The notion of “intimacy” has a long history in Radio Studies, perhaps most notably documented in Jason Loviglio’s Radio’s Intimate Publics (2005). But as we follow Loviglio and others walking down streets, with Saul Bellow listening to FDR’s Fireside Chats emanating from open cars and kitchen windows alike, it is clear that this radio intimacy is more about camaraderie than it is about close interpersonal relationships, more about blurring the line between private and social spaces than it is about empathy and human connection. The latter, instead, are characteristics of podcast intimacy. This episode of For Your Ears Only proposes that these intimate characteristics are enabled by the physical experience of most podcast listening, an experience very different from that of radio.
Podcasting is arguably today’s most intimate medium. We listen through earbuds, discussion of topics like sex and psychological play are widespread, and podcasters regularly create empathy through imaginative engagement. In this episode, we’ll hear a brief history of sex on radio, dip into podcasts like The Heart and Love + Radio, plus we’ll hear thoughts from Kaitlin Prest, Alan Hall and Brendan Baker.
Release date: 28th January 2019
Credits:
Written & presented by Martin Spinelli & Lance Dann
Produced by Jack F Jewers & Ella Gray Thomas
Sound by Andrew Duff
Voice acting by Rachael Sparkes & Eion Mckenna
Executive produced by Martin Spinelli
Interview contributors: Alan Hall, Kaitlin Prest & Brendan Baker
Clips featured: Love + Radio (‘Silver Dollar’ and ‘A Red Dot’), The Heart (‘How To Become A Princess’ and ‘Kaitlin + Mitra: pt 2’)
For Your Ears Only was produced with the support of Arts Council England, Bloomsbury Academic, the University of Sussex, Brighton University, and the British Academy.
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