Publications
Chapter: Get Things Done: The Commodification of David Bowie in 1983
Popular Culture Review: Vol. 35, No. 1, Winter Edition, published March 2024, Westphalia Press, ISBN: 978-1-63723-513-3
Abstract:
This paper uses David Bowie’s 1983 album Let’s Dance as an entry point to explore notions of authenticity and compromise within popular music and to question the concept of integrity for artists seeking mainstream international success. The analysis evaluates Bowie's career from a commercial standpoint, delving into the underlying financial motivations that may have influenced his creative decision making process. The study draws on primary interviews, insights from biographical sources, and contributions from the field of Bowie studies. Furthermore, it integrates perspectives from business, marketing, and public relations theories to investigate the influences and decisions which shaped the Let's Dance phase of Bowie's career and the subsequent impact on his legacy. The paper suggests Bowie’s mainstream reinvention in 1983 can be seen as form of creative business endeavor, demonstrating astute business instincts and entrepreneurial aptitude. Despite leaving Bowie open to allegations of 'inauthenticity' and 'selling-out,' this strategic rebranding ultimately resulted in significant financial wealth and the consolidation of his star status.
Chapter: The Solid State of Radio
Media Materialities: Form, Format, and Ephemeral Meaning, Editted by Oliver Carter and Iain A. Taylor, published December 2023 by Intellect Books.
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/M/bo208658683.html
Abstract:
The ephemerality of radio is one of its defining characteristics. And yet, the artefact of a radio is certainly real enough. This chapter explores the interplay between the physicality of radio and its existence as an intangible medium. It reflects on the attachment that can develop between a listener and their radio, before considering how modern radio manufacturers have influenced this relationship through design and functionality. While the proliferation of platforms, content and station choice provide an inexhaustible supply of radio via a series of simple swipes or clicks, for many listeners there remains a preference for the human-machine interface of traditional knobs and dials. Unpicking this nostalgia for the medium’s supposed ‘golden age’ and its associated aesthetics provides insight into the bond between the listener and the materiality of the radio.
Chapter: Radio in India
India at 75, Thoughts and Reflections, published by Birmingham City University in March 2023.
Co-authored with Dr. I. Arul Aram and Dr. R. Lavanya from the Dept. of Media Sciences, Anna University, Chennai, India
This chapter explores the last 75 years of Indian radio and considers the medium’s ongoing relevance in an increasingly post-digital world. The authors investigate the rise of community broadcasting and reflect on a collaborative radio training partnership, funded by the British Council, which took place in 2022 and 2023, between Birmingham City University and Anna University.
Abstract:
When Indian attained it’s independence in 1947, the country had only six radio stations. Today, All India Radio (AIR), the country’s public broadcasting service, has a network of 479 radio stations, while there are 388 commercial FM stations and 454 community radio (FM) stations. This chapter considers the growth and evolution of radio in India and its pathway to becoming one of the country’s most cherished and valuable mass mediums. The chapter focuses on the rise of community radio, particularly Anna Community Radio, in Chennai, the capital of the Tamil Nadu State, India.
Chapter: Prince is on the Radio! On-air influences and online legacies
American Music Perspectives, 2022: 15–35. Pennsylvania State University
https://doi.org/10.5325/ampamermusipers.2.1.0015
Abstract:
This article explores Prince’s associations with traditional radio as well his presence on digital audio platforms. I suggest he had affinity for the medium and an innate understanding of how radio works. As Matt Thorne comments, much has been made of Prince’s early radio listening, especially the combination of “white and Black music that may have shaped his sound.” I argue that the impact of eclectic radio programming at an early age left an indelible imprint on Prince’s subsequent artistic output. The self-curated playlists of local Minneapolis DJs exposed him to disparate artists and helped form his unique amalgam of influences. This article also considers the censorship of Prince on the radio and his successes and failures in gaining airplay. I apply Henry Jenkins theories on participatory fan culture to the creation of Prince-related podcasts—fan endeavours that offer insight into his remarkable life and career.
