Guest Lecture 17 - Oct 6 (10-12) - Fredrik Stiernstedt

.

Time and place: Thursday October 6, 10-12 in seminar room Q31

Title: "The 'future of radio' as a discourse in radio production"

Guest: Fredrik Stiernstedt, Ph.D. candidate in Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University"

Talk: Music radio, especially formatted background radio, has faced new competition during the last decade. Digital distribution of music (filesharing and audio-streaming) have made music in general more available. Actors such as Spotify and Last FM have challenged the role previously played by music format radio: delivering playlists for background consumption. At the same time, social media in general, such as Facebook and Twitter, has been perceived as challenges to music radio. The ways in which they facilitate sociality, presence and "being-togetherness" is seen as posing a threat to the one of the central social functions of music format radio. How have these new forms of competition been handled by actors in the Swedish music radio industry? In my talk, I will give some examples drawing on ongoing fieldwork, of how the producers of MTG-radio (Rix FM, Lugna Favioriter, Bandit Rock, NRJ) have made sense of this new competitive situation. More generally, how has the organization and labour processes been transformed and challenged by new digital and social media? I will also give a brief history of Swedish music radio and a short overview of the current situation of Swedish music radio in relation to industry structure, production practices and audiences.

About: Fredrik Stiernstedt has a long experience as a broadcaster and DJ. He is currently working on a dissertation about creative labor and new media technologies in the Swedish music radio industry.

Literature: Fredrik suggests you have a look at (the Swedish-language) Sveriges Radios Framtidsutredning [Swedish Radio's Future Inquiry]. It projects different scenarios for the future for public service radio 5-10 years into the future (2015-2020).

.