Memoir for Your Ears

‘Listening closely’ to mediated intimacies and podcast intimacies inSong Exploder

“…This scholarship tends to focus on the role of language, stories, images and networks in facilitating different degrees and types of intimacy across a variety of media genres (Barker et al, 2018;Berryman and Kavka, 2018;Chambers, 2017;Dobson et al, 2018). Another thread of intimacies research mobilises notions of intimacy that emerge from radio studies and attends to the ways that speech, sound, noise and aural practices contribute to sonic intimacies in podcasting (Copeland, 2018;Euritt and Korfmacher, 2021;McHugh, 2017;Spinelli and Dann, 2019). Although both bodies of research often draw on the work of scholars of affect and emotion such as Lauren Berlant and Sara Ahmed, mediated intimacies research and podcasting intimacies research are rarely placed in conversation with each other.…”

“…As musical guest Finneas explains, when producing music, 'the best way to get someone to pay attention to something is to take it out' ('Episode 197: Billie Eilish'). Attending to Hirway's audio editing strategy of erasing the podcast host therefore presents an opportunity to extend podcast intimacies research, which tends to focus primarily on the role of hosts and narrators in communicating podcast intimacies (Copeland, 2018;Euritt and Korfmacher, 2021;McHugh, 2017;Spinelli and Dann, 2019). Analysis of Song Exploder can also augment mediated intimacies scholarship that interrogates normative intimacies in visual and social media (Andreassen et al, 2018;Attwood et al, 2017;Dobson et al, 2018) by attending specifically to the sonic construction of intimacies in the musicians' voices and their music.…”

“…With these words, Hirway draws attention to the often-obscured role of the editor in both experiencing and communicating intimacies through podcasting. And although the 'personality driven' (Hirway and Jokiranta, 2016) medium of podcasting often leads researchers to locate intimacies in the work of narrators and hosts (Copeland, 2018;Euritt and Korfmacher, 2021;Lindgren 2021;McHugh, 2017;Spinelli and Dann, 2019), Hirway's opening words suggest that there is value in attending to the less obvious but no less essential work of podcast editors in shaping intimacies through their use of stories, sound design and audio editing.…”

Researching Podcast Production – an Australian Podcast Study About Women and Work in Are We There Yet?

“…Despite its Australian origins, it was envisaged that the AWTY podcast could be attractive to international audiences where personal experiences and storytelling would become a lingua franca that could support and engage transnational audiences and create a shared sense of community. There is a growing body of work focused on podcasting and storytelling (Alexander 2011;Biewen/ Dilworth 2017;Dann 2014;Lindgren 2014bLindgren , 2016McCracken 2017;McHugh 2016McHugh , 2017Norrington 2010). Podcasting has been described as a 'pull' medium (Berry 2016;McClung/Johnson 2010), where listeners seek out content that interests them and therefore become genuinely engaged with the podcast.…”