Since first going on the air in 1972, HBO has continually attempted to redefine television as we know it. Today, pay television (and HBO in particular) is positioned as an alternative to network offerings, consistently regarded as the premier site for what has come to be called "quality television." This collection of new essays by an international group of media scholars argues that HBO, as part of the leading edge of television, is at the center of television studies' interests in market positioning, style, content, technology, and political economy. The contributors focus on pioneering areas of analysis and new critical approaches in television studies today, highlighting unique aspects of the "HBO effect" to explore new perspectives on contemporary television from radical changes in technology to dramatic shifts in viewing habits. It's Not TV provides fresh insights into the "post-television network" by examining HBO's phenomenally popular and pioneering shows, including The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City as well as its failed series, such as K Street and The Comeback. The contributors also explore the production process itself and the creation of a brand commodity, along with HBO's place as a market leader and technological innovator. Contributors: Kim Akass, Cara Louise Buckley, Rhiannon Bury, Joanna L. Di Mattia, Blake D. Ethridge, Tony Kelso, Marc Leverette, David Marc, Janet McCabe, Conor McGrath, Shawn McIntosh, Brian L. Ott, Avi Santo, Lisa Williamson Foreword by Toby Miller Marc Leverette is Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Colorado State University. He is author of Professional Wrestling, the Myth, the Mat, and American Popular Culture and co-editor of Zombie Culture: Autopsies of the Living Dead and Oh My God, They Deconstructed South Park! Those Bastards! Brian L. Ott is Associate Professor of Media Studies at Colorado State University. He is author of The Small Screen: How Television Equips Us to Live in the Information Age. Cara Louise Buckley is a lecturer at Emerson College.

From on-air talent contracts and FCC regulations to syndicated program amortization to music licensing fees, electronic media deal with financial principles and jargon that are unique to American business. "Understanding Broadcast and Cable Finance" helps explain all the financial complexities of a modern electronic media enterprise. Whether you are a news director, sales manager, engineer or any other non-accounting professional that has a stake in the success of your company, this book will bring you up-to-speed on the essentials of financial management for broadcasting and cable.
*Covers financial statements, systems, planning and budgeting, and much more
*Written by experts from the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association
*Up-to-date with information about new revenue streams from Internet, digital, on-demand and mobile content

This book examines the BBC's campaign to raise the cultural awareness of British mass audiences in the early days of radio. As a specific case, it focuses on policies and plans behind transmissions of contemporary music between 1922, when the BBC was founded, and spring 1936. This reception study traces and analyzes the BBC's attempts to manipulate critical and public responses to this repertory.

Where do program ideas come from? How are concepts developed into saleable productions? Who do you talk to about getting a show produced? How do you schedule shows on the lineup? What do you do if a series is in trouble? The answers to these questions, and many more, can be found in this comprehensive, in-depth look at the roles and responsibilities of the electronic media programmer. Topics include: Network relationships with affiliates, the expanded market of syndication, sources of programming for stations and networks, research and its role in programming decisions, fundamental appeals to an audience and what qualities are tied to success, outside forces that influence programming, strategies for launching new programs or saving old ones. Includes real-life examples taken from the authors' experiences, and 250+ illustrations!
* Completely updated to include: new programming forms, changes in programming style, and more!
* Updated Glossary!
* Study questions for each chapter
* Companion website for students and Instructor's Manual

Basic Radio Journalism is a working manual and practical guide to the tools and techniques necessary to succeed in radio journalism. It will be useful both to students starting a broadcasting career as well as experienced journalists wishing to develop and expand their skills.
Based on the popular Local Radio Journalism, this book covers the core skills of news gathering, writing, interviewing, reporting and reading with extensive hints and tips. It outlines working practices in both BBC and commercial radio. There are revamped legal and technical sections as well as a new chapter on the journalist as programme producer. For the student, there is extensive advice about getting a job, marketing yourself and dealing with job interviews.
The Foreword is by Lord Ryder of Wensum, vice chairman of the BBC.
* A manual and handbook for working journalists and an ideal starter textbook for radio journalism and media students
* Written by two experienced journalists and trainers
* Includes the latest digital production techniques as well as scores of practical hints and tips covering the core skills of radio journalism

Presenting a collection of original chapters, this book reassesses the history of the BBC foreign-language services prior to, and during, the Second World War. The communication between the British government and foreign publics by way of mass media constituted a fundamental, if often ignored, aspect of Britain's international relations. From the 1930s onwards, transnational broadcasting - that is, broadcasting across national borders - became a major element in the conduct of Britain's diplomacy, and the BBC was employed by the government to further its diplomatic, strategic, and economic interests in times of rising international tension and conflict. The contributions to this volume display a series of case studies of BBC transmissions in various European foreign languages directed to occupied, neutral, and enemy countries. This allows for a comprehensive understanding of the different broadcasting strategies adopted by the BBC in the late 1930s and throughout the war, when the Corporation was under the direction of the Ministry of Information and the Political Warfare Executive. This book was originally published as a special issue of Media History.

