Riding The Bandwidth

This book begins with a summary of how radio evolved as a service, how radio productions can be conceived, some approaches to radio presentation and how these may be applied to developing content for digital transmission. Chapter one focuses on institutional radio and an introduction to some of the events that shaped radio as an industry. The emergence of Public Service Broadcasting and Commercial Radio, the events that formed them, and how radio in the community evolved are explained. Chapter two covers the notion that radio listeners of today are now consumers and users. Listeners are now familiar with functioning within a digital environment, accessing the information and may be considered co-producers. The listening habits of these listeners are explored and institutional radio-which is still functioning in a organisational model from the 50s -- will need to acknowledge the change in the listener profile and update itself. Chapter three addresses the approach to conceptualising for and "thinking radio." Chapter four covers the various production and editing processes that go into producing a radio programme. Discussions on using digital editing software and the concept of producing stereo productions with dub and splice editing techniques are included. Chapter five concludes with a look at the architecture of a Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) receiver and the process of putting together text and graphics for digital radio transmission. This reinforces the fact that radio broadcasters are faced with the need to expand their perception and production skills to take advantage of the enhanced potential of digital radio.

Rafael Oei was a lecturer at the School of Film & Media Studies in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore's only film school.