The radio network: web radios and its 
This article appeared in the number of 105 Blow Up , February 2007.
The book has a few months behind, but it's worth talking about: "The radio network (Costa & Nolan, 192 pg, € 16.40) is the first text to deal with the universe made web radios, a sort of macro category within which to live simulcasting stations (normal FM radio that also travel to the web) , experiments on demand, streaming happenings, sound recordings (see this column, BU # 92), podcasting etc.. The subject was also touched by Allcrackedmedias (Imaginary Radios: The Brain and RadioDD , number 97), but the work of Tiziano Bonini, that of "The radio network is the author, is really a jump, as well that in the history, meaning that he held the advent of the internet streaming to the galaxy. It is a story not without its charm, as well as problematic. The story is very recent: in 1993 dates the birth of Internet Talk Radio, the first broadcaster in network history. But above all, is 1996 when the Progressive Networks provides software that will give life to live streaming, or Real Audio. At this point, Bonini notes in the opening volume, "Internet sprout ears." It is not just a revolution.
" streaming Before the explosion," says the author in a quick telephone conversation, " Network was typography. A series of static pictures, dumb, to read. " Ten years later there is instead a powerful " return to orality," which has forever altered the balance in the field. The explosion of web radios that occurs in the late '90s - a kind of on a different scale replica of the jungle issuer free radio - is therefore a manifestation of a change in level important, albeit incomplete. The effects, however, even on short distances, are obvious. But first things first.
The main reason for the Internet, to a certain extent, is haunted by a myriad of online channels, is basically the usual: the Internet offers an outlet for content, music, events, through the normal broadcasting difficult to find space. Put up a web radio is not difficult: the differences of culture are therefore an effective acoustic Journal veicolo di diffusione, un po’ come – parallelismo che si ripete – a fine ’70 l’Italia assistette alla prepotente invasione delle radio libere. La cornice però è profondamente diversa: le web radios non sono territoriali, e soprattutto non sono nemmeno radio nel senso puro del termine. Perché se è chiaro che, da principio, “ la radio via web è un simulacro della radio via etere ”, è altresì vero che le modalità di fruizione sono altre. L’approccio diventa on demand: decido io cosa ascoltare, e soprattutto quando. Il che significa che l’utente non è più investito da un flusso sonoro su cui non ha controllo alcuno, ma organizza in maniera selettiva l’ascolto. Gli esiti sono importanti. Dice Bonini: “ La funzione classica della radio viene a mancare, da due punti di vista: innanzitutto non esiste più un pubblico in quanto tale, e gli ascoltatori si vedono ridotti a tribù. In secondo luogo, cade la figura del conduttore per come la conoscevamo .” L’esempio delle web radios musicali (che sono, va da sé, la stragrande maggioranza) è sintomatico: una serie di canali tematici concepiti apposta per nicchie (le tribù) alla ricerca di playlist più o meno in linea coi propri gusti personali. Se è vero che tutta la cultura della Rete è una cultura di macro (o micro, a seconda dei casi) nicchie – listening on demand, from this perspective, is an example of rare clarity - more nuanced are the consequences of the supposed "death of the holder. That results in more senses: first, the most obvious is the disappearance of a net total of the item. Lacking in substance, the human person: the playlist is sent automatically by the machine, even the idea of \u200b\u200bdirect buy new characters, becoming, in fact, a simple sequence of events scheduled. Disappears as a result the connective function of the radio as unifying element: the idea of \u200b\u200bfamily (the public) at the same momento ascolta la stessa voce sullo stesso canale, con conseguente sentimento partecipativo, cade. Dice Bonini: “ Il rammarico, volendo, è che la radio così si trasforma da mezzo caldo a mezzo freddo. E soprattutto, che le web radios diventano più che altro dei semplici tappeti sonori, sulla base di canali tematici anche molto raffinati, ma che in fondo poco hanno di radiofonico in senso stretto ”.
In tutt’altra direzione va invece l’altra scomparsa del conduttore, quella che potremmo sommariamente ricondurre allo slogan “chiunque può farlo”. E cioè: un’inflazione di voices, audio-bloggers, especially that with the advent of podcasting (at the last stage of a case brief but bumpy) you have the chance, we would have said at the time time, "conductors." "Send therefore I am", says the book, and a little further states: "the individual becomes medium": the bypass technology - podcasting - allows you to bypass obstacles and technical difficulties, so come up with an entry on line is the easiest thing in the world. Here it is, therefore, the 'orality found. Still Bonini: " What is missing is a certain urgency of expression, finally finds a channel. This is to throw out its contents, so, apparently without filters, and the result can be very poor: OK, I say what I like to say, but to whom, and for whom? You return to the niche, of course. But it is true that these experiments, when carried out with skill and with a certain communication skills, can lead to unexpected results. So it happens that the charts of most downloaded podcasting, among those of major radio stations and official snack also the first audio-blog. And this, only two or three years ago, was unthinkable . Again, here is another fundamental character of the culture of the Net: the horizontal absolute, in which the niches compete on an equal footing with the mainstream. What in "The radio network is described as" short-circuit between the first and last medium of the twentieth century "is not just a matter of killer applications, of economic returns (currently still small) niche of tribalism iperprivatizzazioni or content. It is the measure of an entire age, and its lines of flight, like it or not, should get "listening".
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