The In-Between Stuff of Radio Shows
Over at the Adaptive Path blog, Dan Saffer has an interesting post called The In-Between Stuff Matters. It’s about product and interface design, but I think it’s particularly (and maybe unintentionally) relevant to making radio.
[N]ow, with increased processor speeds, new interaction paradigms, and richer interactions possible on most platforms, the in-between stuff–transitions, animations, interaction logic, the connective tissue between features and content, how everything fits together–is becoming ever more important. One could argue that this is where the experience design flourishes the most.
I couldn’t agree more, especially when the experience is radio.
On Spark, we’re trying really hard to make the show’s connective tissue live up to its content. That comes in the form of story treatments, editing techniques, music choices, sound design, scripts, segues, and all the other tiny little bits that go into making a radio program. Dan says :
Features will eventually be copied and become obsolete. Right now, someone is out there copying your features! But the experience of using your product is significantly harder to duplicate.
Replace “features” with “stories” and it all starts to makes sense.
Quirks and Quarks and Radio Lab are both public radio shows about science and discovery, but they’re entirely different listening experiences.
Outfront and This American Life are both public radio shows that often include intimate, first-person storytelling, but again, they’re entirely different listening experiences.
Why? It’s the in-between stuff that matters.
i’ve been thinking about this lately: the changes on the web mean that many prized institutions are afraid of becoming obsolete. but i think the real problem is that the function they serve is not the one they thought they served … and they haven’t figured that out yet.
for instance, “providing information” is just one thing that say britannica, and mainstream media, and universities do. but it is not the *core* of their existence - and the core is where their importance and relevance lies. these institutions were fooled in the past century into thinking provision of information was the core of their existence, because information used to be scarce, and it’s distribution limited. now info is cheap and plentiful, and distribution ubiquitous … it turns out they aren’t all that valuable as providers of information.
and yet I feel deeply that professional media, britannica, and universities etc still have crucial roles to play in the world, they just haven’t adjusted yet to what that is.
they have to stop thinking of themselves as “providers of information” … they are something more (not sure what) and when the can confidently figure that out, they will find solutions to their angst about the future.
maybe your ideas here touch on something about where that core might be for radio.
hugh
23 Nov 07 at 3:41 pm
[...] posted a comment on Dan Misener’s blog (Dan now runs CBC radio, from what I can tell), that I thought was worth repeating here. [...]
hughmcguire.net · finding the core
23 Nov 07 at 3:46 pm
After listening to Spark, I’m starting to really miss working at CBC Radio. I guess I’ll have to experience it vicariously through my wife, a CBC Radio Producer.
Now back to my current job as an IT Network Monkey.
Keep up the good work Dan!
Darryl
6 Dec 07 at 9:21 am