able to escape from what you are going through by seeking help and allowing yourself to listen to other people’s stories etc.

War of the Worlds:

Illustrates a passive audience and doesn’t therefore fit into the uses and gratifications theory.

Clay Shirky:

Audience behavior has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology. This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘presumer’

Radio itself declining in the age of active audience communication and interaction

Hesmondhalgh:

The idea of a ‘risky business’ and being hard to meet everyone’s needs. Not being able to predict if an audience will enjoy what is being created.

Passive to Hypodermic message:

The programmes show that there is a shift in media audiences – people are more in touch with the media and actually understand it now. People in the times of War Of The Worlds were less media literate. People in the 1930’s were more naïve and vulnerable.

All in all CBS radio’s ultimate goal was to create publicity. CBS were able to create publicity by being headlined on multiple newspaper articles. For example, The new York Times headlined a quote that stated ‘Radio listeners in panic, taking war drama as fact’. This shows how CBS were able to promote publicity through how vulnerable listeners were due to the commotion caused by WW2.

Argument – Audiences have evolved with the introduction of new media communication methods

Media Audiences:

Clay Shirky -End of Audience – Radio as a declining medium in the age of active audience communication and interaction.

Opposite of Lasswell’s Hypodermic needle theory – passive audiences.

War of the Worlds: Lasswell model of communication: Little interaction from and between viewers, showing how the fake news story could effect many people because they did not have many ways of communication with other audiences, and they had limited means of communicating with the media provider. Meanwhile Life Hacks, as a modern program, often includes more audience involvement from phone calls and social media interaction with the audience on the radio program.

Media Industries:

Hesmondhalgh – risky business – Appealing to the audience’s need for the interaction with other people and the medium itself allows the business to survive, since Clay Shirky argues that audiences that are denied this ability generally shift towards media companies that offer these two-way communication features. With the introduction of the internet, old media companies have moved online to avoid losing profits by remaining to produce products in a declining medium (Example – Daily Mail, which adopted use of the internet early on to keep it’s business thriving and to keep it successful as the most popular newspaper in the UK.)

Livingstone and Lunt: Public service media aims to inform, educate entertain (BBC – Life Hacks), following a citizen- based approach to media production. On the other hand, Private media corporations such as CBS, who broadcasted War of the Worlds, work on a consumer- based approach to media production where media plurality and consumer-led policing content is expected. According to Livingstone and Lunt, content monitoring plays a secondary role in consumer-based regulatory model, with audiences having to “rely much more on their own judgements of quality, truthfulness and enjoyment” – relates to the War of the Worlds because of it’s challenging of audiences believing almost blindly in news from media conglomerates.

Intro – Outline the intent/aim of the question, introduce Life Hacks and War of the Worlds

Paragraph 1: Media Audiences – Clay Shirky’s end of audience – life hacks AND Lasswell’s Hypodermic needle theory – How audiences have evolved as illustrated by these two radio programs.

Paragraph 2: Media Industries – Hesmondhalgh – Risky business – Appealing to the audience’s need for the interaction with other people and the medium itself allows the business to survive, since Clay Shirky argues that audiences that are denied this ability generally shift towards media companies that offer these two-way communication features. With the introduction of the internet, old media companies have moved online to avoid losing profits by remaining to produce products in a declining medium (Example – Daily Mail, which adopted use of the internet early on to keep it’s business thriving and to keep it successful as the most popular newspaper in the UK.)

Paragraph 3: Livingstone and Lunt – Public service media aims to inform, educate entertain (BBC – Life Hacks), following a citizen- based approach to media production. On the other hand, Private media corporations such as CBS, who broadcasted War of the Worlds, work on a consumer- based approach to media production where media plurality and consumer-led policing content is expected. According to Livingstone and Lunt, content monitoring plays a secondary role in consumer-based regulatory model, with audiences having to “rely much more on their own judgements of quality, truthfulness and enjoyment” – relates to the War of the Worlds because of it’s challenging of audiences believing almost blindly in news from media conglomerates. Life Hacks is provided by the BBC, a public Service Broadcaster that intends to inform, educate and entertain,

Conclusion: judgement – Media Audiences have evolved with the introduction of new media communication methods and media industries have been forced to evolve to accomodate the new audience communication methods available.

