Article received on October 20, 2004

The reasons for study of radio broadcasting, i.e. »eight art«, are numerous: the way the youngest artistic discipline is conceived, the directness of its communication, as well as discrepancy that could be observed in the way it's poetics could be perceived and circle of questions concerning the ways by which the sound sign is transformed into state of art. Trying to answer the question what radio broadcasting is and with what it deals, several different key points have been made: historical, scientifically-technological, formal and aesthetical. This kind of study includes a survey of the »eight art«'s pre-history and of separating the main radio terms, such as radio diffusion and radio broadcasting. Then, there is definition of the different radio epochs and terms, including the divide into radio drama, documentary type of radio broadcasting and abstract type of radio broadcasting. Since radio drama is the first and basic expression of the »eight art«, its beginnings (in the West, as well as in Serbia where 75 years ago the radio drama and radio broadcasting were born at the same time) are considered in more detail. Further, the radio broadcasting has its solid philosophical and theoretical roots in Theodor Adorno's, Benedetto Croce's, Bertholt Brecht's writings, while illustrative examples of the power of the »eight art« can be found in such a different use in Orson Wells and Adolph Hitler. The appearance and development of radio broadcasting have often inspired media analysts to turn to it. The reasons for this are manifold: the challenge of observing and contemplating the youngest artistic discipline, the immediacy of communication with the consumers of its contents, as well as the surprising disparity in recognizing the poetics of radio broadcasting and a circle of problems translating the use of the sonic sign into the status of art. Namely, in examining the phenomenon of radio broadcasting, aware of the difficulties of analyzing its diverse forms and effects, authors usually focus on isolated segments thereby almost consistently avoiding a definition of the eighth art. Hence the aim of this text is to concentrate simultaneously on the key points of radio broadcasting – historical, scientific-technological, formal and esthetical – and so try to answer the question of how radio broadcasting may be defined and what it in fact is. Knowledge of eighth art aesthetics implies a basic knowledge of radio technology and its history, which is a necessary precondition for identifying why radio broadcasting exists, its techniques and codes. For that reason, it is important to emphasize in the text the first steps of radio broadcasting within both the context of the technical requirements for its appearance and the theoretical thought of the time. Also, bearing in mind the socio-political environment characteristic of Serbia in the first decades of the past century, it is important to mention the beginnings of radio 1 Terms eighth art or youngest artistic discipline denote the youth of radio broadcasting because its birth takes place in the 20 century, whereas the appearance of the seventh art, film, is associated with the end of the 19 century and the Lumiere brothers. New Sound 25 Marija Ćirić The “Eighth Art”: The First Steps of Radio Broadcasting broadcasting in our region and compare them with corresponding events in the West, so we shall focus on this question as well. Key Terms of Radio Art In order to understand the mentioned problematic, it is necessary first of all to explain the key terms, radio diffusion and radio broadcasting, which logically, being related, still have separate meanings and different birth dates. Radio diffusion is a system of wireless transmission of sound signals via electromagnetic waves. The speech Nikola Tesla gave at the Franklin Institute in February 1893 was of crucial importance for the birth of radio diffusion, and later on, radio broadcasting. In 1899, he conducted an experiment involving a wireless radiotelegraph transmission in Colorado. The distance achieved exceeded eight hundred kilometres. What ensued was the construction of a big telecommunications station on Long Island in 1904 which Nikola Tesla named the World Telegraphy radio station, and which was supposed to transmit music, speech, images and drawings to practically every point on the globe. The experiment was suspended due to a lack of funds. Interestingly enough, not even the famous contemporary radio theoreticians, Cindy Wieringa and Martin Shingler, give any mention of Nikola Tesla’s share in the creation of this medium in their chronological survey of radio