Voices That Unite: How Radio and Podcasts Foster Community and Belonging
November, 2023
Radio was once an escape from everyday life, a connection to your imagination, and a sense of belonging to a greater, imagined community. Radio was a fleeting auditory communication that provided a space to explore your individual desires and passions. It provided mystery and demanded your active participation and attention. Today, radio’s importance is lost on most Gen Z, as we have grown up with the passive experiences of watching television, where imagination is not needed, where video completes the picture that you once had to make up in your head while listening to the radio.
Susan Douglas argues that older generations long to have the romantic sense of radio back, where music could transport you out of your home to places “more intense, more heartfelt” (Douglas 3). In her work, “Radio and the American Imagination,” Douglas explores how radio and audio communication navigate the dual roles in serving as both a private listening experience, stimulating individual imagination, and a platform for public discourse, shaping the public listening experience.
Today, podcasts serve a similar purpose, giving listeners a private experience while also serving as a medium for public discussion and learning. While deep diving into radio and podcasts as a medium for active participation and imagination, constructing imagined communities, being an immediate and fleeting auditory experience, we can better understand how these intertwine to create both private and public listening experiences that have now shaped Gen Z.
Radio was once an outlet for imagination, something that demanded active participation and listening. Whether you were lying in a dark bedroom or sitting in the front seat of your car, the radio was an active experience, and “was like being a child again, having your stories read to you and expected to have and use a vivid imagination.” (Douglas, 4) Words and tone were simply clues, and you were able to fill in the blanks and imagine the characters and the motivations, emotions, and interactions yourself. The radio demanded you imagine and fill “all of the senses,” the ones you could not see, smell, taste, and touch yourself (Douglas, 4). When the older generations look back on the radio and the impact it had on their life, they think about how “they miss their role in completing the picture, in giving individual meaning to something that went out to a mass audience” (Douglas, 4) The encoding/decoding model proposed by Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist, outlines how media messaging is produced, circulated, and interpreted by audiences.
Radio is the medium of circulation, but the experiences are very individual and unique for each person. In Hall’s work in encoding and decoding, he describes how we decode information through our own experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds (Hall, 510). Because radio is auditory, we interpret each message differently because of these important aspects of our own lives. We imagine the scenes differently, the speakers differently, and their interactions differently.
This active decoding contributes to the personal and imaginative experience of the radio listeners. Douglas emphasizes that the “radio invited them to participate actively in the production of the show at hand,” putting them in the director’s seat of the show they are putting on in their imaginations (Douglas, 4). The control of meaning becomes in our hands, in contrast to the passive experience of television, where the intended meaning is straightforward and obvious to viewers.
Today, Gen Z utilizes podcasts to obtain the same experience radio once brought. This new auditory experience allows us to be active in our listening and use our past experiences and backgrounds to interpret and decode the messages ourselves, allowing us to give them private meaning. This emphasis on active engagement and the imaginative contribution of listeners shows that radio and podcasts served as a medium for individualized listening experiences and laid the groundwork for forming imagined communities and the dynamic interplay between private and public aspects of auditory communication.
Radio gave people a sense of belonging. When you were listening to the rock-n-roll station or a baseball game, you knew that thousands of people across the country were doing the same thing. They would listen to feel a part of something, which allowed them to shape their fantasies, desires, and images of the outside world, truly shaping deep imaginations. “Radio has worked most powerfully inside our heads, helping us create internal maps of the world and our palace in it, urging us to construct imagined communities to which we do or do not belong” (Douglas, 5). Radio played a pivotal role in helping us imagine ourselves and our relationships with other Americans, which truly helped unite the country. This made way for “constructed imagined communities- of sports fans, Fred Allen devotees, rock ‘n’ rollers, ham operators, Dittoheads- and thus cultivated both a sense of nationhood and a validation for subcultures, often simultaneously” (Douglas, 11). It made listening to the radio in your car or bedroom anything but lonely and allowed the radio to have public meaning. It provided a place for different tastes, desires, and attitudes that shaped people’s experiences and made them feel like they belonged to something.