As federal funding for public broadcasting wanes and support from corporations and an elite group of viewers and listeners rises, public broadcasting's role as vox populi has come under threat. With contributions from key scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, this volume examines the crisis facing public broadcasting today by analyzing the institution's development, its presentday operations, and its prospects for the future. Covering everything from globalization and the rise of the Internet, to key issues such as race and class, to specific subjects such as advertising, public access, and grassroots radio, Public Broadcasting and the Public Interest provides a fresh and original look at a vital component of our mass media.

As federal funding for public broadcasting wanes and support from corporations and an elite group of viewers and listeners rises, public broadcasting's role as vox populi has come under threat. With contributions from key scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, this volume examines the crisis facing public broadcasting today by analyzing the institution's development, its presentday operations, and its prospects for the future. Covering everything from globalization and the rise of the Internet, to key issues such as race and class, to specific subjects such as advertising, public access, and grassroots radio, Public Broadcasting and the Public Interest provides a fresh and original look at a vital component of our mass media.

This text is a real-time look at what happens on television, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the news broadcasts that provide information to millions of Americans. You've been watching television news forever. You're intimately familiar with the friendly faces and soothing voices that nightly tell you whats wrong with the world. You think you know everything there is to know about them. You're wrong. This volume shows you why. It takes you minute-by-minute through two-and-a-half riveting hours of syndicated, local, and network information programming to uncover the truth behind what passes as news. Why is the only real difference between Jerry Springer and Dan Rather that Dan's guests usually don't need medical attention? How did a load of baking powder spark two minutes of high-strung local news coverage? Its all here: the personal revelations of talk show guests; the dangers lurking in your neighbourhood; sports; sex; celebrity; power; and weather updates every ten minutes - all real material taken from real broadcasts combined into 150 minutes of the most electrifying newscast you've ever seen.

The Radio Station offers a concise and insightful guide to all aspects of radio broadcasting, streaming, and podcasting. This book's tenth edition continues its long tradition of guiding readers to a solid understanding of who does what, when, and why in a professionally managed station. This new edition explains what "radio" in America has been, where it is today, and where it is going, covering the basics of how programming is produced, financed, delivered and promoted via terrestrial and satellite broadcasting, streaming and podcasting, John Allen Hendricks and Bruce Mims examine radio and its future within a framework of existing and emerging technologies. The companion website is new revised with content for instructors, including an instructors' manual and test questions. Students will discover an expanded library of audio interviews with leading industry professionals in addition to practice quizzes and links to additional resources.

'"How did a short bald, man with a speech impediment have such an impact?" How indeed? Like his life, "Inside Story" is a pacy romp. Honest and heartfelt, it should be required reading.' Observer On 28 January 2004, four years to the day after becoming a much-loved Director-General of the BBC, Greg Dyke left his post and entered the public eye after the publication of the Hutton Report. But Greg Dyke's story started long before he reached the BBC. Written off as a failure at school, unemployed at thirty, his big break came as a current affairs researcher at London Weekend Television in 1977. From there he rose through the ranks of independent television, becoming the person responsible for briefly saving TV-am, thanks to Roland Rat, before running LWT, Channel Four and Pearson Television. In his riveting and frank autobiography, Dyke charts his astonishing and unconventional rise to the top, his unwavering determination and courage in improving the BBC and his defiant stand against Downing Street's campaign of harassment. His autobiography is the story of a man of our times and of the power of television: entertaining, funny and explosively revealing.

This textbook describes the field of radio and television in the United States, presents the material in a manner the reader can grasp and enjoy, and makes the book useful for the classroom teacher.
Written for adaptation to individual teaching situations, the book is divided by subject matter into logical chapter divisions that can be assigned in the order appropriate for specific course students. Each chapter stands by itself, but the book is also an integrated whole. It is easy to understand at first reading, by beginning radio-television majors or nonmajor elective students alike. To give readers a complete picture of the field, subjects such as ethics, careers, and rivals to U.S. commercial radio and television are included.

