The Call-In Show Explanation
The call-in talk radio show could hardly have experienced the growth it did without a mobile means of communication that the cell phone allowed for. Communication technology is evolving quickly, with instant messaging and cell phones becoming equipped to record, receive and distribute visual messages.
KRLX has been the home of the weekly call-in show, A Series of Tubes, for two terms, but the show has had a hard time attracting callers. The goal of the show is to offer support and answer questions for listeners having difficulties with their technology. The only means people have to contact the hosts is by calling the station.
The station has had the capability of receiving phone calls from itÕs listeners for many years, but it was only recently that listeners could send messages to the studio online. With this new capability weÕve seen a rise in overall contact personalities have had with the listeners, but phone calls have actually decreased. To increase the amount of contact these hosts will have with listeners, it stands to reason that the amount of ways in which the hosts can be contacted should also increase. In this demo weÕve created a way in which the studio could be contacted via visual instant messaging.
This particular show, along with the first demo in this website, show how a call-in show could be available for streaming video and available for podcasting upon completion of the initial broadcast. With more computers and cellphones coming equipped with cameras, it doesnÕt seem long after video streaming becomes popular that listeners will be able to contact the show via Òvideo chattingÓ and have their image broadcast alongside the hosts.
As more people have the equipment and technology to instant message with video components built into their computer, we might be able to see more two-way interactions and community podcasts. After all, bigger corporations felt that profit was to be made more off of point-to-point communications prior to the first commercial radio broadcast in 1920. This demo transforms the simple question and answer formula of popular call-in shows into more dialogue between listener and host. This speculations tries to combine early ideas of wireless broadcasting as a means of communication and a means for one-way distribution and public service.
Go Back To Demo 2: The Call-In Show
Go Ahead To Demo 3: The Music Show