Radio as a medium has the power to connect people across diverse backgrounds and vast distances and can foster shared experiences that contribute to the construction of an imagined community. Benedict Anderson’s “Imagined Communities” proposes that nations are socially constructed entities and that the sense of belonging to a nation is an imagined concept shared by its members. He argues that print capitalism played a vital role in this emergence of imagined communities. The printing press and print culture contributed to constructing these imagined communities, as technological advancement led to the standardization of language through printed texts. Benedict Andersons says, “Print-capitalism gave a new fixity to language, which in the long run helped to build that image of antiquity so central to the subjective idea of a nation” (Anderson, 44). This new fixity to language suggests that print was crucial in creating a shared linguistic framework for members of the community. The fixity of language and the construction of an image of antiquity are essential components to the “subjective idea of a nation,” which Anderson argues is socially constructed.
Radio as a medium continued this tradition of language dissemination but added a dynamic and immediate element. Compared to print, radio brought the liveness that allowed for the simultaneous sharing of experience among listeners across distances. The sense of immediacy and fleeting nature of sound complemented the fixity of language. Radio contributed to this construction of imagined communities by creating a shared linguistic and cultural experience, bringing a sense of live connection to the imagined community-building process.
Podcasts bring a similar sense of belonging, knowing that there are people in the world actively seeking the same information, advice, music, and experience. It has allowed us to unapologetically seek information we want to keep private, such as female advice, trauma advice, and motivational advice, and there is a level of comfort reached knowing someone is out there for you to go to listen privately in the comfort of your own space.
Radio utilizes the unique power of sound and liveness to drive active listening and participation. The ephemeral nature of sound in radio refers to the brief, fleeting sound that makes listeners feel in touch with the information and other listeners around them. Unlike visual media like television or written media like books or magazines, this auditory experience cannot be revisited, analyzed, or replayed at a later time. It is immediate and exists only in that moment of transmission, which creates the aspect of liveness, being in the moment and knowing that something you are experiencing is happening in real-time. It is “an account of what IS happening, rather than a record of what HAS happened.” (Douglas, 5). Douglas emphasized the aspect of liveness as it creates a real sense of immediacy and a connection between the listener and the radio broadcast, making it a dynamic form of communication that influences how we interpret the messages. Walter Ong’s “Orality and Literacy” describes communication in oral cultures, highlighting the unique characteristics associated with orality, one being spoken language's immediacy and dynamic nature. Ong emphasizes, “There is no way to stop sound and have sound” (Ong, 32). It is not something you can hold onto. Similar to radio, oral communication cannot be revisited. It can only exist now, creating that liveness only achieved when something is communicated in real-time.
Walter Ong’s key insight into the ephemeral nature of orality is that “sound exists only when it is going out of existence” (Ong, 31). Oral communication is fleeting, as was radio, which distinguishes itself from other media forms today that allow us to passively watch television, knowing that the information is available for us to go back to and revisit. Podcasts come to an interesting point here, where it is possible to rewind and replay podcast episodes. Still, the experience of listening to it is as active as radio is. Podcasts are usually listened to alone, and people latch on to words and phrases that speak to them. This dynamic and immediate characteristic of the radio and podcasts as a medium allows them to provide a private, imaginative space that connects people simultaneously.
