 . . . Fall 1999
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Suggested Reading: Books by U-M faculty and graduates, and works published by the University of Michigan Press. Michigan Today cannot review or acknowledge all books received. |
LISTENING IN: RADIO AND THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION, FROM AMOS AND ANDY AND EDWARD R. MURROW TO WOLFMAN JACK AND HOWARD STERN
By Prof. Susan F. Douglas, Times Books, 1999, $2750. $16 paper (forthcoming).
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| "Probably the best-known piece of linguistic slapstick on radio was Bud Abbott (left) and Lou Costello's 1930s routine "Who's On First?" says Susan Douglas author of Listening In. |
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The title of this book, like the book, itself, pretty much says it all about radio. Douglas, the U-M's Catherine Neafie Kellogg Professor of Communication, delivers far more than history and nostalgia. She traces the impact of listening to radio on the national and individual consciousness–and conscience. She also describes the technological advances in radio from Marconi's introduction of the "wireless telegraph" to America in 1899 to the shock-jock Talk Radio of today.
Radio operates in socioeconomic as well as physical waves, Douglas shows. It has meant freedom of listening pleasure and of information, but each crest in radio's development has been engulfed by successive waves of monopolist economic factors. Today, she says, America is awash in predictable and segmented niche-marketing radio programming.
What will happen tomorrow? we asked Douglas.
I didn't do much on low-power FM radio, because I didn't have space. I'm quite 'interested in it. The FCC has severely harassed local "pirate" stations with such low wattage that they can be heard only in a housing project or a few square blocks around the station. The government stormed a house in Florida and was quite destructive.
Low-power FM technology is up in the air now. The FCC may permit some of these stations to exist. It's been an effective organizing tool for people in housing projects. Interesting enough, some in National Public Radio are opposed to low-power radio.
The Internet will play a role that I can't predict. Real Audio, as it's called, lets people access different stations around the country via their computers, although at this point it can't be tuned into in your car. Will the Internet affect what we hear on air? Or how we listen? We're on the brink of a lot of technological breakthroughs that will answer those questions.
If the pattern of the past holds up, we could see rebellions in radio fare as a result of noncommercial low-wattage stations or Internet radio. But such rebellions have been tamed and exploited by big money's interests in the past, in a three-phase cycle of innovation, rebellion and commercial control.
You describe the role of scholars in developing the research methods and technology that enabled radio stations and networks to measure precisely who listened to what and when. Are academics playing influential roles today? Yes, in several areas. My colleagues here at Michigan's Department of Communication Studies are examining the effects, especially on the young, of long-time consumption of violence in the media. Does it foster aggressive behavior? Does it desensitize us to real-world violence? The Internet too, is attracting many researchers. What is the effect of surfing for hours on the Web? Does it socially isolate its users?
Other U-M scholars are examining race in the news media, especially in local news. They've found an overrepresentation of Blacks as criminals and an under-representation of Blacks as law enforcement officials. And the reverse goes for Whites–news programs under-represent them as criminals and over-represent as officers of the law.–JW.
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BRAVO! RECIPES, LEGENDS & LORE
By the University Musical Society $29.95, 1999.
Several world-class musicians have exchanged their music stands for mixing spoons in this captivating cookbook celebrating the 120-year legacy of the University Musical Society.
Bravo! includes fond memories of celebrated artists, anecdotes from longtime UMS concert-goers and beautiful photographs of the University of Michigan campus. Included among the book's 250 recipes are Isaac Stern's Hearty Borscht, Itzhak Perlman's Bean Sprout Salad, Cecilia Bartoli's family recipe for Cicche (potato dumplings) and Jessye Norman's Quick Tea Cake. "More than just a cookbook, Bravo! is an engaging choice for armchair cooks and music lovers as well as those who are serious in the kitchen," says Ken Fischer, UMS executive director.–JW.
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