history! Namely, having fused the experiences of James Clark Maxwell, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, Alexander Popov and Nikola Tesla, an English scientist of Italian-Irish descent, Guglielmo Marconi, managed to establish a wireless bridge across the Atlantic Ocean on November 12, 1901. These were actually only short sound waves: a significant step towards transmitting human voice, radio diffusion and radio broadcasting. A period of live broadcasting was about to begin: it was on January 13, 1910 that the first radio transmission took place. Enrico Caruso sang an aria from the opera “Cavalleria Rusticana” by Pietro Mascagni which could be heard – live from the New York Metropolitan Opera. The Prehistory of Radio Broadcasting The development of radio diffusion was preceded by technological inventions from the period of competitive capitalism in the 19 century: Leon Scott’s phonograph, completed around 1861, Charles Cross’s paleophone, patented on April 30, 1877, and finally, Thomas Edison’s phonograph, registered 2 Nikola Tesla presented his idea of wireless energy transmission: “I would like to say a couple of words about a subject which I have been continually pondering on and concerns the wellbeing of us all. It is the transmission of intelligible signals or energy, even power, to any distance without using wire [...]. My belief is so strong that I no longer look upon it as a theoretical possibility but as a serious problem in electrical engineering.” The quote from Tesla’s speech is taken from the study Očaravanje uva (Fascinating the Ear) by Miroslav Jokić, Radio Beograd, pp. 13-14. 3 Cf. Martin Šingler and Sindi Viringa: “Hronologija radija” in: Radio, Belgrade, CLIO, 2000, pp. 22-44. New Sound 25 Marija Ćirić The “Eighth Art”: The First Steps of Radio Broadcasting on December 19, 1877, which would shift the monopoly on reproduction that was previously limited to the sphere of printed material to a new kind, monopoly of repetition, and thus give way to radio diffusion. Other technical achievements worth mentioning are Blumlein’s improvement of the stereo microphone (1931), a precursor of stereo recording, the merger of the German companies BASF and AEG which after many years of attempting developed a system called “tape recorder” (1944), while EMI presented the BBC with the first model of a professional tape recorder for civilian use in 1948. The United States of America began a regular radio programme broadcast on October 27, 1920; the private company BBC followed suit two years later, while Germany, Belgium, Finland, Norway and Switzerland joined them in the course of 1923. From the initial seven in 1922, the number of radio stations grew to 1950 (390 of which in Europe alone!) and thirty-seven million subscribers. The globe was thus covered by a network of radio diffusion – it was connected through sound. The beginnings of airing radio programmes regularly coincided with the beginnings of radio broadcasting. Basic Radio Broadcasting Terms and Classification Radio broadcasting (the eighth art) is an artistic discipline whose “tool” is a sound recording and whose contact with the listening audience is possible through radio diffusion, the basic forms of radio works being radio drama, documentary radio broadcasting and abstract radio broadcasting. A radio work is a complex phenomenon whose outer structure consists of a word, voice, music, noise, broadcast effect, silence and the acoustics of space, while the inner structure includes layers of sound, meanings, presented objects and schematized aspects alike. Its form is determined by techniques of using sound which establish a specific radio broadcasting space – a kind of radio work. A classification of radio forms suggested here as most suitable for understanding the eighth art will be reduced to the three most represented areas of radio broadcasting: radio drama, radio documentary 4 Cf. Žak Atali, Buka, Belgrade, Vuk Karadžić, 1983, pp. 84-85. 5 Neither Charles Cross nor Thomas Edison could at that given moment imagine how much their patents would do for music art, in terms of it availability. Cross died in abject poverty on August 9, 1888, while Edison, disappointed at the lack of interest of potential financiers, turned to his new invention, the light bulb. Cf. World Encyclopaedia, Oxford University Press, 2002, electronic edition. 