Steve,
Your other examples are good ones, but I was sort of referring to the world
of mass mediums I guess. (The Internet is not a mass medium, it's a medium
for the masses, more similar to telephones than TV.)
I'm not sure why it's important to know something you are experiencing is a
mass experience at the same time, but I think it is. Prpbably has to do
with the difference between being personally surprised, and being
CULTURALLY surprised - another form of context awareness that contributes
to both the "importance" of it and the scope of its potential effect BEYOND
yourself. In listening to a great CD, we just cannot be sure ANYBODY else
is getting that particular revelation the way YOU are. In radio, you CAN be
sure. It makes a difference to your personal level of surprise.
Athough any effort will become expected by "fans" if it continues (like
OTE), I nevertheless STILL continue to get the unsuspecting, dial twisting
listeners finding it BY ACCIDENT and who are...surprised by their radio.
Radio will always provide this no matter how long you keep it up at the
same time on the same station. Thanks to the unrelenting boredoms of
commercial radio formulas, desparately random tuning will never end.
(digital tuning presets are a PLAGUE on radio discoveries and should be
turned OFF whenever you're bored. Stop bouncing around the same few,
familiar options. Radio stations are the fastest changing things in all
media.)
DJ
>I don't agree that radio is the ONLY medium where there can
>be surprise. It IS indeed all about context, i agree, or
>the "frame". what you're basically saying is radio hardly
>ever gets put in an "art frame". of course when someone
>purposely tunes in to Over The Edge they're looking into a
>frame that's pretty similiar, IMHO, if not the art frame per
>se. eh?
>
>other mediums where surprise can potentially take place:
>
>street theater
>grafitti and outdoor ad modification
>the internet
>
>(but again these can all be "framed" by "framing" types like
>curators, art history professors, etc - if i go to an event
>expecting to see "street theater", it's no longer a
>surprise-prone event. i'm talking about if i'm just walking
>down the street on the way to work and i see some weird
>guerilla performance or something. etc blah blah...)
>
>and i'm sure we could think of others...
>
>the basic phenomenon can be summarized thus: calling
>something art and placing it in an "art" context creates
>certain expectations. doing otherwise avoids those
>expectations.
>
>Another question: Don, why do you think it's important that
>people know (or think they know) that others are listening
>to a radio broadcast? you mention that CDs can't deliver the
>unexpected, but that's exactly what i've been trying to do
>with this project called Record Store. i think i've
>announced it here before, but anyway:
>http://southtothefuture.com/menu.html
>
>smh
>
>
>Steev Hise, Wannabe Has-Been
>steevATdetritus.net http://detritus.net/steev
>*Recycled Culture: detritus.net
>*Record Store: southtothefuture.com
>*Progressive radio sketches: radioluchalibre.com
>*Watching power flow: capitalletters.detritus.net
>*Democratic sound collage generator: soundbakery.detritus.net
> *** sig almost over ***
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> -James MacKinnon
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