Mid-twentieth century radio art : The ontological insecurity of the radio text

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. Nu zungsbedingungen: Te ms o use: Diese Tex wi d un e eine C ea i e Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0/ Lizenz zu Ve ügung ges ell . Nähe e Auskün e zu diese Lizenz inden Sie hie : h ps://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This documen is made a ailable unde a c ea i e commons BY- NC-ND 4.0/ License. Fo mo e in o ma ion see: h ps://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES www.necsus-ejms.o g 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- NECSUS – EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES 92 VOL 8 (2), 2019 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 NECSUS – EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES 94 VOL 8 (2), 2019 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] NECSUS – EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES 96 VOL 8 (2), 2019 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 NECSUS – EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES 98 VOL 8 (2), 2019 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. NECSUS – EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES 106 VOL 8 (2), 2019 Re e ences Adcock, C. ‘Ma cel Duchamp’s gap music: Ope a ions in he space be ween a and noise’ in Wi eless imagina ion: Sound, adio, and he a an -ga de, edi ed by D. Khan and G. Whi ehead. Camb idge: MIT P ess, 1992: 105-138. Al man, R. ‘In oduc ion’, Yale F ench S udies, Vol. 60, ‘Cinema/Sound’, 1980: 3-15. A nheim, R. Radio, ansla ed by L. and H. Read. London: Fabe and Fabe , 1936. Becke , S. The comple e d ama ic wo ks. London: Fabe and Fabe , 2006. Billing on, M. Ha old Pin e . London: Fabe and Fabe , 2007. Bloom, E.C. The wi eless pas : Anglo-I ish w i e s and he BBC, 1931-1968. Ox o d: Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 2016. B iggs, A. The his o y o b oadcas ing in he Uni ed Kingdom, olume IV: Sound and ision. Ox o d: Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 1995. Ca pen e , H. The en y o he wo ld: Fi y yea s o he BBC Thi d P og amme and Radio 3. London: Wei- den ield and Nicholson, 1996. Cazeaux, C. ‘Phenomenology and Radio D ama’, B i ish Jou nal o Aes he ics, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2005: 157- 174. Chignell, H. Key concep s in adio s udies. London: Sage, 2009. Cohen, D.R., Coyle, M. and Lew y, J. ‘In oduc ion: Signing on’ in B oadcas ing mode nism, edi ed by D.R. Cohen, M. Coyle, and J. Lew y. Gaines ille: Uni e si y P ess o Flo ida, 2009: 1-7. Conno , S. ‘I swi ch o : Becke and he o deals o adio’ in B oadcas ing mode nism, edi ed by D.R. Cohen, M. Coyle, and J. Lew y. Gaines ille: Uni e si y P ess o Flo ida, 2009: 274-293. C isell, A. Unde s anding adio, second edi ion. London, New Yo k: Rou ledge, 1994. Cu in, A. A an -ga de hea e sound: S aging sonic mode ni y. London: Palg a e, 2014. D akakis, J. ‘In oduc ion’ in B i ish adio d ama, edi ed by J. D akakis. Camb idge: Camb idge Uni e - si y P ess, 1981: 1-36. Dyson, F. Sounding new media: Imme sion and embodimen in he a s and cul u e. Be keley-Los Angeles- London: Uni e si y o Cali o nia P ess, 2009. Esslin, M. The hea e o he absu d. London: Bloomsbu y, 2014. F os , E.C. ‘Fundamen al Sounds: Reco ding Samuel Becke ’s Radio Plays’, Thea e Jou nal, Vol. 43, No. 3, 1991: 361-376. _____. ‘“The sound is enough”: Becke ’s adio plays’ in The Edinbu gh companion o Samuel Becke and he a s, edi ed by S.E. Gon a ski. Edinbu gh: Edinbu gh Uni e si y P ess, 2014: 251-265. G ay, F. ‘The na u e o adio d ama’ in Radio d ama, edi ed by P. Lewis. New Yo k: Longman, 1981: 48- 77. Gu alnick, E. Sigh unseen: Becke , Pin e , S oppa d, and o he con empo a y d ama is s on adio. A hens: Ohio Uni e si y P ess, 1996. Hand, R. and T ayno , M. The adio d ama handbook: Audio d ama in