6 At the age of 17, Alan Dower Blumlein (1903-1942) patented the stereo microphone while working for the Columbia Gramophone Company and EMI. What is also interesting is that he worked as a professional spy as well – he was killed in a plane crash during a secret mission in World War II. In addition to the stereo microphone, his other important contributions to technology include working on the 45-rpm record, submarine cables, upgrading radar systems etc. Cf. World Encyclopaedia, Oxford University Press, 2002, electronic edition. New Sound 25 Marija Ćirić The “Eighth Art”: The First Steps of Radio Broadcasting and abstract radio broadcasting. These forms will be presented in the order in which they first appeared. The birth of radio broadcasting was marked by the appearance of radio drama. It is the first and basic expression of radio broadcasting. Its poetic relates mostly to that of theatrical and cinematic art. To the former because basic theatrical techniques are conveyed in front of a microphone, and to the latter for being conditioned by the limitations of technology. In a culturological sense, a radio drama is a valuable example of the region from which it originates. The First Steps of Radio Drama Who was it, however, that established radio drama? The idea of presenting dramas using radio diffusion takes us back to the second decade of the 20 century, with numerous aspirers to the status of the first radio drama. British and American media theoreticians are arguing over the “premiere” to this day. As for British radio, the dates that appear are October 17, 1922 when parts of Edmond Rostand’s play “Cyrano de Bergerac” adapted by Peter Eckersley were broadcast experimentally from a wooden hut in Writtle (near Chelmsford in Essex). But “Cyrano” does not figure in a reference source such as the British Radio Drama 1922-1956 by Val Henry Gielgud. He suggests September 2, 1922, from the Casa Marconi. The BBC Archive offers the date of February 16, 1923. Providing extensive argumentation, radio analyst Alan Beck speaks in favour of data coming from the British National Radio. The Americans consider New York and a radio station studio belonging to General Electric Company as the birthplace of radio drama. It all happened in September 1922 (there is no precise date) when Eugene Walter’s play “Wolf”, performed by the New York theatre company “Mask”, was adapted for radio and broadcast after a number of rehearsals. 7 This classification is observed by great international radio broadcasting shows, namely – the “Prix Italia” festival. In our country this practice is applied in Radio Belgrade’s Drama Programme. 8 Radio drama has two established meanings. It can exist as an independent work of art, on paper, but in this form it is merely a prerequisite for realization – adaptations of the most diverse literary genres are represented equally as any original piece intended for radio interpretation. In its standard form, a radio drama is a literary inspiration brought to life by being placed on a recording medium and transferred to the listening audience by a system of radio diffusion. 9 Peter Eckersley was the first chief technician at BBC Radio, the radio station that officially started broadcasting on November 14, 1922. Cf. Alan Beck: “The Invisible Play” B.B.C. Radio Drama 1922-1928”, Sound Journal, December 2000, electronic edition. 10 Val Henry Gielgud (1900-1981), British writer and actor, son of the famous actor John Gielgud, was a longtime director of BBC’s Drama Programme. It was precisely during its first years that he played a key role for drama. Cf. Tim Crook: “The British Radio Drama of 1929”, IRDP London, 2003, electronic edition. 11 Both cases refer to three scenes taken from Shakespeare’s plays “Julius Caesar”, “King Henry VIII” and “Much Ado About Nothing”. Cf. Alan Beck: “The Invisible Play” B.B.C. Radio Drama 1922-1928”, Sound Journal, December 2000, electronic edition. 12 Ibid. New Sound 25 Marija Ćirić The “Eighth Art”: The First Steps of Radio Broadcasting The Beginnings of Radio Diffusion and Radio Broadcasting in Serbia Contrary to information ambiguity in the West, the situation in Serbia is quite clear. Dates relative to the appearance of radio (and radio art) were precisely recorded despite a difference of only seven years. The official inception was preceded by a testing. As decided by the Ministry of Postal and Telegraph Services and as suggested by Milan Ž. Djordjević, head of the Telephone and Telegraph Department, on September 19, 1924, a decision was made “to introduce radiotelephonic concerts, etc.” Belgrade and Serbia “are embarking on a new cultural and artistic epoch with 26 wireless sets (subscribers), whereas the whole kingdom has a hundred and one sets.” Not long afterwards, on July 1, 1926 the Ministry decided to close down the Belgrade/Rakovica broadcasting station for what were termed “technical reasons” (besides cultural, the radio aired oppositional political content). The