Radio has long since been a unifying force, holding the power to create a sense of shared identity amongst all listeners that fosters a communal experience. Radio built diverse communities together, where individuals of all backgrounds, locations, and demographics could find common ground through the shared engagement of radio content. The radio significantly facilitated conversations and gave a unique shared sense of national identity and an imagined community. Douglas described that older generations “ miss having such a free-ranging role in giving mass culture its private and public meanings” (Douglas, 4). Listeners of older generations could have an active role in shaping the significance of cultural and political content because they were co-creators, using their imaginations to fill in the blanks and contribute personal meanings to the shared experiences of radio. This meant that the collective interpretation of cultural content was diverse and influenced by individual perspectives. Today, Gen Z uses podcasts for similar purposes, and we observe a continuation of this desire for an active role in shaping cultural meaning. Gen Z listeners do not just consume content; they engage with it actively, sharing opinions and thoughts on social media, facilitating discussions, and even influencing the content through platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
When we consume content, we are inclined to share it with others, making what once was a listening experience a conversation of ideas, just as radio was. From here, we can construct imagined communities of like-minded individuals or people who see the event, problem, or idea similarly. When we go to podcasts for advice, we facilitate conversations verbally or through social media to further share that advice. The podcast “Call Her Daddy” is a compelling example of how contemporary audio content, like radio in the past, plays a pivotal role in shaping public discussions around societal norms, particularly sex and women’s advice. This is a unique podcast, as it was the first to start a conversation around a topic that was once very taboo. The podcast dives into personal experiences, relationship advice, and candid conversations about sexuality. In doing so, it empowers listeners to form private meanings by applying the advice to their own lives, which allows the podcast to become a medium for personal exploration and introspection. Simultaneously, “Call Her Daddy” has become a cultural phenomenon that sparks public discussions around sex, relationships, and dating. The unfiltered approach challenges societal norms and contributes to the changing public discourse on these topics, where listeners can engage in broader conversations on social media, contributing to a shared cultural dialogue that transcends individual experiences. The popular slogan of “Daddy Gang,” which refers to the millions of listeners to this podcast, allows listeners to feel a sense of belonging in the community that Call Her Daddy creates between women. The podcast exemplifies how the newer generations, particularly Gen Z, actively contribute to these conversations and functions as a contemporary space where private and public meanings converge.
There are hundreds of podcasts out there to serve us the different communities we want to be a part of. From political podcasts to motivational podcasts to podcasts women turn to for relationship advice, thousands of podcasts bring you the unique conversations and advice you want to have. One of the most popular self-improvement podcasts, “On Purpose,” is hosted by former monk turned motivational speaker and storyteller Jay Shetty. He invites various speakers, experts, celebrities, and thought leaders to dive into a diverse range of topics and subjects around how to live a purposeful life. Listeners of this podcast commonly reflect as they absorb the wisdom Shetty and his guests shared. They dive into life lessons and struggles that allow the listeners to actively reflect on their own lives and learn about how to come back from depression, fight anxiety, learn to trust, learn to love, add gratitude and spirituality into your lives, and so much more. Listeners of this podcast often find inspiration after each episode, which allows them to make private meaning and apply the lessons they have learned to their everyday lives. Jay Shetty frequently brings in universal topics that the audience and his listeners request, or even guest speakers that they request, creating a community around the podcast that makes them feel like they are heard. His topics resonate with broad audiences, allowing people from different backgrounds and identities to interpret each lesson differently. Many listeners then share those lessons on social media, contributing to a broader exchange of ideas related to the pursuit of a more purposeful life. “On Purpose” serves both private and public dimensions, providing a platform for personal growth and reflection while contributing to a broader public discourse on well-being, health, spirituality, and purpose.
In conclusion, today’s podcast experience illuminates the private and public dimensions of auditory communication in the same way that radio did for older generations. Both radio and podcasts bring unique aspects of active participation and listening, a sense of belonging to an imagined community, a rare sense of liveness brought by the fleeting nature of sound, and a platform for both private meaning and public discourse. Podcasts have become what radio once was for people: an escape from our daily lives, a place to go for advice, music, information, and community. Both are accessible and offer thousands of options on topics, subjects, and discussions. Community is essential for growth; radio and podcasts allow us to feel safe in each conversation.
Sources
Anderson, B. (2017). Ch 3 and 4. In Imagined Communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (pp. 9–46). essay, Verso.
Hall, S. (n.d.). Stuart Hall Encoding/Decoding. Richmond, VA; University of Richmond.
Douglas, S. J. (2005). Introduction and Ch 6. In Listening in: Radio and the American Imagination. Essay, Univ. of Minnesota Press.
Ong, W. J., & Hartley, J. (2013). Some Psychodynamics of Orality and Writing Restructures Consciousness. In Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word (pp. 31–93). essay, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
