Reposi o ium ü die Medienwissenscha
Ped o Que ido
Mid- wen ie h cen u y adio a : The on ological
insecu i y o he adio ex
2019
h ps://doi.o g/10.25969/media ep/13140
Ve ö en lichungs e sion / published e sion
Zei sch i ena ikel / jou nal a icle
Emp ohlene Zi ie ung / Sugges ed Ci a ion:
Que ido, Ped o: Mid- wen ie h cen u y adio a : The on ological insecu i y o he adio ex . In: NECSUS. Eu opean
Jou nal o Media S udies. #Ges u e, Jg.8 (2019), N .2, S.91–111. DOI: h ps://doi.o g/10.25969/media ep/13140.
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Mid- wen ie h cen u y adio a : The on ological
insecu i y o he adio ex
Ped o Que ido
NECSUS 8 (2), Au umn 2019: 91–111
URL: h ps://necsus-ejms.o g/mid- wen ie h-cen u y- adio-a - he-
on ological-insecu i y-o - he- adio- ex /
Keywo ds: ambigui y, B i ain, epheme ali y, in elligibili y, adio,
Thi d P og amme
I is o en sou ly ema ked abou ou ime, wi h i s b isk pace and in o -
ma ion o e load, ha i is cha ac e ised by impe manence. Fo an example
o wha p omp s such dis augh musings, we need no look much u he
han he s agge ing success enjoyed by messaging se ices like Snapcha ,
which ele a e epheme ali y o he le el o o ganising p inciple. Acco ding o
his iew, he popula i y o he 24-hou news cycle and social ne wo king
se ices like Twi e , along wi h he slow demise o p in cul u e, a e u he
signs o he changing imes.
F om a echnological poin o iew, howe e , wo ying abou ex ual e -
anescence mus sound a li le quain . While i may be con en ious o speak in
academic ci cles o he in e ne as an a chi e, i s a e age use will likely see
i as such and no doub ma el a i s un a homable s o age po en ial. Also,
me hods o insc ip ion o ex s o all kinds ha e ne e been so widely a aila-
ble, e en o line – when so many people ca y a ound a de ice ha can unc-
ion as a no epad, pho og aphic came a, ideo came a, and oice eco de ,
he e is qui e o en a leas he heo e ical possibili y o escuing any gi en
ex om he obli ion o impe manence by eco ding i in some way o an-
o he .
Ye his was no he way o hings in he Uni ed Kingdom back in he 1950s
and 1960s, du ing wha has been called he ‘golden age’ o B i ish adio
d ama,[1] which in u n has been deemed o ha e con ibu ed o he con em-
po a y ‘ enaissance o B i ish play-w i ing’.[2] Despi e hen- ecen echno-
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logical b eak h oughs, mos no ably he in oduc ion o he po able ape e-
co de , he ac was ha he o e whelming majo i y o he wo ks w i en o
he medium would be p oduced and played once, some imes epea ed jus
once a ew yea s la e , only ne e o be hea d again – no e en inding hei
way in o p in publica ion, as was commonly he case wi h s age plays.
I a gue ha a keen his o ical awa eness o he adio ex ’s on ological in-
s abili y – a esul o he p omise o pe manence a o ded by he w i en
wo d and i s aspi ed- o eco ded pe o mance on he one hand, and he su -
p ising e anescence o he ma e ialisa ion o ha ex on he o he – mus
in o m ou eadings o he adio d ama o he ime, pa icula ly o he ex-
pe imen al, ‘high-b ow’, medium-awa e wo ks c ea ed in he hi d qua e
o he wen ie h cen u y by he likes o Samuel Becke , Ha old Pin e , Robe
Pinge , and Tom S oppa d.
In his a icle, my main aim is o o e a heo e ical analysis o how hese
w i e s’ conce ns wi h he adio wo k’s pa adoxical s a us il e ed down o he
e y s uc u e o hei c ea i e ou pu . This can only be accomplished a e
examining he echnological s a e o a ai s o mid- wen ie h cen u y adio
and i s implica ions o he c ea ion and ecep ion o adio wo ks.