WAR OF THE WORLDS

• martians invading new Jersey
• broadcast as radio was just coming about – broadcast on the eve of WW2 fears about invasions
• radio play drama
• CBC – commercial company – governed by the broadcasting act 1991 – owned and controlled by canadians, english and french
• part of a conglomerate
• fake news

• chomsky 5 filters FRAMING people believed it manufacturing consent
• stuart hall – theory of preferred reading

• Dennis McQuail – BOOK – “mass media in the public interest” – habermas talks about the public sphere containing info allowing businesses to communicate with consumers “public and private world where opinions can be formed”
• shirky – audience is changing – passive to active, as technology advances more people can participate
• Lazerfeld – “two step flow communication”
• hesmondhalgh – risky business
• “the cultural industries constitute a particularly risky business“
• “audience tastes continuously adapt making it difficult to produce material that guarantees satisfaction” (radio new so people didn’t know what to make of it)
• consumer regulation – creating diversity in the media industry by creating radio
• citizen regulation – social needs – PSB

LIFE HACKS

Life Hacks

• BBC Radio 1
• Started in 2017 – overtaking The Surgery
• Programme including discussion of health and social issues such as exam stress, sexual health, alcohol and drugs.
• Cel Spellman, Katie Thistleton and Radha Modgil.
• Cel Spellman was replaced by Vick Hope in August 2020
• Sunday teatime slot
• Young hosts – young audience demographic.
• Guests that young people will know eg. Dianne Buswell – Online Influencer and professional dancer
• Public Service Status
• Funding for the programme through the licence fee that people have to pay
• A multi-platform media product. Can be streamed on the radio or online (new technology)
• Techniques used to attract young listeners such as young hosts and current music

War Of The Worlds

• An adaptation of H.G Wells’ novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ from 1898
• Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBC)
• Became famous for apparently causing stress amongst the audience who thought that aliens were actually invading.
• Starts as a normal radio show and then includes news flashes about explosions on Mars.
• Broadcasted on 30th October 1938

Passive to Hyperdermic message

The programmes show that there is a shift in media audiences – people are more in touch with the media and actually understand it now. People in the times of War Of The Worlds were less media literate. People in the 1930’s were more naïve and vulnerable.

Clay Shirky – End of Audience Theory

• Audiences like to talk back to producers and interact (new technology) so there is more equality of power.
• War Of The Worlds was passive and didn’t include the audience whereas Life Hacks is much more inclusive and has people calling in and being involved.
• By the end of October 1938, Welles’s Mercury Theatre on the Air had been on CBS for 17 weeks. A low-budget program without a sponsor, the series had built a small but loyal following with fresh adaptations of literary classics. But for the week of Halloween, Welles wanted something very different from the Mercury’s earlier offerings.
• The radio show (Welles’s Mercury Theatre on the Air) had made themselves a small following of listeners
• Had been on air for 17 weeks
• Audiences hadn’t been given a voice to contribute

War of the worlds

Institution:

The broadcast tapped into the anxiety of the time. Just ahead of World War II, much of the world was nearly — or already — at war when the program aired. 

“The War of the Worlds” was the 17th episode of the CBS Radio series The Mercury Theater on the Air, which was broadcast at 8 pm ET on Sunday, October 30, 1938.

it could be assumed that any reading that took the product as literal truth
is oppositional (though this could be challenged if it is considered that the
ultimate goal of the producers was to create publicity).

All in all CBS radio’s ultimate goal was to create publicity. CBS were able to create publicity by being headlined on multiple newspaper articles. For example, The new York Times headlined a quote that stated ‘Radio listeners in panic, taking war drama as fact’. This shows how CBS were able to promote publicity through how vulnerable listeners were due to the commotion caused by WW2.

Argument for essay structure: How audiences are more media literate now.

Life Hacks is an example of a transitional media product which reflects changes in the contemporary media landscape (it is the replacement for a previous, similar programme, The Surgery). Life Hacks is both a traditional radio programme with a regular, scheduled broadcast time, but is also available online after broadcast for streaming and downloading. The broadcast itself and the accompanying website provides opportunities for audience interaction, which is central to the programme’s address to its audience. Life Hacks also exemplifies the challenges facing the institution as a public service broadcaster that needs to appeal to a youth audience within a competitive media landscape.

