Radio Affordances W1

Notes:

Following our first class I have been thinking about the affordances of radio. In Writing Media Texts and Editing Media Texts we spent a lot of time building soundscapes. I feel that sound is a very powerful sense – in the same way that a smell can take you back to an exact time and location, a sound can do that too. There are times when I hear a song that reminds me of an exact time in my life. Just the other day I shared this moment with a friend: as a song came on the radio, we both looked at each other and described how we would drive into work together in the summer, before the day had gotten too scorching hot, and count down the hours until we were finished work and could enjoy a Friday night. I feel that this is very powerful.

In Year 12 English Language, we discussed how language projects identity. We spent a lot of time analysing a radio piece that had featured on Radio National, of a storying in Townsville. A young boy had died one night following a party. Many people from this night were interviewed in the radio piece, including a close friend of the boy. We listened to this segment many times over, analysing the way in which this young kid used his words. We were all under the impression that he was Aboriginal. However the teacher told us at the end of the Semester that he in fact was not and showed us a picture of a skinny, fair skinned boy. His accent was a product of his surroundings and friends. I loved the way that his words had allowed us to paint a picture,that only made sense to the listener.

Radio allows the listener to not be distracted by clothing, lighting, movement and appearances. It can be refreshing after a long day of distractions, news feeds and updates, to have one thing to focus on.

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