Mid- wen ie h cen u y adio: A ne he wo ld o pseudo-
pe manence
Fo many schola s, he epheme ali y o adio does no hold a candle o he
e anescence o sound i sel . Acco ding o Ul ika Maude, sounds, despi e hei
physical o igin, a e ‘ ansi o y and epheme al’, which makes hea ing ‘a du-
plici ous sense’, one ha is ‘mo e p one o miscalcula ions han ision’.[3]
Unmi iga ed by he kind o echnology a ailable o us oday, he insc u abil-
i y o sound – o i s ‘on ological ambigui y’, as bo h F ances Dyson and Cli e
Cazeaux labeled i [4] – has his o ically caused he au al o be deemed un i
o epis emological s udy; o Maude, his goes some way owa ds explaining
he long adi ion o ‘ he associa ion o ision wi h knowledge […] in Wes e n
hough ’.[5]
Na u ally, Maude, Dyson, Cazeaux, and o he s ake excep ion o such a
a ionale, and a gue o a mo e comple e, and by ex ension mo e sympa-
he ic and espec ul, unde s anding o sound. Fo example, Dyson akes is-
sue wi h he dismissal o sound no only as an epis emic objec (unde he
in luence o pos -Enligh enmen hough ) bu also as a echnological objec
MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY RADIO ART
QUERIDO 93
(in he mode n con ex o con empo a y sound heo y).[6] Also, Cazeaux, in
his phenomenological s udy o sound, s esses ha wha is ou inely seen as
he ‘incomple eness’ o adio a u ns ou o be ‘ins ead he gap o opening
whe ein in i a ional ela ionships cons i u i e o a wo k’s exp essi e po en-
ial can be cons uc ed’.[7]
Ne e heless, and despi e he ac ha pe cei ed ailings o sound in gen-
e al and adio a in pa icula can be celeb a ed as s eng hs, o en a he co e
o such a gumen s s ill lies he no ion ha sound is epheme al and hus on-
ologically ambiguous. I bea s men ioning ha his is no a unanimous pe -
spec i e. Jona han S e ne, o ins ance, w i es eloquen ly agains he no ion
o a anshis o ical and essen ialis accoun o sound’s ‘special’ na u e.[8]
S e ne d aws on he wo k o Rick Al man, whose e ms ‘his o ical allacy’ and
‘on ological allacy’ desc ibe ea ly ilm c i ics’ e o s o dis ega d he ele-
men o sound by making anshis o ical and essen ialis claims based on
conc e e his o ical p ac ices.[9] S ill, i is sa e o say ha oday, e en wi h he
bene i o ubiqui ous mode n sound eco ding echnologies, mos people
s ill hink abou sound as mo e epheme al and epis emologically slippe y
han sigh , o ins ance, and his was all he mo e so in he 1950s and 1960s.
I is no su p ising, hen, ha ea ly adio, elying almos en i ely on li e
ansmission as i did in i s ea ly yea s, was pe cei ed as ‘an especially ephem-
e al medium’.[10] Since ‘ he e we e no p e- eco ded p og ammes’, wha e e
came ou o he adio ‘was hea d and hen i was gone’.[11] Such ‘dissipa ion
o wa es in space’ means ha ‘ ha e y adio p esence ha so undamen ally
ma ked he decades o he 1920s and 1930s’ will o e e be inaccessible o
us.[12] This me ely agg a a ed he long-s anding neglec o au ali y in a is ic
p ac ice,[13] which would only begin o be add essed once he app op ia e
echnological means became widesp ead; as Douglas Khan poin s ou , he
‘mode n a is ic ixa ion on sound’ was enabled p ecisely by he ixa ion o
sound, and e e since ha was achie ed ‘ he connec ion be ween sound and
echnology has endu ed’.[14]
The a i al o insc ip ion echnologies b ough g ea changes no only o
subsequen adio p ac ices bu also o he pe cei ed s abili y and epis emo-
logical cu ency o sound. Wha Dyson calls ‘ he mi acle o he phonog aph’
ga e sound ma e iali y, ‘pe du abili y’, and ‘ h ee-dimensionali y’.[15] Mos
impo an ly, he insc ip ion o sound allowed i o be ep oduced a will, as
well as manipula ed in many di e en ways. Wha is mo e, adio’s in e es in
he insc ip ion o sound was pa ly mo i a ed by sel -p ese a ion: in he
s udy The Wi eless Pas , Emily Bloom w i es ha ‘ he ea o obsolescence ha
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haun s adio in he 1950s’ led o ‘a concomi an impulse owa d a chi iza ion’,
and i ook on ha new ole as a chi e o eposi o y wi h elish, as a way o
sho e up i s de e io a ing cul u al capi al.[16]