con ex and p ac ice. London: Con- inuum, 2011. Jenemann, D. ‘Flying solo: The cha ms o he adio body’ in B oadcas ing Mode nism, edi ed by D.R. Cohen, M. Coyle, and J. Lew y. Gaines ille: Uni e si y P ess o Flo ida, 2009: 89-103. Keane, B. Sound unseen: Acousma ic sound in heo y and p ac ice. Ox o d: Ox o d Uni e si y P ess, 2014. Kend ick, L. Thea e au ali y. London: Palg a e, 2017. Khan, D. ‘In oduc ion’ in Wi eless imagina ion: Sound, adio, and he a an -ga de, edi ed by D. Khan and G. Whi ehead. Camb idge: MIT P ess, 1992: 1-29. Laws, C. ‘Imagining adio sound: In e e ence and collabo a ion in he BBC Radio p oduc ion o Beck- e ’s All Tha Fall’ in Samuel Becke and BBC Radio: A eassessmen , edi ed by D. Addyman, M. Feld- man, and E. Tonning. London: Palg a e Macmillan, 2017: 103-138. Maude, U. Becke , echnology and he body. Camb idge: Camb idge Uni e si y P ess, 2009a. _____. ‘Mode nis bodies: Coming o ou senses’ in The body and he a s, edi ed by C. Saunde s, U. Maude, and J. Macnaugh on. London: Palg a e Macmillan, 2009b: 116-130. MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY RADIO ART QUERIDO 107 McWhinnie, D. The a o adio. London: Fabe and Fabe , 1959. Mo in, E. ‘Becke ’s Speaking Machines: Sound, Radiophonics and Acousma ics’, Mode nism/Mode ni y, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2014: 1-24. Pe e s, J.D. Speaking in o he ai : A his o y o he idea o communica ion. Chicago: Uni e si y o Chicago P ess, 1999. Pinge , R. La Mani elle / Le e Mo e. Pa is: Minui , 1970. Pin e , H. A sligh ache and o he plays. London: Ey e Me huen, 1982. Po e , J. Los sound: The o go en a o adio s o y elling. Chapell Hill: Uni e si y o No h Ca olina P ess, 2016. Pownall, D. Sound hea e: Though s on he adio play. London: Obe on Books, 2012. P iessni z, H. ‘B i ish adio d ama: A su ey’ in Radio d ama, edi ed by P. Lewis. New Yo k: Longman, 1981: 28-47. Rodge , I. Radio d ama. London: MacMillan, 1982. Scannell, P. ‘Fo a Phenomenology o Radio and Tele ision’, Jou nal o Communica ion, Vol. 45, No. 3, 1995: 4-19. Sconce, J. ‘Wi eless ego: The pulp physics o psychoanalysis’ in B oadcas ing mode nism, edi ed by D.R. Cohen, M. Coyle, and J. Lew y. Gaines ille: Uni e si y P ess o Flo ida, 2009: 31-50. Shingle , M. ‘Some Recu ing Fea u es o Eu opean A an -Ga de Radio’, Jou nal o Radio S udies, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2000: 196-212. S e ne, J. The audible pas : Cul u al o igins o sound ep oduc ion. Du ham: Duke Uni e si y P ess, 2003. S ewa , P. ‘S e ile ep oduc ion: Becke ’s dea h o he species and ic ional egene a ion’ in Becke and dea h, edi ed by S. Ba ield, M. Feldman, and P. Tew. London: Con inuum, 2009: 169-187. S oppa d, T. S oppa d: The plays o adio 1964-1991. London: Fabe and Fabe , 1994. S ulbe g, J. ‘How (No ) o W i e B oadcas Plays: Pin e and he BBC’, Mode n D ama, Vol. 58, No. 4, 2015: 502-523. Tonning, E. ‘Media ing mode nism: The Thi d P og amme, Samuel Becke , and mass communica ion’ in Samuel Becke and BBC Radio: A eassessmen , edi ed by D. Addyman, M. Feldman, and E. Ton- ning. London: Palg a e Macmillan, 2017: 59-79. VanCou , S. Making adio: Ea ly adio p oduc ion and he ise o mode n sound cul u e. Ox o d: Ox o d Uni- e si y P ess, 2018. Whi ehead, K. The Thi d P og amme: A li e a y his o y. Ox o d: Cla endon P ess, 1989. Zilliacus, C. Becke and b oadcas ing: A s udy o he wo ks o Samuel Becke o and in adio and ele ision. Åbo: Åbo Akademi, 1976. _____. ‘All Tha Fall and adio language’ in Samuel Becke and he a s: Music, isual a s, and non-p in media, edi ed by L. Oppenheim. New Yo k: Ga land, 1999: 295-310. 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 NECSUS – EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES 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. NECSUS – EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES 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.