Page 106 - Culture Media Language Working Papers in Cultural Studies

HOUSEWIVES AND THE MASS MEDIA 95

A. Yes, ’cos I find that nearly all my records are a bit old-fashioned and I like
to hear a bit of the modern music. ((Yes)) I don’t want to get way behind
the times, you know.

The predominance of presenters or DJs in the respondents’ reactions to radio
programmes can be seen from various aspects. First, it is necessary for the
personality of the disc jockey to be a prominent feature in the programme, since
all the records which are played throughout the day on Radio 1 are the same; the
only variation which exists is in the chatter between records which the disc
jockeys provide. Inevitably, then, it is their ability to form a relationship with
their audience which gives the disc jockeys their appeal. The disc jockeys have
become personalities in their own right, as have the presenters of television
current affairs programmes, and the increasing professionalism and development
of the necessary features and components of the successful disc jockey could be
seen as analogous with the professionalization of other television presenters. As
early as the first year of the existence of Radio 1, which began in November
1967, the following point was noted: ‘It soon became clear that Radio 1 DJs
were going to be accorded almost as much attention by the media as the Royal
Family.’ (BBC/Everest 1977) The disc jockeys are prominent as a structural
feature of the production process of these programmes, and it is they who direct
the discourse of the radio programmes towards their known audience—in this
case the housewives. Secondly, the women respond to that notion of themselves
as ‘feminine domestic subjects’ of radio discourse which is presented by the disc
jockeys. In this study I have concentrated on the reactions of the women to the
disc jockeys rather than on the production process of the media messages. 2
Within the overall picture of isolation which has emerged in the lives of the
women in this study, the disc jockey can be seen as having the function of
providing the missing ‘company’ of another person in the lives of the women. As
well as helping to combat isolation, it is not too far fetched to see the DJ as also
playing the role of a sexual fantasy-figure in the lives of the women who listen.
Pat’s comments about Noel Edmunds (above) are certainly not limited to his role
as someone who breaks the isolation in her life; it includes references to his
attractiveness and physical appearance, although she does not make this explicit.
Nevertheless, my reading of the role of the DJs is that they play the role of a safe,
though definitely sexually attractive man, in the lives of the women. The
responses to other DJs confirm this assumption. Tony Blackburn is talked about
more in terms of the content of his programme and his manner of presentation

*Key to transcripts
…or (pause) pause
() non-verbal communication, e.g. (laughs)
(()) phatic communication, e.g. ((Mm))
…speaker interrupted