Fundamental beliefs is what the reader will be exploring here -- a common understanding of what the radio enterprise should be about: entertainment and information. A major thrust of this book is to arrive at a set of fundamental beliefs about the values and realities of the radio business in regard to entertainment programming -- a set of beliefs that may or may not be right, true, or forever, but that might at least provide a basis for developing programming strategies.
This second edition of "Future Radio Programming Strategies" seeks to answer the question: "What do listeners really want from radio?" Some of the answers are derived from "users-and-gratifications" research in the mass media. Instead of focusing on what mass media do to people, the users-and-gratifications perspective seeks to discover what people do with mass media. The functionalist viewpoint of such research basically says that a medium is best defined by how people use it. Having looked at some of the audience research that comes from sources other than the standard ratings companies, the book then goes on to demonstrate new ways that formats, production procedures, and announcing styles can meet audience needs and desires. Although the volume concludes with several original methods for selecting and presenting airplay music based on the audience's moods and emotional needs, it does not insist upon a singular, formulaic approach for constructing or modifying a music format. Instead, it attempts to involve the reader in thinking through the process of format development.
Two audio tapes are also available for use with the book. The tapes contain nearly 3 hours of important, detailed information and provocative points from the book. Exclusive audio examples include:
* the sense of acoustic space in music;
* hi-fi versus lo-fi listening environments;
* subjective perception of the announcer's distance from the listener;
* audio editing rates;
* comparison of luxury versus inexpensive car listening experiences; and
* the components of emotions that are expressed vocally.
The tapes also include new sections about the threats to traditional radio from specialized digital audio services, competition for the listener's attention from computer-based media, and additional proof of how music can be chosen on the basis of listeners' emotional reactions and mood needs.

This fascinating book explores the tensions behind the greatest era in BBC radio broadcasting ? the Home Service. Despite evacuation, air-raids and the closure of the fledgling TV service, the BBC rose magnificently to the challenge of informing, entertaining and inspiring a nation at war.

The war years were to transform religious broadcasting beyond recognition. Under the persistent and innovative James Welch, the BBC began to invent new formats and take large risks in trying to communicate Christian truth to a generation whose faith was on the rack of war. Out of this came the broadcast talks of CS Lewis and the first ever dramatic portrayal of Christ in Dorothy L Sayers? Man Born to be King.

The response to C S Lewis? first broadcast was so overwhelming that a second programme had to be arranged to answer listeners? questions. Lewis? hugely popular BBC talks were published as Mere Christianity and have been a classic ever since, selling over 11 million copies worldwide.

As a layman, Lewis? critics initially claimed that he was not qualified to talk on Christian matters. For Lewis this was all part of the challenge of reaching a new audience. But his initial enthusiasm for broadcasting waned as it began to interfere with his work at Oxford, and he turned down many of the BBC?s invitations to appear on the radio, including a chance to be on The Brains Trust, the Any Questions of its day.

This is a chapter in Lewis? life which has received very little attention from biographers and commentators, who have focussed on his achievements as a writer and academic. Yet C S Lewis? work on the radio made him a household name.

In August 1981, Music Television-now popularly known as MTV-was launched. Within a matter of years it revitalized a struggling record industry; made the careers of leading pop stars like Madonna, Boy George, Cyndi Lauper, and Duran Duran; infiltrated traditional network television and the movie industry; revolutionized the advertising industry; and stimulated purchases in several markets, most notably fashion apparel. The reach of MTV has proven long and profitable. In this book, Jack Banks examines the historical development of music video as a commodity and analyzes the existing structures within which music video is produced, distributed, and exhibited on its premier music channel, MTV. Who controls MTV? What part do record companies play in the financing and production of music video? How do the power brokers in the business affect the ideological content of music video? Given the tight sphere of influence within the music industry, what are the future trends for music video and for artistic freedom of expression? Banks tackles these questions in an intelligent, lively, and sophisticated investigation into one of the most influential media enterprises of our society.

A practical handbook for programming directors, this guide focuses on achieving specific objectives in today's modern, competitive environment.

