Sonic Radio Fictions: experiencing the sound of radio
Prof. Dr. Holger Schulze
research project
data/corpus of research
Individual articulations from a representative amount of radio listeners, in which they tell in personal narrations (Sonic Fictions, vgl. Eshun 1998, Schulze 2005, Goodman 2010) how they spend a single day with listening to radio (or audiostreams similar to radio stations). These narrations are qualitatively requested and processed.
objective
The research objective of this project is to find out how and in what specific ways the experience of listening to radio transmission is connected to a specific sound (in the material sense of the sound studies) of the radio programme.
theoretical background
This research project finds its fundament in the theories and approaches of the transdisciplinary field of sound studies: science and technology studies (Sterne 2003) as well as cultural studies, ethnography and cultural anthropology (Wulf/Schulze 2007, Erlmann 2010) come together in this field and provide a huge archive of methodological as well as specific reflections on how the sonic is experienced (Bull/Les Back 2003, Augoyard/Torgue 2005, Meyer 2008, Schulze 2008, Bijsterveld/Pinch 2011, Volmar/Schroeter 2012). The term „sonic fiction“ (Eshun 1998, applied e.g. in Goodman 2010) especially refers to Kodwo Eshuns highly advanced approach and methodology of analyzing individual and idiosyncratic sensory experiences of sound.
methods
In this research project three methodological approaches will mainly be applied: (a) extensive and qualitative analysis of listening experiences as articulated by a relevant amount of listeners (following the successful application of this method in: Bull 2007) – combined with (b) a highly experimental approach to foster articulation of individual and highly idiosycratic sensory experiences (as proposed and applied in: Eshun 1998) and (c) extensive workshops and open space-discussions with selected listeners, producers and artists on the question of how they do experience listening to radio and how they do perceive themselves whilst listening to radio.