Radio Vox Populi

“This book brings together an international community of radio scholars to explore the role talk radio plays in everyday life and does so in a new and original way. It brilliantly captures and describes the ambivalence of talk radio, both as a community aggregator and as a means of polarizing public opinion. It will certainly be a reference book for the burgeoning community of radio, media and communication studies” — Professor Tiziano Bonini, University of Siena. “By highlighting the voices of ordinary people, call-in talk radio helped democratize the media before the internet and podcasts. But it also poisoned politics and laid the foundation for today’s polarized media landscape. Despite the genre’s vast influence, precious little scholarship has looked at the rise of call-in shows. Finally, here is a book that takes us inside the magic of the industry and shows how that magic continues to fuel its broad impact, for good and ill. The thought-provoking, entertaining and important stories told in Radio Vox Populi will interest everyone from academics to general-interest readers” — Public radio talk show executive producer Dan Zoll at KQED in San Francisco. “A wonderfully rich collection of chapters by talk radio practitioners and scholars from the United States, Italy and elsewhere on talk radio’s past(s), present(s) and future(s). The book explores talk radio’s relation to culture, economy, listeners (and listening) and politics. The chapters illuminate not only the national and regional contexts and topics discussed but also the complex implications of talking on radio for community, democracy and conviviality in our global present with its dominant concerns over political polarization, its destabilizing experience of the Covid pandemic and fears that we live in an ‘age of inattention’” — Dr. Neil Washbourne, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, School of Cultural Studies and Humanities, Leeds Beckett University. Peter Laufer is like a literary flashlight—whatever subject he tackles, he illuminates it with a piercing, but always warm, glare. With his Sapienza partner Christian Ruggiero, the two media scholars gathered a distinguished coterie of experts to help readers better understand the international role of talk radio. Radio Vox Populi enjoys a distinct value-add with Laufer as an editor: Here is someone who has forgotten more about this subject than most will ever know — Nick Ferrari, longtime LBC London talk radio breakfast presenter. Radio Vox Populi traces the history of radio as an agora, as an arena for discussion and opinions. It does so with a sharp and contemporary analysis that highlights how radio is—and has always been—an extraordinary engine of innovation, capable of anticipating change and shaping the future — Federica Gentile, radio and television host (RAI, RTL 102.6), artistic director of Radio Zeta. Radio is the voice of the people par excellence. The movie or TV star is distant from the people; he is a star. The radio talk host, on the other hand, by nature perfectly embodies the thinking of the “man on the street.” That is why if you are one of the 35 million Italians who turn on the radio for at least 5 minutes every day, you absolutely must read this book: it is the “opera omnia” of world talk radio — Nicola Savino, radio and TV host, director and author, one of the leading figures of commercial radio in Italy. There are opinions expressed in this industrious book with which I personally and professionally disagree. But that’s okay. Talk radio of the late 20th and early 21st centuries is all about disagreement—including the irksome reality that scholars, listeners, broadcasters, politicians and journalists alike are not able to arrive anywhere close to a consensus as to what the term “talk radio” even means. I support democracy and the First Amendment but recognize they are extremely untidy affairs. The international flavor of this collection adds even more sizzle to its combustible content. I’ve always taken Peter Laufer seriously although I could argue with him for hours. If you are interested in the transitional influence of spoken word radio for better or worse, check this book out! — Michael Harrison, publisher, Talkers magazine, an industry journal dedicated to talk radio. Despite disruptive forces ranging from technological advances to a pandemic, the medium of radio has maintained a healthy, but declining, share of audio consumers. Research indicates that personalities appeal to listeners more than music. Thus, this edited volume of international scholars, on talk radio, is well timed! It provides readers with a keen understanding of the evolution and current status of the industry — John Allen Hendricks, Stephen F. Austin State University (Texas) communications professor and editor of the Palgrave Handbook of Global Radio. Radio has undergone metamorphoses and even radical changes in its history, but it has never lost the centrality of speech. Radio Vox Populi focuses on its ability to create listening communities, analyzes its changes and how the power of new media and the crisis of traditional ways of forming public opinion represent a new challenge for radio. For practitioners, insiders and citizens interested in the health of democracies, this book is a useful and brilliant reference point `— Marino Sinibaldi, former RaiRadio3 Director.