Shirky – end of audience theory. … Audience behaviour has changed due to the internet and the ability for audiences to create their own content at home thanks to the lower cost of technology. This new audience doesn’t just consume media, but also produces it – creating the term ‘prosumer’.

Lasswell’s model of communication (also known as Lasswell’s communication model) describes an act of communication by defining who said it, what was said, in what channel it was said, to whom it was said, and with what effect it was said.

George Gerbner, cultivation is a way of thinking about media effects. Cultivation theory suggests that exposure to media over time subtly cultivates viewers’ perceptions of reality.

Reception theory as developed by Stuart Hall asserts that media texts are encoded and decoded. The producer encodes messages and values into their media which are then decoded by the audience. However, different audience members will decode the media in different ways and possibly not in the way the producer originally intended.

Dominant, or Preferred Reading – how the producer wants the audience to view the media text. Audience members will take this position if the messages are clear and if the audience member is the same age and culture; if it has an easy to follow narrative and if it deals with themes that are relevant to the audience.

Oppositional Reading – when the audience rejects the preferred reading, and creates their own meaning for the text. This can happen if the media contains controversial themes that the audience member disagrees with. It can also arise when the media has a complex narrative structure perhaps not dealing with themes in modern society. Oppositional reading can also occur if the audience member has different beliefs or is of a different age or a different culture.

Negotiated Reading – a compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings, where the audience accepts parts of the producer’s views, but has their own views on parts as well. This can occur if there is a combination of some of the above e.g. audience member likes the media, is of the same age as you and understands some of the messages, but the narrative is complex and this inhibits full understanding.

Life hacks

Described as:

“Life Hacks is an example of a transitional media product which reflects changes in the contemporary media landscape (it is the replacement for a previous, similar programme, The Surgery). Life Hacks is both a traditional radio programme with a regular, scheduled broadcast time, but is also available online after broadcast for streaming and downloading. The broadcast itself and the accompanying website provides opportunities for audience interaction, which is central to the programme’s address to its audience. Life Hacks also exemplifies the challenges facing the institution as a public service broadcaster that needs to appeal to a youth audience within a competitive media landscape.”

Media Industries:

• Life Hacks is a Radio 1 product and therefore has a public service status as part of the BBC.
• Identification of funding for Radio 1 through the license fee, concept of a hypothecated tax.
• Issues around the role of a public service broadcaster – how does Life Hacks reflect the need to represent the nation. 
• Arguments over the need for addressing a youth audience already catered for commercially.
• Consider the programme as distinctive in its public service remit.
• The influence of new technology on media industries – Life Hacks as multi – platform media product.

Media Audiences:

• Life Hacks is reflective of the way the industry targets niche audiences and provides an opportunity to consider industry regulation and the availability of new technology shapes audience targeting and response.
• What techniques does the broadcast use to target a youth audience? – ‘expressing yourself and lockdown hair disasters’
• Consider the way that external factors – such as demographics and psychographics – are likely to also affect audience response and produce differing interpretations
• opportunities for audience interaction and self-representation –  life hacks is involved in audience interaction through texts and calls.
• cultivation theory including Gerbner
• reception theory including Hall

Social and cultural contexts:

• Life Hacks reflects an acceptance of diversity and a degree of openness in contemporary culture around personal, social and identity issues.

War of the worlds

• Andrew Crissel wrote a book about radio language and understanding radio. He said “Radio is a blind medium” meaning you can’t see it.
• War of the worlds has an important historic context – the alien invasion could represent something else going on in the 1930’s such as Stalin, Hitler or the beginning of world war 2.
• McDougall says in his book that hard times are a breeding ground for misinformation/fake news.
• It was first broadcast on October 30th 1938
• Performed and directed on radio by Orson Wells
• War of the Worlds was broadcast by Columbia Broadcasting Company (CBS) – an institution still in existence today.
• It is a hybrid genre
• Suspending disbelief
• People were panicking as they believed aliens were coming. Or were their reactions fake?
• Regulation – radio broadcasting was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission and it investigated the broadcast to see if it had broken any laws.
• war between online news and newspapers – Radio broadcasting was seen as direct competition to newspapers which had previously been the only way of receiving news.
• Every time something bad happens it is because of the media. – (Stanley Cohen) said this is and example of moral panic.