Author Archive

On the racial and gendered aspects of booty music, and how they remind us that the derriere is complex, ambivalent, and socially constructed.
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On the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, this post considers how fictional depictions of Kennedy represent history and engage cultural memory.
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In Antenna's first post in the From Mercury to Mars: Orson Welles on Radio after 75 Years collaborative series with Sounding Out!, Eleanor Patterson explores how it is that we are still listening to the 1938 radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" 75 years later, and in what ways its discursive and material...
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Talk of the Nation, National Public Radio's (NPR) daily weekday call-in program, broadcast its final show on Thursday, June 27th. And with its cancellation goes one less venue for the public to actually access and participate in political debate and discourse on public radio.
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A cultural discussion of 30 Rock's television legacy for feminist discourse and self reflexive satire television in the wake of its final broadcast.
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Although live performances over radio like those of the Grand Ole Opry are one of the medium's basic functions, liveness is also culturally constructed, and its relationship with radio is fluid and uncertain.
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The popular WNYC public radio program Radiolab weaves together interviews, historical records, artifacts, and music in the episode "Crossroads," which explores the cultural history surrounding blues musician Robert Johnson.
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Ira Glass' iconic voice seems to be everywhere, and offers insight into contemporary radio culture and stardom.
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Downton Abbey has proved to be a hit for PBS and its cultural significance is evident in the various ways its fans engage with the show and with the past it mediates for us.
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Performing motherhood while completing grad school is a complicated role to negotiate, and there are costs and benefits to consider. I write this post to discuss my own specific experiences as a media studies grad student mama, and propose considerations for a dialogue on the place of children and parenting within academe.
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British comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play somewhat fictionalized versions of themselves in The Trip, a six episode comedy series which aired on BBC2 last fall. IFC Films is releasing an edited version of The Trip as a film June 10th, 2011.
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PBS premieres new period-piece Downton Abbey on Sunday, reminding us that Brit-lit mini-series, which construct variegated representations of mainly white, heterosexual, aristocratic, life, continue to be hugely popular.
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Self-referentiality is a staple of 30 Rock's satire. Yet, I almost needed a "drop" and a spinning top to resurface from this live episode's multi-layered meta-humor.
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