S angely, hough, his momen ous echnological b eak h ough ook i s
ime o add a sense o pe manency o sound a . E en well in o he 1950s and
1960s, epea s o adio wo ks we e no common p ac ice; mos o hem we e
allo ed a ‘single b oadcas ’, ‘ ollowed by one soli a y epea pe o mance’.[17]
Na u ally, his anishing ac was widely ega ded as an ‘inhe en d awback o
adio d ama’[18] – indeed, ‘one o he majo ea s o c ea i e w i e s’ con-
ce ning adio was ‘ ha hei wo k o adio would jus be sucked in by he ai
wa es and ne e hea d o again’.[19] In he discussion o sonic obsolescence
in Becke ’s K app’s Las Tape, Bloom aises an impo an la ge poin , namely
he ac ha ‘sound p ese a ion echnologies a e no , in he end, capable o
p o ec ing agains ei he echnological obsolescence o he epheme ali y o
memo y i sel ’.[20]
The inexo able impe manence o he adio a chi e – he es ablishmen
o he Sound A chi e Lib a y did li le o s em he ide, since ‘mos b oadcas s
con inued o go un eco ded o he eco dings we e des oyed’[21] – only
se ed o magni y he lee ingness o adio a , which emained uniquely ul-
ne able. As Paddy Scannell poin s ou , he single p og amme ‘has no iden i y:
I is a ansien hing ha pe ishes in he momen o i s ansmission’.[22] The
b u al insubs an iali y o adio a ecep ion can be be e unde s ood
h ough a i s -hand accoun o i . Da id Pownall, a p oli ic adio p ac i ione
ac i e in he las hi d o he wen ie h cen u y, has w i en on his pe sonal
expe ience wi h he in angibili y o adio a and i s discou aging lack o echo.
Ha ing had his i s adio play p oduced, he was dis augh o ind ha ‘ he e
was no esponse’, as hough i had allen ‘in o a bo omless abyss’.[23] Lis en-
ing o i on he adio on his own ga e he expe ience no sense o ellowship,
and he lack o c i ical eac ions added ‘ o he odd eeling ha no hing had
happened’.[24] When la e wo ks did gene a e a esponse, i was ‘ agmen a y,
desul o y’, and Pownall ound ha he only way o endu e ha ‘dishea ening
e apo a ion’ was o w i e o himsel alone.[25]
O he ways o g an ing adio wo ks a mo e pe manen s a us a ed li le
be e . Conce ns wi h he ‘ e y li le c i ical a en ion [ ha ] was being di-
ec ed a his wo k’ in he 1950s and 1960s[26] – which was s ill a eali y case
decades la e [27] – we e no g ea ly allayed by he possibili y o p in publi-
ca ion o s age adap a ion. The ansi ion in o p in – o , o a lesse ex en ,

MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY RADIO ART
QUERIDO 95
‘ he dubious p ize o being ans e ed o he s age’[28] – was a p i ilege ac-
co ded only o he ex emely selec ew adio wo ks ha en e ed he canon,
and ‘i was no un il BBC Publica ions began o b anch ou om jou nals in o
books in he 1960s ha sc ip s began o be published on a mo e egula ba-
sis’.[29] E en so, and as la e as in he 1980s, ‘ he e y small numbe ’ o adio
plays published mean ha adio a ’s ex ual impac was ‘minimal’.[30] To
make ma e s wo se, schola s in en on analysing adio wo ks which we e
b oadcas bu no published will o en un in o a s one wall, ‘ o such eco d-
ings do no exis ’.[31]
In his 1959 ea ise on adio, Donald McWhinnie del es a some leng h
in o his pa adox – ha is o say, he impe manence o adio a a a ime
when ‘ he magical de ice o elec o-magne ic ape- eco ding and edi ing’
was al eady one o he adio w i e ’s ools o choice.[32] As we ha e seen, he
pe o mance o adio a , as always and mo e o less by de ini ion, ‘is ephem-
e al, i dissol es as soon as i is hea d’;[33] he p oblem in he 1950s and 1960s,
w i es McWhinnie, was ha i was a ely epea ed – unlike con empo a y
hea e o cinema – and no a ailable ‘as and when you wish’ i [34] – unlike
oday’s podcas s, o ins ance. E en w i en sc ip s would o en succumb o
he same a e, as ‘a p odigious numbe o sc ip s’ simply anished ‘in o obli -
ion’.[35] Because ‘ he adio w i e may see his wo k disappea like a s one in
a pond’, McWhinnie is led o in e ha adio a mus be ‘unique in i s quali y
and ewa ding in i sel , ega dless o ma e ial conside a ions’.[36] This
hankless wo k equi ed a special kind o sel lessness and in insic mo i a ion,