Book: Music Documentaries for Radio
Published by Routledge, London and New York, ISBN 9780367226213 (hardback), ISBN 9780367226220 (paperback, ISBN 9780429276095 (ebook).
This book stemmed from my PhD research (‘Freelance Radio Practices: Producing Music Documentaries for Commercial Radio’, submitted in 2017), and drew on both academic research and ‘real world’ practice, to investigate the production of music documentaries for radio.
Abstract:
Music Documentaries for Radio provides a thorough overview of how the genre has developed technically and editorially alongside a discussion of the practical production processes involved. Digital production equipment and online tools used in music documentary production are discussed in detail, outlining how the development of these technologies shapes the output of producers operating in both the public service and the commercial sectors of the industry. Drawing on his own experiences as an award-winning music documentary producer, the author also looks at how the industry views this form of radio documentary and considers how innovation and technical advances, as well as governmental regulation, have shaped the field. The book demonstrates how changing practices and technical innovations have led to the emergence of multi-skilled, freelance radio producers and how previously separate production roles have merged into one convergent, multifaceted position.
Music Documentaries for Radio is an ideal resource for students and academics in the fields of radio studies, media production, documentary-making, and journalism studies.
https://www.routledge.com/Music-Documentaries-for-Radio/Coley/p/book/9780367226220/
Chapter: A La Recherche De Nouveaux Sons
“A La Recherche De Nouveaux Sons”. In: ‘Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men’ Vol. 7, No. 2, Indiana University Press, pp. 63-82. ISSN: 21623244 (ISSN), April 2020
This chapter considers Prince’s eighth album, Parade, and its use of the French language. It was published in the journal ‘Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men’ by the Indiana University Press in Spring 2020.
Abstract:
By 1986, the Prince-pioneered Minneapolis sound had become increasingly co-opted by copycat musicians and was a familiar presence on US radio. Yet Prince had already shifted focus, relocating the sonic home of his eighth release to Continental Europe; arguably creating his most diverse album in the process. This paper explores how Parade was the first Prince record to consciously embrace a more international fan base. I discuss how the use of French language and ambience throughout the album draw on the ‘prestige’ associated with the Gallic lifestyle, adding a cosmopolitan flavour which helped Parade connect with European audiences.
I argue that Prince capitalised on the cultural currency of France and its language to create a more elevated style of music, and purposely distance himself from the Minneapolis sound. The paper contextualises Parade against the musical backdrop of 1986 and considers the subsequent critical responses of the music press and biographers. I contend that the album was part of a strategic move to reach beyond traditional US notions of ‘rock and roll’ stardom and establish himself as a truly global performer. In achieving this goal, Prince willingly sacrificed some of his American fan base, yet secured his credentials as a bona fide international artist in return. Parade marks a pivotal point in Prince’s career, ultimately shaping his future output and forever altering how the world viewed him and his music.
Chapter: The Hardest Sell
The Hardest Sell: Creating Health Related Radio Messages in Ethiopia Communication Journal of New Zealand / He Kohinga Korero, Volume 11, July 2010
Abstract:
This chapter investigates the production and theorectical practices behind the creation of health related radio messages in developing countries. It draws on my experiences providing radio training in production and scripting for the BBC World Service Trust in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2006. I assess the delivery of educational health messages across large distances via radio ‘spots’ and examine the relationship between traditional radio advertising techniques and their application in Ethiopia.
Book Review: Sonic Persuasion
My review of “Sonic Persuasion – Reading Sound in the Recorded Age” by Greg Goodale, University of Illinois Press, 2011, was published in the March edition (No. 86) of Viewfinder, the journal of the British Universities Film and Video Council.
Greg Goodale is assistant professor of communication studies at Northeastern University and his book was a valuable addition to the field of sound culture studies. He addresses the lack of sonic scholarship with an investigation of audio tropes, sonic manipulation and shifting oratory styles that draw from recorded examples dating as far back as the marketing of Edison’s automatic phonograph in 1888. Goodale’s analysis draws attention to the rich meaning laden within the accents, articulation and phraseology of the language and music we hear, as well as the background ‘noise’ that often accompanies them.
