The Interactive Audience: A Radio Experiment in Community-Building

Abstract

The internet has provided us with a global laboratory to watch community-building in action. However, its role in the virtual universe is one that the more humble radio has had at the local community level since its inception. As soon as one-to-one communication gave way to one-to-many broadcasting, community-building began, based on the shared listening experience — ranging from families gathering around the wireless to local or national audiences tuning in simultaneously. Talkback made radio interactive by bringing the listener into the program, but it also gave program-makers the chance to gain first-hand experience of who was actually out there. This paper describes a radio talkback experiment which unexpectedly exposed the power of the relationship audiences can build with radio. Based on a ‘can you help’ formula, the program found passionate drivers within its audience members to belong, to bond, and to do good works that contribute to the social good.