Radio Programming is designed to convey underlying principles and to assist the programmer in accomplishing specific objectives, without mandating exact implementation methods. Instead, it empowers station management and the PD to implement strategies that will work for the particular format and market niche.
Radio Programming will be helpful for neophytes in programming, experienced programmers seeking further growth, air talent seeking to develop skills, and general managers trying to understand programming and effectively manage program directors without stifling creativity. It will also help general managers hire effective programmers.
Eric Norberg is the editor and publisher of the Adult Contemporary Music Research Letter and a radio consultant. He has worked as a program director at several radio stations, as on-air talent and general manager, and has also operated a radio production company. For fourteen years he has written a weekly column on radio programming for The Gavin Report, a radio trade publication.
Shows radio programmers how to work toward acheiving specific objectives
Coveys the principles of agressive radio programming
Part of the Broadcasting & Cable series

Using in-depth analysis of film, TV, news and online productions, Understanding Media Production shows how media theory helps aspiring producers understand good practice in media production. With detailed contemporary examples, including Pirates of The Caribbean, Game of Thrones, Love Island and PewDiePie's "letsplay" videos, Dwyer highlights similarities and differences in the production strategies and styles used for a wide range of media products. The book tracks the evolution of these entertainment formats and the emergence of the media businesses which produce them. Chapters describe the key production practices associated with each format, including single and multi-camera filming, news reporting, three-point lighting and gameplay animation. They also explain the development of the production roles associated with these content forms; directors, producers, reporters, correspondents etc. The book goes on to explain how media businesses have used new technologies and production innovations to reduce costs and increase profits, resulting in dramatic changes to established production practices and roles. By comparing media production across media industries, in the UK and US, and illustrating the links between economic, sociopolitical and cultural influences on production, Understanding Media Production opens up a constructive debate between media practitioners and theorists about key questions of creativity and innovation in production.

Douglas Kellner offers a systematic, critically informed political and institutional study of television in the United States. Focusing on the relationship among television, the state, and business, he traces the history of television broadcasting, emphasizing its socioeconomic impact and its growing political power. Acknowledging that television has long served the interests of the powerful, he points out that it has dramatized conflicts within society and has on occasion led to valuable social criticism.Kellner's examination of television in the 1980s and, in particular, its role in the 1988 presidential election yields the conclusion that in our time television has worked increasingly to further conservative hegemony. In so doing, Kellner argues, contemporary television has helped produce a crisis of democracy.But "Television and the Crisis of Democracy" goes beyond description and diagnosis. In a discussion that is both analytical and comparative, Kellner presents alternative models to the existing structure of commercial broadcasting and shows how new technologies might be used to create a more democratic future for television--one that could enhance political knowledge and participation.

Like its companion volume, Telecommunications in Europe, this book deals with the evolution of powerful monopoly institutions in the communications field--the public broadcasters--and the dramatic changes that took place in the late 1980s throughout Europe, and transformed the media landscape. It provides a comprehensive view of European broadcasting systems, using the perspective of economics and policy analysis. The introductory part offers a framework for understanding media and the forces of change affecting them. The main section is a unique series of chapters covering the broadcast and cable television systems of almost thirty European countries.

The Radio Station offers a concise and insightful guide to all aspects of radio broadcasting, streaming, and podcasting. This book's tenth edition continues its long tradition of guiding readers to a solid understanding of who does what, when, and why in a professionally managed station. This new edition explains what "radio" in America has been, where it is today, and where it is going, covering the basics of how programming is produced, financed, delivered and promoted via terrestrial and satellite broadcasting, streaming and podcasting, John Allen Hendricks and Bruce Mims examine radio and its future within a framework of existing and emerging technologies. The companion website is new revised with content for instructors, including an instructors' manual and test questions. Students will discover an expanded library of audio interviews with leading industry professionals in addition to practice quizzes and links to additional resources.

Examining the role of transnational radio broadcasting in the 20th century, this study compares and contrasts the goals and objectives of six broadcast networks: the BBC, Radio Free Europe, Voice of America, Radio Marti, Radio Free Asia, and Vatican Radio. The work traces the evolution--technical and programmatic--at each institution through world events such as World War II, the Cold War, the Solidarity Movement, the democratization of the Eastern bloc, and Tiananmen Square. Utilizing a series of case studies provided by selected authorities, the study demonstrates the effect of radio upon differing societies. Also, it explores options for alternative programming for each network, emphasizing their relationships to the evolving international political and media community in the late 20th century. The work will be of interest to scholars and students of mass media and international relations.

Television has a powerful impact on our beliefs and is open to use as a political and propaganda tool. Greg Philo has taken a new approach to examining these issues by inviting groups of television viewers to write their own news programmes, based on news pictures from the 1984-5 British miners' strike.

Television Criticism, Third Edition by Victoria O'Donnell provides a foundational approach to the nature of television criticism. Rhetorical studies, cultural studies, representation, narrative theories, and postmodernism are established for greater understanding and appreciation of the critical perspectives on television. Illustrated with contemporary examples, this updated Third Edition includes a new, extensive sample critical analysis of The Big Bang Theory and reflects recent changes in the ways television is viewed across multiple devices and the impact of the Internet on television.