wait for a new – and official – beginning lasted until 1929. Belgrade witnessed – and this is a unique case – radio diffusion and radio broadcasting coming to life together! On March 24, 1929, at exactly ten thirty a.m., Radio Belgrade became operational. The atmosphere on the first day of Serbia’s radio station reached its peak with the announcement at 12:15 p.m. of the folk song “Djakon Stefan i dva andjela” (Deacon Stefan and Two Angels) which had been adapted for radio by Prof. Vinko Vitezica and Dr. Gustav Braun. The song thus “adapted for microphone” was interpreted by the most eminent actors of the time, while the stage directions specified that the moods should be supported by music performed on the violoncello. We can easily see that all the conditions corresponding to an emerging form were observed. Hence radio broadcasting is a new kind of publishing: of a spatial alphabet, of marking a space. If the radio wave was ephemeral and immaterial, the eighth art is that which would (understandably, as the system of sound recording advanced) render it lasting and concrete. 13 Miroslav Jokić: Istorija radiofonije II, manuscript, p. 180. 14 Ibid., p. 182. 15 The radio first aired the national anthem performed by the wind orchestra of the Royal National Theatre and the choral society “Obilić” under the direction of Lovro Matačić, followed by the news and an orchestral suite from Stevan Hristić’s “Jugoslovenski balet” (Yugoslav Ballet), which the author himself directed. 16 Belgrade not only kept pace with its predecessors, but also surpassed them in the decades that followed, particularly from 1950. The Belgrade “school” of radio broadcasting is considered one of the most successful in the world. By the number of Prix Italia awards alone that it has won (which, in the domain of radio broadcasting, is probably the most prestigious award in the world), Radio Belgrade is more successful than the BBC or Radio France, having won this award as many as nine times in the period from 1953 to 2002. The addendum includes a list of awarded radio works by our authors. Unfortunately, complete data were unavailable to us, so the addendum may be regarded as supplementary information. New Sound 25 Marija Ćirić The “Eighth Art”: The First Steps of Radio Broadcasting The Philosophical-theoretical Bases of Radio Broadcasting It will be interesting to observe the social situation and philosophical–theoretical thought in Europe at the beginning of the 20 century which, influencing each other, determined the guidelines of radio broadcasting. For the first time in its history, specifically in the first decades of the 20 century Europe emerged as a compact cultural whole. Discussing the status of “recognized” arts, a significant number of philosophers were to fathom the essence of a still budding art, some of them inadvertently, by diagnosing the existing situation, some of them through conscious prophecy. In his “Philosophy of Modern Music”, Theodor Adorno pointed directly to the problems of radio broadcasting. If we analyze the antinomies perceived by the German philosopher in 20century music production, we come to realize that they also belong to the eighth art. The SchoenbergStravinsky clash is the question of its very being: whether to have a Beethoven-ly serious and tragic outlook on the world (Schoenberg) or replace it with burlesque, however bitter it might be (Stravinsky). Insight or play? Adorno opts for insight; his view is that of “music in negativity”. Parts of an object, contemplated and dismantled, can not be reassembled. It is in that void that new beings, born of art, are created because new art “is no longer being expressed”, but “created”, believes Adorno, placing Stravinsky (wrongly, we fear) in the “prehistory” of music defined by physiological laws rather than expression. By intensifying these antinomies Theodor Adorno will, paradoxically enough, offer us quite the opposite: a synthesis of the two polarities will give us perhaps the most accurate designation of the poetic of radio broadcasting, the theatre of the spirit. Benedetto Croce’s viewpoint on art and the role of intuition are also important for understanding the poetic of radio broadcasting: “intuition” as a non-cognitive and emotional state nevertheless yields true knowledge whose utmost realization is achieved through the self-conscious application of historical research. Walter Benjamin made one of the most valuable contributions to new art in his essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” from 1936. Concerned about the losing of aura – “because the age of mechanical reproduction separated art from its basis in cult, the semblance of its autonomy has disappeared forever” – he nonetheless optimistically perceives new spaces given through the possibilities of expanding a work of art, which enables its wide consumption. A large 17 A similar attempt was made in the age of Enlightenment, although its integrity was thwarted by subsequent wars and national revolutions. 