and indeed McWhinnie, w i ing om he an age poin o he empo al and
spa ial epicen e o he Uni ed Kingdom’s golden age o adio, is con iden
ha we e i no o he con inuous commi men o ‘a g ea many de o ed
p ac i ione s’, adio a ‘could easily disappea al oge he ’.[37]
I is ema kable jus how epheme al a medium like adio can be e en
when insc ip ion is possible. McWhinnie e y co ec ly poin ed ou ha
while epheme ali y was he concep ha bes desc ibed ‘Sound Radio’ a he
ime when he was w i ing The A o Radio, ha was ‘no necessa ily a pe ma-
nen condi ion o adio, bu simply a condi ion b ough abou by immedia e
demands and policies’ – o example, he lauds Richa d Hughes’ sugges ion
o b oadcas ing a dese ing adio p og amme ‘e e y nigh o a leas a
week’.[38] The ac emains, howe e , ha ‘[l]i le e o was made o p ese e
he con en o b oadcas s, e en once he echnology exis ed’, and o his ea-
son, and somewha coun e in ui i ely, ‘ adio has been as epheme al his o i-
cally as we e i s o iginal p oduc ions, so pe asi e as o be o e looked’.[39]
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This shows he dange o wha Khan e med ‘ echnologically de e minis ’
iews; jus like, as Khan no es, he ‘me e a ailabili y’ o he magne ic ape
eco de ‘did no spon aneously engende an a app op ia e o i ’,[40] nei-
he did insc ip ion echnologies immedia ely do away wi h ha eeling o
e anescence,[41] which in ac we s ill oday, despi e all ou eco ding ech-
nologies and a chi al possibili ies, associa e wi h adio.[42] The ques ion is,
how did he expe ience o being exposed o (and, mo e impo an ly, wading
in o) his ne he wo ld o pseudo-pe manence in luence he budding adio
p ac i ione s o he ime? The answe is wo old: on he one hand, i called
o simplici y and in elligibili y; on he o he hand, and in an appa en con-
adic ion, i encou aged hem o hema ise ambigui y.
The inescapable need o in elligibili y
The pe cei ed na u e o sound (and by ex ension adio and adio a ) played
a i al ole in he ques o in elligibili y. Fo Maude as o so many o he s,
sounds ‘a e ansi o y and epheme al’, and o his eason hea ing is ‘a du-
plici ous sense’, one ha is ‘mo e p one o miscalcula ions han ision’.[43]
This no ion is co obo a ed by McWhinnie’s asse ion ha na u al sounds (as
opposed o sound e ec s) a e ‘ex emely di icul o iden i y’ on hei own,
ha is o say, wi hou isual con ex o ‘di o ced om he ex ’.[44] This is
why acousma ic sound (sound whose o iginal sou ce is hidden), acco ding o
schola s like B ian Keane, is said o be de ined by ‘on ological unce ain y’.[45]
These belie s we e widesp ead in he middle o he wen ie h cen u y,
held by adio p o essionals, c i ics, and audiences alike, and his is pa o he
eason why sound a in gene al and he medium o adio in pa icula ha e
been so sui able o he explo a ion o he idea ‘ ha any sense o epis emo-
logical su e y is illusiona y’, as he F ench polyma h Ma cel Duchamp did in
his inno a i e sound wo k.[46] The ‘abiding sense o doub ’ ound in Du-
champ’s au al a [47] would, almos hal a cen u y la e , pe mea e he adio
wo k o Tom S oppa d, who in A is Descending a S ai case se s ou o demon-
s a e, as Elissa Gu alnick explains, ha ‘ou senses, by hei na u e, a e im-
pe ec guides o u h’ by e ealing ‘ou limi a ions as lis ene s’.[48]
Wha is cu ious abou adio a is ha , al hough i s eliance on sound
alone makes i an in insically challenging endea ou o i s lis ene s, such
di icul y o p ope comp ehension is compounded by he ac ha adio lis-
MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY RADIO ART
QUERIDO 97
ening has his o ically been a backg ound a he han a main ac i i y,[49] es-
pecially e e since he eme gence o he e olu iona y echnology o he
ansis o in 1947.[50] Wha is oday mo e o less a gi en abou adio was also
ue and al eady e iden in he 1930s, when Rudol A nheim ema ked ha
adio ‘encou ages he mind o wande ’ and hus ‘ ends o become he audi-
o y oil o daily occupa ions, a ac ing spo adic a en ion, bu no eally
commanding i s audience’[51] – a ound ha ime he BBC began o conduc
audience esea ch, and so was o ced o acknowledge ‘ ha people did o he
