Transcript Presentation on UK commercial radio the Thatcher era

British Commercial Radio in the 1980s
Responding to the AIDS crisis
Emma Wray
Centre for Broadcasting History Research
29 January, 2010
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
The ILR sound in the 1980s
• A “political football” (Stoller cited Street 2001)
• Heavily regulated
• Nature of regulation and “meaningful speech”
(John Thompson, IBA, 1974)
• “All things to all listeners” (Carter 2003)
• Programme content – a social commentary
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
Changing Times
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
New approach to attitudes
• Individual vs. society
The new Thatcherite project was highly
individualistic: it argued that public interest could
only be secured by maximising the capacity of
individuals to choose; and that government
should seek to abandon controls, not exercise
them. (Curran and Seaton, 2003: 207)
• Emergence of AIDS created “A new frankness”
(Marr 2007: 409)
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
Don’t Die of Ignorance
•
•
•
•
Government-led - £23M
Multimedia campaign
Leaflet drop to every household in UK
Supported by commercial radio
•
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1979to2006/filmpage_aids.htm
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
Shift in the public sphere
• Government’s intention: to promote not dissuade
• Changing perceptions key part of campaign
• Dispelling myths, taboos and changing attitudes
• Evidenced in Phone-ins / advice programmes
• LBC’s Nightline
• Capital Radio’s Open Line
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
Archives and social commentary
• British Universities Film & Video Council
• Social commentary (Falklands, Miners Strike,
Poll Tax etc.)
• An alternative view - non-BBC radio
• Relationship between regulation and content
• (Wray, forthcoming 2010)
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
The road to deregulation
• Broadcasting Act 1990: end of an era
• “Open market regulation” (Hendy 2000)
• Collapse of speech content on commercial
radio
• ILR’s legacy:
• Social document
• Programme-making skills akin to BBC Radio
• Contrasting approach to today’s model
www.bournemouth.ac.uk
References
•
Curran, J. and Seaton J., 1981. Power Without Responsibility. 6th Edition. London: Routledge.
•
Hendy, D., 2000. Radio in the Global Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
•
Marr, A., 2007. A History of Modern Britain. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
•
Radio Authority., 2003. Independent Radio: The First 30 Years. London: Radio Authority.
•
Stoller, T., 2010 (forthcoming). Sounds of your Life: The history of Independent Radio. Eastleigh:
John Libbey Publishing.
•
Street, S., 2001. The Hidden History of British Commercial Radio. IN: Aural History, Essays on
Recorded Sound. London: The British Library, 100-110.
•
Wray, E., 2010 (forthcoming). British Commercial Radio in the 1980s: an investigation into the
evolution and impact of programme regulation and catalysts for change. Unpublished PhD.
•
British Universities Film and Video Council, 2009. Commercial radio sound Archive. Available
from: http://www.bufvc.ac.uk/
www.bournemouth.ac.uk