18 Ivan Foht: “Muzika u stavu negativiteta” in: Teodor Adorno, Filosofija nove muzike, Belgrade, Nolit, 1968, p. 26. 19 Cf. Benedetto Croce: “Pure Intuition and the Lyrical Character of Art”, a lecture held at the second meeting of the Third International Philosophical Congress in Heidelberg on September 2, 1908 (trans. Vladan Desnica) in Teorijska misao o književnosti (ed. Petar Milosavljević), Novi Sad, Svetovi, 1991, pp. 406-421. New Sound 25 Marija Ćirić The “Eighth Art”: The First Steps of Radio Broadcasting radio audience number-wise is, therefore, a matrix generating a new relationship to works of art and that quantity yields new quality. Only a decade earlier, Benjamin’s close friend Bertolt Brecht was appalled by the possibilities of the radio: “The results of the radio are shameless, its possibilities ‘infinite’”. Hence radio is ‘a good thing’. (However), it (the radio) is a very ‘bad thing’. [...] I wish with all my heart for the bourgeoisie to add another invention to the radio they have invented: an invention that will make it possible for us to fix for all time what may be communicated over the radio. Future generations would then have the opportunity to marvel how a caste was able to tell the whole planet what it had to say and at the same time show the planet that it in fact had nothing to say”. Already in 1930 he would assert a slightly more compromising attitude (along with acknowledging a new art): “The question of applying art in radio and the question of applying radio in art – two very different questions – must at a certain moment in time be subordinated to an actually more important one, the question of applying art in general.” Did Bertolt Brecht’s intolerance refer solely to a lack of quality artistic content on the radio or was it a fear that the new medium might prove to be an efficient foothold for something far graver, the surge of Nazism that had commenced only a few years earlier? We shall mention two examples that unmistakably confirm the power of sound. Adolph Hitler was clever enough to appreciate and make use of the radio’s potential. “We would never have taken over Germany had we not had speakers”, he wrote in his Manual for the German Radio in 1938. Unfortunately, Hitler’s words are not an isolated case: practically all totalitarian systems were to a great extent instituted and maintained precisely owing to power over sound. The second example illustrating radio broadcasting’s potential scope of influence is associated with a phenomenon, defined so precisely because of the foregoing scope. We are referring to Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds”. Namely, having taken Herbert George Wells’ work as a literary model, the famous actor and director came up with the idea of simulating the SF theme as authentically as possible and “testing” it on the listening audience. A remarkable explication – not so 20 Valter Benjamin: “Umetničko delo u veku svoje tehničke reprodukcije” in Eseji, Belgrade, Nolit, 1974, p. 127. 21 A reminder: at the moment when Brecht spoke radio communication was realized via live broadcast; the recording system would be perfected only a few years later. 22 Bertold Breht: “Radio – prepotopni izum?”, 1927. (translated from German by Mira Djordjević) in Aspekti radija, Sarajevo, Svjetlost, 1978, pp. 19-21. 23 Bertold Breht: “Fragmenti na temu ‘Radio i umjetnost’”, 1930. (translated from German by Mira Djordjević) in Aspekti radija, Sarajevo, Svjetlost, 1978, p. 109. 24 The first example refers to the power of radio diffusion, the second to the power of radio broadcasting, which once more confirms the connection between the two terms. 25 Cf. Žak Atali: Buka, Belgrade, Vuk Karadžić, 1983, p. 123. 