hings while hey lis ened o he adio’.[52] This adi ional unc ion as ‘sonic
backg ound’ has led adio o be ‘o en e e ed o as a “seconda y” me-
dium’.[53] The pa allel ac i i ies, allied wi h he almos ine i able dis ac ions
a ound he adio lis ene , means ha he b oadcas ‘usually manages o gain
only hal he lis ene ’s ea ’.[54]
This is un o una e, because adio a demands ‘ he ull a en ion o an
ac i e audience’.[55] Radio is a ‘coe ci ely empo al’ medium,[56] and he lis-
ene mus be willing and able o in es a conside able amoun o ime and
ene gy – as Pownall no es, no one will ‘si down and lis en o bad adio he
same way hey’ll si down o wa ch bad ele ision’.[57] McWhinnie in pa ic-
ula is keen on s essing adio’s eli is ben , conside ing i o be unsui able o
idle enjoymen because ‘ he bes o i s c ea ions demand conscious a en ion,
no blank-minded accep ance’;[58] o McWhinnie, he ideal audience o a-
dio a is p oac i e and in ellec ually cu ious, and o ha eason i ‘will in-
e i ably be a mino i y one’.[59] The adio lis ene , hen, is a once ‘blind’ (and
hus elian only on he sense o hea ing o he decoding o ex e nal s imuli),
‘absen ’ ( ha is, ‘no whe e he play is being pe o med’, and hus ‘su ounded
by he dis ac ions o hei own sepa a e en i onmen s’), and, lacking as hey
a e in ‘a highly de eloped sense o occasion’, ‘exac ing in ha hey need no
si he play ou , hey can simply swi ch i o ’.[60]
This ex ao dina y clus e o ai s asc ibed o he adio audience, com-
bined wi h he in insic lee ingness o he spoken wo d, begged o a mo e
pala able con en .[61] So adio a adap ed, de eloping, acco ding o Richa d
Hand and Ma y T ayno , ce ain na a i e con en ions in o de o ‘compen-
sa e’ (a commonly used e b in his con ex ) o he peculia na u e o adio
a ansmission and ecep ion: ‘Na a i e s uc u e ends o be uncompli-
ca ed, in ol ing ew cha ac e s, and he language is desc ip i e’.[62] This was
necessa y in o de o mi iga e he pe cei ed limi a ions o adio, such as he
‘ empo al p essu es’ o b oadcas ing and he o e axing demands o he au al
on he lis ene ’s memo y.[63] Acco ding o Shawn VanCou , hese p essu es
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and conce ns coalesced in o a ew co e p inciples o in elligibili y o ea ly
adio a : hese included ‘au al in elligibili y’ and ‘sonic pa simony’, wo p in-
ciples adap ed om adio music.[64] In elligibili y, hen, became ‘unques-
ionably a chie conce n o adio p oduce s o bo h musical and d ama ic
p esen a ion h oughou he 1920s’ and he ea e .[65]
The d i e owa ds in elligibili y when w i ing o adio can o en be dis-
ce ned when compa ing adio wo ks o s age plays penned by he same
w i e . Pinge ’s La Mani elle and Le e Mo e, published a yea apa and o en
oge he by Minui , a e a good example o his: hough he s yle is a he sim-
ila , he s uc u e and hemes o he adio piece a e mani es ly simple han
hose o Le e Mo e. An analogous obse a ion has been made by Ma in
Esslin, who conside s ha Becke ’s mos enowned wo ks w i en in F ench
o he s age in he 1950s (such as Wai ing o Godo and Endgame) do no eally
compa e in e ms o complexi y wi h i s con empo a ies Embe s o All Tha
Fall.[66]
We see VanCou ’s p inciples a play in adio wo ks by Becke , Pinge ,
Pin e , and S oppa d. Despi e i s ela i ely la ge cas , Becke ’s All Tha Fall
s i es owa ds au al in elligibili y in ha he e is no o e lap be ween cha -
ac e s’ speeches. Pinge ’s La Mani elle, Pin e ’s A Sligh Ache, and Becke ’s Em-
be s ac ually combine au al in elligibili y wi h sonic pa simony, since hey all
ea u e a small cas o i ually ( hough no echnically) wo and no o e lap-
ping lines. Wi h i s con olu ed s uc u e, a he undi e en iable cas o main
male cha ac e s, and elabo a e au al illusions, S oppa d’s A is Descending a
S ai case is he only wo k analysed he e ha openly laun s he p inciples o
au al in elligibili y and sonic pa simony – ye i does so knowingly, pa odi-
cally, and, as we shall see p esen ly, no wi hou allaying i s in icacy wi h he
help o lis ene - iendly s ylis ic de ices, namely epe i ion.
