Implications of radio persona characteristics on listener well-being
Conference Contribution ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
Community radio is known to promote psychosocial well-being for individual presenters, listeners, and their communities. While previous studies highlight the benefits to volunteers getting involved in presenting, research has not examined presenter behaviours and how they might correspond with listener well-being. To better understand this, it is important to consider if presenters take into account how their approach to presenting radio may be received by their listeners. Our present research focuses on radio presenters and their backgrounds, specifically their individual differences (e.g., gender), how and why they got into radio, and what they perceive the purpose of radio to be. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 radio personnel from six stations broadcasting in Melbourne, Australia. Thematic analysis of the transcribed interview data indicates that radio presenters are often male which potentially correlates with the dominance of male presenters over previous generations. Program managers also noted a discrepancy in the gender of their presenters, commenting that they have actively sought out females in order to encourage station and listener diversity. While there was no singular or common process that led to a career in radio, male presenters commented that they always wanted to get into radio, or gave examples of other males they listened to when growing up. Females, on the other hand, often said they got into presenting in a more roundabout way. Presenting styles appeared to align with station foci; moreover, such an alignment appeared to underpin the purpose of their show and understanding of their listening audience. This presentation will contextualize how the presenters’ backgrounds and motivations have implications for how they develop and promote relationships with their listening audience and community. Broader implications regarding how these presenters play a role in promoting individual and community well-being will also be discussed.
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SMPC 2022 Conference
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1
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Portland, OR, USA
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Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC)
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Portland, OR, USA
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