Research

Welcome to my website where you can read about my primary role as a research student and reference my website design and project work. I am currently in the final year of a three year postgraduate research project at the Information Research Institute (TIRI), Manchester Metropolitan University.

This section contains an introduction, the aims and objectives, information about the contribution to knowledge and papers written for conference.

Introduction

The working title of the study is 'an exploration of ethnic minority radio and audience identity in Britain's evolving media environment . I have a passion for radio and a great interest in Britain's diverse society. The research focuses on understanding ethnic minority radio stations and their role in the communication of ethnicity and identity. This is being achieved through a qualitative case study approach focusing on stations from pirate to public service broadcasters and Ofcom. The methods being employed, using a fine grained approach, are observation, programme analysis and interview. The research has yielded sixty-five interviews with station and Ofcom staff from across each organisation.

Structuration Theory (ST) (Giddens, 1984) is adopted, alongside Moores (2005) and Scannell's (1996) work on radio, for its ability to incorporate the use of agency in studying the stations, their audiences and the 'processual' (Baumann, 2000) nature of ethnicity. Much literature exists promoting the use of ST in the study of the media but it has been rarely used in empirical studies; its use in radio is a first. As such, one objective of the research is to develop, implement and make available to the wider academic community a methodology which employs ST in the empirical field.

Ethnicity and identity have taken an equal role in the research. The construction of identity is prominent in media research and this is explored in the media messages being created and the operating ethos of the stations. The importance of this interplay between ethnicity and radio has meant that the scope of the project has widened.

The use of ST aims to bring this interplay to the fore and provides a new framework with which to analyse ethnic minority radio. Combined with an approach which looks at radio in everyday life the research moves away from traditional paths of representation and discourse analysis. Instead, it seeks to locate stations and audience identity within familiar lived experience.

Aims

To determine how ethnic minority broadcasters are making use of radio in a changing media environment.
To establish the role and meaning of ethnic minority broadcasting for its audiences.

Objectives

To provide an account of the history of ethnic minority radio stations and their digital and analogue operating environment
To analyse and establish how these institutions interact and are sustained through the involvement of relevant actors
To determine the role the stations and the media messages they produce play in the development and reinforcement of ethnicity and identity for those comprising their audiences
To establish the role of ethnic minority radio in the wider social networks of its British-based audiences
To provide a theoretical understanding of the uses of ‘radio broadcasting’ by ethnic minority audiences and the meanings which they read into it
To contribute knowledge on the application of Structuration Theory in the analysis of radio stations and their listeners

Contribution to Knowledge

The research has two primary areas where a significant aademic contribution to knowledge will be delivered.

Ethnic minority radio: Analyses of the development of ethnic minority radio are few. Radio is a local medium; the literature on radio demonstrates its relationship to communities and identity. Existing research has been restricted to single stations. Research in the context of diasporic media neglects radio in favour of other broadcast media. This study investigates past and present relevant agents and takes account of the fluidity of ethnicity. Research is still using traditional ‘categories’ rather than implementing the processual model suggested in recent ethnicity and media literature. Therefore using a ‘processual model’ in ethnic minority radio research will be a first. The research will provide the first coherent account of the rise of ethnic minority stations in the UK.

Structuration Theory: The current state of academic literature on Structuration Theory lacks a demonstration of its possible applicability to media research. There currently is no work which applies Structuration Theory to ethnic minority radio and its audiences. This research will extend the application of Structuration Theory into this new empirical field. Structuration Theory has been insufficiently articulated in empirical research. The processual approach advocated in current ethnic minority media research, also a key ingredient in ST, is particularly well suited to remedy this deficiency. Applying the model within the context of ST will enable the ‘duality of structure’ to be explored and the dialogical and processual nature of agents and structure to be analysed.

Aside from these academic areas, the research is important for the following reasons:

The research has great significance not only to those involved in academia but also practitioners in radio and as a project of social importance. The use of concepts such as life narratives and individual agency have resonated with participants and allowed them the space to explore their personal history in the context of the radio and music industry. When the research has been communicated to others in the field or at academic conferences it has prompted lively debate and has been a catalyst for discussion about several other research projects which bring together academic and practitioner experience.
A driver for carrying out the research is the contribution it makes to understand our cultural history in the UK . The research highlights stories of those growing up in the 70's, 80's and 90's that used radio and music to reflect their changing identity. This resonates with the experiences of a much wider audience and I believe these voices are missing from cultural accounts of this period.

Papers

The early results of data analysis were tested through the presentation of two written papers at the ECREA 2008 and then the Radio conference 2009.

The ECREA paper explored an initial analysis using Giddens' Structuration Theory to examine how the rules and resources utilised by those involved through interaction negotiates the reproduction and maintenance of the station .

The Radio conference paper brought together the three theoretical aspects of the research providing the framework for an analysis of the interviews and programmes at two of the case study stations. The analysis enabled a detailed examination of how the programmes broadcast and the personas of the DJs and the station communicated notions of static or fluid identity to the audience.

If you think you might be able to advise, be part of the study or have an interest in my research area, I'd love to hear from you.

References

BAUMANN, G. (1999) The multicultural riddle : rethinking national, ethnic, and religious identities, New York ; London , Routledge.
GIDDENS, A. (1984) The constitution of society : outline of the theory of structuration, Cambridge, Polity.
GIDDENS, A. (1991) Modernity and self-identity, Cambridge, Polity.
MOORES, S. (2000) Media and everyday life in modern society, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
MOORES, S. (2005) Media/theory : thinking about media and communications, London ; New York, Routledge.
SCANNELL, P. (1996) Radio, television, and modern life : a phenomenological approach, Oxford, Blackwell.