The abundan ecou se o epe i ion is a pa icula ly conspicuous ma ke
o his d i e owa ds o mal simplici y. Fo ins ance, i can ake he o m o
an insidious ecu ence, such as he di e en hues o he mani old allusions,
sub le and o e , o he heme o s e ili y ound in All Tha Fall.[67] Mo e
explici epe i ions a e also pe asi e: no ice he ca s passing by in La
Mani elle and he a endan p o es s by he mishea ing old men, Flo a’s ei -
e a ed depic ions o he ma chselle as old and ha mless in A Sligh Ache,
Hen y’s i ualis ic summoning o sounds and oices in Embe s, and he mag-
ne ic ape loops hea d h oughou A is Descending a S ai case. Also, in many
cases we e en ind an ac ual musical lei mo i , such as he ‘old une’ ha al-
MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY RADIO ART
QUERIDO 105
necessa y p oduc o an on ologically ail medium buil on a single epis e-
mologically ail sense, bu ins ead as openings o he kind o ‘in i a ional
ela ionships’ ha a e p ope o a – as well as o sound i sel .[117]
So, while sound in gene al and he medium o adio in pa icula may
ha e equen ly been belie ed o possess a g ea po en ial o an imme si e
senso y (and e en ex asenso y) expe ience, he mo e expe imen al in-
s ances o mid- wen ie h cen u y adio a b oadcas by he Thi d P o-
g amme demons a e ins ead he medium’s sui abili y o os e dis ance
h ough unce ain y, ambigui y, and scep icism. The a o emen ioned impe -
a i e o in elligibili y may seem o ub agains hese hemes, bu he equilib-
ium be ween he wo, and he ensuing ension, is as ha d o ind as i is a -
is ically aluable: ‘In a way ha now seems ema kable, mode nis ex ual
p ac ices we e adap ed by adio au eu s o p oduce an audi o y a ha no
only complica ed adio s o y elling bu also emained accessible o la ge au-
diences’.[118]
McWhinnie’s pos ula e in his 1959 book The A o Radio – ‘The quicksand
o adio lies be ween i s need o absolu e cla i y and i s ascina ing capaci y
o complexi y’[119] – was hus gi en consumma e exp ession by he young
and b igh adio p ac i ione s o his day examined he e. Undaun ed by he
la gely nega i e associa ions wi h he medium o adio and acu ely awa e o
i s peculia i ies, hey se ou o hema ise he adiogenic no ions o scep icism
and ambigui y in a way ha migh s ill emain accessible o he mass audi-
ence ha hei b oadcas s would each. And i is a es amen o he quali y
and ingenui y o hose adio wo ks ha hey anscended he immedia e con-
ex o he qui e speci ic condi ions, limi a ions, and possibili ies o he ech-
nological s a e o a ai s o mid- wen ie h cen u y B i ish adio and s ood he
es o ime.
Au ho
Ped o Que ido is a PhD candida e in Compa a i e S udies a he School o
A s and Humani ies, Uni e si y o Lisbon and he ecipien o a schola ship
om he Po uguese Funding Agency (FCT). His esea ch ocuses on he
heme o old age in mid- wen ie h cen u y adio a , and his esea ch in e -
es s include wen ie h cen u y ic ion and d ama, compa a i e li e a u e, and
he absu d in li e a u e.

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106 VOL 8 (2), 2019
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No es
[1] Rodge 1982, p. 85; Billing on 2007, p. 95.
[2] Whi ehead 1989, p. 138.
[3] Maude 2009a, pp. 57-58.
[4] Dyson 2009, p. 10; Cazeaux 2005, p. 172.
[5] Maude 2009a, p. 118.
