I will confess to being very lazy since I handed in a brutal round of assignments last week and the week before. Due to this laziness, I have only just gotten round to listening to Week 5's sound lecture. To be honest, it didn't exactly stimulate my higher brain functions. Which is to say that I found it really, REALLY boring.
Now don't get me wrong, I looooove radio. I did work experience at ABC Radio during the Queensland Floods at the start of last year and had an amazing time. Also, as anyone who's had a look at my Media Use and Production Diary would know, I listen to a lot of radio throughout the week. Nevertheless, I just had an excruciatingly dull half an hour listening to this lecture. It's a good thing I took notes, because I barely remember a thing that was said. I don't even remember what the names of the interviewer and guests were. Sadly, I was that bored. It could just be early Alzheimer's settling in, I suppose. Which is worse?
For the purpose of distinguishing who was who, I'm going to give the three speakers slightly exciting-sounding monikers. The female host shall henceforth be known as 'Threshold'. The first guest will be 'Gunslinger'. Last but not least, the second guest will be 'American'. Incidentally, these code names have been taken straight from the titles of various books littered about my room. A mystery prize shall be awarded if you feel like guessing which ones (and get them right)!
Anyway. I felt Gunslinger made a lie of his words while talking about sustaining radio stories and keeping conversations open. To me, it seemed like his own story was not being sustained very well, as he was like to wander off on random tangents about his life and various experiences he'd had. While this is all well and good, it didn't exactly help me process and understand the tenants of radio journalism. Come to think of it, I don't think these were covered at all, really. Furthermore, Threshold seemed content to let him waffle, even though she mentioned that this was being heard by University students who were 'just starting out'. I'm perplexed as to why she didn't make many attempts to steer the conversation towards more helpful insights, as opposed to the quick comments at the end of the interview.
The only interesting thing that I picked up while doing my best to listen was the comment made about radio being a 'voice inside your head', and how this helped to keep the audience engaged and listening. An interesting concept, to be sure, and definitely food for thought. It's almost as if radio is a kind of extra conscience that echoes things that you either believe or don't believe, depending on what you listen to.
American was slightly better than Gunslinger in that he stayed on more on topic, but fell down majorly in the vocal department. I felt he could have made use of a lot more inflection and emphasis on his words; it was a bit monotone to listen to, and had a nullifying effect on what he had to say. Nevertheless, American did have a few very good pointers. The ones I found most useful were to ask blunt, simple questions in order to get listeners to phone in with feedback or opinions, and to watch/listen to the mannerisms of guests in order to gauge which way an interview is heading.
Once again though, I thought Threshold could have done a better job directing the interview; she let American plot his own path, much like she did for Gunslinger.
But hey, these are just the grievances of a first-year University student, and really, what do I know? I'm sure others really enjoyed this lecture, but it wasn't my bag, baby. As they say, you can't please everyone!
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