Music, Radio and the Public Sphere: The Aesthetics of Democracy [Hardcover]

Radio, the most widely used medium in the world, is a dominant mediator of musical meaning. Through a combination of critical analysis, interdisciplinary theory and ethnographic writing about community radio, this book provides a novel theorization of democratic aesthetics, with important implications for the study of old and new media alike.Introduction: the Unknown and the Unheard PART I: ENFORCING AND EVADING RATIONALIZATION Social Solidarity in the Luminiferous Ether Corporate Rationality, Communicative Reason and Aesthetic Experience Of Communities and Constituencies: Radio, the Market and the State PART II: MAKING RADIO, MAKING MEANING What Does a Civil Society Sound Like? Local Music for Local People Mixing: the Rational, the Reasoned, the Resourceful Conclusion: the Unheard and the Unknown Bibliography Index

'This monograph offers a theoretical intervention into and a detailed analysis of the democratic space opened by community radio against the backdrop of commercialism and corporate power typically associated with the music and radio industries. As the author explains, a scathing critique of the commercial music and radio systems alone would not reveal the democratic potential of these popular forms, and the book's attention to the democratic aesthetics of community radio addresses this critical question persuasively.' - Bethany Klein, University of Leeds, UK