I had the opportunity to attend the recent NAISA conference last weekend as part of my research. I was surprised to learn during one of the presentations that the subject of this year's conference was "Time." I'm still somewhat suspicious that this was an error, because very few of the presentations had little (if anything) to do specifically with time- that is, anything can be said to deal with time, even if it doesn't treat Time as its subject.
Jonathan Goldstein delivered Saturday morning's keynote, which was my initial reason for attending. Unfortunately the keynote was structured as a kind of interview, and Goldstein and the interviewer had no rapport whatsoever. I think the presentation would have been much better served had Goldstein simply presented his work, rather than attempting to answer the interviewer's utterly banal set of questions. Nevertheless, some good did come of my attendance.
Goldstein explained a little about WireTap as a radio drama and as meta-radio. After explaining that "meta" is basically a fancy word for saying The Muppet Show, he explained that in many ways the show itself becomes a character. Because isn't a reporter, explained Goldstein, he is able to take a more literary approach to the content presented on the show. For example, he can fade out the voice of one of the characters and then talk about that character "behind his back."
In describing the process of producing a show for This American Life, Goldstein explained his initial reluctance to present as unstaged his studio-recorded conversations, worrying that it would sound contrived to the audience. He then shared the advice that he received from Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life: "... people listen to the show and think we're just little people who live inside the radio," basically explaining that listeners don't think twice about the fact that the conversation is recorded.
The majority of WireTap content takes the form of phone conversations, which further dissociates the audience from the idea of performance. This is remarkable considering it is the very staging of the episodes that creates the illusion of their authenticity. Of course, that being said, much of the content of WireTap is "real." Goldstein explained that there is constant interplay between actuality and script; blending fiction with non-fiction to get a story out. This is also a gift of the medium: because there is only sound, there is more creative opportunity to "micro-edit performances together."
Not only does Goldstein blend fiction into a non-fiction story, he also makes use of the media available to him to turn fiction into non-fiction. For example, in the episode "Protect Yourself" from Season Four Goldstein's eponymous character Jonathan discovers that a disgruntled former intern has uploaded humiliating sound bites of Jonathan to her blog, even turning one into a ringtone. Readers of this blog familiar with WireTap will know that at the end of each episode is an amusing soundbite made available for download as a ringtone. The episode "Protect Yourself" introduced the concept, and by Season Five ringtones were made available for listeners on the WireTap website. From time to time, the ringtones can be heard during the show when characters call each other on their cell phones. And it's pretty funny. More importantly, though, it demonstrates WireTap's ability to make fiction transcend itself into reality.
As listeners, we are persistently compelled to believe in the fiction of the show. But is it really fiction if it can so easily become real?
Jonathan Goldstein delivered Saturday morning's keynote, which was my initial reason for attending. Unfortunately the keynote was structured as a kind of interview, and Goldstein and the interviewer had no rapport whatsoever. I think the presentation would have been much better served had Goldstein simply presented his work, rather than attempting to answer the interviewer's utterly banal set of questions. Nevertheless, some good did come of my attendance.
Goldstein explained a little about WireTap as a radio drama and as meta-radio. After explaining that "meta" is basically a fancy word for saying The Muppet Show, he explained that in many ways the show itself becomes a character. Because isn't a reporter, explained Goldstein, he is able to take a more literary approach to the content presented on the show. For example, he can fade out the voice of one of the characters and then talk about that character "behind his back."
In describing the process of producing a show for This American Life, Goldstein explained his initial reluctance to present as unstaged his studio-recorded conversations, worrying that it would sound contrived to the audience. He then shared the advice that he received from Ira Glass, host and producer of This American Life: "... people listen to the show and think we're just little people who live inside the radio," basically explaining that listeners don't think twice about the fact that the conversation is recorded.
The majority of WireTap content takes the form of phone conversations, which further dissociates the audience from the idea of performance. This is remarkable considering it is the very staging of the episodes that creates the illusion of their authenticity. Of course, that being said, much of the content of WireTap is "real." Goldstein explained that there is constant interplay between actuality and script; blending fiction with non-fiction to get a story out. This is also a gift of the medium: because there is only sound, there is more creative opportunity to "micro-edit performances together."
Not only does Goldstein blend fiction into a non-fiction story, he also makes use of the media available to him to turn fiction into non-fiction. For example, in the episode "Protect Yourself" from Season Four Goldstein's eponymous character Jonathan discovers that a disgruntled former intern has uploaded humiliating sound bites of Jonathan to her blog, even turning one into a ringtone. Readers of this blog familiar with WireTap will know that at the end of each episode is an amusing soundbite made available for download as a ringtone. The episode "Protect Yourself" introduced the concept, and by Season Five ringtones were made available for listeners on the WireTap website. From time to time, the ringtones can be heard during the show when characters call each other on their cell phones. And it's pretty funny. More importantly, though, it demonstrates WireTap's ability to make fiction transcend itself into reality.
As listeners, we are persistently compelled to believe in the fiction of the show. But is it really fiction if it can so easily become real?
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