[6] Dyson 2009, p. 27. The assump ion ha sound has his o ically been neglec ed by heo is s is qui e
ecu en in sound s udies bu , when i is ex ended o include mo e con empo a y discou ses, a
om uncon o e sial: ‘I has become cliché o ail agains “ocula cen ism” and dec y he isualis
bias o mode nis his o iog aphy. The cu en c i ical consensus is ha mode ni y o ganized he
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108 VOL 8 (2), 2019
senses in complex, o e lapping, and si ua ionally con ingen ways. No single sense was p i ileged;
each was uniquely con igu ed and u ilized’ (Cu in 2014, p. 8).
[7] Cazeaux 2005, pp. 166-167.
[8] S e ne 2003, pp. 14-19
[9] Al man 1980, pp. 14-15
[10] Cohen & Coyle & Lew y 2009, p. 2.
[11] Maude 2009b, p. 124.
[12] Cohen & Coyle, & Lew y 2009, p. 2 (o iginal emphasis).
[13] Khan 1992, p. 2.
[14] Ibid., p. 5.
[15] Dyson 2009, p. 47.
[16] Bloom 2016, pp. 158, 129.
[17] Rodge 1982, p. 155.
[18] Ca pen e 1996, p. 243.
[19] Whi ehead 1989, p. 86.
[20] Bloom 2016, pp. 153-154.
[21] Ibid., p. 130.
[22] Scannell 1995, p. 8.
[23] Pownall 2012, n.p.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Whi ehead 1989, p. 90.
[27] P iessni z 1981, p. 28.
[28] Gu alnick 1996, p. 153.
[29] Whi ehead 1989, p. 91.
[30] P iessni z 1981, pp. 30, 31.
[31] P iessni z 1981, p. 32.
[32] McWhinnie 1959, p. 107.
[33] Ibid., p. 43.
[34] Ibid., p. 99.
[35] Ibid., p. 152.
[36] Ibid., pp. 156, 157.
[37] Ibid., p. 184.
[38] Ibid., p. 99.
[39] Cohen & Coyle & Lew y 2009, pp. 2, 7.
[40] Khan 1992, p. 12.
MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY RADIO ART
QUERIDO 109
[41] D akakis 1981, p. 29.
[42] The a i al o he magne ic audio ape in he middle o he wen ie h cen u y seemed o p omise
o change he pe asi e pe cep ion o sound as an inadequa e objec o knowledge, and pe haps
e en o ushe in a mo e posi i is ou look, hus spoiling he expe imen al adio w i e ’s appe i e
o he hema isa ion o empi ical unce ain y. Howe e , in con empo a y adio wo ks such as
A is Descending a S ai case, sound insc ip ion is shown o ail o li e up o i s epis emological
s u diness. Jus as he e inemen and widesp ead adop ion o insc ip ion echnologies did no
ins an ly diminish he eeling o impe manence ho e ing o e he medium o adio, nei he did
he shee possibili y o ixa ion o sound do much o allay doub s o i s empi ical epis emological
use ulness and accu acy. In ac , one could a gue ha w i e s such as Becke , Pin e , and S op-
pa d may ha e been d awn o he medium o adio in pa p ecisely because o how easily i lends
i sel o such scep ical cogi a ions.
[43] Maude 2009a, pp. 57, 58.
[44] McWhinnie 1959, pp. 79, 80.
[45] Keane 2014, p. 179. As we ha e seen, no all expe s ag ee on hese and ela ed ideas ( ha sound
be an inhe en ly uns able signi ie , o a his o ically neglec ed one, o e en one wi h any special
inhe en p ope ies) – bu a guably, o he pu poses o his a icle, i is less impo an wha sound
is han wha i is pe cei ed o be.
[46] Adcock 1992, p. 126.
[47] Ibid., p. 128.
[48] Gu alnick 1996, pp. 30, 51.
[49] Hand & T ayno 2011, p. 35.
[50] C isell 1994, pp. 28-29.
[51] A nheim 1936, p. 8.
[52] Chignell 2009, p. 100.
[53] Ibid., p. 99.
[54] A nheim 1936, p. 268.
[55] Chignell 2009, p. 9.
[56] Pe lo 1999, p. 249.
[57] Pownall 2012, n.p.
[58] McWhinnie 1959, p. 43.
[59] Ibid., pp. 18, 26, 156.
[60] C isell 1994, p. 145.
[61] Hand & T ayno 2011, p. 41.
[62] Ibid., p. 36.
