Radio, webradio, podcast and their intertwined history, with special focus on how to produce a science radio programme.

1. science on air
Elisabetta Tola
formicablu, Bologna, Italy
SCIRAB, Science in radio broadcasting
25-27 sept 2012 – Barcelona, UPF
www.formicablu.it

3. los primeros años

5. And everybody should
be ashamed who uses
the wonders of science
and engineering
without thinking and
having mentally
realized not more of it
than a cow realizes of
the botany of the
plants which it eats
with pleasure.

6. Think also about the fact that it is the
engineers who make true democracy
possible.
They facilitate not only the daily work of
the people but also make the works of
the finest thinkers and artists accessible
to the public.
Albert Einstein, 7.08.1930, Berlin

7. Una teoria de la radio
Bertolt Brecht, 1927-32

8. You little box, held to me escaping
So that your valves should not break
Carried from house to house to ship from sail to train,
So that my enemies might go on talking to me,
Near my bed, to my pain
The last thing at night, the first thing in the morning,
Of their victories and of my cares,
Promise me not to go silent all of a sudden.,
Svendborg poems (1934)

9. Der Lindberghflug
(B. Brecht, Il volo di Lindbergh, 1929)

10. Hormödelle
E
Aufklarüng fur Kinder
(Walter Benjamin, 1925-32)

11. Before the radio was invented, we barely
knew any media that could be used for
eminently popular dissemination
purposes (...)
Dissemination was based on an
established and experienced scientific
heritage directly developed by science
although leaving out the most difficult
arguments. The essential trait of this
type of outreach was the omission (...)

12. (Radio) lets the listeners know that their
personal interest has a substantial value for
the matter under investigation, and that their
questions, even if not expressed aloud at the
microphone, require new scientific findings.
(...)
The dissemination is not only aimed at
mobilizing science towards the public, but at
the same time, the public towards science (...)
transforming the issues under investigation
and acting on the science itself.
1932

14. radio as a civil tool…
Jean Dominique,
Radio Haiti Inter, 2000
Peppino Impastato,
Radio Aut, 1978

15. radio and the web

16. arteradio.com

19. Neil
MacGregor
dire1ore
del
Bri3sh
Museum

20. streaming
archivio

21. The
Podfather
2004
Adam
Curry

22. RSS
+
mp3

23. iTunes

25. cienciaes.com

26. las características del medio

27. Radio does not lack anything: its essence is related to
the use of listening to get a full representation.
Rudolf Arnheim

28. Radio.
The art of sound.
1936

29. War of the worlds, 1938

30. intimidad

31. emociones

32. Allen Funt, 1947
light weight - invisible

33. intimacy and linearity
• flexible and able to enter hidden places:
listens without being seen nor heard
(candid microphone, 1947)
• fragmentary and narrative: it has a
rhythm and deals by and large with
anecdote and episodes
• chance to share cultural excitement
provided by scientific discovery
• good at communicating emotion and mood

34. a cognitive
experience

35. a cognitive experience
• “(…) radio is an extension of our nervous
central system closer only to human
discourse” (M. Mc Luhan)
• whoever is speaking is speaking for you
• a conversation with a scientist
• phone ins: a strong interactive
experience (M. Merzagora and S.
Coyaud)

36. creating images in your mind
• reflection and thought: radio has a pace
and creates a mental space
• reflection and thought: two fondamental
aspects of science communication
• “Pictures can get in the way in the
explanation of scientific ideas” (D. Cohen,
BBC)

37. “It is easy to make pictures present
dramatic and striking images - but
images whose major impact is on the
emotions.
I have, for instance, often asked
television colleagues to show me a
picture of a moral dilemma. I am still
waiting for one.”
(Geoff Deehan, BBC)

38. Chiamate Roma 3131, 1969
Paolo Cavallina y Luca Liguori
a social
experience

40. el lenguaje radiofonico

42. a unique
soundscape

45. la ciencia es una conversacion con la natura
J. Wagensberg

46. "
"
qué tipo de programas?

47. science radio programmes
• news story: science as politics or as light
hearted final news (typically 3-5 minutes)
• documentaries: science in a more explanatory
and narrative way (typ. 10-30 min.)
• debates: pro and cons in controversial issues
(typ. 20-60 min.)
formicablu srl

48. science radio programmes
• phone ins: the listeners’ voices (typ. 20-60
min)
• feature stories: magazines, discussions,
debates, put findings in context and with
comment
• radio drama: from “War of the worlds” on...
• podcast: recorded feature or talk,
downloadable in mp3
formicablu srl

49. Educational radio?

52. Science or devil’s advocate?

53. Styles
• live/recorded
• as it is/edited
• dirty/clean
• speak as you eat/speak as you should
• excite/relax

54. interviews
• Informative
• Interpretive
• Emotional
• Oral history

55. preparing your programme
• choose the format
• choose the topic
• choose the expert
• work with the expert:
– you need to know a lot about the subject
– you need to get the right information and the right story
and metaphors from him/her
– you need to know how he/she speaks
– you need to test if you can joke, talk about politics, if he/
she is didactical, enthusiastic, serious, boring, an
intellectual, a technician, ...
TALK WITH THE EXPERT!

56. formicablu srl

57. formicablu srl

58. El taller de radio
Escoger un formato entre estos 3:
1. Radiodrama: de un libro, de una pequena
historia, de un articulo
2. Tarjeta audio sobre un aspecto de la ciudad
3. Historia de una invencion o de un objecto
4. Podcast por un semanal cientifico
5. Entrevista en parejas
Trabajar en parejas
Ententar hacer uno script
Grabar y editar