Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgements x

Introduction: The Scope of the Book xi

1 Liveness and Broadcasting 12 The Meaning of ‘Live’ 33 What’s So Special about Liveness? 84 Television and Recording (1): Replacing Liveness 185 Radio and Recording: Mostly Music 326 Television and Recording (2): Enhancing Liveness 457 Real Time and Reel Time: An Evening’s Programmes

on BBC 1 508 Broadcasting and Time-shifted Consumption 95

Conclusion: Liveness, Recording, Broadcasting 101

Bibliography 110

Index 113

vii

1 Liveness and Broadcasting

Liveness has always been associated with broadcasting – radio and tele-vision – because the mass media that preceded it were recorded. In orderto convey their messages, print, photography, sound reproduction andcinema each made use of some form of carrier or ‘text’, but the messagesof broadcasting are sent over the air, are received in the same instant,and then cease to exist. We might nevertheless be reluctant to definebroadcasting in terms of liveness because so much of it is plainly notlive. Many radio and television programmes are created before they aretransmitted and, whether or not they are pre-recorded in this way, arenot consumed at the time they are transmitted. Even substantially liveprogrammes such as news bulletins are punctuated with pre-recordedinserts. Nor is the use of pre-recorded content the effect of new technol-ogy, for television was able to carry filmed material from its very begin-nings (Ellis, 2002, p. 31).

The awkwardness of the concept of liveness might therefore encour-age us to define broadcasting in terms of certain of its other character-istics. One is that radio and television have for the most part beenconsumed privately – by individuals or small groups in their homes orother ‘owned’ spaces such as cars or rooms in hotels and hostels. Theolder media of theatre and cinema required their audiences to gather inpublic venues, and it is convenient to see broadcasting as part of thatgreat movement towards an individualism of ownership and consump-tion that has developed over the last 100 years and more. The motor car,computers and the internet, and now mobile telephony have enabledus to fulfil our professional duties, domestic chores, financial and shop-ping needs and cultural interests increasingly in accordance with ourown wishes and free of the need to enter the public sphere or observesuch external constraints as bus and train timetables or hours of busi-ness (Crisell, 2002, pp. 9–10). Moreover broadcasting has smoothlyabsorbed the older and public media and turned them into private ones:radio and television domesticated the theatre and television domesti-cated the cinema. We will see shortly that this has had a huge impact

1

on broadcasting by forcing it not only to rely heavily on pre-recordedmaterial but to make extensive use of certain cultural forms which it didnot originate but which have come to be pre-eminently associated withit.

Nevertheless it is not altogether helpful to define broadcastingprimarily in terms of the privacy or domesticity of its consumptionbecause this may also characterise the consumption of books and news-papers, not to mention newer media such as the internet. Moreover, thefirst experiences of television were public. This is perhaps because whileradio sets have been relatively cheap to buy or make throughout thehistory of sound broadcasting, the initial cost of television receivers wasexpected to be beyond the pockets of all but a few. Baird’s first demon-stration of his new device took place in Selfridges department store in1925, and the world’s first regular television service, which waslaunched in Germany in March 1935, was beamed only to public audi-toria: there were no privately owned sets (Chapman, 2005, p. 117). TheBritish television service was started by the BBC in November 1936, butthe first receivers cost almost as much as a car and many of itsprogrammes were viewed in shops, cinemas and other public places(Ellis, 2002, p. 31). By 1937, there were as many as 109 public viewingrooms, including one at Harrods and one at Waterloo railway station(Gripsrud, 1998, p. 22). We think of modern television as a predomi-nantly domestic and private medium, but it is worth remembering thata significant proportion of the audience continues to watch itsprogrammes, especially major sporting events, in pubs and clubs, not tomention open spaces like town squares and stadiums.

Despite all the problems that the concept presents, we persist in feel-ing that liveness is the distinguishing feature of broadcasting. But what,exactly, does ‘live’ mean?