[63] D akakis 1981, p. 32.
[64] VanCou 2018, pp. 100, 73, 95.
[65] Ibid., p. 120.
[66] Esslin 2014, pp. 53-54.
[67] See S ewa 2009, p. 172.
[68] Gu alnick 1996, p. 35.
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110 VOL 8 (2), 2019
[69] See Gu alnick 1996, pp. 36 .
[70] S oppa d 1994, p. 148 (o iginal emphasis).
[71] F os 2014, p. 257.
[72] See, e.g., Zilliacus 1999, pp. 307-308.
[73] McWhinnie 1959, p. 108.
[74] Mo in 2014, pp. 4, 5, 2.
[75] F os 2014, p. 256.
[76] Ibid., p. 68.
[77] Tonning 2017, p. 59.
[78] Ca pen e 1996, pp. 4, 5.
[79] Whi ehead 1989, pp. 1, 122. On he ‘se ious hos ili y inside and ou side he BBC’ owa ds he Thi d
P og amme since i s incep ion, see B iggs 1995, pp. 60 .
[80] Tonning 2017, pp. 75, 77.
[81] B iggs 1995, pp. 63-64.
[82] Whi ehead 1989, pp. 2, 18.
[83] Ibid., p. 48; C isell 1994, p. 27.
[84] Tonning 2017, p. 60.
[85] Dyson 2009, pp. 4, 6. Fo dissen ing a gumen s, see S e ne 2003, p. 14 ; Kend ick 2017, p. 12.
[86] Pe e s 1999, p. 106.
[87] Ibid., p. 104.
[88] Halliday 2013, p. 70. In a oo no e, Sam Halliday admi s ha nowadays his no ion is complica ed
‘by he use o eco dings as he ac ual con en o many b oadcas s’, bu he makes a poin o b ing-
ing o a en ion ‘ he basic ac ha “li e” p esen a ion is he de aul mode o comme cial adio’
(Halliday 2013, p. 86, n. 51).
[89] Whi ehead 1989, p. 33. Con as his wi h he Ge man mon age echniques, which ypically we e
p e- eco ded, as opposed o he B i ish li e mon age: see Shingle 2000, pp. 199-202.
[90] Zilliacus 1976, p. 23. This penchan o li e ansmission had se e al implica ions, some o which
had a di ec impac on he p oduc ion o adio a . Fo ins ance, i helps explain why ‘d ama ic
eco dings in long akes’ we e s ill in ogue du ing ha decade; c ucially o he pu poses o his
a icle, ‘[ ]he BBC eco ding o All Tha Fall was i ually a one- ake session’ (Zilliacus 1976, p. 23).
[91] Dyson 2009, p. 46.
[92] Sconce 2009, p. 32. See also Dyson 2009, p. 31.
[93] Jenemann 2009, p. 95.
[94] Chignell 2009, p. 85.
[95] A nheim 1936, p. 71.
[96] McWhinnie 1959, p. 57.
[97] Gu alnick 1996, pp. 192, 131.
[98] Conno 2009, p. 275.
[99] Laws 2017, p. 107.

MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY RADIO ART
QUERIDO 111
[100] Conno 2009, pp. 276-277.
[101] McWhinnie 1959, p. 61.
[102] Gu alnick 1996, p. 126.
[103] G ay 1981, p. 61.
[104] Ibid.
[105] McWhinnie 1959, p. 65.
[106] Jenemann 2009, p. 101.
[107] Gu alnick 1996, p. 101.
[108] Laws 2017, p. 130.
[109] Gu alnick 1996, pp. 38-39.
[110] Pin e 1982, pp. 17, 29, 16, 39.
[111] S ulbe g 2015, pp. 511-512.
[112] Pinge 1970, pp. 38-40, 24.
[113] Fo a de ailed a ionale o his decision, which Becke did no app o e, see McWhinnie 1959, pp.
133-150.
[114] Becke 2006, p. 192.
[115] Ibid., p. 257.
[116] The o iginal BBC p oduc ion o 1959 ea u ed a s ylised, d one-like sound; jus like he use o
human ac o s o a mya d noises in All Tha Fall, Becke was no sa is ied wi h he e ec , and
in a la e Ame ican p oduc ion he asked he p oduce o no a emp i (see F os 1991, p. 365).
[117] Cazeaux 2005, pp. 166-167, 172-173.
[118] Po e 2016, n.p.
[119] McWhinnie 1959, p. 108.