26 Based on an idea by Orson Welles, Herbert George Wells’ “Invasion from Mars” was adapted for radio by Howard Koch as “War of the Worlds”. This radio drama was broadcast from a studio in New Jersey on New Sound 25 Marija Ćirić The “Eighth Art”: The First Steps of Radio Broadcasting much of media influence as of the essence of artistic communication en route radio broadcastinglistener that was built primarily on the imaginative-emotional plane. What makes radio broadcasting unique is its ability to make magic: bordering on the mysterious, in the realm of the invisible, whose meaning and fulfilment are left to the imagination of the listener. Epochs of Radio Broadcasting The foregoing sections confirm a definition given by one of our theoreticians in this field, Miroslav Jokić: “So the history of radio broadcasting is essentially the history of the language of radio broadcasting which built its individuality on the linguistic conventions of theatre art, music, literature... and film!” He suggests a classification of the history of radio broadcasting into three epochs which end with the “tape recorder revolution”. We shall complete this classification – in keeping with the requirements of contemporary sound processing methods – with digital technology that in the past two decades has all but completely replaced the system of analogue recordings. A periodization of radio broadcasting discussed in this text refers also to three, albeit somewhat differently divided periods. For, almost four decades passed from the first wireless sound transmission (1901) to the eventual establishment of the eighth art. The first period is marked by the invention of the phonograph, or rather the paleophone, and it refers to two phenomena: the recording of sound on something “solid” and the appearance of radio diffusion, the wireless transmission of sound. These two phenomena paved the way for the appearance of radio. The development of radio diffusion further enabled live broadcasts (here we have a concrete sign of the new artistic discipline, radio broadcasting). The first content of a new, syncretic, eighth art reached the listening audience directly, with the aid of radio diffusion and a new invention – the microphone. Sound recording was still not in the foreground: the microphone was the medium for creativity. At the end of the first half of the 20 century the history of radio broadcasting entered its second period, the “tape recorder revolution”. At that stage, sound recording experienced an explosion (we completely agree with Miroslav Jokić on this). The artist was given complete freedom to arrange and combine, in a word, to manage acoustic sensations. Radio diffusion was definitely no Halloween night in 1938, performed by the Mercury Theater. The convincing performance provoked unheard-of panic: hundreds of thousands of people were running away from the “Martians” who had set out to “invade Earth”. 27 Miroslav Jokić: oral sources – taken from an interview conducted by the author of the text with Jokić on April 15, 2003. 28 Miroslav Jokić: Istorija radiofonije, p. 9. 29 One should not confuse the birth with the establishment of radio broadcasting: as mentioned before, the former refers to the beginnings of radio drama, the latter to the appearance of the tape recorder. New Sound 25 Marija Ćirić The “Eighth Art”: The First Steps of Radio Broadcasting longer a medium for transmitting other arts: it had given birth to its own radio broadcasting. With the recording system being finally perfected, an opportunity was provided for sound editing and, by extension, new radio forms: documentary radio broadcasting and abstract radio broadcasting. Unlike radio drama, which departs from a literary model to achieve its concrete form, documentary radio broadcasting is inspired by actual events. The literary model is replaced by fact which, again in the hands of a certain creator, acquires authentic meaning, subjectivity. Documentary radio broadcasting has a pattern of facts realized through interviews, and editing is its principle of becoming harmonized with both the actual and the likely. The youngest field in radio broadcasting also required technical-technological maturity of the radio. Its appearance is not independent of said forms. It results from the already established aesthetics of radio broadcasting fiction and documentarism, the performing (the writer-director-actor line) and expressive “formulas” (music with sound effects), albeit by setting up a specific semiotics of rational thinking. The language of abstract radio broadcasting is a system of sound symbols and most noticeable in it is the singularity and unrestraint of authorial style. This form was in its full swing in the following stage of radio broadcasting when, thanks to new sound recording technology, possibilities for its arrangement became practically endless. The third period “emerged” from the appearance of the first digital recordings in Japan in 1971. Digital formats came next and, eventually, the computer era. The radio broadcasting artist assumes the role of a completely independent author, creator who certainly has sound grounding in the field of science and technology, with a status that is nowadays practically equated with the status of a “traditionally raised” composer.