The Sociology of Sports-Talk Radio

The Sociology of Sports-Talk Radio is the latest sports-media scholarship from the author of How Postmodernism Explains Football and Football Explains Postmodernism, winner of the 2017 Outstanding Book Award from the National Communication Association 's Communication and Sport Division.

The book provides a descriptive analysis of the social interaction transpiring in what the author has conceptualized as the the hyper-mediated marketplace of sports narratives. It examines the social structures and processes that make sports-talk radio such a vibrant societal milieu, and seeks to identify the essential sociological dynamics that make all that endless chatter so vital to listeners. A qualitative, descriptive analytical focus on this remarkable platformwhere people come together to interact insistently, colorfully, and often with stunning ferocityhighlights key processes by which human communicators construct meaning.

Contributes to an area where there has not previously been much substantive research Discusses how mass media interacts with digital innovation in the realm of sports talk radio Employs a rigorous "document analysis" method to connect the media representations that are the focus of the study to broader ideas in discourse and ideology Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext
Robert L. Kerr teaches media history and law at the University of Oklahoma, USA. He is a past winner of the National Communication Association's Franklyn S. Haiman Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Freedom of Expression. He has twice received his college's teaching award.

Klappentext

This book provides a descriptive analysis of the social interaction transpiring in what the author has conceptualized as the the hyper-mediated marketplace of sports narratives. It examines the social structures and processes that make sports-talk radio such a vibrant societal milieu, and seeks to identify the essential sociological dynamics that make all that endless chatter so vital to listeners. A qualitative, descriptive analytical focus on this remarkable platformwhere people come together to interact insistently, colorfully, and often with stunning ferocityhighlights key processes by which human communicators construct meaning.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Why the Sociology of Sports-Talk Radio Matters.- 2. National Sports Talk.- 3. More Intensity in Major Regional Talk.- 4. Small Talk and a Perfect Example of Contested Narratives.- 5. Talk From Beyond the Male Gaze.- 6. Conclusion: What Matters Most Sociologically.