Sonic Persuasion was the first in the University of Illinois Press series: Studies in Sensory History. The project published and promoted “work on the history of the senses from ancient times to the twenty-first century”. Goodale’s exploration is a good place to start if you’re interested in sound and how it can be “read”. As he points out in the book: “one can never close ones ears”.
Book Chapter: Bowie’s Waiata, Radio Documentary and Fandom
Radio and Society: New Thinking for an Old Medium, Edited by Matt Mollgaard, AUT, Auckland, NZ, Date Of Publication: Mar 2012, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-3607-4
Isbn: 1-4438-3607-9
This books was described as;
“…a collection of contemporary research by radio scholars from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It explores different aspects of this both simple and complex medium, from early radio histories to the contemporary developments of radio on the Internet. Chapters engage with critical debates about the role of government, business and communities in how radio is used in our societies. Some chapters provide important new insights into making radio, and radio as a cultural force. Other chapters explore developments in research methodologies that enable deeper insights into contemporary radio and its audiences. This book provides a range of platforms for engaging with radio and radio research as a rich, vibrant and fruitful way to further our understandings of the media and ultimately, ourselves.”
The introduction to my chapter contribution reads…
“Sam Coley discusses music and radio documentary too, while also exploring ideas of fandom and how fans use the Internet to repurpose collectable material and to display their devotion. By taking us from the height of David Bowie’s musical career, to discovering a previously unheard Bowie song and then to documentaries made 25 years later and remixed by Bowie fans, Coley interrogates notions of fandom and also radio content on the Internet, providing us with insights into how the Internet can expand radio’s potential, but also how audiences can re- imagine radio content, given the right tools and motivations.”
More details available here.
Book Chapter: Sound and Vision: Radio Documentary, Fandom, and New Participatory Culture
The Music Documentary: Acid Rock to Electropop: Edited by Benjamin Halligan, Robert Edgar, and Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs, Routledge, 2013. Chapter co written with Dr. Oliver Carter
This book was published by Routledge as part of their “Music and Screen Media” series. Although it mainly focuses on music documentary relating to film – Oliver and I contributed a chapter which looked at specifically at music radio and online fan engagement with documentaries. It also touched on the similarities and differences between music documentary production techniques for film and radio.
More info about the book, edited by Benjamin Halligan, Robert Edgar, and Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs, can be found on the Routledge website.
“The writers in this volume argue persuasively that the music documentary must be considered as an essential cultural artefact in documenting stars and icons, and musicians and their times – particularly for those figures whose fame was achieved posthumously.”
“The reader will find comprehensive discussions of the history of music documentaries, insights in their production and promotion, close studies of documentaries relating to favourite bands or performers, and approaches to questions of music documentary and form, from the celluloid to the digital age.”
Book Contribution; “Spirit of Talk Talk”
“A richly illustrated, beautifully designed book celebrating the music and art of the legendary Talk Talk.”
I provided a few thoughts on the band Talk Talk, which stemmed from an interview I conducted with James Marsh, for my “Xfm 25″ radio documentary about the album “The Colour Of Spring”. James is the wonderful illustrator whose artwork has become synonymous with Talk Talk’s music. He designed all of the bands album sleeves along with posters and the covers of their numerous 45’s and 12” singles. The interview was conducted over a Skype connection and James turned out to be a superb contributor. In fact, he was pretty much the only primary source of content – since the band split in 1991 and have been reluctant to grant interviews since.
James asked me for some comments about the group for his book “Spirit of Talk Talk” which he co-authored with Toby Benjamin and was published in September 2012. The book features 100 written contributions from bands, label owners, DJs and “creatives”.
Click here for more information about the book.
Published by Rocket 88 books, an imprint of Essential Works