2 Liveness and Recording in the Media

Abercrombie, N., 102action replay, see instant replayAltman, R., 102Amazon, 42Archers, The, 28Armes, R., 18, 19, 37, 95audiences’ use of recording, 25,

46–7, 49, 95–100use of DVD (digital versatile

disc) recording, 95–6, 98, 99

use of Sky Plus, 96, 98use of TiVo, 96, 98, 99use of video-recording, 95, 98,

99–100Auslander, P., 6, 7, 11, 23, 38, 39

Baird, John Logie, 2, 14Bakewell, J., 22Barnard, S., 15, 34BBC (British Broadcasting

Corporation), xii, 2, 13–14,18, 20, 21, 22, 23–4, 25, 32–6,38, 46, 88

BBC iPlayer, 96, 98BBC Radio 5 Live, 103Big Brother, 16Blackburn, Tony, 38Blakely, R., 98Blind Date, 103Bourdon, J., 16, 23, 45, 102, 105Briggs, A., 21, 33, 34, 48broadcasters’ use of recording, 1, 2,

17, 18–31, 32–4, 35–6, 45–9,86–7, 98, 103–4

use of telerecording, 20, 21, 22,23

use of video-recording, 21, 22,47

Bruce, Ken, 40

Caughie, J., 23, 25Chapman, J., 2Chignell, H., 32, 33, 34, 40cinema film, 1, 4, 5, 7, 11–12, 16,

18–19, 20–1, 21, 23, 25, 27,28, 29, 30, 32, 97, 99, 101, 102

Cooke, L., 21, 22, 23–4, 24Cox, Sara, 40Crimewatch, 51, 59, 66–76, 86, 87,

89, 91–2, 93Crimewatch Update, 83, 84–5, 86Crisell, A., 1, 13, 15, 19, 24, 28, 33,

36, 37, 98, 102

Deezer, 42Dixon of Dock Green, 24

EastEnders, 64–5, 88, 89Ellis, J., 1, 2, 31, 88, 101, 102, 103,

106European Broadcasting Union, 105Evans, Chris, 40

Faltermeyer, Harold, 39Feuer, J., 49, 103Flew, T., 26

Garnham, N., 22Gifford, D., 34

113

Index

Graham Norton Show, The, 85–6, 90,92–3

Gripsrud, J., 2, 13, 88Grooveshark, 42

Harvey, S., xi–xiiHBO (Home Box Office), 99Hesmondhalgh, D., 26Holby City, 65, 66, 88

Imagine, 64, 76, 83, 88, 91instant replay, 21, 47–9internet, the, xi, 1, 2, 16–17, 40, 42,

98iTunes, 42

Jacobs, J., 20, 22, 24, 25jukeboxes, 41

Kavka, M., 45kinescoping, see broadcasters’ use of

telerecordingKraftwerk, 39

LOVEFiLM, 99, 108Lury, K., 47, 97, 105

Manvell, R., 27Marriott, S., 17, 21, 31, 48, 96, 101,

102Match of the Day, 46–7, 49, 98, 102mobile phones, 1, 96, 108Montgomery, M., 14Moyles, Chris, 40music records, xii, 15–16, 19, 20,

32, 34–6, 37–8, 39, 40–3

needle-time, 34, 35, 38Netflix, 99news programming, 1, 5, 12–14, 17,

27, 31, 33–4, 35, 45, 46, 50,86, 90, 96, 103, 105, 108

News and Weather, 51–7, 76–81,83, 86, 89, 91, 93–4

News Update, 65Regional News (‘Look North’), 51,

54, 57–64, 81–3, 86, 88, 88–9,92, 93, 94

Regional News Update, 65Nineteen Eighty-Four, 21Nyre, L., 18

off-air recording, see audiences’ useof recording

Oldfield, Mike, 39Ong, W., 8

Parker, D., 33Pegg, M., 19Pennington, A., 97Phelan, P., 105Pirates of the Caribbean, 99Play for Today, 24public-service broadcasting, xii, 20,

21, 23–4, 35–6, 42–4

Radio Luxembourg, 32–3Radio Normandy, 32–3Roberts, G., 96robo-jock shows, 40, 101Rolling Stones, 39Rudin, R., 42

Sabbagh, D., 99Scannell, P., 4, 8, 33, 93seriality, 26–31, 87, 100, 106serials, see serialityseries, see serialitySky TV, 97Skype, 92–3soap operas, see serialitysports programming, 13, 45–9,

108Spotify, 42

114 Index

Stone, Christopher, 34Street, S., 33Strictly Come Dancing, 16

theatre, 1, 5–6, 7, 11–12, 14, 16, 21,23–4, 29, 30, 43–4, 102, 105,106

Thompson, J., 4time-shifting, see audiences’ use of

recordingTomlinson, J., 5

Top of the Pops, 38Turow, J., 20

Urban Outfitters, 42

West, A., 45Whannel, G., 13Williams, K., 19Williams, R., 88Winston, B., 19

YouTube, 108

Index 115