Radio theory

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As radio theory refers to a the media broadcasting , in particular the radio , specialized media theory . Well-known radio theories were written by Bertolt Brecht , Rudolf Arnheim , Walter Benjamin , Gerd Eckert , E. Kurt Fischer and Wolfgang Hagen .

Brecht's radio theory

Bertolt Brecht developed one of the first radio theories . His ideas from radio practice (not comparable with existing media theories ) can be assigned to the approaches of rationalized practice . They were created between 1927 and 1932 and are scattered over various works:

  • Radio - an antediluvian invention? In: Bertolt Brecht: Collected works in 20 volumes. Volume 18, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 119–121 = Large Commented Berlin and Frankfurter Edition, Volume 21, Writings 1, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, pp. 217–218.
  • Suggestions for the director of broadcasting . In: Bertolt Brecht: Collected works in 20 volumes. Volume 18, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 121–123 = Large Commented Berlin and Frankfurter Edition, Volume 21, Writings 1, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, pp. 215–217.
  • About recoveries . In: Bertolt Brecht: Collected works in 20 volumes. Volume 18, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 123–124 = Large Commented Berlin and Frankfurter Edition, Volume 21, Writings 1, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, p. 219.
  • Explanations of the "ocean flight" (with Peter Suhrkamp ). In: Bertolt Brecht: Writings on literature and art. Volume I, Suhrkamp Verlag, pp. 128-131 = Explanations on the Lindberghflug : In: Large commented on Berliner and Frankfurter edition, Volume 24, Writings 4, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, pp. 87-89.
  • The radio as a communication device . In: Bertolt Brecht: Collected works in 20 volumes. Volume 18, Frankfurt am Main, pp. 127-134 = Large Commented Berlin and Frankfurter Edition, Volume 21, Writings 1, Frankfurt am Main, 1992, pp. 552-557.

central message

Brecht ironically: “You suddenly had the opportunity to say everything to everyone, but when you thought about it, you had nothing to say. [...] A man who has something to say and cannot find an audience is bad about it. It is even worse for listeners who cannot find anyone who has something to say to them. ” This is also the deeper reason, so Brecht speculates, that the radio broadcasts nothing new, only imitates what is already there.

Based on this analysis, he thinks about how the existing medium could be used profitably: “In order to become positive: that is, to find the positive in broadcasting; a proposal for the reorganization of broadcasting: broadcasting is to be transformed from a distribution apparatus into a communication apparatus. The radio would be the greatest conceivable communication apparatus in public life, a tremendous channel system, that is, it would be if it knew not only to transmit but also to receive, i.e. not only to hear the listener but also to make them speak and him not to isolate, but also to put him in relation. ” The radio could enable exchange, discussions, debates and disputes.

In the radio experiment , of which three versions were broadcast, Brecht tries to translate theoretical knowledge into practical action; the development of the experiment also reflects the change in Brecht's ideas:

  • The first version had the title "Lindbergh", after the pilot of the same name Charles Lindbergh ; Brecht recognized that the audience tended to identify with the larger-than-life person of this aviation pioneer; he tried to avoid that, instead emphasizing collective achievement.
  • The second version therefore had the alienated title "The Flight of the Lindberghs".
  • The third and final version was only entitled "Ocean Flight" and let the individual achievement of the aviation pioneer take a back seat (moreover, Brecht saw in the pilot Lindbergh a sympathizer of the Nazis).

Brecht wanted: “The listener should become a player” , and: “The radio becomes a speaker and medium in one: it communicates with the listeners (“ the Lindberghs ”)” . His goal was to generate listener activity and thus transform the distribution apparatus into a communication apparatus. He took the radio broadcast as a radio tutorial to practice a new form of society. So Brecht was convinced that the media can bring about positive social changes.

“Impracticable in this social order, feasible in another, the proposals, which are only a natural consequence of technical development, serve to propagate and form this other order. [...] If you think this is utopian, I ask you to think about why it is utopian. "

Reception and effect

In his emancipatory media theory of the media construction kit (1970), Hans Magnus Enzensberger takes up Brecht's approaches again and expands them. Jean Baudrillard continues in Requiem for the media also (1972) with the two emancipatory approaches apart, but criticized them sharply.

Even more recent media theorists from the 1980s and 90s, such as Friedrich Kittler and Norbert Bolz , resort to radio theory in part - without being part of Brecht's direct thought tradition, as is Enzensberger's media kit .

Whether the “communication apparatus” projected by Brecht for broadcasting might not find its technical and social requirements in Web 2.0 is also discussed today. While the technical prerequisites are largely in place, it turns out to be difficult to put those involved in a relationship, which is the most important social prerequisite of Brecht's conception.

literature

On Brecht's radio theory:

  • Dieter Wöhrle : Bertolt Brecht's media aesthetic attempts , especially Chapter IV: “The radio experiment 'The Lindberghflug' and Brecht's exploration of the radio medium” , pp. 45–60. Prometh: Cologne 1988. ISBN 3-922009-89-1

Other radio theories:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See the example of the German-language Wikipedia : Mautpreller: Brecht on Wiki . In: Dreigroschenheft , Volume 19, 2012, Issue 3, pp. 33–39.